Howdy fellow airmen. Well its only been three days since Valerie and I returned from our fun filled Thanksgiving jaunt to Colorado. And tomorrow we are hosting the Fortier Family Christmas get together here, so you can imagine this is going to be one hectic Friday, as we try to get all kinds of things done and in place. I’ve a whole lot of topics to cover today and realizing I might not have 30 minutes to just sit here and write, figured I’d simply do this week’s log in increments. So, if you’ve stopped by and are reading this, please come back later throughout the day. I will be adding topics as time allows. Ha.

The phrase heading this column refers to my CAPTAIN HAZZARD penciller, Craig Shepard. He and his wonderful wife Susan were expecting their first baby and this morning I received a very short e-mail reading, “She’s here! I’m a Dad!” Wahooo! I immediately replied asking my happy friend to provide lots more detail. Will post here as it comes in.

The picture above is from the GODBOX, a project editor Tracy Duty tried to get off the ground recently. I’d provided the script and he had recruited Maine based artist Chad Hurd to do the art. I’ve showcased some of these pieces in my Gallery section. Well, Chad is attending college at the University of Maine in Orono and over the past week his art production had started to dwindle drastically. A couple of days ago he wrote Tracy and told him he was bowing out of the book. He simply hasn’t the time, what with his studies, to get it done. Now this kind of stuff happens in comics all the time, which is why I mention it here. For every comic project I ever had finished, I’ve files full of those that were left uncompleted. GODBOX now joins that group. And I don’t fault Chad in the slightest. His studies are certainly a priority in his life now. Who knows, maybe after he graduates we can pick this up again.

Almost a full year and a half ago I attended my Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. While there I met several gentlemen who are now close friends. One of these was New Hampshire filmmaker, Rob Fitz. When Rob first told me about his independent horror movie, GOD OF VAMPIRES, I was so excited, I suggested doing a comic book tie-in to help promote the film. I came home and wrote an 18 page script featuring the hero of the movie and called it, FRANK NG – HIRED GUN. I set about putting together an art team and got the project rolling. Four months later my artist, after having done only two pin-ups, quit on us. Obviously I was really bummed out.
With the help of Talent Agent, Blake Wilkie, I found another art team and off we went again.
Three months later, this new art team had delivered all of two pages and then they quit.
Are you sensing a tread here? If you do not want frustration in your life, do NOT become a comic book writer. This kind of stuff happens all the bloody time.

Undaunted, I went back to Blake and we put our heads together and once again cast out our nets. And this time we landed winners. Javier Lugo, a penciller from Florida, and Juan Castro, an inker from Mexico. Both these men are new to the field, but they have talent aplenty and they attacked my script with fiendish delight. A few weeks ago we added British letterer Steven Finch to the mix and I’m now happy to report the project is 99% done. Above is the very last two panels as pencilled by Javier. The book looks fantastic and I am so thrilled with how it all came out. Thanks guys. I, of course will keep you posted on its development through to publication. The moral here, obviously, don’t ever quit on a good idea.

While on the subject of vampires, lets talk about DAUGHTER OF DRACULA. This is a 94 graphic novel I wrote many years ago. When I offered it to artist Rob Davis, he said if he took the job, which he clearly wanted, he could only provide me with a page a week. Do the math, at 94 pages, it was going to take him over a year and half to do this one book! Thing is, I trusted Rob and knew what a tremendous talent he is. I said okay to the schedule. Well, here we are rolling along and last week Rob finished page
#75. We’ve only 19 left!!! That’s how time flies, if you’ve the patience to hang in there.
Above is a promo piece Rob had done for a con earlier in the year. Meanwhile I am posting pages 74 & 75 in the gallery section for all of you to enjoy. They show Dracula’s daughter, Marya, begninning to turn her lover, the World War I flying ace, the Red Baron, into one of the undead. Yeah, it’s a gothic romance like none other you’ve ever seen. Enjoy. Hmm, think I’d better start looking for a publisher.

And since we started this week’s log talking about Craig Shepard becoming a father, let’s wrap things up with another Shepard. This one being actor Dax Shepard, as seen above between his two kid co-stars. While in Ft.Collins, last week, we and our grand kids took in two terrific family films. The first, on the day after after our arrival, was HARRY POTTER & THE GOBLET OF FIRE. The kids and I give it major thumbs up. It’s certainly dark and spooky, but also funny and it is just incredible to see the three lead players growing up before our eyes on the silver screen. A terrific new chapter to the saga. Then, a few days later, we returned to the same theater to catch ZATHURA. Now this is a sequel to the classic, award winning children’s book JUMANJI by Chris Van Allsburg. And like that previous book/film, this started as a book. Ergo, the director John Favreau and his writers had there work cut out for them, taking a short volume and making it into a feature length adventure. That they did so successfully is a tribute to all involved with this rollicking, out there space adventure. Imagine you and your siblings alone one Saturday afternoon, when suddenly, through the whims of a bizarre board game, your entire house is hurled into outer space and you suddenly find yourself battling lizard-like aliens! Dax Shepard plays the mysterious astronaut who shows up half-way through the movie to help the boys survive their fantastic predicament and get home by winning the game. The movie is seen from the boy’s perspective and that’s why it works so well. It’s not about logic or real science, but about fun and adventure. So if you want to get lost in a truly imaginative experience, do go and see this before it’s gone.

And that, loyal airmen, about wraps it up for this week. Still got to go and vacuum the living room rug. Valerie’s has the house decorated and looking very festive. Going to be so much fun having all my family, siblings, kids and grand kids here tomorrow. I hope all of you are enjoying this season as much as we are.

God Bless the new Ms.Shepard and her happy parents. Ron, over and out.