First new article for 2026 and it is a review of the adult, neo-jungle girl series Vanya!
Vanya #08 standard cover by Zoran Jovicic and Zork Marinero.
I take a gander at issue eight from the series, and my review can be read right here. A review for issue nine will be published in early March.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast Returns
After over a year of hibernation the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is back!
H. P. Lovecast Podcast Episode 63 thumbnail – The Deadly Spawn
Recorded in January but published early February, we just dropped our first episode since November 29th, 2024. So, it has been a while. Sorry about that folks, things have just been busy with Michele and I juggling a lot of projects and doing real life stuff.
We return back with the great cult film and Lovecraftian horror movie, The Deadly Spawn (1983)! One of our favorites, it was great to talk about, so hear us discuss it at our Buzzsprout page here, at the player below, or via your podcast app of preference.
The plan for our next episode is the 1991 Dan O’Bannon film The Resurrected.
Talkin’ Talkies Appearance
Author Robert P. Ottone, who has been a guest on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast (check out those appearances here and here), has his own vidcast called Talkin’ Talkies that he does via Instagram livestreaming/reels. I was super honored to be invited on his last episode to talk about non-Italian giallo films!
Logo for Robert Ottone’s Talkin’ Talkies IG vidcast.
The episode of Talkin’ Talkies I am on is hosted on Instagram, so you may have to be on your IG account on your mobile to view it. Here is the direct link. Sincere appreciation Rob for having me on!
Scholars from the Edge of Time
For February’s Scholars from the Edge of Time Michele and I talk about the 2010 neo-peplum film, Centurion.
Note: Centurion was heavily written about in Dr. Wetmore’s essay in The New Peplum. If you are curious, consider plucking up a copy of the book at McFarland.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2026.
National Capital Panthans Journal #344.
“All E.T.’s Aren’t Nice: Vanya 06” reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #344, January 2026.
The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal acquisitions.
Hercules and the Captive Women Film Masters Blu-ray
Back in 2021 The Film Detective released a Blu-ray edition of Hercules and the Captive Women (1961) that was full of special editions, such as the MST3K version of the film, documentaries and commentaries (PeplumTV did a review of the release and compared it to other versions. It can be read here).
Film Masters 2026 Blu-ray of Hercules and the Captive Women.
Not five years later another Blu-ray of Hercules and the Captive Women has been released! This one is put out by Film Masters and is a bare bone release (no supplemental material). I decided to double dip (well, triple dip, since I have this on the Retromedia DVD) and pluck this copy up. Maybe I’ll do a comparison between the two Blu-rays, see if there is a difference in image? Might be fun!
Ben-Hur 4K
Hercules and the Captive Women is not the only classic sword and sandal getting a re-release in early 2026! Mutha-fucking big daddy papa pump OG Ben-Hur (1959) is as well!
Personal copy of the 2026 4K release of Ben-hur.
Back in 2022 I did an unboxing article for the Ben-hur 50 year anniversary Blu-ray set (which can be read here). That edition came out in 2011. So, 15 years later (65 year anniversary!) there is now the 4K edition of Ben-Hur.
Amazon sold out of the steel book edition, so I had to go with this version. Going to DVDCompare, the 2026 release vs the 2011 release, it looks like the 2026 version lacks trailers and the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. The 2026 version omits the 57 minute “Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema” 2005 documentary that appeared on the 2011 version, but replaces it with two new, way shorter featurettes: “Ben-Hur: Anatomy of an Epic 2026″ (6 minutes) and “The Cinematography of Scale 2026” (8 minutes).
Both have the 78 minute “Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey” 2011 documentary, the 58 minute “Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic” 1994 documentary, the 5 minute “Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures” 2005 featurette, 29 minutes of screen tests, and some other features. The 2011 has a plethora of other, smaller, features, such as newsreels, Academy Award ceremonies, etc. that are not present on the 2026 edition.
So overall, just at a cursory glance, it looks like the new Ben-Hur may have better image quality at 4K, but scales back the supplemental material. Maybe this is ok: you can only re-re-re-re-release the movie so many times and re-re-re-re-re-reuse the same supplemental material before it gets stale?
Deathstalker Comic and Remake
2025 was the year for the cult 80s sword and sorcery series, Deathstalker, and I got some loot!
Deathstalker the graphic novel and the Deathstalker remake on Blu-ray.
First, there is a remake of the film, simply called DeathStalker. I’ve heard good things about the remake, and I actually dig Daniel Bernhardt (Michele and I talk positively of him in G2: Mortal Conquest [1999] on Scholars from the Edge of Time). I’m excited to watch this one!
The next thing is the Deathstalker graphic novel that was done via Kickstarter. I did the Tier IV plus which was supposed to be a cloth bound hardcover, a standard dust jacket, a Kickstarter exclusive dust jacket, and a book plate. Instead the hardcover is not cloth bound, and no book plate has been sent. Per a January 12th post, it sounds like book plates will be sent later on, and they decided to change from a cloth bound book mid-production. Thems the risks doing Kickstarter, I guess.
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Hard Drive
On Robert Ottone’s Talkin’ Talkies vicast (see above) we brought up 90s erotic thriller films.
Personal copy of Hard Drive on DVD signed by Stella Stevens.
This was a perfect opportunity to show off my copy of Hard Drive (1994) which is signed by legendary starlet Stella Stevens (RIP). Her son, Andrew Stevens, acted and produced a lot of erotic thrillers, and Stella appeared in a handful of them. It’s been probably 1.5 decades since I last saw this, maybe time for a re-watch!
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Ride the Stream Episodes
Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast, but something has gone down! Netflix has removed Lost from their services! That means Ride the Stream is looking at other shows and movies to talk about.
Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.
Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie
Marta Górna has a new book coming out and about cult Polish actress Joanna Pacuła (Gorky Park, Dinocroc, Tombstone, Virus). This is the first laser focused retrospective on the actress. The booked is titled Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie (Pacuła: The Most Famous Polish Woman in the World).
Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie by Marta Górna.
Górna’s book can be (pre) ordered here. It is slated to be published March 25th by Agora Publishing House.
Morgana Pendragon Kickstarter
Madeleine Holly-Rosing (Boston Metaphysical Society) has a new Kickstarter up for issue two (with issue one caked into some of the reward tiers) of her other comic series, Morgana Pendragon.
Morgana Pendragon cover art by Claudia Ianniciello.
Dannie Delisle is in an upcoming movie called The End is Trending. Check out the trailer at Youtube or below. Dannie is the conspiracy lady!
The director, Mark Christopher (husband to Kathleen Kaufman who has appeared on a few episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast [this one and this one]), has a Substack where more info about the film can be found. There is also an entry at IMDB.com.
Laser Joan and the Rayguns Kickstarter
D. J. Kirkbride (whom I’ve interviewed prior on my website, check it out!) has a Kickstarter going to reprint his comic miniseries Laser Joan and the Rayguns that was originally in Dark Horse Presents.
J. Manfried Weichsel (whom I’ve also interviewed before on my website, check that out here) has a Kickstarter for an omnibus called Action Girls that collects three of his prior stories: Jungle Jitters (2021), Into the Bush (2024), and Space Escapades (2025) into one book.
Action Girls by J. Manfred Weichsel.
This campaign can be found on Kickstarter and it goes live March 3rd at 4pm EST. Click the “Notify Me on Launch” button if checking out the campaign before then.
Vanya, Serah, Niya, and Guy are four soldiers from the future trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, the Torridians (a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity), and the Astral Guard (elite human warriors who view the heroes as deserters and traitors).
Vanya #08 standard cover by Zoran Jovicic and Zork Marinero.
Vanya and her lover Serah make their way to Terran Base Alpha, and Serah is taken in for treatment for the cerebral implant put into her by the Bone Tribe Witch. Concurrently, Niya and Guy make off to hide a batch of Torridian Dragon Eggs from the Witch. Their efforts are in vain as they are apprehended by the Astral Guard, and in turn, everyone is captured by the Witch who has the eggs back in her possession as she needs them to fulfill a prophecy to make her a powerful god-queen.
Issue 08 Plot
At Terran Base Alpha, Relo Quarr reveals to Vanya that the Federation has their own Torridian Dragon, one that is to be released in an emergency should the Torridians overcome their defenses. Quarr recalls to Vanya how the Torridian planet was destroyed by the Galactic Federation when they set the dragons free on their world. Nearly conquered, the Torridians surrendered to the Federation, but asked for a new home world, which turns out to be the human’s planet Terra.
Vanya and Relo Quarr gaze upon a Torridian Dragon.
Serah awakes from a nightmare with more visions of the Bone Tribe Witch. Sensing the situation as dire, Quarr gives Vanya the clearance to arm herself and to go and destroy the eggs that Niya and Guy hid. At that moment the Torridian army, led by the ruthless Geneal Tora, launch a massive attack on the Terran base. With their numbers already decimated by a plague, the Torridians take a suicide approach of fight or die, sending their spaceships crashing into the base’s shields followed by waves of cybernetic dinosaurs. Quarr and his men take to the battlefield in their tanks and mechs to ward off the Torridians as the base is given an evacuation order.
Meanwhile at the Bone Tribe’s cave, a captured Niya, Guy, and Astral Guard Elah watch as the Witch leads her tribe in a giant orgy to imprint their pheromones on the hatching eggs.
Commentary
Issue eight of Vanya is the Battle of Helm’s Deep of the series so far. The fervor attitude of the Torridians under Tora’s command is depicted in their hail Mary attack on the Federation base. Knowing that the plague that has decimated them has put them in a dire, inescapable position, the Torridians send their spaceships, their only way off the planet, to Kamikaze the base. The army of cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs the Torridians command is epic to behold, and the Federation responds in kind by sending in giant tanks and ED-209/AT-ST looking mechs to intercept the attackers.
Epic battle between the Torridians and their dinosaurs and the Galactic Federation with lots of tanks.
