So before anything else, the Air Chief wants to thank all of you who joined in our joy at being cancer free. And to those who shared their own stories of dealing with that awful disease, your victories and your losses, our hearts to go out to all of you. Let’s continue to pray that one day, God will bless doctors and scientist with a true cure for every single cancer. Amen.
BROTHER BONES PEEK PAGE
Last week we explained how the forthcoming Brother Bones crowdfunding comics will each feature a bonus short strip at the back. Well, the first such, written by yours truly, is currently being illustrated by Rob Davis and we thought you’d like a peek at page one. Believe, when the main artist on the graphic novel, Joe Arnold, saw this page, he flipped out. Oh yeah, we’ve got a winner coming your way, Loyal Airmen. Be patient.
JIN & TONIK # 2
And here we have Pg # 23 if JIN & TONIK issue # 2 by the always amazing Cesar Feliciano. We are still working with a small independent comic publisher to make this series available to all via Amazon. Stay tuned.
BEYOND THE STARS # 5
Finally we’ll end this week’s entry with a bit of behind the scenes on writing a comic page. Our super talented partner on the sci-fi series, BEYOND THE STARS, recently wrote that he was getting set to draw the remaining few pages of issue # 5. Andrea works on multiple series at the same time (like many of today’s artists) and was finishing up on another project. In sending us this e-mail, he included the page 18 panel break-downs he put on paper. At first the Air Chief only laughed deciding that alone would be nothing to post here. But upon further thought, we thought you Loyal Airmen might like to see the corresponding page of script and how the Air Chief wrote it. And that’s above to the left. The sequence is part of the space battle between the Science Warriors and several giant stone warriors. You’ll note our exposition is very, very minimal, as Andrea is already familiar with how all these elements look. Nor do we tell which panel is more important visually than the other four. Again, that’s his call, he’s the artist. We never take that hat. Finally, per our habit of many, many years, we never forget that comics are a visual media and the more panel one has on a comic page, the smaller the artwork will be. Not want any comic fan ever wants. We want big panels giving our artists lots of room to show of their amazing pictures. Do keep in mind, this is only Andrea’s first break-down of the panels. Often time, when he begins drawing, he’ll change them if he’s a better way to compose the page. And trust us, Loyal Airmen, when it is all done, those now empty boxes are going to contain some truly beautiful pictures. Oh, yeah.
ANOTHER I.V. FROST MYSTERY
Finally some really fun news. One of the coolest classic pulp heroes ever created was Professor I.V. Frost. His inventor was writer Donald Wandrei, who during his career, wrote 18 I.V. Frost tales that all appeared in Clues Magazine. Over the past decade or so, the Air Chief has had the pleasure writing several new I.V. Frost stories for Moonstone Books, edited by pal Joe Gentile. Above is a drawing of Frost and his beautiful blonde assistant, Jean Moray. In those years we’ve written two Frost short stories and one full color comic book, which was published by Redbud Studio and contained two I.V. Frost adventures illustrated by our Mr. Jigsaw collaborator, Gary Kato. Anyway, this is our round-about way of letting you know, long ago last year, if not earlier, we actually penned a third I.V. Frost story called “Recipe For Murder” and two days ago were notified by Joe that they are getting ready to publish it. Into what book or anthology, we’ve yet to learn, but as soon as we do, we’ll post it here and where you Loyal Airmen can pick up copies. For the Air Chief, we’re wound for sound. These are great, fun characters and it is going to be great to see them in print once again.
