Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Welcome to a rather important Flight Log with all kinds of cool things happening for the Air Chief in all the facets of his life.  First up, on Sat. 5th of the Nov., we turn 65 years old.  Meaning we will be officially enrolled in the ranks of Americans on Medicare.  Hard to believe when we think about that simple fact. This past year living here in Colorado has been one of our happiest ever and having lost nearly thirty pounds, we feel healthier than ever. Still, 65. It does give one pause.  Five more years to 70 and then who knows. Longevity is not a family trait with my clan. Will we beat the odds?  Who can say?  The thing is for the most part its been a really amazing life thus far and we feel totally blessed. What with Valerie precious love, our five children, all amazing human beings each and every one of them, our six fantastic grand kids, the oldest of whom turns 20 next week, our mothers still very much alive and kicking and our truly wonderful friends.  See what we mean about being blessed.   And our creative productivity has been greater than ever with more new comic projects and prose assignments than we could have ever imagined a decade ago when we retired from G.E.

We do love birthdays, we love the fun, they are a celebration of life, love and gratitude. Thank you dear Lord for every single second, minute, hour and day of this continuing journey.  And thanks for joining me on it.

      
Speaking of amazing journeys, artists Gary Kato & Rob Davis, two of the Air Chief's dearest pals and collaborators have just finished putting the final touches on what is going to be the biggest single issue of MR. JIGSAW Man of a Thousand Parts we've ever published.  Called The Mr. Jigsaw Special, this 44 pg book details, in a very personal and humorous way how the three of us go about making a comic book.  In the issue Jiggy visits with the Air Chief here in Colorado and we talk about script writing.  Then he travels to Honolulu, Hawaii where artist Gary Kato explains the process by which he translates our scripts to graphic form.  And lastly Jiggy arrives in Hallsville, MO, where Rob Davis demonstrates how he scans Gary's pages into his PC and then assembles the files to be sent to our printer.  And voila, a Mr. Jigsaw comic. 

Included in this 44 page treasure chest is an actual script by the Air Chief and its realized graphic version.  Plus a few other visual treats you will not want to miss.  When ready for sale, this entire giant issue will sell for only $3.50 – so, Loyal Airmen, if you know any talented young writers and artists who dream of one day entering this fun career, you are most certainly going to want them to have a copy of this super special issue.  Stay tuned, we'll be posting the cover here when it becomes available for sale.

     
           Cover Rough by Michael Kaluta
Also this coming weekend, Airship 27 Productions hopes to officially announce the release of our ninth book of the year, a novel debuting a brand new pulp hero written by Don Gates called CHALLENGER STORM – Isle of Blood.  It's a terrific book and features the artwork of one of the most well known, respected graphic artist in the world, Mr. Michael Wm. Kaluta.   He contributed nine black and white interior illustrations and a gorgeous color cover you'll have to see to believe.  The Air Chief has posted an early rough sketch of that cover in progress.  Be sure to come back next week to see it in all its completed beauty.  You will not be disappointed.

So this is the Air Chief's big birthday weekend.  On the 12th of Nov we'll be traveling south to Denver to attend the one day Cowtown Comix Fest.  We'll post lots more information on that event in next Friday's Flight Log.
And that's a wrap.  Thanks as ever for stopping by, we'll see you back here in seven.

Ron – Over & Out!