In a traditional story, at a scene like this, the grunts would be sent in to do the dirty work as their commanders and leaders sit safely back at their command center. Not so in Vanya as Quarr and his other commanders join in the fray as well. Both sides of the skirmish are depicted as equally brave among panels that show tanks blowing up dinosaurs while T-Rexes with sharp metal claws rip apart mechs. Overall, the battle is a blast (pun intended) to see unfold in the issue, from the large-scale fighting to the minutia in the commanders planning in their war room.
Terran Base Alpha War Room.
A new development in this issue of Vanya is Serah’s cerebral implant allows her to communicate with the cyberdinos. As she is fleeing the base, she encounters a raptor with blades protruding from its back, but Serah is able to convince the reptile she is friendly and the beast scoots away. Possible foreshadowing here: if Serah can do this to one dinosaur, she can probably do it to more. Say, an army of dinosaurs
There is a certain irony that Vanya is sent back out to destroy the Torridian eggs as they were all in her possession not a few days ago. If Guy and Niya had not split off to hide the eggs, they would instead be in the Federation hand’s and not the Bone Tribe Witch’s, where they would be destroyed (or, more likely, made into additional weapons). Regardless, the orders from Quarr get Vanya back into her natural habitat, the jungles primeval. A missile blast from a robo-pterodactyl (yes, only with Vanya can one say that sentence with a straight face) knocks Vanya out, disintegrating her clothes. It is only a matter of time in a subsequent issue that she will not doubt be back to wearing her normal neo-jungle girl garb (or nothing at all).
Covers and Swag Impressions
Issue #8 of Vanya was successfully Kickstarted in early February 2025, with digital editions being fulfilled in June and physical editions later that summer. This issue was released in numerous covers by a variety of different artists, in normal and nude incarnations. The standard cover was done by Zoran Jovicic (who has been the illustrator of the series since its beginning) and Zork Marinero.
Personal copy of Vanya #08, nude variant, done by Brian Miroglio.
The best alternative cover for issue eight is the one done by Brian Miroglio. A vibrant and seductive cover (nude or not), it shows a battle-ready Vanya against a rather serene jungle scene. Whose blood in on the spear she holds behind her in an assuming fashion to how Negan (Walking Dead) holds his baseball bat Lucille? Did she slay a dinosaur? Or perhaps a violent caveman? Aside from the attractive pinup vibes of the cover, it invites readers to hypothesis their own Vanya story, and it probably would not be too far off base.
Vanya #8 Tarot Card and pixel art style sticker.
For additional Kickstarter loot, Vanya #8 came with three additional goodies: a tarot card, a sticker, and a PDF story. The tarot card continues the tradition Bad Bug has been doing with their other comics, and these are always fun to see. The best tarot cards have unique artwork, though the card for issue 8, The Hanged Man, uses the Luca Strati #8 alternate cover.
The sticker realizes Vanya in a 16-bit, pixel/retro style and it is awesome. It fuels the imagination that a retro game based on the Vanya IP, perhaps done by a company like WayForward, would be entirely plausible. There are a plethora of vintage cartoonish caveman game out there, such as Chuck Rock, Bonk, and Caveman Ninja, why not instead go the serious route and make a Vanya platformer or Metroidvania?
And finally, a first for the Vanya series, there is a short story with some black and white comicbook style illustrations (though it is not a comic) titled “First Encounter”. The story is about Vanya’s first week upon arriving in the prehistoric past and encountering both a raptor and a sabre tooth tiger. This is a great way to add more story, character development, and “Vanya-ness”, to the series.
Conclusion
How far Vanya has come in scale in eight issues! Initially a more singularly focused on Vanya and surviving the hostile dinosaur world, the stakes have been upped many times in the issues since: large scare battles between humans and purple-skinned warrior aliens, a tribe of cave people wanting to rule the world, fleets of cyber dinosaurs, almost mystical dragons. It all seems over the top, and, well, maybe it is, but it works. There is a dead-seriousness vibe with Vanya that grounds it. Issue eight contains all these elements (an epic war, a jungle girl tale, etc.) and then some, such as romance and a little political intrigue on a galactic scale. With four more issues to go (the series is already 2/3s of the way complete?!), it will be fantastic to see where this escalating action goes.
For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:
This is my first News Roundup post for 2026. This is also my first post of moving to my new schedule of publishing these once a month at the end of each month.
2025 Accomplishment Recap
My recap of 2025 – writing I got done (published or reprinted), vidcasts, podcasts, conferences, etc. is now online.
Works published physically in 2025: Three issues of NESS, 1 issue of Burroughs Bulletin, and Merry Creepmas.
Last year was a pretty good year! I did not get to everything I wanted to (Emmanuelle book), but I was pretty prolific! Feel free to read the recap here.
Panthans Journal #344 and #345
The newest issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue five of of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. The original version of my review can be read right here.
National Capital Panthans Journal #344.
The February Panthans issue #345 came out a day earlier on January 31st. This issue has a reprint of my review of Vanya #7, and the original can be read here.
National Capital Panthans Journal #345.
As a preview of things to come, the March issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal will contain a reprint of one of my short stories that has been OOP for a few years. Stay tuned!
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journalis a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance
The cool kids at the Fan2Fan Podcast have been dropping episodes recently about collecting physical media (see below).
Fan2Fan Podcast episode thumbnail for the episode about CD collecting.
They just dropped an episode about CD collecting and both Michele and I are on it. The episode can be streamed at this link here, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.
Following that they have another episode about how Michele and I’s collection of movies, games, etc. and how we collect lots of media.
Fan2Fan episode thumbnail on Physical Media.
That episode can be heard here or in the player below.
Physical Media: Heavy Boxes, Special Editions, and Video Games –
Fan2Fan Podcast
Check out both episodes!
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
H. P. Lovecast Podcast will return in February! We’ve already recorded our discussion on the 80s creature feature classic, The Deadly Spawn, it just needs to be edited and published.
The New Peplum Citations
It has been a hot minute, but new citations for The New Peplum have just popped up!
Audio-Visual Roman Women cover.
The open access collection, Audio-Visual Roman Women: Gender, History & Screen Media, contains two essays that reference The New Peplum. Martin M. Winkler’s essay “Caesar’s Daughter: Lucilla on Screen” while Panayiota Mini’s essay “British Women in a Roman World: Female Figures in Audio-Visual Works about the Ninth Legion” cites Kevin Wetmore’s essay. Always wonderful to see The New Peplum continue to be cited by others.
The last episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time in 2025 was on the David Carradine/Roger Corman 80s S&S classic, The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984).
Blu-Ray of The Warrior and the Sorceress.
The cover promises a lady with four boobies and a Cthulhu and gosh darn it, the movie actually delivers four boobies and a Cthulhu. Our discussion of The Warrior and the Sorceress can be watched on YouTube. Check it out!
For January 2026 we kick of a new year of Scholars on the comedy side by discussing Hercules Returns (1993). An Australian movie that is essential a comedic redubbing of Samson and His Mighty Challenge (1964) with a thin plot of sorts that act as bookends. It’s a hilarious film.
Personal copies of Hercules Returns on DVD and Blu-ray.
Our discussion of Hercules Returns can also be watched on YouTube.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2026.
National Capital Panthans Journal #344.
“All E.T.’s Aren’t Nice: Vanya 06” reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #344, January 2026.
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.
Werewolf Media Journal
Seeking paper abstracts for an upcoming WEREWOLF MEDIA-themed literary journal. Abstracts are open for critical theory papers discussing ANY MEDIA OR FRANCHISE WITH WEREWOLVES. The Horror Scholar Journal Vol 8 aims to be made available online in July 2026. This opportunity is paid 50 USD upon receipt of the final paper. Abstracts should be ~300 words briefly describing the scope and topic of your paper.
Final papers must be anywhere from 2000-5000 words. Not accepting reviews or previously published papers. This journal attempts to prioritize underserved or less published horror academics. Proposals and papers should be submitted in a readable, neutral size 12 font.
CUT OFF DATE FOR ABSTRACTS: FEB 3rd, 2026
CUT OFF DATE FOR FINISHED PAPERS: JUNE 1st, 2026
STEPS FOR APPLICATION:
Submit your abstract via email to horrorscholar@gmail.com, along with your name, a 3-sentence bio, and social media links.
Once your abstract is accepted, a finished paper can be submitted via email any time until the cutoff date above.
Payment for your work will be sent upon reception of the first draft.
Each paper will have 1 round of edits.
ABOUT HORROR SCHOLAR
HS is an independent horror research brand and one-woman publishing operation. It strives to make academic publishing more accessible and to celebrate both critical theory and fandom. @scholarhorror on Twitter or horrorscholar@gmail.com for questions.
Contemporary Indigenous Horror – Creative Writing
Contemporary Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi, 2027) solicits original, unpublished short horror fiction, poetry, and experimental works by self-identifying Indigenous creatives. No work produced with AI will be accepted.
Honorarium: $250 (Canadian) per accepted piece
Deadline for submissions: July 14th, 2026
Name of organizer: Dr. Naomi Simon Borwein and Dr. Krista Collier-Jarvis
Contact email: Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca)
As a companion to analysis in Contemporary Indigenous Horror (contracted with University Press of Mississippi), we are looking for creative pieces to be published within this academic volume.
To acknowledge the various ways in which Indigenous scholarship may engage in an ongoing conversation with other forms of expression and writing, we welcome both traditional as well as more exploratory approaches to fiction, poetry, flash, and related hybrid, experimental intertexts that rupture settler-colonial categorizations of genre. Word/line count should be as follows:
Flash Fiction: about 500-1000 words
Short Stories: about 1000-4000 words
Poetry: maximum of about 110 lines
Experimental, hybrid words: some flexibility
Please send submissions and a 100 word bio to editors Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca) by July 14th, 2026.
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Student Bodies
Student Bodies (1981) is one of, if not the first, slasher comedy film. It is fairly rough around the edges if I recall, but still an important film in the early days of the genre. It would take a while to kind of juggle the two genres successfully, perhaps the first Scary Movie (2000)?