And there you have it for this week, crew. As ever thanks for stopping by, hope you’re all enjoying the warm summer weather and we look forward to seeing you back here next Friday. Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen, the Air Chief is really excited about the progress artist Joe Arnold is making on the new Brother Bones graphic novel. In first planning out the project, Joe determined that he would break up my 130 pg script into multi-issues, each would have its own campaign funding drive. But at the same time he thought it would be fun to add a short, “bonus” Brother Bones short story at the back of each of this issues. To that end, we immediately wrote several and delivered them to Joe. His plan was to recruit several different artists pals to illustrate them. One of those being our amigo, Rob Davis…and we wrote Rob’s “Nowhere to Hide” especially for him. Okay, so that’s one down. Now imagine my pleasant surprise when Joe messaged me that he has an idea of his own for a short and would we like to hear it. Talk about commitment to a project. Of course, we replied and he went and sent us page break-downs above right and a detailed plot summary. We loved the story and have already scripted it. We’re calling it “Danny and the Party Girl.” As you can see, this project is already much fun. Oh, and before we forget, each issue will have two different covers, with Joe doing the primary and another artist taking on the alternate. Issue number one’s alternate is in Rob’s capable hands. We can’t wait to see both. Oh, yeah!
MAN IN THE MASK
Still one of my favorite comics being published today by pal Mike Belcher. Mike W. Belcher’s MAN IN THE MASK, comics available at amkcomics.bigcartel.com – Do yourselves a favor, Loyal Airmen and pick up a copy today.
THE NEW BLACK TERROR CREATIVE TEAM
As you may recall from last week’s entry, Loyal Airmen, the Air Chief is writing a brand new Black Terror comic for Antarctic Press to be illustrated by super comics pro, Dell Barrass and colored by my Silverline Podcast co-host David Rios. Well, as of this week we’ve completed the creative team by recruiting a very talented young letterer, one Oluwadamilola Akinwale Akinayo. Oh, yeah, that’s certainly an African mouthful indeed, whereas he’s okay with the nickname Dami. With him now on board, we hope to start scripting issue # 1 very shortly. Especially after the BIG NEWS we’re saving for last here.
THE BIG AND WONDERFUL NEWS
If you’ll allow me, I’m going to forego the editorial “we” here to thank all of you Loyal Airmen from the bottom of my heart. As most of you know, about a month ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer and thus began a series of tests, blood work and body scans. On the 9th of May I had a mastectomy that removed my left breast. I was told this was a stage one cancer and that my chances were good. Whatever it is doctors mean by that. Both Valerie and I are practicing Catholics and share a strong faith in our lord, Jesus Christ. And so prior to the surgery we’d begun praying, asking all our family, friends and colleagues to join us in the hopes of a positive outcome. All the while, I gave myself up to His will, whatever it would be. So, the surgery went well, really well. There was no post pain what so ever and we began to consider what would come next. Words like chemo and radiation had been used and we knew those kind of post-surgery things were possible….depending solely on the full results of the surgery samples taken from lymph nodes remove etc. So we continued to pray. I knew I was in his hands all the time. This past week, Val and I met with the oncologist in charge of my case and were told, due to the data collected, the odds of this type of cancer ever returning within the next ten years were all of 4%. At which point the doc looked at me with a giant smile on her face and said, “Ron, no chemo.” My head dropped and some tears began to form, I felt Jesus’ love for me and this was totally answered prayer. The prayers you Loyal Airmen and all our dear, dear friends and family offered on my behalf. Jesus heard them….and according to his will, he answered them. Moving forward, I most likely will be taking a pill that will be preventative in assuring that cancer does not return and there may be a few side affects, but I’m more than okay with that. Whatever. When I was scared, I prayed to Jesus that I would walk down whatever path he had in store for me, as long as he held my hand. He continues to do so and your old Air Chief is truly one blessed dude. God bless every one of you in abundance, and please, pray to him, he loves you more than you can possibly imagine.
Greetings Loyal Airmen, as we say good-bye to May and get ready for full-on Summer with June, we thought we’d bring you up to speed on certain titles and where they are at production-wise. So let’s get started.
JIN & TONIK # 2
Artist Cesar Feliciano continues to wow yours truly with his amazong artwork as coupled with Matt Webb’s gorgeous coloring. Above right is Pg # 14 of issue # 2 which is coming along smoothly, and quickly. Much to the Air Chief’s delight. We think this is one comic book you Loyal Airmen are going to love.
