Personal / Website NewsVanya Issue Four Review

A new comic book review is up at my website! My deep dive into the Neo-Jungle girl series Vanya continues with issue four.

Standard non-nude cover of Vanya issue 4 by Zoran Jovicic. Image from the Bad Buy website.

My review for this issue can be read right here. The PDF version of issue eight was released on the 11th, so I am halfway there to catching up!

Scholars from the Edge of Time – Clash of the Titans (1981)

The June episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is now online!

Personal copy of the Clash of the Titans ’81, Clash of the Titan 2010, and Wrath of the Titans 3 Movie Blu-ray set.

Just in time for Ray Harryhausen’s birthday, on this episode Michele and I talk about the original 1981 Clash of the Titans, the last film Harryhausen did before he retired. The vidcast can be watched on Youtube. For July we will be talking about the 2010 remake and in August we will be discussing Wrath of the Titans. So, stay tuned!

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.

Here is the registration from:

Registration Form for the 2025 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ (v9)Download

Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well. I’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.

Original can be read here.

Merry Creepsmas – The Red Book

“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.

Get Your War On

I saw some discourse on BlueSky about the post 9/11 comic strip Get Your War On and how relevant it is to the ongoing situation between the US bombing Iran.

A perfect time (and extremely relevant time) to dig out my copy of Get Your War On.

Personal copy of Get Your War On.

I bought mine way back in the 2000s. I must have ordered it directly from the author David Rees because my edition is autographed.

Get Your War On signed by David Rees.

I also have a copy of his My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable, and if I can find that, I’ll give that a share.

The GYWO comic is long out of print, but good news: you don’t need to own a copy to read it, it’s all online, archived at Rees’ website. Check it out here and then consider doing a compare and contrast of our (geo)political climate then and now. War mongers gonna war monger.

New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions

The ever growing peplum research libraries grows with these recent sword and sandal films having been acquired.

Alexander 4K/Blu-ray

Alexander (2004) is an early entry in the neo-peplum revival that began with Gladiator. Apparently there’s a zillion different cuts of this film as Oliver Stone went all Ridley Scott a’la Blade Runner style on his movie.

Personal copy of Alexander on 4K. Upside down poster tube to the left.

I had not actually seen Alexander so when Shout Factory announced a nice 4K version of it I hopped right on the pre-order bandwagon. This release just came out in early June, and since I pre-ordered it I got a schnazzy poster too. Excited to watch!

Risen

Risen is a 2016 biblical peplum directed by Kevin Reynolds (who is responsible for some of the finest works of Kevin Costner). Another film I had not seen, but I saw it on Amazon for super cheap, so decided to pick it up. I remember Joseph Fiennes from The Rock version of Hercules, so it will be nice to see him in another sword and sandal flick.

Personal 4K copy of Risen.

While I have not seen this film, biblical film scholar Matt Page has! He covered this film at his Bible Films Blog back in the day, so check out his write up here.

Talos Statue

This isn’t a new acquisition as I’ve had it in my collection since the 2000s, but with Ray Harryhausen’s birthday happening on 6/29, I’ve gotta share it: my giant Talos statue.

Talos Statue.

I got this from Scarecrow Video way back in the day and it is just epically cool.

Jason and the Argonauts Laserdisc

Now this is a recent acquisition. Going movie and music shopping at Zia Records during my birthday weekend, I happened across the Criterion Collection laserdisc edition of Jason and the Argonauts for a whole 99 cents. I had to have it!

Personal copy of the Criterion Collection Laserdisc edition of Jason and the Argonauts.

The essay on the back of the Laserdisc by Bruce Eder can be read on the Criterion Collection website. It is nice the company makes their old essays available!

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 and Travis have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast online at YouTube. They dive into the next few episodes of Lost.

Here is their discussion of episode 25:

New episodes drop every Friday on YouTube. Keep an eye on their YouTube channel, or give them a follow on Bluesky.

New Fan2Fan Episodes

Bernie and Pete have some new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online.

First up is an interview with Joshua Pruett who talks about writing the movie Witch Hunter (2024).

https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rss

Next they have a part one of an interview with Nashville horror host Dr. Gangrene.

https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rss

Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.

Reverberate: A Magazine of Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs expert and scholar Scott Tracy Griffin has started a new publication called Reverberate: A Magazine of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The magazine is hot off the presses, having debuted at the Northwest Coast Mangani Gathering VII at the end of May/Beginning of June. One hundred copies of the magazine were numbered and signed by authors Griffin and Gary A. Buckingham. I, of course, ordered a copy:

Personal copy of RevERBerate issue 01.Signature page of RevERBerate #01. It has Gary A. Buckingham and Scott Tracy Griffin.

Here is the press release for the magazine’s launch with information on how to procure a copy:

A new magazine spotlighting the work of The Master of Adventure has entered the print arena: Reverberate: A Magazine of Edgar Rice Burroughs is a 48-page magazine printed on high-quality, glossy pages, perfect-bound with cardstock covers. 

“We want to explore Edgar Rice Burroughs’ work, life, and legacy, and its impact in media including art, comics, film, television, stage, radio, periodicals, and, of course, his original novels,” explains Reverberate editor Scott Tracy Griffin. “The Burroughs community isn’t wholly served in the periodicals medium and we believe the time ideal to deliver a new outlook.”

Reverberate enjoyed a successful launch at the May 2025 NCM VII Gathering of literary devotees and fans in Roseville, California. The debut issue showcases acclaimed artist Benito Gallego, whose lush portfolio boasts the comic-strip adventures of Tarzan and The Outlaw of Torn; profiles fireman-turned-silent-film-actor Gene Pollar, who starred as the iconic ape man in The Revenge of Tarzan (1920); and investigates the early African explorers whose feats influenced Burroughs’ writing.

The magazine also delves into the books of author Gary A. Buckingham, who helmed three Tarzan projects, with his fourth in development. Notes Buckingham, “Burroughs created worlds of wonder, in which I’ve been fortunate to immerse my tales of his savage ape man.”

The first 100 issues are numbered and signed by both writers, and feature interior illustrations by artist Dan Parsons.

Says Griffin, already well-known to Burroughs’ enthusiasts as the author of Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration (2012) and Tarzan on Film (2016), “We’re offering Reverberate on an introductory basis at $10, plus $5 domestic postage. Priority mail is $14. Foreign customers, please contact us with your address and we will get a postage quote. The U.S. does not offer ground shipping beyond its borders, so all foreign postage, even Canadian, is via airmail.” 

To learn more and to purchase copies, please contact Scott Tracy Griffin at scotttracygriffin@gmail.com, or Gary A. Buckingham at gbucking3@gmail.com.

Hal C. F. Astell Webstore

Author, editor, con-runner (he’s behind CoKoCon), and all around jack of all trades guy Hal C. F. Astell has opened up a web store for all of his and Apocalypse Later books. Check it out and consider plucking up a book or two.