Personal copy of Student Bodies on DVD.
Student Bodies DVD signed by Robyn Flanery.
Way back in the 2000s, I was hooked on buying Mike Nelson commented movies from Legend Films, and they released Student Bodies, so of course I plucked it up. I sent my copy off to actress Robyn Flanery who graciously signed it.
The Strangeness
Two decades before The Descent (2005) there was The Strangeness (1985), though The Strangeness did come 5 years after Alien 2: On Earth (1980), when it comes to subterranean horror.
The Strangeness was one of those films I discovered during my Stephen Thrower/Nightmare USA phase in the 2000s. This movie was talked about in great detail in Thrower’s book, and I was tracking down all the movies I could. The only copy of The Strangeness I could find at the time was a British import from 23rd Century, a DVD label of dubious quality. I mean, look at that skull on the back. Generic much?
Personal copy of The Strangeness DVD.
Strangeness DVD signed by Mark Sawicki.
Regardless, I plucked up this film to add to my growing Nightmare USA collection. I did reach out to Mark Sawicki, who worked on the film and asked if he could autograph it for me, and he said sure!
Years later Code Red released a much better version of this film. Time for a re-watch!
New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions
The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal acquisitions.
The Last Legion and Seventh Son
Michele and I took our periodic trip to Zia Records the other weekend. I’m always on the lookout for some peplum and peplum-adjacent movies when we are out and about and this time I scored two!
Personal copies of The Last Legion and Seventh Son.
The first is The Last Legion (2007). I’ve been on the prowl for this one for a while, especially since it is mentioned in Dr. Wetmore’s essay in The New Peplum. That’s on the to watch pile for sure, and possible Peplum Ponderings article?
The second is Seventh Son (2014). I’ve never heard of this movie before and bought it because it looked like a post LOTR cash grab. Turns out I was wrong and it is based off a series of grim dark young children’s fantasy novels from the Spook’s series by Joseph Delaney. So, this is more of a post-Harry Potter cash grab as kids fantasy was in. Didn’t no one learn from Eragon (2006) a decade earlier? Regardless, it could be fun, so I look forward to checking it out.
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Ride the Stream Episodes
Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast where they dive into season 2 of the cult television series Lost.
Philippe Gerber has a new remix that just dropped.
Sobaki Tabaka Remixes cover art.
Under his John 3:16 moniker, Philippe has done a remix of the song “V Bezdne” by Sobaki Tabaka that appears on the remix album Sobaki Tabaka Remixes. The album is released by Industrial Complexx and is available at Bandcamp.
New Janet Joyce Holden Books
My friend Janet Joyce Holden has two books that are coming out at the very beginning of February.
Palladium’s Resolution and Palladium’s Insurrection by Janet Joyce Holden.
They are titled Palladium’s Resolution and Palladium’s Insurrection. Blurb below for what these are all about.
Here is the Amazon link for all of the books in Holden’s Palladium series.
Press Blurb
Rogan is a troubled clairvoyant who can see more than most, but when he teams up with the monstrous Jake, a Khir’gham Guardian of the Void, it’s for an undeniably good cause. Keeping the hungry Void from invading Jake’s home of Palladium, and thereby saving Rogan’s own world from destruction.
Except a hitherto mysterious threat has now fully revealed itself. Carl Drake, visionary CEO of Stormquell and secretly one of Palladium’s mighty dragons, is not only hellbent on breaking his exile and reclaiming what he has lost, he has greedy ambitions regarding Rogan’s world, too.
The series reaches its climax in the final two novellas, Palladium’s Insurrection, and Palladium’s Resolution. The confrontation they always feared is now on the horizon, its arena shifting from the glossy mansions of Benedict Canyon, to the Southern California high desert, and finally into the fragile world of Palladium, and it’s up to Jake and Rogan to save the day. Except the task of killing dragons, not only seems impossible, its consequences will prove devastating and unforgivable. Perhaps Rogan and Jake will survive, but at what terrible cost?
Palladium is a series of high fantasy and dark adventure, containing monsters, dragons, interdimensional worlds, along with the all too human attributes of trust, courage, and family treachery.
Arriving on Tuesday 2nd February.
New Fan2Fan Episodes
Brand new episodes of the Fan2Fan podcast are now online. Aside from the CD collecting episode above, there’s a plethora of other episodes since the end of December. Check these all out:
My last website post for 2025! Starting in 2026 I am going to publish these news roundups monthly.
New Edge Sword and Sorcery
Awesome news to end 2025 on: issues five, six, and seven of New Edge Sword and Sorcery are now out!
I was honored to be asked to contribute themed cocktails to these issues, libations that celebrate different sword and sorcery and sword and planet characters. They are:
Issue Five – The Red Sonja or, The Scalemail Bikini
Issue Six – The Kai Lord or, The Lone Wolf
Issue Seven – The Brax or, Under the Warrior Star
Photo by Michele Brittany.
If you want to see the recipes proper you’ll have to pluck up these issues. They are available digitally and in soft and hardcovers. They can be bought at the NESS webstore. Sincere appreciation to Oliver Brackenbury for the opportunity to be a part of the NESS family.
Panthans Journal #343
The newest issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue five of of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. The original version of my review can be read right here.
National Capital Panthans Journal #343
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journalis a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
New Citations
It’s been a hot minute, but a new citation has popped up!
It always brings me joy when an author from this collection gets cited!
Update 2026-01-27: Confirmed! Dr. Gallagher cites Dr. Borwein! Citation page updated to reflect this. Sincere appreciation to Dr. Gallagher for the details.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.
Panthans Journal #332
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
Panthans Journal #335
“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
Burroughs Bulletin #109
“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.
New Edge Sword and Sorcery #05
Cocktail recipe for The Red Sonja or, The Scalemail Bikini published in New Edge Sword and Sorcery, vol 1 issue 5.
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Steve Nazar and T&C Surf Designs NES Games
I am quite a few months late to finding this out, but artist Steve Nazar passed away in March earlier this year (article at Surfer.com).
Kids like me born in the 80s and with a NES system will remember Nazar’s work of “The Boys” for Town and Country Surf Designs, which made there way to two Nintendo games: Wood & Water Rage and Thrilla’s Surfari. I didn’t play Thrilla’s Surfari until much later in life when I started collecting retro games, but I played Wood & Water Rage many of times, and boy did that game kick my butt.
Nintendo games T&C Surf Designs Wood & Water Rage and Thrilla’s Surfari signed by artist Steve Nazar.
Getting into tiki culture in the 2010s made me appreciate Nazar’s artwork much more. He was a guest at a Yestercon event (RIP Yestercon, one of my all time favorite small affair pop culture shows), where I took my two video games for him to sign. He was a super cool dude.
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Ride the Stream Episodes
Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata are back with brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast and they dive into season 2 of the cult television series Lost.
Prior episodes of Ride the Stream can be found on their YouTube channel, so please give that a subscribe. There is also a Bluesky account, so feel free to five them a follow.
New Fan2Fan Episodes
Brand new episodes of the Fan2Fan podcast are now online. Check these all out:
The next three issues of New Edge Sword and Sorcery (numbers 5, 6, and 7, with one of them focused on the sword and planet genre) will be out soon! It sounds like digital and softcover copies will be out the last week of November and the hardcovers the first week of December. A reminder: I have a cocktail in each issue! Each cocktail is inspired by a different S&S and S&P character.
Collage of the three upcoming New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazines.
Copies of these upcoming issues (along with some older issues, in both softcover and digital) can be pre-ordered at Backerkit.
Panthans Journal #342
The newest issue of the National Capital Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue four of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. Of course the original version can be read at my website here.
National Capital Panthans Journal #342
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journal is a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
The October Scholars from the Edge of Time episode is now online. Michele and I discuss Wrath of the Titans, which concludes our dive into the Clash of the Titans trilogy of films.
Personal copy of Wrath of the Titans in a Blu-ray steel book.
The episode can be watched on YouTube here, so check it out. We are not 100% sure if we will be doing an episode in November (Thanksgiving). If we do, we might be talking about William Castle’s 1953 peplum, Serpent of the Nile.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.
Panthans Journal #332
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
Panthans Journal #335
“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
Burroughs Bulletin #109
“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.
Call for Chapters: Masculinities in Weimar Cinema
‘…many men shared the feeling of standing on the edge of a great upheaval’ (Harald Jähner)
‘…we were familiar with apocalyptic moods’ (Klaus Mann)
The aftermath of WWI saw a general acceleration of modernity, of social, political, and cultural transformation. This is arguably truest of Germany, where the explosive, violent, traumatic, at times ecstatic pace and perceptions of change were unprecedented. As a result, Weimar society (1918 – 1933) was characterised by acute self-awareness, regardless of the diverse views and interests of its population.
Against the background of Germany’s first experience of parliamentary democracy, born in the chaos of localised Communist revolutions and right-wing terror, the fifteen vertiginous years of the Weimar Republic witnessed an often iconoclastic, gigantic shift in every sphere, from architecture to gender and sexual mores to flight technology to art in all its forms. This extremely powerful, self-reflective chronotope inevitably affected German film production, itself reaching new heights of innovation, quality, and even genius.
A complex socio-political environment in a state of cultural flux, Weimar Germany thus yielded a vast range of associations, suggestions, and challenges which cinema could and did respond to, whether to negotiate, reflect, or negate them. Among the multiple aspects, strands, and societal references found in these filmic texts, the representation and performance of one, deceptively simple category stands out: men. However, despite the growing scholarly interest and exciting new perspectives brought to bear on Weimar Cinema, the broad topic of screen masculinities has not received the full attention it deserves. Yet from beginning to end, the 1918-1933 years saw male identities dominating German film in a wide, at times conflictive range of roles; most notably, male protagonists are often lost, humiliated, masochistic, self-destructive, annihilated, or simply redundant. This is not surprising given the upheaval surrounding manhood, especially affected by war trauma, catastrophic military defeat, the rise of women’s emancipation, amid the virtual collapse of the old systems of politics, currency, thought, morals, and art. Some of Germany’s greatest, most popular male stars and actors made a virtual career of playing bewildered, defeated, out-of-place characters: Emil Jannings is just the first name that comes to mind.