NEW TAKES ON OLD CHARACTERS
The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero debuting in Exciting Comics #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. The character was popular and, on the strength of the Black Terror’s sales, Nedor made Exciting Comics a monthly magazine starting with issue #11 (July 1941). The Black Terror was the most popular superhero in Nedor’s stable, and appeared in a quarterly solo comic book as well as the lead feature in America’s Best Comics and Exciting Comics until 1949. Some Black Terror stories were written by Patricia Highsmith before she became an acclaimed novelist. The character has been revived by various publishers over the years, including AC Comics, Eclipse Comics, America’s Best Comics, and Dynamite Entertainment.
The above paragraph of comic history is offered because last week, comic writer/editor/publisher Ben Dunn, on creative whim, whipped up his own quite radical take on the character. So outlandish in fact, he appropriate labeled him ABSOLUTE BLACK TERROR. He commented wondering if such a “take” might be worth developing. Which is where the Air Chief comes in. We thought the sketch was terrific and began getting ideas that might be perfectly suited to this new version. After writing Ben, we got his okay to see what we could develop. Happily, at the same this was happening, we’d recently been contacted by industry professional artist, Dell Barras, about the possibilities of us working together on a project. The Air Chief wasted no time in discussing this character with Dell and he Signed on immediately. What happens next is this. If Dell and the yours truly can produce a 24 page, full color comic, Ben is willing to take it on, build the funding campaign and get it published. Dell did the sketch above left of the character and his alter ego, a nebbish college professor. All sounded great, but we were still missing to two important members of our project team, a pro-caliber colorist and letterer. Enter super colorist, David Rios, our co-host on the Tues Silverline Podcast. That’s his colors on Del’s sketch. We love it. Now all that remains is for us to find a letterer and we’re off to races. Wish us luck, Loyal Airmen. As always, we’ll keep you posted.
A DREAM OF DAD
A few nights ago we had a dream of our father, George Fortier. It’s been a long, long time since that’s happen and it was a really nice surprise. Above are a couple of pictures we have tacked out one of our walls here in the house. The large photo of him was taken only a few weeks before he passed away at the age of 59. Way too soon. It was rough on all of us in the family. The smaller pix at bottom right is happier times for us, that being Mom and Dad holding up yours truly as a little fellow. We’ve spent the last few days thinking about this new dream and spiritual grateful for it. Thanks for visiting Dad, and for keeping an eye on us all the time.
And that’s it for this week’s entry, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you all back here next Friday morning. Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen, we kick off this week’s Flight Log with the proud release of our latest Dan Fowler G-Man anthology, Vol 5. This one was written entirely by pulp scribe Fred Adams, Jr. featuring a novel length adventure a smaller bonus short. All black and white interior illustrations are by artist Sam Salas with Michael Youngblood providing that spiffy cover above. As ever the book is now available from Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Again, thanks so much for all your support.
MIKE JOINS BROTHER BONES TEAM
One of the most underappreciated elements of good comics is the lettering. It is that art of placing the words that bridges the visual and literal aspects of storytelling and merges them into what we call a comic book. In the industry a handful of artists know how to do it beautifully. One of those is our good buddy, Mike Belcher, the artist/writer of his own amazing series, “The Man in the Mask” which we love. Thus, when artist Joe Arnold, made it known he was looking for someone to letter our Brother Bones graphic novel, a task he does not feel comfortable with, we immediately reached out to Mike. Note, among his own projects and other Silverline titles, Mike is also lettering our “Beyond the Stars” – “Jin & Tonik” and “The Crimson Nun.” More than plenty of work for any one artist. And still, he agreed to sign to this project. We simply cannot thank him enough. Mike, we owe you big time.
AND SOME PAGES
So while on the subject of that Brother Bones graphic novel, we thought it only fitting we give you a sneak peek and two of the completed pages by Joe that Mike will soon be lettering. This is clearly some of Joe’s finest work ever and you can tell how much fun he is having bringing this tale to life.
