Greeting loyal airmen.  Here we are ending another week on a Friday 13th and all that supposedly entails. Whereas our first grandchild, Kristi, was born Nov 13th, that has ever been a lucky number here in Hangar 27.  Two new movie blockbusters open today; the new Marvel comic movie, The Incredible Hulk, and the latest thriller from the mind of M.Night Shyamalan, The Happening.  We will most likely try and catch the Hulk later today, and hopefully the other sometime in the next week.  The trailer's look especially creepy.  As for this new Hulk mega movie, we've been hearing nothing but positive reviews from our colleagues who've already seen it.  It seems most people didn't care for the first one that Ang Lee did with Eric Bana.  I agree it's not the greatest comic book adaptation ever done, but I still found it a decent effort and enjoy watching my DVD copy.  So now we're going to have two versions.  It will be fun to compare the two.  Makes me wonder if somebody might decide to do another Daredevil movie, as the Ben Affleck feature was also badly received.

Keeping to this subject, one of Marvel's better comic movies was the recent Punisher with Thomas Jane in the starring role.  It's a dandy crime action flick and Jane is perfect as the haunted Frank Castle who wages a one man war against the mob for murdering his family.  Well, get this, the powers that be at Marvel Entertainment have decided to do a sequel to be called Punisher – War Journal and get this, they are not using Jane for the part.  I've seen a few stills from the new production and they look horrible.  The unknown actor they've hired to play Castle looks more like a business accountant then a deadly vigilante.  I think this entire project is going to be one sorry mess by the time it's released.  Too bad they simply couldn't have brought back the first productin team and Jane, now that's a sequel we all would have wanted to see.

Every now and then certain well known publications use comic graphic art to highlight particular stories or features they are running.  Very recently Sports Illustrated went this route on their baseball cover to illistrate their main article about the Tampa Rays sudden winning ways.  The Rays, a young team that basically owned the cellar spot in the American League Eastern division the past few years, suddenly find themsevles swapping the top spot back and forth with the Boston Red Sox. 

This marvelous artwork depicting a Rays player picking up a startled Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees was rendered by Mark Bagley, a well known comic professional, with the inking and coloring chores handled by Karl Story and Alex Sinclair respectively.  A big thanks to my daughter, Michelle, whose husband, Chris has a subscription to the magazine, for making me aware of this cover and allowing me to borrow it for this piece.  Again, it's always fun to see comic graphics employed in other fields.

The big news this week is that after five long months, we are ready to release our fourth, all new Captain Hazzard pulp novel, CAVEMEN OF NEW YORK.  All the book files, to include text and artwork, have been mailed to the publisher, Cornerstone Book Publishers.   They should receive them early next week and with fingers crossed the book will finally be available by next Friday.  The completed cover by Mark Maddox is just stunning and I am so anxious to show it to all of you, but since the book isn't officially ready yet, I couldn't do that in good conscience this week.  So, as a sneak-peek, I am offering you a look at the back cover.  It gives some hints about the book's plot and the very special guest appearance by one of pulpdom's most revered writers. So hold on to your hats, loyal airmen.  Now it is just a matter of days.

On other fronts, Rob Davis and I continue to reprint our classic pulp books and along with the debut of this new Hazzard title, we will soon be releasing our new reprint edition of  LANCE STAR – SKY RANGER.  This was the first anthology Airship 27 Prod. put out back in 2006 and we are thrilled to have it back in print again.  Also, as all of you know, earlier this year we produced a book called BROTHER BONES, the adventures of the Undead Avenger.  (It is still available at our on-line store if you haven't picked it up yet.)  I mentioned this because we are now producing a brand new, 48 pg, black and white Brother Bones comic book that should be out within another month.  Keep watching this Log, as I'll certainly let you know when it is ready. 

There you have it, loyal airmen, for this week.  Come back next Friday for the release of the new Captain Hazzard and my thoughts on the new Hulk movie.  Till then, be well and enjoy the summer.
Ron – Over & Out.