Airship27

FIRST PULP OF 2024!

  • On 12 Jan | '2024

Greetings Loyal Airmen, the Air Chief is terribly excited to let you know we’ve just released our first Airship 27 title for 2024. Oh yeah. Read on, McDuff! (See we had Shakespear in school too.)

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION presents –

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Airship 27 is so proud to announce the release of “JEZEBEL JOHNSTON – CAPTAIN JOHNSTON” the 9th book in the Pirate Queen saga by Pulp Grandmaster Nancy Hansen. In this chapter, her daring Jezebel finally gets her own ship and crew and begins to start the next and most exciting stage of her pirate career. Historically accurate in every detail, these books are amazing reads. As ever our own Art Director Rob Davis provided all the black and white interior illustrations, (above middle) while Canadian artist Ted Hammond the absolutely gorgeous cover (above left). If it looks even a wee bit familiar, that’s only because way back when, Ted did the cover to Volume 4 “MOURNING STAR” for us and the Air Chief has always loved it. Enough so that we went back to Ted and asked if he’d like to do a second for us and he delivered. Note, this book is dedicated to his daughter, Stephanie, who passed away in 2023. As ever it is available now at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Again, thanks for your continued support Loyal Airmen.

LUKE COMBS CDS

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The Air Chief has been a huge Luke Combs fan for several years now. We believe he’s one of the best Country Western singers/songwriters working today and love all of his music. Recently, we thought we’d use some of Santa presented Amazon cards and buy Luke’s two latest CDs, “Growing Up” and “Getting Old.” When ordering them on-line, we thought it strange that the cover photos looked very, very much alike. It wasn’t until the CDs arrived yesterday that we realized…putting them side by side, they formed on continuous image. (See above.) Someone in his group is a very creative designer. We can’t wait to listen to them. So, what kind of music do you Loyal Airmen enjoy?

MEET MAXI & ZUKO

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Our son Kevin and his wife Melanie love bulldogs and ever since they married, they’ve always had one. Whereas several years back to acquired a brother a sister, Maxi and Zuko. A few days ago he sent along this pix of them which the Air Chief found adorable and wanted to share with all of you. Dogs are such beautiful and loving creatures.

Alright Loyal Airmen, we’ll end this short Flight Log here. Things have been hopping around the old Airship 27 Hangar with lots of great new story submissions coming our way. And after launching Nancy’s new Jezebel Johnston title, you can expect to several others popping up soon enough. It’s looking like 2024 is going to be a busy year. So stay with us.

Ron – Over & Out!

WELCOME 2024

  • On 5 Jan | '2024

Greetings Loyal Airmen and welcome to our first Flight Log of 2024. Have a few updates as ever to share with all of you, so let’s get cracking.

THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2

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After finally launching the second Volume of Boston Bombers last year (color cover above), artist Rob Davis hasn’t wasted any time getting to work on the second issue of this mini-series we are doing via his Redbud Studio. That’s a new page for issue # 3 (above right). Not exactly sure how many issues this volume will run. With Rob hard a work illustrating issue # 2, we wrapped writing issue # 3 about a month ago. The plan, the series will take as many issues as is needed to tell the story. Guess you could say the Air Chief believes each story, like water, finds its only perfect level. Stay tuned.

BROTHER BONES GRAPHIC NOVEL

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One of the many projects the Air Chief is excited about in 2024 is the new Brother Bones graphic novel which will for the first time detail his origin. Artist pal Joe Arnold, who recently wrapped up the second issue of Mike Baron’s amazing “Thin Blue Line” is the driving force behind this push to get Bones out there. He’ll be handling the art chores (that’s his poster above middle) while our amigo, Todd Jones, will be assuming the role of Associate Editor on the project. The story will be broken up ala a mini-series and get the Kickstarter Treatment. We’ll provide further information as it starts to happen. Above upper left is faux-cover done up by Kenneth Stock, the Bones fan who actually cast that Brother Bones bronze figure in the picture (above right).