SINBAD THE NEW ADVENTURES Vol 8
And now to announce the release of our second Airship 27 title for the week, SINBAD – The New Voyages Vol 8 with stories by Erik Franklin, Carson Demmans, Terry Wijesurgiya & J. Walt Layne. Our deal pal, Gary Kato provided all the black and white interior illustrations and Michael Youngblood once again took on cover duty with the magnificent piece above. As ever, available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Phew, talk about a busy week.
THE CRIMSON NUN # 2
And here we have two pencil pages by artist Jesse Thomas for issue # 2 of The Crimson Nun. Jesse is nearly done with the issue and we couldn’t be more excited.
JIN & TONIK # 2
And finally we wrap this week with Cesar Feliciano’s Pg 22 of JIN & TONIK from issue # 2. Both Cesar and the Air Chief are have a blast with this story and these great characters. Thanks for your continued support, Loyal Airmen.
GREETINGS LOYAL AIRMEN, with May upon us we’re really enjoying the warm, Spring weather here in Northern Colorado. Last week was really one the Air Chief will never forget from the election of the first ever American Pope, Leo IV, may God bless and guide him; to our own breast surgery. It was a busy time at Hangar 27. So now let’s get back to some tried and true “normal” things.
BEYOND THE STARS # 5
Things are really heating fast in the last few pages of BEYOND THE STARS issue # 5 as brilliantly illustrated by Andrea Bormida and colored by Angelo Vecciarelli. The guys only have another 4 pages to do and that issue is wrapped up. Wahooo!!!
THE CRIMSON NUN # 2
Happy to have found the above pencils this afternoon from artist Jesse Thomas, as he moves ever closer to wrapping issue # 2 of our series THE CRIMSON NUN for Ben Dunn’s Antarctic Press.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOMER!
The handsome Golden Lab above is our boy, Boomer. Earlier this week, he turned two years old. All of us love him so much. He’s brought so much joy and fun to our family. The last photo is Boomer with our grand=daugher’s beautiful husky, Aurora. They are play pals. Anyways, Happy Birthday Boomer!!!
And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. A wee bit on the short side, but it’s okay to rest up once in a while. The Air Chief continues to recover slowly and we will have our first post-operation visit next week. We’ll keep you posted. Till then take care, Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen, if all goes as plan, you should be reading this on Thursday, 8th May instead of the usual Friday morning. The reason being, our breast surgery is scheduled for the tomorrow and we wanted to assure we could get this Flight Log off before then. The one thing was have to do is thank all of you who send in well-wishes and prayers upon learning of my cancer. All these have made Val and the Air Chief so grateful. Above is one such get well card sent to us by friends Olivia & Zane Degaine, wherein Zane thought to do this little cartoon the envelope itself (as depicted above) and we love it. Put a huge smile on our faces. Again, thanks to all of you, keep those prayers coming. And hopefully, we’ll be back next Friday with a positive post operative report. God bless you all.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY FUN
Once again, last Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day found the Air Chief joining the fun at Gryphon’s Games and Comics here in Fort Collins. We had so much fun and sold lots of comics and pulps. The big winner among our regular fans was THE CRIMSON NUN # 1. Folks were excited about the concept and anxious to see issue # 2, just as much as we are.
BEYOND THE STARS # 5
The action starts to heat up in this issue, as beautiful illustrated by artist Andrea Bormida. Up to 17 pgs penciled and ink, he has 5 left and issue # 5 is a wrap.
MORE BROTHER BONES
Whereas many of you Loyal Airmen were blown away by our showing off artist Joe Arnold’s early work on the new Brother Bones Graphic Novel, we thought we’d show you a few more pages. We are so excited about this project and truly amazed by Joe’s wonderful artwork.
FINALLY FROM JIN & TONIK
And finally we’re going to wrap up this week’s Flight Log with this wicked cool sketch of Sammy Jin from the spy series JIN & TONIK by the Air Chief and super artist Cesar Feliciano. We so love the work Cesar has done on this series. It’s inspired. Hopefully we’ll be seeing lots more in the weeks and months ahead as he plows through issue # 2. Stay tuned.
