Greetings loyal airmen.  As the past week moved along, I began wondering what my theme would be for this entry. Very often, like this week, I go to the last minute before something pops up idea-wise.  Then two events  ocurred back to back that had me itching to tell you about them.  And as luck would have it, there was a very real thread connecting both experiences.  
                      
Once upon a time, I was an avid comic book buyer/collector.   Over the years I've found myself buying less and less of the current new titles on the market.   Maybe this happens with every generation, but still there is a part of me, acquired via my own career in the business, that believes the quality of stories and art in today's comics just doesn't measure up to what I was reading twenty years ago.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  There are still classics being produced by some very super talented people, and I do still collect a handful of titles religiously, but for the most part, the bulk of stuff out there today is just fair to really awful.

So imagine my surprise when I tripped over an issue of DC's TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED and found a true comic gem in the back of the book.   You see, since this title doesn't focus on any particular DC hero, it harkens back to the old anthology books of the late 1050s which filled newstands racks by the dozens.   Most of these books would have a featured series in the first half and then what was appropriately called a back-up story.  The thing was, much to readers' delights, many of those back-up series were just as much as the featured strip.  And that is very much the case with the current incarnation of TOFT.  The starring strip is a very bland Specter story that I forgot two minutes after reading it…sorry DC.   But when I got to the second story, one starring a really long forgotten B hero named DOCTOR 13, I was immediately bowled over by the gorgeous artwork.  Then I  began to take note of the bizarre collection of characters in the adventure; a vampire, a caveboy frozen in ice, a pirate helming a floating Spanish galleon and talking Gorilla Nazis!!!   Well, I read through these pages so fast and immediately wanted more…much more.  Thankfully a friend of my was collecting the title and allowed me to read the previous chapters I'd missed.

DOCTOR 13, written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, is one of the most imaginative, beautifully illustrated comics I've encountered in the past ten years.   That it is the back-up feature in this title is the real crime here and I for one, am begging DC, once the story runs it course, to please collect all these chapters into a collected edition.  And then, give us more of Doctor 13!!  A whole lot more.  Thank you.

Now lets jump from B comic book heroes to yet another class of underrated, unappreciated folks, the hundreds of actors who perform on both televsion and films as “extras.”   I'm sure, if you watch televsion dramatic shows on a regular basis, you've at one time or another, wondered exactly who all those other people are on the sets.  For example, if you are watching the current medical winner, GRAY'S ANATOMY, and your favorite starring actors are walking down a hospital corridor, just who exactly are all those “other” people walking past them…to fill up the frame and add credibility to the shot?  They are EXTRAS, people from all walks of life who moonlight by filling these crucial elements.  Most of them are non-speaking gigs, but that in no way lessens their importance to the entire process.

One such extra is my colleague, and good friend, writer Andrew Salmon of Vancouver, British Columbia.  That's Andrew above in costume for his most recent televsion appearance.  I'll get to it in a second.   When we became friends via my pulp work on the internet, Andrew informed me that beside his writing, he also did a lot of acting work.   Canadian labor is cheaper than the American film unions, so for years Hollywood companies have been traveling north to produce both movies and televisions shows.  Andrew was in the very popular comic book movie, FANTASTIC FOUR, last year, and appears on camera in a street scene behind Michael Chiklis as the Thing and Jessica Alba as the Invisible Girl.    About a month ago he wrote to tell me he'd just finished a very good role on WB's weekly action thriller, SUPERNATURAL, wherein he played a prison guard who roughs up the two stars when they are imprisoned while on an assignment.  Of course at the start of the show, which aired last night, we are told this is all taking place in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Ha.  It was all filmed in Vancouver.  And ture to his word, Andrew had a really terrific role and was on camera quite often, to include one really great close up.  It was such a blast to be watching a nationally syndicate TV show and be able to say, “That guy is a friend of mine.”  Hell, I even passed up watching the Red Sox game to catch Andrew's performance.  And it was worth it.

He's a great guy and I would be remiss if I didn't take a second to plug his science fiction novel, THE DARK LAND.  The book is still on sale at (www.Lulu.com) and I recommend it highly.   He's one gifted writer…and extra.   Oh, and his next small screen appearance will be in a forthcoming episode of the Anne Heche show, MEN IN TREES.   Now that you've seen a picture of Andrew, keep a sharp eye for him.  He tells me he appears in the church scene, cheering on the minister.   Of course I'll be watching like a hawk, and Hollywood, start dusting of an Emmy.  This guy can act.

Take care, airmen, have a great week.
Ron – over and out!