CHIVALRY INC.

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In last week’s entry we told you how artist Javier Lugo was in the process of illustrating the first issue of “Chivalry, Inc.” a new series we are doing for Silverline Comics. Now the word “new” is by no means accurate in regards to the age of this concept. Much like my thirty years of waiting to get “Satan’s Ways” realized this was another one of those projects that we’ve tried to get made for decades. Along the way several truly talented artist tried their hands of Valerie Chevalier and her supporting cast, to include ex-cop Donat Richer and Catholic priest Father Dumont. Sadly, as wonderful as their art was (a small sampling shown above) for whatever reasons, these folks simply could not stick the project and so the Chivalry folder kept adding lots of great new art, but no comic. And now, with all fingers tightly crossed, that’s all about to change. Meanwhile, we thought it would be fun to open that folder and share some of that marvelous art with all you Loyal Airmen.

A JOHN CARTER NEW YEARS

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On New Year’s Eve, Valerie and there Air Chief watched  the movie “John Carter” again. Every time we do, we are transported to that time when we were young and first discovered Burroughs and John Carter Tars Tarkas and the beautiful Dejah Thoris.  It was a magic time in our life and that movie allows us to relive it. That’s movie magic.

And there you have our first Flight Log of the New Year Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

Ron – Over & Lout!

HERE COMES 2024!

  • On 29 Dec | '2023

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Greetings Loyal Airmen, we hope all of you had a truly wonderful Christmas. We are writing the start of this Flight Log the day after and wanted to share a few little bits with all of you. As ever we received lots of beautiful, loving Christmas cards whereas the one that made us laugh aloud arrived from son Scott, which you see above left. Too funny Scott. And if you’re at all curious as to what Santa brought the Air Chief, there were lots of great Amazon gift cards which we appreciate so much, being the avid reader we are. Then on opening gifts under the tree there indeed were several fun surprises like the Lainey Wilson CD Album, “Bell Bottom Country.” Her song, “Heart Like a Truck” is one of our favorite the past few months. Then we received a new Funko Pop, this one of Spike Spiegel from the classic anime series “Cowboy Bebob.” While over the years the Air Chief has contributed a half dozen comic strips to pal Warren Montgomery’s comic series, “Fun Adventure Comics.” Well, Warren collected all of them in one huge omnibus and someone in the family saw it on or Amazon wish list. Oh yeah. Way to go Santa. We hope all you Loyal Airmen also received some wonderful surprises as well.

CHIVALRY INC.

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We are thrilled to inform you that Florida based artist Javier Lugo has begun work in earnest on “Chivalry Inc.” This is another one of those projects we created decades ago about a female private eye that for one reason or another simply could not get off the ground, though several super talented artists worked with us on it in the past. Now Javier is on board as is Silverline Comics which will be published the mini-series. Above is the symbol for Valerie Chevalier’s agency, Chivalry Inc. “For People in Need.” A sketch of Valerie and the roughs of pg # 1 by Javier. Yes, Loyal Airmen, we are really excited about this one. Look out 2024, here comes Chivalry!

RADIO RITA RETURNS!!

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Just received the final story for “The Adventures of Radio Rita – Vol 2.” Hot dog!! Ready for new flying adventures with the redheaded ace of Hangar 27? Oh yeah. This volume’s writer are Curtis Fernlund, Gene Moyers, Glen Held and Samantha Lienhard. As ever, this will be one of many great new titles we have coming your way in 2024 from Airship 27 Production. Stay tuned.

And that’s a wrap for this, the last week of 2023, Loyal Airmen. As always, thanks for stopping by weekly. We truly appreciated all your support and wish you and all your loved ones a truly Happy New Year.

A JOHN CARTER NEW YEARS!

