News Roundup 2025-10-05
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 #341Since 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 #340Issue #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 #341Paraphrased 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 RecapBelow is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.
Panthans Journal #332Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.
Panthans Journal #333Comic 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.
Panthans Journal #338“She’s Got the Killer Instinct: Vanya Issue 01” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #338.
National Capital Panthans #339.“Hunter – Lover – Killer: Vanya 02” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #339.
National Capital Panthans Journal #340“Thunder in God’s Country: Interview with Jeffrey Mariotte” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #340.
National Capital Panthans Journal #341“Jungle Romps and T-Rex Chomps: Vanya 03″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #341.
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 TidbitsSome 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 ArchiveHere are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.
Final ExamFinal 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 DevilMore 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 AcquisitionsThe ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal films acquisitions.
William Castle peplaOn 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 filmsNo 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 NorsemanI 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 vinylBack 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 FriendsCool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.
New Fan2Fan EpisodesBernie 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):
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssAnd then another episode on the Tremors franchise proper:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssAnd an episode on the cult vanity project film, GetEven:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssThen this episode on Jaws knock offs and other sharksploitation fare:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssFollowed by an episode devoted to the UK Video Nasties of the early 80s:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssThe duo also spend two episodes interviewing Jim Carl, the Senior Director of Programming at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. First part:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssAnd part two:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssNext Pete and Bernie take a dive into the 2023 comedy-horror film Totally Killer:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssFollowed by another comedy-horror, You Might Be the Killer:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssAnd then kick off October, the month of horror films, they talk about 1980’s Hospital Massacre:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssFollowed by the found footage film Frogman:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssThen Mr. Crockett:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssAnd finally, bringing us current, the Italian horror film, Night Killer:
https://feeds.libsyn.com/80728/rssOlder episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.
Michele Appearance on Mount Olympus VidcastHercules 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!