THANKS AGAIN
And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Tomorrow my surgery and moving from that to recovery. All your thoughts and prayers have lifted us up these past crazy few weeks. God is good, he made beautiful people like you. Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen. We kick this week off by announcing the release of our latest Airship 27 pulp title, “The Legend of Bass Reeves” by Oklahoma based writer Mel Odom. As most of you know for the past few years we’ve been publishing a series of fictional tales starring this real life lawman, “Bass Reeves – Frontier Marshal.” To date we release five volumes and Mel has had a story in each one. So, the Air Chief and Art Director Rob Davis thought it was time to collect all of Mel’s tales in one book and this is it. It features all the original black and white illustrations by Rob and a brand new cover by the amazing Adam Shaw. The book is now available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. As ever, thanks for your continued support.
REST IN PEACE LAURA GIVENS
Last week we learned from writer David Boop that our mutual friend, artist Laura Givens has passed away. David introduced us to Laura when we first moved to Colorado and soon thereafter we had her doing covers for Airship 27 Production. Those are samples above. She was always fun to work with, super talented and never let me down. Rest in peace, dear lady, you will be sorely missed. God please welcome her home.
BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS
Last Sunday afternoon, Valerie and the Air Chief went to the movies to see “Roadmap to Reality,” the story of the life and death of a young 15 Italian lad named Carlo Acutis. Carlo, a devout Catholic who loved Jesus from childhood, is soon to be canonized the first Millennial Saint. The event was scheduled a week ago, but the passing of Pope Francis put that, and lots of other church agendas on hold. The story of this young man who loved Jesus so much, he created a website listing all the Eucharist miracles that have happened around the world. His loves of life and people were contagious and he wanted nothing more than to bring others to Jesus. The documentary follows a group of college kids from North Dakota as they pilgrim to Italy and eventually visit Assisi, where young Carlo’s body lies in-state, un-corrupted. We aren’t embarrassed that we were crying during the last half-hour of this amazing story. Please, if you want to see the story of a truly remarkable young man, find this documentary and experience as we did.
THE BROTHER BONES GRAPHIC NOVEL
After way too long a time, the Air Chief finally managed to get together with artist Joe Arnold over the last weekend to the discuss the status of the Brother Bones Graphic Novel that Joe has been drawing. The script itself is 130 pages long and it is Joe’s plans to break it down in to a series of smaller book, maybe for, and go to Kickstarter to fund the project. Once all four had been printed, the collection would be assembled. Note…there were be special “bonus” features to each of the chapter campaigns, ala short Bones strips at the back by different artists etc. You Loyal Airmen can imagine my excitement when show showed me he had completed the first 50 pages!!! Above is a cover piece we’d shown before, plus two of the pages from the opening sequence. Note, the finished pages, when lettered will also be grayscaled to add that Noire feel to this black and white melodrama. We’ve lots more pages to show off in the coming weeks, so be sure to check us out every Friday morning.
BEYOND THE STARS # 5
Artist Andrea Bormida continues his stunning work on “Beyond the Stars” # 5. Above are his pencils for pages 15 & 16 as the action heats up between one of the Science Warriors and an alien sentry. Good stuff coming your way from Silverline Comics.
JIN & TONIK # 2
And finally, here’s another page from JIN & TONIK issue # 2 by the amazing Cesar Feliciano. In this scene, Sammy, having becoming an orphan, is setting out to live with his Uncle Wei, unaware of the man’s nefarious background as the leader of a world wide army of trained assassins. Stay tuned.
FINALLY, HOW TO SAY THANKS?