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Ron – Over & Out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS LOYAL AIRMEN

  • On 22 Dec | '2023

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Greetings Loyal Airmen, as the wonderful image above depicts, the special star has appeared in the heavens and soon our savior will arrive. In this last week of Advent we pray for all of you with the courage to put aside the hustle and bustle of this commercial world we live in and reflect on the true meaning of this time. Get your house in order, surround yourselves with the people you and let’s get this journey to Bethlehem on the road.

CRIMSON NUN

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Artist Jesse Thomas is keeping busy with more pages of our Crimson Nun project finished. Here are the pencils and inks for Pg # 17. The action is really starting to heat up here.  Hopefully issue # 1 will be out early in 2024. We’ve a truly awesome Fred Lang cover in the files and the book will be published by Ben Dunn’s Antarctic Press. Stay tuned.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION

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With the year coming to a speedy close, we are thrilled to announce the last title from Airship 27 Production for 2023 will be “Buck Jones in the 21st Century” by Darryle Purcell. This is a terrific, fun fantasy adventure where the famous western stars of the early 40s, Buck Jones, is brought into the 1970s by government agents, via a secret time machine, and he aids them fight communist spies operating out of the Arizona desert. It really is a wild romp and Purcell, an Army Vietnam veteran, former Hollywood animator and self-publisher, provided all the art for the book, from his dandy cover above left and all the black and white interior illustrations. Rob Davis designed it all and it is now available at Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. As ever, Loyal Airmen, thanks so much for your continued support.

BOSTON BOMBERS

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After we wrapped up our new I.V. Frost story last week for Joe Gentile’s Moonstone Pulps, it was back to work on script # 3 for the second volume adventures of The Boston Bombers, which we are doing with artist Rob Davis. And we finished that two days ago. Above are years old sketches of some of the Bombers cast done by artist Robin Ator. Sadly Robin only ever worked on these preliminary pieces and never got to illustrate the comics. But having these wonderful pictures in our files, we thought you Loyal Airmen might enjoy seeing them.

JIM & TONIK

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A week ago or so, we made it known that “Jin & Tonik” co-creator and artist, Cesar Feliciano would be taking over the coloring chores for that project.  Above to the left above is Pg 18 of issue # 1 as colored by Matt Webb. Matt’s a pro colorist and it’s obvious. On the right above is that same page only now colored by Cesar. Keeping in mind, this is new to Cesar, we were blown away. He’s totally got the knack for this and we are confident the finished book is going to look fantastic. We’ll keep you posted.

FINALLY – HE HAS COME!

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And finally in just two days we will have come to the end of our Advent journey to that small stable in the little town of Bethlehem where a baby boy was born to Mary & Joseph. Our God and Savior, come in human form, helpless and vulnerable, so that he might save us from our sins and lead us back to our heavenly. It is our wish, Valerie and the Air Chief, that all you Loyal Airmen have the most beautiful, loving, Merry Christmas. God bless you all,

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, as Christmas draws every nearer, we hope you are enjoying the season and avoiding the frantic madness that is the material end of the madness. Which is why the Air Chief thought we’d kick off this week’s Flight Log with a TV recommendation.

THE ENGLISH GAME

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Valerie loves sports stories and is always trying to find sports themed movies. She recently discovered the 6 part British series “The English Game” on Netflix. It is based in part on the history of soccer in England and how it originated among the high class gentry and ultimately was accepted by the working class. Though the series plays fast and loose with history (on so many things) the writing in regards to characters, human drama and sub-plots is powerfully well done. So if you are looking for a really feel-good experience this Christmas, both us highly recommend, “The English Game.”

MR. JIGSAW CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!
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Quick reminder, after writing Jiggy’s adventures for over 40 yrs, artist Gary Kato and the Air Chief finally got a Mr. Jigsaw Christmas story done and we released it last year. You can pick up a copy at Amazon. It’s in full color and has additional bonus stories in the back.

UPDATE ON VALERIE

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On this past Wednesday Valerie had her post-op visit with the surgeon. He was totally impressed with how well her knee is healing and the efforts she has put into doing her recovery exercises. He let her know that and if she continues to do that work, the pain will eventually dissipate and within a month or two she’ll be walking circles around all of us.  We are so proud of her!!

