Hercules and Xena Banner Exchange
We here at Garden of the Gods Publishing* are very proud to bring to you these premiere and exclusive issues of the Unofficial Magazines! Well.... their covers anyway! We all love Xena and she has her own Official scrolls, um, magazine, but, should she be the only one to have all the glory? Is she the only one who makes her mark on our lives and on our society? No! We bring you the rest! We of Garden of the Gods Publishing have set forth on a path of great challenge to bring to you, the inhabitants of The Known World, those other people that have such great influence on all of our lives! BUT! We don't stop there! Oh, no! For there are those who influence your lives even more than mere mortals! That's right folks! WE DO GODS!
The Garden Of The Gods Publishing Company, Inc.
One Muse's Palatial Garden
Mt. Olympus, Thessaly, Greece 90210
Thalia, Muse of comedy, Chairman
Momus, god of laughter, President
The contents of these scrolls, er, magazines may not be reproduced in whole or part, unless expressly authorized in writing by the Publisher on pain of a visitation by Nemesis, avenging goddess of the gods.
Inscribed, er, printed in Greece.
Send your ideas to Arachne at [email protected]!
*Please note: Garden of the Gods Publishing is
a fictional company.
Arachne is just a fan having for fun folks! But the offer for
a free mag cover is real!
Ok, enough with the funny stuff, here's the real story behind it all...
Many of you may be aware of, or even own, the Official Xena: Warrior Princess Magazines produced by Topps Publishing. I myself collect them as well as the Topps Xena comic books.
However, for me, being a voracious fan of both the Xena:WP and Hercules:TLJ shows, just one magazine was not enough! I wanted more! I thought there should be at least a Hercules magazine too!
Unfortunately, the powers-that-be decree that there is not enough consumer interest to support other magazines.
So I decided to do something about it! Well... sorta.
It all started innocently enough - I had gotten my hands on some really primo graphics software and was itching for a meaty project to try it out on. And then it struck me - being a newly fledged fan club member, I would do a Joxer: The Mighty magazine! Well... sorta. I didn't have the connections nor the time to make a full fledged magazine but I wasn't gonna let that stop me from having a little fun, not to mention getting a little firsthand experience learning to use that new software! So I decided to make a magazine cover!
I used the first issue of the Xena magazine as my template for the design, but I used the Master of Mayhem as the subject of honor. And, instead of it being about the actor and the television show, I did it from the angle that Joxer was a real person and the magazine was set in the Herc/Xenaverse. AND, the cover captions were all done with a humorous slant.
Well, I just had a blast doing that magazine cover!
Then, several months later, I hooked up with a Michael Hurst email list. (He plays Iolaus, Herc's sidekick, for those of you who might be mythologically impaired. <g>) I decided to do a cover for the Golden Hunter, too. I held a little contest of sorts with the list members, where everyone sent in their ideas for the cover captions and the 'winners' relieved copies of the finished cover to keep.
Everyone involved had the best time! The list members had fun thinking up captions and I had fun putting it all together! Then, when it was done, one of the members of the list posted it on their web site so that everyone could see the finished product.
Then, I was able to attend the Creation Entertainment Hercules and Xena convention in Santa Monica in January 1999 and I decided that I wanted to do covers for all of the stars that would be attending. After all, think about it - I would be able to give them a copy of their very own "magazine"! I was sure they would get a kick out of it! And I had something truly unique for their autographs!
However, time would not allow - I had only two weeks to pull them together and there were just too many guests to do in that short of time. But I chose three to do: Hercules, Cupid, and Strife.
I advertised for caption ideas on various email lists and they really came through for me! With their wonderful and funny captions I somehow managed to slap all three covers together in record time! AND, not only was I able to hand copies of the covers to Karl (Cupid/Caesar) Urban and Joel (Strife) Toebeck when I went through the autographing gauntlet, but I had the most amazing luck to go backstage and hand Kevin Sorbo his in person! Way kewl! (BTW - He agreed with me that he should have his own magazine! <g>)
Well that was it for me... I was hooked! I wanted to do covers for more Hercules and Xena characters! They each have their own fan following and I think they all deserve to be honored! Um... at least I hope that they would feel that it was an honor... that's what I intended it to be! <g>
And, thus, was Arachne's Cave website born - the home of "Garden of the Gods Publishing" - the site for all of the Unofficial Magazines! Well... their covers anyway!
I make making every effort I can to get these to the actors,
going through fan clubs, etc. As I have already mentioned, I personally
handed the Herc, Cupid, and Strife covers to the actors. Kevin
Sorbo even sent me a letter thanking me for it and telling me
that he intended to download and print the other covers 'downunder'!
Bruce "Autolycus" Campbell emailed me personally, asking
me to mail him his cover! Joel "Strife" Tobeck asked
for copies that he could autograph and sell to charity! Think
how exciting it would be to know that the actors actually read
your captions! These covers give us, as fans, a chance to give
back to the actors a little of the immense pleasure that they
have given to us all over the years. And the contest winners also
have the extra enjoyment of knowing that the covers I send to
the actors all have the caption credits with their email addy's
on the back.
This whole project has just been such a joy and labor of love
for me. I'd like to dedicate each and every magazine cover to
the television shows and to the many talented actors that have
brought, and continue to bring, such pleasure into the homes and
lives of us, their fans. May the gods bless them all!
DISCLAIMER: The content of this website is not intended to infringe upon the rights of STUDIOS USA TELEVISION, MCA TELEVISION LIMITED/MCA PUBLISHING RIGHTS, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, INC., RENAISSANCE PICTURES, Robert Tapert, John Schulian, REAL ENTERTAINMENT, RANDOM HOUSE BOULEVARD BOOKS, CREATION ENTERTAINMENT, the TOPPS COMPANY, INC., or any of their legal representatives and/or agents. No Copyright infringement is intended. (Whew! <wipes forehead> Hope that does the job!)