Over the last week, since we announced out health issue with the breast cancer, we’ve received SO MANY letters, and calls from friends and family all wishing us well and sending along prayers. I feel extremely blessed to be loved by so many of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Earlier today we met with the surgeon who will perform the mastectomy of my left breast. The surgery is scheduled for a week from today, Friday 9th May. Both Val and I remain in good spirits, thanks to all your love. We will get this done and behind us, God willing. Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen, this certainly isn’t a Flight Log the Air Chief ever hoped to write, but here goes. Several weeks ago, while taking a shower, we felt a hard lump under the skin just above our left breast. Having dealt with cancer twice before (and beat it both times) we immediately contacted our doctor. An ultra-sound was done and determined there were two separate lumps and they appeared suspicious. Next came the biopsy and last week, on Holy Thursday, we learned one of them was cancerous. From this point, our doctor immediately referred us to the people at the Fort Collins Cancer Center and made our appointment to see them about how soon a surgery could be scheduled to have both lumps removed. As of now we know we have Stage One breast cancer and it is completely treatable. Thank God we caught it in time. The surgery will take place within the next few weeks and we’re expected to make a full recovery. We initially debated whether to make any of this public, but being actively involved with half a dozen comic series projects, never mind our Airship 27 editorial duties, we felt we needed to get the word out so that folks would understand if we find fell behind with certain deadlines. So please bear with us and you can help…keep us in your prayers. They mean the world to us.
JIN & TONIK # 2
Speaking of those many projects, one especially dear to us is our spy thriller JIN & TONIK with Cesar Feliciano. Here are pages 15 & 16 from issue # 2 now in production. They will of course be colored by Matt Webb and pal Mike Belcher will add the lettering. We love how this issue is coming along.
THE CRIMSON NUN # 2
At the same time, artist Jesse Thomas continues to do great work on “The Crimson Nun” issue # 2. We are so blown away by his pencils, inks and colors. He just gets better and better with every page.
REST IN PEACE HOLY FATHER
Rest in peace, Holy Father. Your last act was to bless the world at Easter and then the Lord called you home. May the angels lead you to paradise, may Mary be there to welcome you and may she bring you personally to her risen Son. Eternal rest grant into Pope Francis, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen
THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2
Artist Rob Davis continues his progress on issue # 3 of “The Boston Bombers Vol 2” with two stunning new pages. This scene depicts sensitive back-story and Rob skillfully captures the emotions of the characters with each panel.
WHY WE LOVE WRITING COMICS
And as the week was speeding by, more beautiful artwork came in from both JIN & TONIK # 2 and THE CRIMSON NUN # 2. This is why the Air Chief, after all these years, still loves writing comics. The blessing of working with talented people like Cesar Feliciano, Matt Webb, Mike Belcher, Jesse Thomas, Rob Davis and Gary Kato…and so many others. Writing prose is fun, but comics remain magic to our soul.
KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS PLEASE
And there you go, Loyal Airmen, all the news, good, and so-so. Thanks for your continued support and more than ever, we truly wish for your kind thoughts and prayers in the weeks ahead. Know that we’ll keep you posted on the upcoming surgery and results. We’ve got lots of projects in the wings, and we believe God wants them wrapped up. See you back here next Friday. Ron – Over & Out!
Greetings Loyal Airmen, last weekend the Air Chief and Valerie were guest at this year’s Wicked West Comic Expo in nearby Loveland, Colorado. It was the fourth year of this show and it just gets better and better every year. Above are several shots of people loading in. You can see Val in the bottom pix talking with our con neighbors and dear friends Olivia & Zane DeGaine. Below you’ll find photos of other creators and such. Whereas tomorrow is Good Friday of this Holy Week, we opted to post this Flight Log on Thursday in deference to the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
VAL & THE AIR CHIEF
And here we are ready to rock and roll. The show had a great turn out both days, and those stacks of comics you see above dwindling considerably by the end of Sunday afternoon. Our heartfelt thanks to all those gracious fans who stopped by and bought both our comics and pulp titles.