THE THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

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As we approach the Third Sunday of Advent, we pray all your Loyal Airmen, in the midst of all your running around, you’ll take time to spend with those you love. To let them know how much they mean to you. This is the season of love, let’s all be sure we celebrate it fully.

Till next week, Ron – Over & Out!

VAL NEVER QUITS

  • On 8 Dec | '2023

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Greetings Loyal Airmen, before getting into any comic or pulp stuff, we want to keep you updates on Valerie’s recovery from her knee replacement surgery she had done a week ago today. And the Air Chief is so damn proud of her. Three days after the surgery, a licensed therapist came to the house to see how things were going and explain new exercises Val would need to do as part of her recover. Well, the therapist was simply blown away totally surprised to see Val walking up and down the hall to the kitchen and back to the bedroom without the use of any kind of walker. Then when we showed her how we hourly exercised her leg, as the surgeon had taught us, again she was blown away. In the end, she said was leagues further along in her recovery than 90% of the patients she sees. And that we were making her job lots easier. We’ll be seeing a home therapist twice more this week and the three next before our post op visit with the surgeon. So we got an A+, which was no surprise to the Air Chief, as we are married to the toughest, strongest, bravest woman in the world. Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers. Please, don’t stop now. We both need them more than ever. God bless you all.

THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2

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Artist Rob Davis, another busy dude, managed to whip up the newest page to issue # 2 of “The Boston Bmbers Vol 2″ and as ever it is stellar. As he does so, the Air Chief is hoping to be able to finish the script for issue # 3. As expected, with Val’s surgery, things got pushed back a wee bit. But we’ll manage, having too much fun doing Bombers again.

THE BABY IN THE MANGER

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Trust us, Loyal Airmen, nobody loves Christmas more than the Air Chief. Our life has been filled with lots of wonderful, cherished memories of this truly beautiful time of year. As children entranced with all the magic, the tree, the story of that Elfish Toy Maker Santa Clause etc. etc. etc. But at the same time, our parents never forgot to stress the real importance of our celebration, the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. Our Lord, the God who created us, came down to walk among us; to forgive our sins, open the gates of heaven for ever and show us the truth, the light and the way. And as the late Bishop Fulton Sheen remarked, he came down behind enemy lines disguised as an innocent babe. For all his wiles, the enemy never saw that coming. Now it is advent and we once again prepare for his arrival. Oh, you can almost hear the angles singing. Amen.

THE SHEIK

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One of the most popular actors of the silent screen era was Rudolf Valentino, a handsome guy with moody dark looks that his female audiences swooned over. One of the many films this modern day Casanova of the Silver Screen made was “The Shiek” in which he played an Arab prince of the desert. It rocked him to international stardom. So why does the Air Chief bring it up here? Well, one of the books we have in production at Airship 27 is a romance novel by the talented R.A. Jones and somewhere in the story, a dashing hero wearing a turban will appear. The artist doing the cover and interior illustrations asked us if we had any decent reference photos of such…and of course the Air Chief immediately recalled Valentino…and “The Shiek.” We sent the above pix to that artist.  Ah the joys of pulp editing.

Ron – Over & Out!

VAL’S KNEE SURGERY

  • On 1 Dec | '2023

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Greetings Loyal Airmen, this morning, as many of you read this entry, Valerie is undergoing knee surgery. After years of painful suffering with severe arthritis, she is finally having them replaced with artificial knees starting with the left one today. Please, we ask you humbly to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. The next few weeks of recovery will be tough, but she is the strongest person in the world, in our humble opinion. Thanks so much.

SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES Vol 3

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A few years ago, the Air Chief and Airship 27 Art Director Rob Davis had the idea of collection lots of writer Ian Watson’s Sherlock Holmes stories in one Kindle Only title. We called it “Sherlock Holmes Mysteries by I.A. Watson.” It sold quite well for us. Then, as time went by, Ian amassed another bunch of Holmes stories. You see, Loyal Airmen, he’s penned a new Holmes mystery for every single issue of our best-selling “Sherlock Holmes -Consulting Detective” series, plus others. So we did another Kindle Only collection, “Sherlock Holmes Mysteries Vol 2 by I.A. Watson.” And now, nearly a year since that volume, we are happy to announce Vol 3 (see Rob’s cover above) is out and available at Amazon. Again keep in mind, in Kindle Only. Whereas there is a bonus brand new story in this volume 3, which, for you regular fans of the Consulting Detective will be printed in the 20th volume of that series due out sometime in early 2024. So there you have, Loyal Airmen. Ian’s a great writer and his Holmes and Watson stories tons of fun.

DARRYLE PURCELL & BUCK JONES

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Darryle Purcell is a writer we hooked up with several years ago when he sent us one of his Hollywood Cowboy Detective books to review. From that, we learned Darryle was a Vietnam veteran, who, upon his return to civilian life had a long and successful career in Hollywood as animator. Retired from that profession and now living in Arizona, Darryle began writing his own fun, pulp tales featuring classic cowboy stars from long ago. Lots of his books featured such cinema personalities as Hoot Gibson, Big Boy Guinn and Raymond Hatton to name a few. Recently, after reviewing many of these enjoyable tales, Darryle began submitting manuscripts to us here at Airship 27 Production. At present we have two in production. One is an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller and the other a time-traveling thriller called, “Buck Jones in the 21st Century.” Aside from Tom Mix, Buck Jones was one of the most popular early movie cowboy stars and we were thrilled to be able to produce this story. Then last week, to our pleasant surprise, Darryle wrote suggesting he do the artwork for that book to include all black and white interiors and the cover. Naturally we immediately replies YES!!  Above is a cartoon caricature of himself, a photo of Jones and the pencil roughs for the book. We’ve seen the final version, and it’s awesome. With fingers crossed, “Buck Jones in the 21st Century” will be coming your way within a few weeks. Trust us, Loyal Airmen, all of you are in for a treat. A Darryle, a hardy welcome to Airship 27!

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by. See you back here next Friday morning. God bless.

Ron – Over & Out!

 

COMIC TRAIN KEEPS ROLLING!

  • On 24 Nov | '2023

Greetings Loyal Airmen, it seems in the past week lots of great things have transpired in regards to our various comic projects. So let’s get to them.

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Right on the heels of the debut of our crime caper comic, “Satin’s Ways,” another project created years ago by the Air Chief and pal, artist Gary Kato, is now back in print. This time with beautiful colors by Aiden Belcher. So as of today (Nov 18) that 56 pg full color beauty is now available from Amazon. We are so thrilled and a big thanks to Redbud Studio Managing Editor Rob Davis who edited this brand new edition. If you’ve little one who like to read, this makes for a great Christmas Gift.

BOSTON BOMBERS Vol # 1

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After three months of going to print, “Boston Bombers – Vol 2 # 1″ is finally available for purchase from (www.IndyPlanet.com) thus hopefully pleasing many of you Loyal Airmen. Keep in mind, this is the start of the sequel to the first “Boston Bombers” available as a graphic novel from Amazon. Artist Rob Davis is currently drawing the second issue while the Air Chief works on script # 3. It’s a blast going back to this alternate pulpish world and adventuring with these great characters.

BEYOND THE STARS # 3

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After several months, artist Andrea Bormida has completed the art for our sci-fi series, “Beyond the Stars # 3.” And the pages look fantastic. It is now in the hands of letterer Mike Belcher. Above is the  character, the expert space pilot who carries our crew on their mission. We are excited to see this issue finished. Now on to # 4.