Nonetheless, side by side with this catastrophic or doom-laden representational strand, we also see the re-creation of ‘men’ along positively undetermined, hybrid, blurred, or defiantly oppositional lines. While this particular current frequently inhabits plots centring on gender and sexuality, it is not exclusively found there: a craving for Otherness and/or for being Other may be found in male screen narratives not primarily hinging on sex and gender identities. At the same time, it would be absurd to deny the presence of continuity, whether self-standing or deliberately countering change, in filmic representations of masculinity. Indeed, heroes and villains who bridge the gap, from thrillers to romantic comedies to science fiction to musicals, are plenty and equally worthy of careful study. What do these seemingly conventional males tell us about Weimar cinema?
As academic interest in the Weimar Republic’s cultural output continues to grow, foregrounding thought-provoking developments in the field, this edited collection aims at bringing together a range of new scholarly work on the specific, yet broad topic of screen masculinities. Chapters exploring Weimar cinema in this light may focus on, but are most certainly not limited to:
Masculinity and power
Masculinity and desire
Masculinity and modernity
Masculinity and its boundaries
Masculinity and femininity
Masculinity and the city
Masculinity and reality
Masculinity, sexuality and/or asexuality
Masculinity and Otherness
Masculinity and emotions
Masculinity and violence
Masculinity and defeat
Masculinity and pain
Masculinity and the body
Masculinity and technology
Masculinity and Germany
The editor invites abstracts of 250-300 words for chapters about 8,000 words long, plus a short bio of the author. Please send your abstract and bio to eg51@st-andrews.ac.uk by the deadline which is 15 November.
Please feel free to email me with any queries!
Dr Elisabetta Girelli Honorary Senior Lecturer in Film Studies University of St Andrews
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Carnosaur
Diane Ladd passed away recently, so sad! I remember her most vividly from David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, and, of course, Carnosaur.
Personal copy of Carnosaur on DVD autographed by actress Jennifer Runyon.
In the wake of the success of Jurassic Park, there came the knock offs and the cash grabs. Roger Corman brought his Jurassic Park clone with the cult classic Carnosaur. If Jurassic Park had Laura Dern, then Carnosaur has Laura Dern’s mom… Diane Ladd!
I never had the opportunity to meet Ladd, but I did meet Jennifer Runyon (the movie’s heroine) at a convention and she signed my copy of Carnosaur, so that rules. RIP Diane Ladd!
New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions
The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal acquisitions.
The Epic Film Music of Milos Rozsa
Not too many sword and sandal acquisitions as of late – I need to start watching more from the library! However, I do have a few movies pre-ordered on Amazon: A 4K edition of The Ten Commandments, and a Blu-ray of the new Red Sonja film. So, those will be fun when they arrive.
CD of The Epic Film Music of Miklos Rozsa.
When I was at Half Priced Books on a recent outing, looking through the music section, there was a small stack (overstock from 30 years ago?) of The Epic Film Music of Miklós Rózsa, the composer behind lots of classic era Hollywood pepla and Biblical epics. This CD has scores from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, King of Kings, El Cid, Sodom and Gomorrah, Quo Vadis, Ben-Hur, Beau Brummell, All The Brothers Were Valiant, and Madame Bovary. Very cool!
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Ride the Stream Episodes
Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata are back with brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast and they dive into season 2 of the cult television series Lost.
It has been since August since I last posted to my website here! September was simply a crazy month. At work I am on two implementations at the same time, so that has been a big focus for me. The other thing was getting prepared for the 2025 ECOF that happened last weekend. I’m right in the middle of doing a big write up and picture gallery that recaps the event, which I’ll have posted this Wednesday. After that, back to the Emmanuelle book and cranking out the backlog of comic book reviews. In the meantime, here is a month’s worth of news to catch up on!
Panthans Journal #340 and #341
Since my last website update, two issues of The National Panthans Journal have been been published.
Issue #340 contains a re-print of my interview with Jeffrey Mariotte, “Thunder in God’s Country: Interview with Jeffrey Mariotte.” I also sent in a letter to the editor where I go over some Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired libations.
National Capital Panthans Journal #340
Issue #341, which came out this past Saturday, contains a reprint of my review of the third issue of Vanya, which can also be read online here.
National Capital Panthans Journal #341
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journal is a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
Scholars from the Edge of Time – Clash of the Titans (2010)
In June, Michele and I announced we would start covering the three Clash of the Titans films: the original, the 2010 remake, and Wrath of the Titans for Scholars from the Edge of Time.
Our dialogue for the original film went online back in June. We had to skip July because someone (me) decided to fracture a toe.
Personal copy of the Clash of the Titans ’81, Clash of the Titan 2010, and Wrath of the Titans 3 Movie Blu-ray set.
Well for August we are back, baby! Our discussion about the Clash of the Titans remake can be watched on YouTube here. Give it a watch/listen!
For September we were scheduled to talk about Wrath of the Titans, but that Thursday we were in Willcox, AZ for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship gathering. Instead, when we got back, on Tuesday we did a recap of our adventures and talked about THE THING, the ECOF, and my presentation on the peplum elements of the novel Tarzan and the Lost Empire. That can be watched on YouTube.
Personal copy of the hardback edition of Tarzan and the Lost Empire.
In October we will finally conclude the trilogy by discussing Wrath of the Titans.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.
Panthans Journal #332
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
Panthans Journal #335
“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
Burroughs Bulletin #109
“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things I shared online from these past few weeks. Highlighting things from my personal collection of pop culture artifacts. Or artifacts I’m digging out of the archive. Just, general cool or unique things to show off.
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Final Exam
Final Exam, a film that rides that early wave of 80s slasher movies. I have not watched it in many years, but I remember digging it, and also how it tip toed into genre meta-ness before the likes of Deadly Spawn and Scream.
Personal copy of Final Exam DVD signed by Julia Marchese.
Horror film aficionado, podcast, and film director Julia Marchese moderated the commentary track on the old DVD copy of the film, and she was kind enough to let me post it to her way back in the day to autograph.
Challenge the Devil
More Bella Cortez, queen of the pepla, goodness!
As folks know, I’m a super fan of peplum starlet Bella Cortez, got to interview her, and also had her autograph the films in my collection she stars in.
Personal copy of Challenge the Devil from the Severin Christopher Lee box set.
Challenge the Devil Blu-Ray sleeve, reverse side, signed by Bella Cortez.
While Cortez is mostly known for her sword and sandal appearances, she did star in a handful of other Italian genre films, such as the gothic horror film Challenge the Devil, which saw a new edition not too long ago in Blu-ray format as part of a Christopher Lee boxset from Severin Films. Here is the sleeve of the Blu-ray signed by Cortez.
New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions
The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal films acquisitions.
William Castle pepla
On my last news roundup I shared I found a lobby card for a William Castle peplum film called Slaves of Babylon (1953). I was so caught off guard that the maestro of horror cinema had some some historic epics that I set out immediately to collection them. And here they are!
DVDs of William Castle’s pepla films
No Blu-ray treatments for these films, but I’m excited to give them a watch and see how the compare to the likes of House on Haunted Hill (1959). I ordered from Alpha Video the aforementioned Slaves of Babylon, and then got on eBay and found this multi-film set that contains the Egyptian peplum Serpent of the Nile (1953) and two other historic epics: Charge of the Lancers (1954) which takes place during the Crimean War (1853-56), and The Saracen Blade (1954) which is during the Crusades.
In the meantime I went to a sports card store and got a plastic sleeve big enough to hold my lonny card until I can get it proper framed.
The Norseman
I have a huge soft spot for the films of Charles B. Pierce. I was first introduced to his work by way of Boggy Creek 2 on MST3K when it first air on the Sci-fi Channel back in the 90s, and I thought it was a great episode! Years later I would finally watch the original Boggy Creek film, and it is a terrific faux documentary/horror film. In the 2000s I collected all the films of his that I could get my paws on at the time, such as his westerns. However it totally flew under my radar that he did a Viking peplum!
The Norseman Blu-ray.
That film is The Norseman (1978), which was released in that empty void of pepla, before 1979’s Caligula and before the Conan cycle of strongman films. The movie was apparently shot in Florida, which when I think Vikings, I think Florida. I do recall watching and enjoying Pathfinder (2007), which also deals with Vikings encountering North American indigenous folk, so this might be a good pair of movies to compare and contrast together.
The Rabbit Joint – Zelda vinyl
Back in the latter half of the 90s, during those halcyon days of Napster, apparently there was a parody song circulating out there called “Zelda” that was sung to the tune of the Zelda theme, and attributed to System of a Down. How this never, ever, ever showed up on my radar is a surprise to me.
Last month I get a news letter from Light in the Attic records about the song getting a vinyl release. What struck me was the cover art for the vinyl – showing princess Zelda under a tree with a town behind her. I really liked it! So I impulsively bought the record based on the lore behind it, and the cover art.
The Rabbit Joint’s “Zelda” vinyl.
Turns out the song sucks bad. It’s really annoying. It sounds shades like Group-X (remember Group-X? The “Mario Twins” song?). But, it is an interesting curio in the Zelda history, and to an extent, sword and sorcery history.
Digital versions of some of the tracks can be bought off Bandcamp thought I did a physical pre-order at Light in the Attic.
George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra Magazine Advert (and other swag)
Aside from the lobby card of Slaves of Babylon, I found another fun toga and sandal thing at the antique mall: a magazine advert for Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). There was a booth that was selling just advert pages from old magazines, and I saw this one a plucked it up. It’s really nice looking.
Magazine advert for Caesar and Cleopatra.
George Bernard Shaw on Film DVD Eclipse (Criterion) boxset.
Caesar and Cleopatra play.
