Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Well ye old Air Chief has had way better weeks.  It started off well enough, what with my being invited to speak to the York County Women's Connection group last Monday.  My daughter, Michelle, is a member and as the guest coordinator for this month's dinner, she needed to find a speaker and she asked her Dad to help her out.  Over the years the Air Chief has spoken at various functions to all kinds of groups, but most of have been of a younger age.  Realizing we would be talking about comics to men and women in their primarily in their 40s and above, it was a tricky decision to find just the right topic to enthrall them with for all of 15 minutes, the amount of time we would be allotted.  Then again, it wasn't all that difficult.

            
                             Michelle Leclerc introducing her dad, the Air Chief.

The subject of my little talk was all about my involvement with one of America's iconic cartoon superstars, POPEYE.  Way back at the start of our comics career, we were given the opportunity to write two Popeye comics for small Rhode Island publisher called Ocean Comics.  In that first one, we were given the distinct honor of writing Popeye's origin for the very first time, meaning we got to create his mother, Roxanne Crusher, and to tell the word Popeye's actual name.  It's Ugly Kidd.  Don't believe us, go find those books. If you can, that is, they are very much collector's items these days.

         
                                        The Air Chief tells his Popeye stories.

We're very happy to say the talk was a hit and after the dinner, many kind people stop by to discuss their own childhood memories of the crusty, one-eyed sailor.  People thanked me graciously for attending and telling them those stories.  It was a fun evening all around.

Sadly the next morning, ye old Air Chief awoke with a scratch throat and things went downhill after that, until several days we had us a nice full blown-head cold.  Now this wouldn't be so awful save for the fact we are heading up north to Bangor, Maine, later tonight for the big two day show, Bang Pop Con.  Obviously we did not want to disappoint the show's promoters or our fans.  So we began a regiment of vitamin C, lots of rest and finally yesterday got in to see our family doctor, who was a real angel and put the Air Chief on antibiotics.  You see, unlike most folks who get a cold and it's strictly a viral infection, what with my lung condition, there is always the threat of bacterial infection leading to pneumonia.  So it's simply a preventive measure to douse ourselves with these miracle drugs.  As of 10AM, as we write this, most of the aches and pains are gone and it looks like it is going to be a fun weekend in Maine after all.  Should any of you Loyal Airmen in the area want to stop by and say hi, the show is being held at the Civic Center – 100 Dutton Rd. Bangor, Me. 

Finally, our last item of the week and one totally on the good and fun side.  MR.JIGSAW # 5 was released this past week from Ka-Blam and is now on sale at their on-line store, Indy Planet.com –  The link is posted in our Air Fare page.

This issue has two brand new stories by yours truly and artist Gary Kato.  The cover tale, “Charlie's Best Friend” stars none other than Zeke the bulldog, who happens to belong to my son, Kevin, and his fiancee, Melanie.  We took lots of photos of the lovable guy and sent them off to Gary along with the script and he did a fantastic job of capturing him perfectly.  This is then followed up by a short Jiggy tale called “The Bully & the Knight.”  As always we hope you'll pick up a copy and help us keep doing these new adventures of “Maine's only living superhero.”

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  We have heard from several of you recently, and this cold/flu season is very much upon us all over the country.  Do be careful in public, wash your hands often and stay well.  Trust me, these past few days were not fun. 

Ron – Over & Out.