THE CRIMSON NUN

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Truly happy artist Jesse Thomas continues his drawing issue # 1 of our Crimson Nun comic. Above are pencils and inks from that first issue. Next will come coloring and then lettering by Mike Belcher before being sent off to Antarctic Press for publication.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION

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We are thrilled to announce the release of our latest Airship 27 title, The Phantom Detective Vol 2. This is our collection featuring this hero from the classic pulps. Features stories by Carson Demmans, Gene Moyers, Fred Adams Jr. and Michael Housel. Kevin Paul Shaw Broden provides the interior illustrations and Adam Shaw the classic pulp cover. It is now available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. As ever, Loyal Airmen, thanks so much for your support.

And there we have it for this Thanksgiving week, Loyal Airmen. It is my hope that all of you had a wonderful Turkey Day with your friends and family as we did here at Hangar 27. We are truly grateful for all you Loyal Airmen who make what we do at Hangar 27 possible. God bless you all.

Ron – Over & Out!

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CON 2023

  • On 17 Nov | '2023

Greetings Loyal Airmen, last weekend Val and the Air Chief were once again guest at the Rocky Mountain Con in Denver as put on by our dear friend Tim Moret. This was the 10th anniversary of the con and we’ve only ever missed one. This was by far the best ever.

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Upper left Val holds down the fort…er…our tables. We had lots of comics and pulps and before those two days were gone half this inventory was gone. One of our first visitors at the show was well know Cos-Player HeatherAfter in her Black Window guise. Happy to snap a photo with the Air Chief.

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Also appearing at the show was one of my former writing students and now college girl, Gabriella Saenz and her dad, Arthur. Last year Gaby actually did the spot illustration for one of our Airship 27 titles, “Flatiron Death Grip” by Peggy Chambers. Gaby is a guest at most local cons now, her art is beautiful.

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Then we had our good friend artist Guy Davis, who is also an Airship 27 illustrator, having worked on writer Nancy Hansen’s fantasy series, “The Silver Pentacle.”  Hopefully will having working on the third entry in the saga.

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Then we have artist and 20 yr. army veteran, Kevin Johnson. Several years ago, he and the Air Chief produced the action adventure graphic novel Black Lion. Since then Kevin has devoted his time to his stunning paintings with lots of his work appearing in galleries around at the country. At one point in the show, Kevin stopped by our table and suggested the possibility of our doing another comic project together. We are totally on board with that. Oh, yeah.

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Among other well known guest at the show were Mike Baron, (at left) creator of Nexus and The Badger. Busy these days doing his own comics which are big hits as expected. Then there’s Marvel veteran, Bob Hall (at right) still busy drawing sketches for fans. An all around great guy.

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Believe us, there’s no lacking of local talent here in Colorado. Hailing from Fort Collins are writer/artist Abe Akin (Left above) and our Official Protege himself, Todd Jones (Right above). These super talented gents are good friends and it is always exciting to see their latest work.

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And finally, seated across the aisle from us were the created husband and wife comics team, Olivia and Zane Degaine of Pulp Fission. Olivia and the Air Chief produce the fantasy comic “Th Wooden Blade” while Zane and the Air Chief are hard at work on a new western to be called “Hamlet’s Inn.” In fact, as in the past several years, we went to the show with them, as their truck is the one vehicle that can carry all their gear and ours as well. They are dear friends and Val and the Air Chief are so happy they chose to settle here in Fort Collins.

OUR BIG SELLERS

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As for the Air Chief’s sales over the two day show, the three big sellers were the anthology “Dracula – Unfanged” in regards to prose, then the graphic novel, “Daughter of Dracula.” It’s obvious vampires are still a thing. This was followed by my pulp series Brother Bones titles. We actually sold out of several volumes. Then the always popular Sherlock Holmes anthology “Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Was Not.” We did sell a bunch of other comics, but the constant seller is the Mr. Jigsaw How to Make a Comic special. We want to thank all the gracious fans who stopped by our table and made the event so successful. Honestly, Loyal Airmen, we just couldn’t do this without.