Back in 2021 Michele and I talked about this film on an episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time. However, that episode was hosted on BlogTalkRadio, which went defunct earlier this year. Luckily, I saved an MP3 of the episode, I just need to find a venue to host it. Maybe in the meantime I should re-watch it for a Peplum Ponderings article.
Anywho, I have the Eclipse (Criterion Collection) boxset of some of the movies adapted from Shaw’s plays, and a copy of the Caesar and Cleopatra play in book form, so check all those goodies out in the slideshow above.
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Fan2Fan Episodes
Bernie and Pete have lots of new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online. Since it has been a month+ since my last news round up, there is a lot of epodes to get caught up on!
First they have an episode on the classic 1990 film Tremors (which will always rule):
Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.
Michele Appearance on Mount Olympus Vidcast
Hercules Invictus, who hosts our Scholars from the Edge of Time vidcast, does tons of other programming. He recently did a panel vidcast on mythical creatures – winged humanoids. Michele was a guest on the episode, talking about the first Mimic film. Give it a watch on YouTube.
A side note, Michele has been recording new episodes of Ride the Stream with her co-host Travis Lakata, so expect to see new episodes soon!
Alas, I could not keep the momentum going so I missed a week, but this is still pretty prolific for me getting these reviews written and published.
Vanya #7 cover done by Sean Joyce. Image from the Bad Bug website.
My review of issue seven of the neo-jungle girl series Vanya is now online and can be read here. Technically, I am now all caught up on this series! I do have a PDF of issue eight, but not the physical copy and associated Kickstarter swag, and since I like to cover that sort of stuff, a review of issue eight will have to wait until it arrives (which should be in the near future).
Upcoming: Interview with Jeff Mariotte
Want to give a heads up to my readers to come back this Wednesday. I conducted an interview with Jeffrey Mariotte and it is going online on the 6th! You don’t want to miss it!
UncoveringStranger Things – Italian Edition
Uncovering Stranger Things, edited by Kevin Wetmore and published by McFarland in 2018 (see their product page here) now has an Italian edition!
Publisher Cue Press has published a translated version of this collection (it looks like back in 2023?) and here is the cover art:
Italian edition of Uncovering Stranger Things published by Cue Press.
I segreti di Stranger Things can be purchased at Cue Press at this link here. If you want to read my essay about Stranger Things and synthwave music in Italian, it is called “Notti perse e giorni pericolosi: Il disfacimento delle relazioni fra Stranger Things e synthwave” in this publication. Check it out for sure!
Aside from a brief snippet of my Castle of Blood/Danza Macabra masters thesis being translated into French (see below!), this is the first time something I’ve written has appeared in another language (in its entirety). Career milestone unlocked!
Panthans Journal #339
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue two of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. Of course my write up can also be read at my website here.
National Capital Panthans #339.
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journal is a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
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 there with the 7th U.S. Cavalry 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 the flyer for the 2025 event:
Flyer for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Circle of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ 2025.
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 “Grandfather of Science Fiction and Fantasy” Commemorated for His 150th Birthday.
WILLCOX, AZ – The renowned “Master of Adventure” 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 Chiefand 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.
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’ll be doing a presentation on Tarzan as a Maciste-like 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.
Panthans Journal #332
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
Panthans Journal #335
“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
Burroughs Bulletin #109
“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.
Twainian Regeneration: Adaptations of the Works, Life, and Legacy of Mark Twain
This session is sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of America.
American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1935-1910) achieved lasting fame as Mark Twain, an identity that served as both his pen name and the persona he cultivated for the public. Twain’s writings and his distinctive character have dispersed across time and space, and the resulting Twainian tradition incorporates these elements in many ways.
Importantly, his works and iconography have long been the focus of adaptation. This process begins with the illustrations commissioned for the initial publication of his texts, Twain’s own attempts to rework and expand his stories, and contemporary caricatures of his person, and it continues with retellings of Twain’s stories, linked texts (such as prequels, midquels, and sequels) connected to his work, recastings and restagings of his tales, and new adventures for Twain himself. These adaptations, appropriations, and transformations of Twain appear in diverse forms and formats including anime series, artworks, cartoons, comics, films, games, historical fiction texts, home video releases, graphic novels, illustrations, memorials, musical theater productions, mysteries, performances, plays, radio broadcasts, science fiction works, sculptures, song lyrics, stamps, television programming, theme park attractions, and tourist sites.
Each adaptation regenerates aspects of Twain for new audiences revealing fresh insights into the reception of his works, life, and legacy. They also highlight both the timelessness of Twain as well as his timeliness for the present of each new text that his writings and his person have inspired. A resource guide for the session can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/TwainianRegenerationRG.
We seek proposals that engage with these texts in the belief that each adaptation regenerates aspects of Twain for new audiences revealing fresh insights into the reception of his works, life, and legacy and highlighting both the timelessness of Twain as well as his timeliness for the present of each new text that his writings and his person have inspired.
Friday and Saturday, October 17–18, 2025 (Eastern Time) Virtual conference (digiHPAC)
Deadline for proposals (academics & community members): September 1, 2025
ABOUT: The Harry Potter Academic Conference returns for its 14th annual gathering, which will be a fully online format known as digiHPAC. We are a non-profit, interdisciplinary conference that provides a forum for scholarly inquiry surrounding the Harry Potter literature and related cultural phenomenon. Open to scholars of any experience level, from established academic researchers to community members and students, this is a space curated to be inclusive and welcoming to all. The conference is held in person at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia in even-numbered years and online in odd-numbered years.
PRESENTATIONS: digiHPAC presentations are presented over Zoom, live or pre-recorded, in 30-minute windows (20 minutes for presentations and 10 minutes for Q&A). Panel discussions, teaching sessions, or other alternative proposals may request a longer presentation time. Topics can include, but are not limited to, close textual criticism, diversity and inclusion, psychology, philosophy, political science, and film, music, religious, and fandom studies. Past presentations have been accepted on the Harry Potter book and film series, the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the Potterverse in dialogue with other works. More information about HPAC can be found at harrypotterconference.com.
PROPOSALS: Please submit abstracts of 150–250 words describing your proposal at harrypotterconference.com/submit. Multiple abstracts may be submitted but will be evaluated individually. Submission deadline is September 1, 2025, and acceptance notifications will be sent by mid-September 2025. Any questions? Please email Patrick McCauley (mccauleyp@chc.edu) and copy harrypotterconference@gmail.com.
Please see our website for HPAC’s statement on our commitment to maintaining an LGBTQIA2S+ inclusive space in the fandom.
Cinema’s First Epics in Focus: Silent Epic Film from Literary Adaptation to Contemporary Epic Narratives
Though epic cinema is most commonly associated with the mid-century triumphs of Hollywood, its origins extend far deeper into the history of the medium, reaching back to the earliest days of film, long before the advent of sound. The first documented uses of the term “epic” in relation to film stem from the nascent Italian industry, where monumental productions like L’Odissea (1911, dir. Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Adolfo Padovan) not only astonished audiences with unprecedented scale but employed vast promotional efforts to assert a distinctly national— and as Maria Wyke and Pantelis Michelakis have noted, overtly nationalistic—cinematic identity. This movement towards epic during the silent era, often drawing inspiration from classical epic poetry and Christian narrative, has been understood to be important in the broader context of the nationalist fervor that swept through Europe in the years leading up to and following the First World War, yet has been curiously overlooked by film scholars, due in large part to the fragility of early film materials and inconsistent archival practices which have led to the loss of many key works. This neglect is particularly regrettable when we consider that the silent epic was central to the major artistic and ideological shifts that defined the early cinematic project, deeply enmeshed in the ontological debates over cinema’s status as a visual and rhythmic art—debates that were especially vibrant in early French and German cinema—and later in the drive toward naturalism that would come to dominate Hollywood, championed by figures such as André Bazin and Siegfried Kracauer. The continued presence of the epic, from the silent era through to the sound era, underscores its fundamental role in cinema’s dialogue with other arts as well as its longitudinal development, and in recognizing the centrality of early epics to the history of film, this edited volume seeks to reassert their study, not only as historical artifacts but as key contributions to an ever-evolving art of cinema.
Building on the conversations initiated during the Cinema’s First Epics in Focus conference (May 2025), we aim to build a comprehensive edited volume which gathers a selection of expanded papers from the event, complemented by new scholarly contributions that critically engage with the silent epic and its reverberations across film history, media theory, and related fields. We hope to move beyond the framework of film philology completely, opening up the field to more interdisciplinary approaches that consider aesthetics, temporality, material culture, and the shifting meanings of “epic” across media in interconnected relation. We believe this collection would fill a significant gap in the scholarship and could serve as a foundational reference for future work on both epic and early cinema as, to our knowledge, no existing volume addresses the silent epic across such a broad yet coherent set of methodologies and global perspectives. We are particularly interested in contributions that interrogate the intersections between epic form and silent cinema through innovative and open methodologies—whether from film and media studies, classical reception, visual culture, performance studies, or archival research. By foregrounding these diverse perspectives, the volume seeks to move beyond narrowly textual or genealogical approaches, and instead open up a wider discursive field through which the silent epic can be understood as a transmedial and transhistorical phenomenon.
While the volume retains the conference’s original focus on adaptation, national identity, cinematic scale, and the episteme of early film, the discussions brought forth by participants have revealed key thematic axes that we now wish to foreground:
Genre:
The volume seeks to examine the epic as a contested and evolving genre. Contributions may explore the tensions between prescriptive and descriptive models of genre, the shifting boundaries between epic and tragedy across media, and the historical and theoretical slippages in the definition of “epic” across literature, cinema, and other arts. We welcome work that revisits classical, romantic, and modern theories of genre in light of early cinematic practice.
Time and Temporality:
Essays may address the intersections between epic time and cinematic time, considering how film reconfigures notions of epic duration, rhythm, and repetition. We are particularly interested in studies that employ film theoretical methodologies—such as montage theory—to reframe literary epic, and vice versa.
