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Peplum Ponderings: Gladiator II

Yall knew it was coming eventually! Gladiator II came out late last year. The follow up to the iconic film that started the neo-peplum cycle, what was I going to say about it?

Well, I did see it in theaters late December, but needed to wait for the physical release to come out and watch it again.

And so here it is: my write up of Gladiator II can be read right here. Enjoy!

Scholars from the Edge of Time: Gladiator II

In case you did not want to read all of that above, Michele and I also discussed Gladiator II during the April Scholars from the Edge of Time episode. The episode can be watched on YouTube.

ECOF 2025

In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).

Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:

Here is the press release:

RENOWNED AUTHOR EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS’ CAVALRY SERVICE TO BE MEMORIALIZED IN WILLCOX, AZ

“Tarzan” Creator and Pop Culture’s Influential “Great Grandfather” Commemorated for His 150th Birthday.

WILLCOX, AZ – The renowned author and “Great Grandfather” of popular culture, Edgar Rice Burroughs, started his adult life as a cavalryman at Arizona’s Fort Grant in May of 1896. This September, as part of the late author’s 150th birthday celebration, his cavalry service will be memorialized with a monument at the restored Southern Pacific train depot in Willcox, where he arrived on his way to Fort Grant (35 miles north).

The influential creator of Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars, and The Land That Time Forgot series of stories wrote in his “Autobiography” that he specifically requested “to be sent to the worst post in the United States” and was then promptly assigned to Fort Grant in Arizona Territory, where his troop would spend some time hunting after the Apache Kid and other outlaws.

Many believe that Burroughs’ initial stay in Arizona influenced his first Martian story, Under the Moons of Mars, which begins with the first chapter titled “On the Arizona Hills.” The John Carter Martian stories would go on to influence generations of science fiction and fantasy books and movies, and would inspire many young people to become scientists, engineers, and astronauts. He would later author the books The War Chief and Apache Devil, both set in Arizona during the Apache Wars of the 1860s – 1880s.
This Willcox Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering will take place from September 25 to 28, 2025, with the 7th Cavalry Historical Monument formal dedication ceremony on Saturday, September 27th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon near the historic Southern Pacific Railroad Depot.

The monument dedication at the Willcox train depot will include guest speakers and participation of local Buffalo Soldier reenactors. All other convention events will take place at the Elks Lodge #2131 in Willcox, and will include discussion panels, a “huckster” (vendor) room, Guest of Honor and speaker Jeffrey J. Mariotte (author of Tarzan and the Forest of Stone), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. speakers, a Saturday night banquet/ dinner, a Tarzan movie screening, and other surprises.

These events are sponsored by the Sulphur Springs Valley Historical Society and the Apache Devils chapter of The Burroughs Bibliophiles. The celebration is open to the public for free (except for the dinner and movie), but full attendees can register for a fee that covers a goodie bag, a huckster table, and the Saturday dinner.
This is a must-attend event for fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs and pop-culture historians alike. If you’d like to visit the place where it all began, don’t miss this very special celebration. (Note that some convention activities will require full event registration – the registration form is provided separately.)

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Willcox is offering a special daily room rate of $119 plus taxes for the nights of 25 to 27 September for attendees. The group name is “ECOF.” You can make reservations at this rate by calling the hotel at (520) 384-3333; rooms are limited. The address is 1251 N. Virginia Ave, Willcox, AZ 85643.

If you would like more information about the 2025 ECOF event, please call Frank Puncer at 520.281.1818, or email him at fwpuncer at gmail dot com.

Here is the registration from:

Registration Form for the 2025 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ (v8)Download

Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well. I may be doing a presentation on Tarzan as a peplum character in Tarzan and the Lost Empire. Hope to see yall there!

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.

“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.

Original can be read here.

“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.

“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.

Calls for Papers/Proposals

Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path or I am sharing on behalf of my colleagues. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.

We Live Again! Disney’s Gargoyles as an Evolving Transmedia Text

Co-sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area and Disney Studies Area
Call for Papers for 2025 Virtual Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA)
Thursday, 9 October, to Saturday, 11 October, 2025
Submissions are open until Tuesday, 15 July by 5 PM EDT

Conceived by creator Greg Weisman, Disney’s Gargoyles began as a television series in the 1990s and has been expanded over the decades through action figures, books, clothing, collectibles, comics, conventions, fan art, fanfiction, games, puzzles, and recurrent rumors of a live-action reboot. Although now over thirty years old, Gargoyles has remained incredibly popular since its initial debut, yet, while other aspects of Disney Studies are flourishing, scholars have mostly neglected the series. Therefore, we seek in this session to offer some critical attention to Gargoyles and its various adaptations and continuations.