SATIN’S WAY IS OUT!!

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We’ve told this story several times in the past few weeks. Thirty years ago the Air Chief wrote a 48 script featuring a new comic character, Satin Wei, a Chinese thief who was raised in Hong Kong then fled to America to escape her life of crime. It was intended for Gary Reed and Calibre Press. Sadly, before that project could be launched, Reed opted not to go through with it and that script languished in our files. Over the years several other artists tried to bring it to life, include Chilean Gonzalo Martinez who had helped design Satin. In the end he did complete an 8 pg Satin Wei adventure. Now, thanks to our lifelong partner on Mr. Jigsaw, artist Gary Kato had drawn that story and we had it published via Amazon where it is now available for purchase. Note we also included Gonzalo’s 8 pager as a bonus back up feature and Redbud Managing Editor Rob Davis did the cover based on an old composition by Gonzalo. We are so happy to finally ave this out. And we hope you’ll give it a look-see.

BLAKE FORTIER AS SPIDEY

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Recently my second cousin, Ricky sent me these photos of his son, Blake, who is obviously a huge Spiderman fan and has enough energy for a bunch of superheroes. Way to go, Blake!!!  Never ever lose that imagination of yours, it’s fantastic.

BEYOND THE STARS # 3

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This one of the final pages of issue # 3!!  Artist Andrea Bormida has only two more to complete and then the book is off to letterer Mike Belcher. After that off to Roland Man and Silverline Comics for another Kickstarter Campaign. Thus bringing us to the half-way mark of this six-issue mini series!!!

FINALLY

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What with Satin’s Ways finally in print, the Air Chief got to thinking how cinematic the story is and how it could easily be adapted to a short, independent 90 minute movie. So we’re putting out the word on social media to any enterprising young filmmaker out there. If interested in such a project, give us a holler.

And that, dear Loyal Airmen is our Flight Log for this week. As ever thanks for stopping by, see you next Friday and God Bless.

Ron – Over & Out!

 

BASS REEVES & HOLLOWOOD

  • On 10 Nov | '2023

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we’re going to kick off this week’s Flight Log with a look at Paramount Plus’ new streaming western series from Taylor Sheridan telling the amazing story of the greatest lawman who ever lived in the era of America’s Wild West, US Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.

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We first of Bass over twenty years ago when working on a western comic project it. Intrigued by what we’d heard, we began researching him and discovered Prof. Art Burton’s extensive biography, “Black Gun – Silver Star.” It was absolutely fascinating. We also discovered other books on Bass, including the one by his own relative Gary Paulsen. It seemed after years of obscurity, people were finally begin to learn who this great man was and his role in the taming of the west.

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At 16 Bass, a slave, ran away from the Texas ranch he was living on to live with Indians in the Oklahoma territories that made up the Five Civilized Tribes. After the Civil War, Reeves married, built his own horse ranch and started raising a family. When Federal Judge Isaac Parker arrived in Fort Smith to establish a federal circuit court, he soon realized he had a major problem; his white marshals were unable to operate in remote townships settled by freed blacks, native Americans or established as outlaw sanctuaries. In the end the only solution was to deputize black men; one of the first of these being Bass Reeves.

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During his thirty odd year career as a marshal, Reeves brought in over 3,000 felons even though he was illiterate and couldn’t even read the writs he handed out. But due to his time with the Indian tribes, he was a skilled hunter-tracker, familiar with the territory and an expert in firearms, both pistols and rifles. He also learned to disguise himself as a vagabond when needing to infiltrate an outlaw camp and find his man. He was in fourteen major gun battles but never wounded once.

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In the end, Reeves even hunted down his eldest son who had, in a moment of rage, shot his wife upon finding her with another man. None of the other marshals, in deference to Reeves, would accept the writ. When Reeves learned of the crime, he requested it and rode out to bring in his son. Young Reeves was convicted and sentenced to a life in the Yuma Federal Prison. Reeves retired shortly thereafter, the incident having been the one sour note to an otherwise amazing, and proud career as a lawman. After his death at the age of 70, friends and public officials petitioned the Arizona governor and his son’s sentence was commuted.  Here was  a story even Hollywood couldn’t make up. But no one had ever had the courage to do anything with this incredible story.