Material Culture and Reception:
We encourage research on the material and institutional contexts of silent epic film: distribution networks, live musical accompaniment, promotional ephemera, newspaper reception, and archival challenges. To what extent do these material elements participate in constructing the epic as a form? How might production and reception conditions shape our understanding of the epic mode in film? How important was this surrounding context for the epic’s formation as a cinematic mode in the silent era?
The Silent Era:
What makes the silent period uniquely generative for the epic form? We invite proposals that attend to the technological, stylistic, social, economic and industrial specificities of the silent era, and their formative impact on the emergence of cinematic epic traditions.
Adaptation and Intermediality:
How are epic modes rearticulated through the visual and narrative strategies of early film? What happens to epic’s narrative authority, scale, or temporality when it migrates across media? How does medial transposition function for the epic—what is gained, lost, or transformed in the process of adaptation? We welcome contributions that consider the semiotic logics at work in each medium and how these shape the reception and reinterpretation of epic structures, characters, and themes.
Identity:
We welcome analyses of the epic as a cultural and political form, examining how epic narratives serve as mediators of national, social, or class identity. How does the epic negotiate questions of inclusion, exclusion, and transformation within diverse sociopolitical contexts, both in its production and reception?
In addition to these central themes, the volume remains open to broader considerations of silent epic film, including (but not limited to):
Representations of mythological, biblical, or historical themes;
National cinemas and epic aesthetics;
Theatricality, realism, and expressionism in silent epic form;
Gender, class, ethnicity, colonialism, and spectatorship in early epic cinema;
Archival recovery and the status of lost or restored epic films;
Scale and mise-en-scène in silent epic film;
Modern cinema and silent epic film;
Comparative studies of silent epic film, particularly on marginal or non-angloeuropean film.
We are currently preparing a formal book proposal to be submitted to a major academic press, with Blackwell and Routledge among our intended publishers.
Submission Details:
Please submit your complete text (maximum of 8000 words), along with a short biographical note (max. 150 words), to the editors by September 15th, 2025. Contributions may be written in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese, but accepted papers must be submitted with an English version for publication.
Contact:
Vítor Alves Silva (University of Porto) – up202204445@up.pt
João Paulo Guimarães (University of Porto, ILCML) – guimaraesjpc@gmail.com
Larson Powell (University of Missouri Kansas City, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Film – Emeritus) – powelllar@umkc.edu
We look forward to receiving your proposals and continuing the vibrant conversations sparked by the conference.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things I shared online from these past few weeks. Highlighting things from my personal collection of pop culture artifacts. Or artifacts I’m digging out of the archive. Just, general cool or unique things to show off.
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Lord of the Rings (Bakshi Version)
Decades before Peter Jackson amazed audiences with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Ralph Bakshi put out the rotoscoped masterpiece of The Lord of the Rings. I’m a huge Bakshi fan (Cool World FTW!), and I remember watching this movie when I was young and, frankly, being kind of terrified by it.
Personal copy of the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings film, signed by Peter S. Beagle and Steven E. Gordon.
Anywho, I met Bakshi once, at SDCC back in 2006, where he signed some of my other movies, but at the time I didn’t have a copy of LOTR. However, in the years since I’ve procured a copy and had it signed by two folks.
The first is Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, but who also did the screenplay of the Bakshi LOTR. He was a guest at a Glendale Vintage Paperback Show where he signed my DVD.
Next animator/cartoonist Steven E. Gordon sign my DVD. Gordon worked with Bakshi on a couple of projects (like Fire and Ice). He is a staple of the different comic book conventions in the LA area. He did a pinup girl commission for me one time – I’ll have to share that!
New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions
The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal films acquisitions.
Hercules and Hercules Unchained Blu-rays
Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1959) have two brand new HD/Blu-ray releases from Artus films! Check these bad boys out:
Hercules and Hercules Unchained Blu-rays from Artus Films.
As far as I can tell (looking at dvdcompare.net) there has not been an English/state-side Blu-ray release of either Hercules or Hercules Unchained yet (which is rather strange since they are iconic, important films in the peplum genre). So if you want a Blu-ray of these films, Artus seems to be the only release currently (but there is no English audio or subtitled on either). PeplumTV.com has a few musings about the possible print source of these releases, which can be read here.
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Fan2Fan Episodes
Bernie and Pete have some new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online.
Cyanide Constellations and Other Stories (Photo provided by Sara Tantlinger)
Sara’s new book can be pre-ordered from Dark Matter Ink – here is the book’s product page. The release date is October 21st, just in time for Halloween!
Vanya, Serah, Niya, and Guy are four soldiers from the future trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. Their adventures have taken them across the jungle primeval, and they are eventually captured by the Bone Tribe, a cult of barbarians that Niya was a part of, who engage in sexual rituals in order to hatch a Torridian Dragon. The Bone Tribe outfit Serah and Guy with cranial implants that link them to a network shared by the cybernetic dinosaurs unleashed by the Torridians. The four eventually make their escape from the Bone Tribe and part different ways: Vanya and Serah trek to one of humanity’s outposts while Niya and Guy attempt to hide the Torridian Dragon Eggs they absconded with.
Vanya #7 cover done by Sean Joyce. Image from the Bad Bug website.
Issue 07 Plot
Looks can the deceiving as it turns out the war being raged by the Torridians is not going well. There is a plague that has decimated the Torridian numbers, pushing General Tora into making a hasty decision to press on the attack, bolstered by their cybernetically outfitted dinosaurs.
At Terran Base Alpha, Serah, still receiving visions from her implant due to it being connected to a network of dinosaurs and savages, recovers in an infirmary. The alien Relo Quarr, a combat strategist, informs Vanya about the Torridian plague and the Torridian Dragons.
The Witch of the Bone Tribe.
Niya and Guy are apprehended by Elah and the Astral Guard who also have an interest in the Torridian Dragon eggs. Their efforts to retrieve the eggs that Niya had hidden are thwarted by the Witch of the Bone Tribe, who seeks to fulfill a prophecy that will allow her to ascend to becoming a powerful queen while an intergalactic war rages about.
Commentary
The transition from issue six to issue seven of Vanya is jarring to say the least as there are multiple jump cuts in the plot.
The first huge leap is the Torridian plague that has, as one of General Tora’s subordinates states, reduced their attacking force to a third of its size. All the prior issues of Vanya have shown the Torridians decimating the humans, and out of the blue, one page into issue seven, it turns out the Torridians are actually the ones being wiped out. It is a War of the Worlds type situation going on. It is not unwelcomed in the narrative at all, it just so suddenly pops up into the narrative.
The second leap involves Vanya and Serah who are at a titanic military base called Terran Base Alpha. In the prior issue, the last panel that featured Vanya and Serah show them walking through the jungle, passing by a giant alligator snapping the neck of a dinosaur, as they make their way to Outpost Nine. Issue seven fast forwards to Serah in an infirmary, with Vanya chatting with the newly introduced Quarr. It feels like there is a bit of retconning going on (Outpost Nine to Terran Base Alpha) and that a chunk of story is missing. Even if the rest of Vanya and Serah’s journey to the outpost was uneventful, there is a transition that feels missing.
Once readers can get their bearings straight on both of those narrative threads, issue seven begins to make the bigger picture of the Vanya comic as a whole much more cohesive. Motivations are made more overt on why characters are doing what they are doing, but also in the process, using the prophecy of the Witch from the Bone Tribe sets it up so that all the major players of the comic (Vanya and company, the Astral Guard, the Torridians, the Bone Tribe members, and so on) can begin to converge. The Vanya series started with a fun, albeit shotgun approach of tossing all these genre ingredients (time travel, space travel, dinosaurs, jungle women, robots, lots of sexploitation, etc.) into the story cauldron. Issue seven is doing the heavy lifting at glueing everything together.
As predicted in issue six, the Astral Guard are just bluster. Elah tries to project an aura of superiority over the captured Niya and Guy, but in her over confidence she is easily fooled. She and her Astral Guard (which are supposed to be the best of the best of the best, the very same elite school of soldiers Vanya was training to be) are led right into an exploding trap while looking for the Torridian Dragon eggs. The explosive trap that Niya placed in the prior issue going off does raise an eyebrow as Niya is also hurt in the process. Did she forget about the trap? Did she try to lead the Astral Guard to the trap so she and Guy could escape, and she underestimated its blast radius? Did the Bone Tribe Witch move the explosive, which is why everyone got hurt by it? Regardless, the high-tech Astral Guard, who are escorting two prisoners who they deem as deserters and probably untrustworthy, who *should* be hyperaware of everything around them in the hostile, primitive world, are easily dispatched by Niya’s (the Witch’s) trap. If it was not for the aforementioned plague, the Torridans could have laid waste to humanity as the Astral Guard have been lackluster at responding to their force.
The Bone Tribe Witch coming back as a major antagonist is a delight. She appears much more formidable, scheming, and that she has it together – composed. She has a trio of sabretooth tigers with her that are under her control, which does introduce an interesting alternative perspective to prior events in the story. Back in issue two there is a sabretooth tiger stalking Vanya and company, who reappears with companions in issue five and attacks the Bone Tribe, providing a deus ex machina for Vanya to escape. This initial take away may not actually have been the case. Instead, it could have been the Bone Tribe Witch from the beginning, using her network of sabretooth tigers to monitor the world (and thus end up keeping tabs on Vanya), and it was not a stalking cat that chose to attack the Bone Tribe in its pursuit of Vanya, but that it was actually at the bidding of the Bone Tribe Witch to usurp the Bone King. If this turns out to be the case, that is a major bravo reveal. And if not, well, The Bone Tribe Witch is still a commanding character, much more so than Elah or General Tora.
Relo Quarr and Vanya.
Finally, issue seven does introduce a new character, the alien Relo Quarr. Previously the interstellar conflict seemed to be humans vs. the Torridians, but Quarr mentions the Galactic Alliance, which places the Vanya series more in a Star Trek Federation vs. Klingons type setup. Quarr himself looks like a combination of a Lord of the Rings elf and a Turian from the Mass Effect series of games. In other words, he looks pretty cool. But not nearly as cool as the final panel of the issue that finally reveals a Torridian Dragon that looks straight up like a sinister Balrog from LOTR.