TOP COMIC SALES
Our three best sellers comics wise were JIN & TONIK # 1 (which we do with artist Cesar Feliciano). THE CRIMSON NUN #1 (which we do with artist Jesse Thomas) and BEYOND THE STARS # 4 (which we do with artist Andrea Bormida). There were also assorted sales of various issues of MR. JIGSAW MAN OF A THOUAND PARTS and our graphic novels, DAUGHTER OF DRACULA and the BOSTON BOMBERS.
TALENTED LADIES
Among the many comics creators at the show were these two amazing writer/artists. At upper left is Gabriella Saenz, who we once had in our How To Write Comics class. And at upper right is Lorelei Shannon, who only few years ago came to this show as a fan. She’s just had her first comic book published. Both these young ladies are amazing talents and dear friends.
OLIVIA & ZANE DEGAINE
Our con neighbors, as ever, were the husband and wife comics creator team of Olivia & Zane DeGaine. A quick reminder. The first issue of HAMLET’S END, the western comic we are doing with Zane, has been completely penciled and he is now busy finishing the inks. Though the funding campaign was success, you can still add to it. We’re looking for an additional $400 to turn this black and white western into a full color drama. (https://www.kickstarter.com/…/hamlets-end-1-vengeance…)
JEFF & JENNIFER CLEMENS
Also present were artist Jeff Clemens and his wife Jennifer. Jeff is an old friend of Zane and Olivia DeGaine having attended the Joe Kubert School of Graphic Art with them years ago. Jeff is a talented guy with his own imprint, Stick Ink Comics and you can find his work at (www.jeffclemens.com) where he has a great fun character named ROBOT GUY. Check it out. Tell him the Air Chief sent you.
OTHER GUESTS & OLD FRIENDS
And finally, we tip our hats to Shawn and Matthew Filbachs, on their return to Wicked West. They are two extremely talented comic creators and it was a pleasure to meet them. At the same time, Sunday afternoon our old pal, Brett Smith stopped by. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Colorado Festival of Horror going on its fifth year. It has become one of Denver’s premier media cons. Always great to see and chat with Brett. And that was this year’s Wicked West Comic Expo, Loyal Airmen. Val and the Air Chief had a blast and are already looking forward to next year.
THE CRIMSON NUN # 2
Meanwhile, artist Jesse Thomas continues his stellar work on our script for THE CRIMSON NUN # 2. We love Jesse’s work and he’s bringing Gabriella’s story to vibrant life.
JIN & TONIK # 2
And here we have Pg 11 of JIN & TONIK # 2 by artist Cesar Feliciano & and colorist Matt Webb. The Air Chief simply cannot say enough good things about these talented gentlemen. Though we can offer up a teaser hint that some rather good news concerning this comic will soon be announced. Stay tuned, Loyal Airmen.
BLESS GOOD FRIDAY
Tomorrow we celebrate Good Friday. Even though the idea of our Lord and Savior being brutally murdered seems at odds with our calling it “Good Friday,” the action itself is what we celebrate. The fact that our creator loved us so much, He gave us his only son as a sacrifice for our sins. In that moment of his death on that ugly cross, Jesus Christ destroyed the devil’s hold on this world once and for all and reopened the gates of heaven for all who truly desire it. Death now is nothing more than a door to that paradise. Thank you Lord, never ever let us forget your amazing love and give us the faith to share it with one another always. HAPPY EASTER LOYAL AIRMEN, GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week we’re going to give you a wrap up of last weekend’s amazing Windy City Pulp & Paper Con which we attended. It was a blast hooking up with lots of old friends and new. Top pix is of our crew, Val & Air Chief with Chief Engineer Rob & Theresa Davis. At bottom slot, is writer Matthew Bieniek and his wife Stephanie. They are always so much fun.From left to right above, writer Van Allen Plexico, writer Jonathan Sweet & son David and Brian K & Cookie Morris. Our super good friends and colleagues. This is a really fun bunch.From right to left above. Writers George Tackes & Robert Mendenhall. Center, writers who have contributed to Robert’s Code Name Intrepid pulp series. And finally, per the Windy City New Pulp Writers tradition, our annual dinner get-together at nearby Portello’s which is always a blast.Once back at the con hotel, it was time for the Pulp Factory Awards which yours truly and Chief Engineer Rob David had the fun of announcing and handing out. These of course the best in New Pulp from 2024 as voted by the 530 members of the Facebook Pulp Factory Group. Best Novel went to Bobby Nash for his book “Lance Star – Sky Ranger : Cold Snap.” Best Short Story went to I.A. Watson from “The Strand Magazine Murders” from Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol 20. Best Interior Illustrations went to Rob for his wonderful work on Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol 20. And lastly for Best Cover, the winner, for a second year in a row was Jeffrey Hayes, this time for his work on CNI Classified Vol 2. Congratulations to all our winners.Of course one of the big surprises of the weekend was the awarding of the Pulp Factory Grandmaster Award to writer Van Allen Plexico, who by a strange twist of circumstances was not present at the award presentations and didn’t know what he had missed. Until the next day, that is, when he walked into the dealer’s room, and was greeted by all his friends and given his award. It was a warm, funny moment for a truly terrific guy. Congratulations Van, this was well deserved.And here we are, the last event of the weekend, our New Pulp Sunday morning panel, which featured seven of the finest writers in New Pulp today with yours truly be the moderator. We discussed the state of New Pulp Fiction, where it started, how far it has come as a part of the entire Pulp Fandom Community and what its future looks like. It was a really lively discussion and our small audience seemed to really enjoy it. Afterwards, Mikki McGrath snapped this picture of all of us together. From left to right above you have Jonathan Sweet, Robert Mendenhall, the Air Chief, Brian K. Morris, Matthew Bieniek, Gordon Dymowski, George Tackes and Fred Adams Jr. We wish to thank them all for such a great hour.
ANOTHER WINDY CITY TRADITION
One of the joys of this trip to Val and the Air Chief is the opportunity to visit our daughter Heather, who just happens to live in Chicago. So after wrapping up at the con Sunday afternoon, and boxing all the books back into Rob’s rented van, the four of us headed into the city to join Heather a place called Moody’s Pub where he had a wonderful dinner and enjoyable two hour visit. We love our five children so much and as they are spread all over the place, chances like this one are precious to us. A big thanks to Rob for making the ride into the city possible. And there you have it Loyal Airmen, another Windy City Pulp & Paper Con is now filed away in the history books. It was a blast!!!
MEANWHILE ….BEYOND THE STARS # 5
So while we were having a great time in Chicago, our partner artist Andrea Bormida was busy coloring the new pages 12 & 13 from BEYOND THE STARS # 5. We think they look fantastic!!
MAN IN THE MASK # 3
These days our favorite comic book series is writer/artist Mike Belcher’s THE MANS IN THE MASK and we were thrilled at the release of issue # 3. This is a series Mike created a few years back and even debut it as a graphic novel. Then, as time passed, he began wanting to re-do it, to make it even better and so he took the plunge. And it has paid off big time. This is the story of a Kentucky based family, the Franklins, who by fateful events end up becoming vigilantes for local justice in their town. The story focuses on young Tommy Franklin wanting desperately to take up the mask handed down from his grandfather, Pops, to his own father, Jack Franklin. Belcher’s script is insightful, fun and deeply poignant. He has an ear for how people talk, how they live and more importantly how important families truly are. We recommend you head on over to (amkcomics.bigcartel.com) where you can find all the issues on sale. Tell them the Air Chief sent you.
FINALLY
Finally, this weekend artist Zane DeGaine and the Air Chief will be guests at this year’s Wicked West Comix Expo in nearby Loveland, Co. Show runs two days, Sat & Sun. Hope to see lots of our Colorado and Wyoming comic pals in attendance.
And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As if it wasn’t enough. Ha. Thanks for stopping by and we wish all of you of faith a blessed Holy Week starting this weekend on Palm Sunday. God bless you all. Ron – Over and Out!