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Out of sheer frustration, artist Rob Davis and the Air Chief attempted to write a comic graphic novel based on his life. Above are Rob’s sketches of Bass from his youth to manhood. The Air Chief even wrote out the first eleven pages, which Rob penciled, inked and lettered. And guess what? We couldn’t find a single publisher will to take it on. Finally after years of getting nowhere, we opted to go a different route in making Bass Reeves a household name. We decided we’d create a series of anthologies featuring stories of his fictional exploits.

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In the past eight years we’ve produced five volumes featuring some of the finest western writers working today; all of which are available at Amazon. In the meantime more and more people were starting projects including Oscar winner Morgan Freeman who was behind the push to do a Bass Reeves series for HBO. Sadly it died in pre-production.

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Then other TV series began having Reeves pop up in cameos. One was a time travel series, wherein he shows up when the time travelers need help catching Jesse James. There were also several B-movies rushed into production, none of them very good. Then as if to add insult to injury, some people began spreading the lie that Bass Reeves was the inspiration for the TV cowboy, the Lone Ranger. All of which came about because one of the biographers, in hopes of selling more books, suggested the possibility. Of course it was totally a lie, though as always, lies have a way of spreading like wildflower. Finally, old time radio historian, Martin Gram was so fed up with the falsehood, he went and wrote an essay debunking it and had it published on Amazon.

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The Lone Ranger series was produced for WXYZ in Detroit and neither the owner, George W. Trendel, nor the writer/creator of the Lone Ranger, Frank Striker, had ever head of Bass Reeves. Like the rest of the country. The best guess as to a true inspiration for the character might have been Zane Grey’s hero in a book called “The Lone Star Ranger.”

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And finally we come to this brand new iteration, Paramount’s big budget, full out western mini-series, “Lawmen – BASS REEVES” starring David Oyelowo as Reeves. Having viewed the first episodes, we enjoyed this retelling a great deal. Are there inaccuracies? Of course there are. Small pieces that could be debated ala did Reeves ever fight in a Civil War battle? It is doubtful. Whereas there is no mention of his mother or younger sister, both of whom were also slaves on George Reeves ranch. Reeves fled to the Indian Nations as a teenager and did not marry until after war. He was never a farmer, as shown in the show, but raised horses. And his first born was a son, Bennie, not a girl as shown in this version. See what we mean? Still, despite these differences, in the end we applaud what we’ve seen thus far. The chief selling point being David Oyelowo’s wonderful portrayal of Reeves. He gives Reeves the nobility and a strength of his character merited. It was said Bass Reeves loved the law and equal justice for all men, which is how he served the badge on his chest. All that is in Oyelowo’s approach. With fingers crossed, the show will only get better. We can’t wait. It’s been a long-long time since this great American hero was given his due. Amen.

BEYOND THE STARS # 3

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Artist Andrea Bormida shows these finished pencil pages for 18 & 19. All getting closer to the book’s finish being Pg 22. So happy to see this rolling along.

A FEW BIRTHDAY GIFTS

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Last Sunday the Air Chief turned 77 years old. How that happened, we have absolutely no clue. Still, the family threw me a wonderful little birthday party and gifted me with a bunch of Amazon cards which the Air Chief will certainly put to good use. At the same time, granddaughter Cora and her husband, Calvin, surprised me with two really unique items. The first (above left) is a very heavy, diecast Millennium Falcon pen holder and the book it is set on, “Dining With The Saints” by Father Leo Patalinghug and Michael P. Foley. It deals with two of the Air Chief’s favorite things, faith and good food.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you back here next Friday morning. Till then, God bless.

Ron – Over & Out!