Covers and Swag Impressions
The Kickstarter for issue seven of Vanya was concluded in April of 2024, with physical orders shipping in October later that year. Cover-wise, there are eleven different covers, some only obtainable as an add on. The covers all have a mix-mash of non-nude covers, topless-only, all nude, holofoil, and metal variants. All told there are thirty different cover incarnations.
Sean Joyce returns from issue six to do the standard cover for issue seven, bringing his sword and sorcery style with him. There is a gothic quality to Joyce’s cover, as Vanya stands, spear in hand, against the night sky, with a full moon and silhouettes of pterodactyls fly about. Replace the volcano with a castle and the flying reptiles with bats, and this cover oozes gothic sentiments.
Personal copy of Vanya #7 cover done by Aleriia V.
The best cover of issue seven goes to Aleriia V who depicts the most vibrant Vanya yet. V’s Vanya goes all in on the jungle girl cheesecake style but executes them in a way that gives the cover art an oil painting-like quality. The cover shows Vanya bathing in a waterfall and makes it a great companion piece to the Bruno Sousa / Tommy Shelton cover for issue three which also shows a bathing Vanya.
Cosplay prints of Alaina Rose Lee as Vanya.
Vanya issue seven is the first time the series has branched out and done cosplay covers, with pinup model Alaina Rose Lee gracing a set of four covers available as an add-on set [NOTE: Alaina Rose Lee was featured in the inaugural issue of Bachelor Pad’s “Nylon Nightcap” series. My write up about that issue can be read here]. Other pictures from the Alaina/Vanya photoshoot became prints as part of the issue’s Kickstarter swag.
Vanya Tarot Card and Xenogeist advert.
The final bit of swag for issue seven (unless one contributed over $50 in which they also received a sticker set) is an advert for Bad Bug’s Xenogeist series and a Vanya tarot card. These tarot cards have been neat to receive, and hopefully Bad Bug makes an actual tarot deck available in the future. The tarot card for this issue is for The Hanged Man. It shows Vanya swinging on a vine, with a blue-scaled tyrannosaur behind here, and an exploding volcano in the distance. The art on this card does match the name of the card, with Vanya hanging from a vine (the Rider-Waite shows a man hanging upside down from a tree).
Conclusion
Despite having to orient oneself with some jarring jump cuts between issue six and this one, issue seven is a quintessential issue in the Vanya story. The introduction of the Torridian plague, the reveal of the Torridian Dragon, and the arrival of a competent villain (the Bone Tribe Witch) and beefer human allies (Quarr), it looks that the Vanya series is trying to rebalance itself. This is going to become critical because future issues are going to have to juggle a huge conflict with lots of moving pieces if the Witch’s prophecy comes to fruition. It is going to be exciting.
For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:
Standard cover of Vanya #6 by Sean Joyce. Image from Bad Bug website.
And next is my review of Vanya issue six which can be read here. I’m two issues away from being caught up on the currently published issue of Vanya (which is issue eight of the twelve issue series).
Double excited (along with this outburst of getting writing done) that my reviews of Vanya are starting to be reprinted! See next section.
Panthans Journal #338
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of issue one of the adult/neo-jungle girl series Vanya: The Lost Warrior. Of course my review can also be read at my website here.
Panthans Journal #338
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journal is a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos, and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn AT gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
Sincere appreciation to Laurence for the opportunity to have my work published in the journal.
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 there with the 7th U.S. Cavalry 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 the flyer for the 2025 event:
Flyer for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Circle of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ 2025.
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 “Grandfather of Science Fiction and Fantasy” Commemorated for His 150th Birthday.
WILLCOX, AZ – The renowned “Master of Adventure” 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 Chiefand 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.
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’ll be doing a presentation on Tarzan as a Maciste-like 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.
Panthans Journal #332
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.
Panthans Journal #335
“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.
“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.
Burroughs Bulletin #109
“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.
Peter Straub: New Critical Perspectives
In his introduction to John C. Tibbetts’s The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub (2016)—the only academic, book-length study of Straub’s fiction currently in print—Gary K. Wolfe argues that “[p]erhaps more than any author of his generation—Stephen King included—Straub extended the literary possibilities of horror fiction.” Despite Peter Straub’s legacy as a leading figure in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century horror fiction, and his influence on dark fiction writers ranging from Caitlín R. Kiernan to Stephen Graham Jones, there is currently a scarcity of scholarship on his oeuvre. Since his passing in September 2022, Straub’s work has seen increased attention. Penguin Random House is rereleasing most of his books in 2025 and Subterranean Press is scheduled to publish his unfinished final novel, Wreckage, later this year. Stephen King, who co-authored The Talisman (1984) and Black House (2001) with Straub, recently announced that he has completed the final instalment in their collaborative trilogy, and in 2022, Emma Straub published This Time Tomorrow, a celebrated novel about her father.
Mike Thorn is collaborating with the University Press of Mississippi to publish Peter Straub: New Critical Perspectives, which will offer the first multiple-authored academic anthology on Peter Straub. This volume will provide an array of critical perspectives on Straub’s robust body of work, addressing the author’s place in the Gothic and Weird traditions and examining his thematic fixations, including national and individual traumas; abusive mentors and authority figures; supernatural manifestations of material misdeeds; America’s mythologizing of serial killers; the fraught distinctions between “literary” and “commercial” fiction; the vexing instability of assumed “truths” and “realities”; and the infinitely complex nature of narrative as such—its formal malleability, its capacity for phenomenological and ontological rupture, its social functions, and its potentials and dangers. The collection will address Straub’s previously understudied pre-Gothic poetry and novels, Marriages and Under Venus, as well as his popularly celebrated and award-winning novels (including Ghost Story,Floating Dragon, and Koko), his collaborations with Stephen King (The Talisman and Black House) and his short stories and critical essays. The book will be geared towards a broad readership—from undergraduate and graduate university students, to interested general readers, to scholars and researchers seeking original insights into Straub, the American Gothic, and horror fiction writ large.
Mike Thorn seeks proposals of 200-250 words for essays (5000-7000 words) on or related to the topics listed below. He is especially interested in essays addressing multiple Straub-authored novels and stories, and in analyses of under-studied works, such as Straub’s poetry collections; Marriages; Under Venus; If You Could See Me Now; Mr. X; and In the Night Room. He might consider close readings of individual novels or stories in some cases, but he will give preference to proposals referencing multiple texts. Submit abstract submissions and queries to mikethorn@live.com.
Chapter Topics
Pre-Gothic Straub: On the Poetry and Early Literary Novels: Proposals should address Marriages and Under Venus; they might also draw on Straub’s poetry collections.
The Early American Gothic Sequence: Proposals should address Julia, If You Could See Me Now, and Ghost Story.
Narrative Unreliability and Genre-Slipperiness: On Straub’s “Blue Rose” Novels: Proposals should address Koko, Mystery, and The Throat; they might also consider The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories.
Straub Gets Weird: On Straub’s Engagements with H. P. Lovecraft and the Weird Tradition: Proposals should address the novels Mr. X and Floating Dragon. They might also consider A Dark Matter, The Talisman, or other novels or stories deemed Weird or Weird-adjacent.
American Serial Killer Mythologies: Proposals should address The Hellfire Club and A Special Place. They might also consider other novels or short stories depicting serial killers, including the “Blue Rose” novels (Koko, Mystery, and The Throat), Black House, Mr. X, “A Short Guide to the City” and “Bunny is Good Bread.”
The Metafictional Straub: Intertextuality and Narrative Self-Reflection: Proposals should address lost boy lost girl and In the Night Room. They might also address the preceding Timothy Underhill “Blue Rose” novels (Koko, Mystery, and The Throat) and other metafictional works, such as The Buffalo Hunter and The Hellfire Club.
Straub’s Short Fiction: Proposals should address at least one story or novella from each of the following collections: Houses Without Doors; Magic Terror; Interior Darkness.
Writers and Writing in Straub’s Fiction: Proposals should address The Hellfire Club and at least one of the Timothy Underhill novels (Koko, Mystery, The Throat, lost boy lost girl, and In the Night Room). They might also consider Ghost Story or other novels and stories representing writers and writing, including “The Juniper Tree” and “The Geezers.”
Gothic Trauma: Proposals should explore depictions of individual and collective trauma in Peter Straub’s fiction. They might address personal traumas in stories and novels like “The Juniper Tree”, “Bunny is Good Bread”, Julia, If You Could See Me Now, Ghost Story, Under Venus, The Hellfire Club,and A Dark Matter, and/or representations of PTSD and the Vietnam war in Koko, The Throat, and “The Ghost Village.”
Nonfictional Straub: Critical Commentary and Curations: Proposals should consider some of the author’s essays and introductions compiled in Sides, Conjunctions, Poe’s Children, “Beyond the Veil of Vision: Peter Straub and Anthony Discenza”, and American Fantastic Tales.
Straub’s Literary Legacy and Influence: Proposals should place Straub’s work in conversation with his literary ancestors. Proposals should examine one or more of Straub’s novels or stories in tandem with one or more works by Kelly Link, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Elizabeth Hand, Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Evenson, or another high-profile fiction writer who has publicly cited Straub’s influence.
Preliminary Publication timeline
Deadline for proposals: November 30, 2025 Deadline for papers: January 1, 2027 Editor feedback: March 1, 2027 Deadline for final, revised papers: July 1, 2027 Manuscript submitted to University Press of Mississippi: September 1, 2027 Tentatively scheduled publication date: September 2028
Editor Biography
Mike Thorn, PhD, is the author of Shelter for the Damned, Darkest Hours, and Peel Back and See. His scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in American Gothic Studies, The Oxford Handbook of Shirley Jackson, The Weird: A Companion, American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper, Thinking Horror: A Journal of Horror Philosophy, and elsewhere. He co-hosts the writing-themed Craftwork podcast with Miriam Richer.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things I shared online from these past few weeks. Highlighting things from my personal collection of pop culture artifacts. Or artifacts I’m digging out of the archive. Just, general cool or unique things to show off.