Proposals should display some knowledge of the history and scope of the series, its adaptation history, and its ongoing evolution. We encourage you to make use of the resource guide provided at https://tinyurl.com/WeLiveAgainRG in formulating your approach.

To submit a proposal, please review the requirements and procedure from NEPCA’s main conference page at https://www.northeastpca.org/conference. Proposals should be approximately 250 words; an academic biographical statement (75 words or less) is also requested. Payment of registration and membership fees will be required to present. More details on exact costs will be forthcoming.

Direct submissions to the Monsters & the Monstrous Area can be made at https://cfp.sched.com/speaker/sTP9T9X3cW/event. Address any questions or concerns to the area chair at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

Further information on the Monsters & the Monstrous Area can be accessed on our blog Popular Preternaturaliana: Studying the Monstrous in Popular Culture at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.
Further information on the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) can be accessed from our new website at https://www.northeastpca.org/.

Silly Old Bear? Adaptations, Appropriations, and Transformations of Winnie-the-Pooh

A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh has always been a bit of a shapeshifter manifesting under various names and appearances since the start of his now over one-hundred-year career as a transmedia figure. Over the past century, Pooh and his associates from the Hundred Acre Wood have been adapted and appropriated to feature in artwork, cards, clothing, collectibles, comics, cookbooks, fiction, films, games, illustrations, memes, musical theater, original videos, philosophical treatises, plays, poems, radio broadcasts, self-help manuals, stuffed animals, songs, streaming video, television programs, theatrical productions, theme park attractions, and translations as well as critical commentaries and works of scholarship. These stories tell of their adventures across time and space, and each text offers a unique approach to the characters. Notably, Pooh and his band have often undergone radical transformations through various parodies and pastiches, with many more innovative approaches appearing since their move into the public domain beginning in 2022.

In this session, we seek to catalog and critique some of these various takes on Winnie-the-Pooh and his companions. We ask you to explore how these adaptations, appropriations, and transformations of these familiar figures connect to and/or diverge from the Poohian tradition established by Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard. We want you to uncover what these works might say about the gang from the Hundred Acre Wood, the creators of these new works, and, ultimately, ourselves as the receivers of these texts. We encourage you to make use of the resource guide provided at https://tinyurl.com/SillyOldBearRG in formulating your approach.

Further information on the Monsters & the Monstrous Area can be accessed on our blog Popular Preternaturaliana: Studying the Monstrous in Popular Culture at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.

Further information on the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) can be accessed from our new website at https://www.northeastpca.org/.

(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (In-Person)

Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association’s 2025 Annual Conference
Sonesta Hotel Philadelphia (1800 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103)
6-8 November 2025

The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture invites proposals for an in-person panel on the theme of “(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media” for the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association’s 2025 Annual Conference, which will run from Thursday, 6 November, to Saturday, 8 November 2025.

Proposals might cover any aspects of the medieval in animated films, animated shorts, anime, computer-generated images, games, or television cartoons.

We are especially looking for presentations on medieval-themed anime and adaptations of Beowulf, the Robin Hood tradition, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien but also welcome work on other texts and traditions.

A resource guide for the project is accessible at https://lnkd.in/ekvpHdhp.

Please send a short biography and paper proposal (300 words or less) to the organizers at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com by Thursday, 24 July 2025.

(Be advised that MAPACA will require accepted presenters to create an account in their conference system. There will also be a registration fee to participate in the event.)

For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture please visit https://lnkd.in/eNUGT6ap.

For more information on MAPACA please visit https://mapaca.net/.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Some fun things I shared online from these past few weeks. Highlighting things from my personal collection of pop culture artifacts.

May the Fourth / Phil Brown Autograph

May the Fourth was earlier this month and its always fun to talk about and celebrate Star Wars.

My big entry point into Star Wars was actually the CCG dEcipher put out back in the 90s. Before the card game I knew of Star Wars, seen the movies on VHS, but it wasn’t a *thing*. After my cat had kittens on my Magic cards, I looked to other CCGs to collect, and went with Star Wars, and that was what sent me spiraling into the movies, comics, and the books – so many books. So, I have a soft spot for the old CCG and Expanded Universe at the time.

One of my treasures is my autographed Owen Lars card signed by actor Phil Brown. My friends and I attended a tiny Portland comic book show in the latter part of the 90s, and Brown was one of the guests. So, I got my card signed by him.