Autographs from the Archive
Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Venus Die-Trap
This is a hot off the press movie release. Venus Die-Trap (great name, and great movie art) was crowdfunded via Indiegogo last year I believe.
Personal copy of Venus Die-Trap signed by Bobby Canipe Jr.
I put some monies toward the campaign because the film is partially scored by Philippe Gerber, the mastermind of John 3:16 and also the composer of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast Theme (which can be found at Bandcamp). Congrats to Philippe for being part of the score, that it awesome!
Venue Die-Trap was published by SRS Media, but they don’t seem to have a product page for it yet. Here is the link to the Indiegogo campaign, which may allow purchases of copies. Check it out!
The Return of the Living Dead
July 3rd, 1984, 5:30 pm EST – the opening time stamp of The Return of the Living Dead, one of the most famous and influential zombie films out there. So, of course, when July 3rd rolls around, social media is aflutter with screen caps to celebrate the movie.
Personal copy of the glow in the dark collector’s edition of The Return of the Living Dead autographed by Clu Gulager.
But, I want to do one better. Here is my DVD version of The Return of the Living Dead, that has a Glow in the Dark paper slipcase (check out that Best Buy sticker still on it after all these years), and autographed by cult film actor icon Clu Gulagar, who I got to meet as a Monsterpalooza event way back in 2021. Punk as fuck
And, as a reminder, do check out my autographed copy of The Return of the Living Dead Part 2which I shared back in April.
Armageddon Dildos Autograph Collection
Back in the late 2000s one of my favorite bands, Armageddon Dildos, did a small tour in America with other industrial act Inertia. Their show was in Seattle, in the middle of the week, and it was fairly empty. I was kinda saddened to see that, but still super grateful a handful of other fans showed up to rock out.
Personal copy of Armageddon Dildos – Homicidal Dolls album.
Homicidal Dolls booklet signed by Uwe Kanka and Ulf Häusgen.
CD promo single for Armageddon Dildos’ Too Far to Suicide.
CD tray back insert signed by Armageddon Dildos.
Armageddon Dildos’ “Come Armageddon” single.
Armageddon Dildo’s EP “Fear”
Booklet/Insert for “Fear” signed by the Band.
Armageddon Dildos’ album “Lost” with cover signed by the band.
Armageddon Dildos’ “Morgengrauen” album.
Booklet of “Morgengrauen” signed by the band.
Armageddon Dildos’ album “Speed” – promo edition.
I brought a stack of inserts and CD booklets for the bands to sign, and they did! There was a pinball machine in the venue they used as a table and Uwe Kanka and Ulf Häusgen signed all my stuff. I was so excited! During the show, Kanka jumped off the stage to mingle with the audience and I got a big hug.
I’ve been sharing my autographed treasures on Reddit and BluSky this past week, but see above gallery, click through it to see all the autographed music I got from that concert.
News from Friends
Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Fan2Fan Episodes
Bernie and Pete have some new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online.
Vanya and Serah are two Time Guards trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. While on a mission to retrieve a supply cache, the duo, along with a soldier named Guy, are captured by Niya, another Time Guard and a member of the Bone Tribe. They are made to partake in a ritual to summon a Torridian Dragon. Elsewhere the Torridians begin their bombardment of human outposts in the jungle primeval.
Standard cover of Vanya #6 by Sean Joyce. Image from Bad Bug website.
Issue 06 Plot
Having escaped both the Bone Tribe and the family of saber-tooth tigers, Vanya, Serah, and Guy find themselves in an uneasy truce with Niya. Serah begins to have visions of the Torridian Dragon calling out to her. Serah, Guy, and Niya share a brain-connection due to the implanted chips in their temples (Vanya was not outfitted with one during their encounter with the Bone Tribe). The group decide to split up: Guy and Niya to hide the Torridian Dragon eggs they absconded with while Serah and Vanya follow a river to Outpost Nine that is purported to be heavily fortified.
Niya and Vanya.
Meanwhile Geneal Tora of the Torridians decide to free the captive humans, which include Captain Jax and Lucas, who are made to leave Base T and cross a field. However, their freedom is a ruse for all the humans are dispatched by a pack of raptors outfitted with saw blade arms, spiked grappling hooks, flamethrowers, and razor-sharp spider-esque legs.
The ill-fated soldiers are not the only ones to encounter cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs as Vanya and Serah are attacked by a Plesiosaur that has a blaster mounted on its tail. While Vanya and Serah are dealing with their unexpected encounter, Niya and Guy cross paths with a new faction making their presence known.
Commentary
Two words: Robo Dinosaurs. Briefly introduced in issue five (when the Bone King throws a robotic raptor head at Vanya’s feet, and the final panel showing General Tora looking at a cybernetic T-Rex), issue six of Vanya is all about capitalizing on the robotic dinosaurs and how they truly ruthless they are. Reed’s death in issue three when he was chomped in half by a T-rex has nothing on a raptor with buzzsaw arms decapitating human soldiers. The scene the modified raptors appear in is an homage to/recreation of the raptor/tall grass scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). It is as if Vanya asked the question “how can we top that scene from the second Jurassic Park movie?” and they went all in for it.
Robo Raptors in the tall grass in Vanya #6.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park tall grass/raptor scene.
The robot-dinosaur extravaganza continues when Vanya and Serah encounter a Plesiosaur while they are fishing. Vanya charges at the dinosaur, slicing its gun-tail off, before being dragged underwater due to her embedding her knife in its hide. Vanya does not do the killing blow on the Plesiosaur as a non-robotic Spinosaurus shows up and chomps its head off, showing a trail of blood but also mechanical components. It is an interesting scene in that a natural dinosaur is able to dispatch the cybernetically enhanced dinosaur, and rather easily at that. One of the core themes of Vanya has been the traditional fight of man vs. nature (and now trickling in some man vs. machine), but here is a sequence of nature vs. machine. Giving a long enough time, nature will always win.
The mysterious Astral Guard mark their formal appearance on the final page, possibility catching Guy and Niya in the act of hiding the Torridian Dragon eggs. Emerging from a purple portal, a squadron of armored soldiers pour through, wielding rifles, demanding Niya and Guy’s surrender. It is just bluster? The Astral Guard are supposed to be the best of the best, it is what the Time Guards eventually ascend to after completing their training in the prehistoric past. They are the ones, per the opening crawl back in issue one, who are supposed to lead and safeguard humanity. However, the Torridians dominating the war front against the humans, sending them in a retreat to the past, and Elah’s ineffectual response to the alien threat in issue five convey that the Astral Guard may not be as powerful as they project themselves to be. There’s plenty of Robo Dinosaurs waiting for them to prove their mettle against.
The Astral Guard are not the only ones with a public image crisis to overcome, but General Tora herself is already showing cracks in how she operates. Extremely cruel (as demonstrated by freeing the humans into the raptor field), Tora is also coming across as arrogant but also prideful as she is dismissive of keeping her emperor abreast of her invasion. She’s akin to Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars and her attitude will probably lead to her to underestimate Vanya and the other humans (when they finally cross paths).
Covers and Swag Impressions
From the Kickstarter campaign page for Vanya #06, which concluded August 2023, there looks to be a total of nine different covers for the issue, which each cover being available in non-nude and nude versions, with each of those breaking down in normal, holofoil, and metal editions, for a grand total of fifty-four different covers.
Personal copy of Vanya #6 with nude cover by Alex Monik.
The best cover of the issue six bunch goes to Alex Monik. This is a fantastic cover that depicts and incredible Vanya and an equally incredible jungle scene. The tree branches that Vanya walks across are covered in grass and flowers, with vines hanging underneath. It is this great detail that really sells the fantastique nature of the jungle adventure genre. Vanya proper still looks attractive, but she is covered in tiny scars and smudges of dirt. This iteration of Vanya moves away from the cheesecake approach (but still retains aspects of it) and goes into a more realistic interpretation of a warrior woman who has had to survive in the primeval for months. Her giant, blooded stone-tipped spear brings forth the spear and fang genre trappings. Overall, this cover has a store to tell in one image, and it does it well.
Recognition needs to go to Sean Joyce, the artist behind the standard cover of Vanya #06 (see top of article). Joyce is an old guard artist whose done artwork for classic genre icons such as Conan the Barbarian. Joyce’s cover, with its mutated, painted style, recalls the old days of TTRPG cover art, the poster art for One Million Years B.C. (1966), and even a little of the trading cards/comic series of Dinosaurs Attack!. Joyce is a master of classic fantasy art and their cover art for this issue of Vanya demonstrates this.
Four Robosaur trading cards by Vascio Giaochini and a Tarot Card by Gus Mauk.
As far as swag, issue six of Vanya has a set of four Robosaur trading cards and a new Tarot card. The Robosaur art is done by Vasco Gioachini and each card dhows a different dinosaur outfitted with robotic attachments. These dinos would make great enemies in a Turok game. The Tarot card is for Major Arcana Temperance card and is illustrated by Gus Mauk. The card depicts Vanya playing with a dagger atop a dino skull. Theme and action-wise, the art on the Vanya Temperance card is not in the same realm as a traditional Temperance card (a woman pouring liquid from one container into another), so its derived meaning is going to be open to some interesting interpretations.
Conclusion
With issue six, Vanya looks to finally have placed all its playing pieces on the game board: Vanya and company, the Torridians, the Astral Guard, and of course, the Robo Dinosaurs. The comic also seems to have found a better balance of sex scenes, action sequences, and exposition panels. The comic needs to be able to juggle these three pillars, especially as it is trying to tell the story of time travelling jungle women fighting aliens and robot dinosaurs. It is high concept, and perhaps a little over the top, but Vanya has found its footing to sell its setup. Come for the premise, but stay for the actual intrigue as Vanya navigates both intergalactic and temporal adversaries, which just so happens to include kick ass raptors with buzzsaw arms.
For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:
