Flight Log ‹ Airship27

THE MAGIC OF SPACE

On 21 Mar | '2025

The Air Chief grew up reading science-fiction while in grade and high school. From Buck Rogers to Star Trek, we loved it all. Then NASA went a put a man on the moon and we were thrilled. It seemed like we were just on the cusp of exploring our Solar Sytem and taking mankind to the stars. But that never happened, as all you Loyal Airmen know because the government, that earth-bound organization unable to see beyond its own nose, shut them down. And with them our dreams. Well, its taken quite a few decades but now things are once again look up (pun intended) thanks to commercial interest in exploring the great unknown. Chief among those pioneers is Elon Musk. This past two weeks, he is responsible for sending up his Space Ex Dragon to rescue astronauts Sumita Williams and Barry Wilmore, left stranded on the space station for over seven months. Watching that rocket lift off from Cape Kennedy brought back so many glorious memories. Are we really going back to the stars? One can only hope and dream. In the meanwhile, welcome home astronauts and thank you, Elon Musk.

INSPIRED BY HAGGARD & DOYLE

Adventure 27 Production is thrilled to release a truly unique pulp adventure written by Thomas Kent Miller. Several years ago Kent wrote “Allan Quatermain and the Star of Wonder,” wherein H. Rider Haggard’s hero encountered evidence of alien incursions on our planet, specifically the African coast of Sierra Leone. This story takes place in 1873 and though Quatermain survives to tell the tale, it’s ending is not complete. Then, Kent changes course and offers up “Challenger and the Ancient Nova in Aquila,” which transpires 42 years after the Quatermain tale. In this adventure Conan Doyle’s eccentric Prof. George Challenger discovers, in the South American state of Ecuador a similar ruins whose origins and purposes he can only guess at. Both facilities, thought separated by an ocean, are identical in construction. Now, we’ve reprinted both back to back as Kent always intended in this new Kindle only edition. It contains the original interior illustrations by Clayton Hinkle and a new cover by Rob Davis.

THE SILVERLINE TUESDAY PODCAST

Every Tues night the Air Chief is a regular co-host of the Silverline Podcast where we talk about creating comics. The show is live streamed at 9 P.M. Mountain Time on both You Tube and Facebook. Above is an image from last Tuesday’s show. At upper left is moderator write Tim Thiessen, to his right artist Jose Fuentes, on bottom tier at right is colorist David Rios and the Air Chief is to his right. We really have a great time doing this one hour show.

DAVID DOES SOME COLORING

Lat Tuesday night we discussed when it was okay to leave panels empty of words. To showcase this, the Air Chief offered up a page of his black and white short western strip, “The Silent Gun,” by artist Madarro. What we didn’t know is, David, had downloaded that page and colored it for us, much to our delight while we talked about when to use “silent” panels. You can see both of above. And all you Loyal Airmen have an open invitation to tune us in every Tuesday night and ask whatever questions you might have concerning how to make comics.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by. See you here next Friday. God bless, Ron – Over & Out!

THANK YOU…THANK YOU!!!!

On 14 Mar | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we want to kick off this week’s Flight Log with thanking God for the success of our Hamlet’s End Kickstarter Campaign last week. The Air Chief went to bed on Thurs night with our campaign still being over $1,300 short of goal. When we woke up the next morning, less that 12 hours later, we’d not only reached that target, but exceeded by $200. In other words, Zane DeGaine and yours truly had been blessed with a miracle. Nothing less. And so we thank God, but also each and every one of you Loyal Airmen that He worked through to make this amazing thing happen. THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU. Now, though the official campaign is finished, folks can still contribute for additional rewards…and most importantly, help get the issue done in full color, rather than simply black and white. Please, continue to spread the word about Hamlet’s End.

ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY ANTARCTIC PRESS

Tomorrow, 15th March 2025, the small independent comics publisher, Antarctic Press will celebrate its 40th birthday. To celebrate, publisher and founder, Ben Dunn is hosting a giant Birthday Bash at the Norris Conference Center in San Antonia, Texas. The slate of guest creators who will be hand is massive. We wanted to take a moment to congratulate Ben and Antarctic Press, 40 years for an independent outfit is no small achievement. So again congratulate my friend and here’s wishing you 40 more!!

THE AIRSHIP 27 PODCAT # 99

Earlier this week, the Air Chief, along with Chief Engineer Rob Davis, recorded our 99th episode of the Airship 27 Podcast. It is available now for all you Loyal Airmen to listen to on You Tube. We talk about what books we’ve released thus far this year and some big plans for the remainder of 2025. So if you want to take a listen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkcYEvhoEk&t=144s)

JIN & TONIK # 2

Another panel from artist/creator Cesar Feliciano showcasing the members of the Amalgam, a super secret conclave of scientist and spiritualist who will determine the fate of Sammy Jin and Darya Tonikova. Once Matt Webb has colored it and the rest of the entire page, we’ll post here. Hang in there.

And that’s it for this week Loyal Airmen, save to say the Air Chief will once again be a guest at The Wicked West Comix Expo held in Loveland next month. More about that next week. As ever, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you all here next Friday. God bless.

Ron – Over & Out!

PROF. CHALLENGER RETURNS

On 7 Mar | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we kick off this week’s Flight Log with the announcement of our latest Airship 27 Production pulp title, “The Challenger Chronicles,” Vol 2- This contains three new adventures of Sir Arthur Doyle’s character, Prof. George Challenger. Thomas Kent Miller has a novella length and the issue is rounded out by two shorts stories; one by Wayne Carey and the other by Kevin Findley. Artist Clayton Hinkle provides all the interior illustrations and that awesome color cover above.

BEYOND THE STARS # 4

THE CRIMSON NUN # 2

While over at “The Crimson Nun” book # 2, artist Jesse Thomas is doing such a powerful job with his pages. Above are 17 & 18 from this second issue. We truly love his work and can’t help but appreciate how it just gets better from issue to issue.

BEYOND THE STARS # 5

SOMETIMES YOU LOSE

The Air Chief went to sleep last night believing the Kickstarter Campaign was going to fail. We still needed over $1300 to reach our $3,000 goal. We even wrote a paragraph here rambling about how crowded the funding field is these days and thanking those people who had supported. The Air Chief has seen miracles in his life and last night God send us another one. Somehow, in the last six hours of the campaign, some very amazing people kicked in that $1300 dollars and put us over the top. WE ARE IN SHOCK AND SO DAMN GRATEFUL TO YOU ALL. Yeah, sometimes we lose….BUT GOD NEVER DOES.

AND SOMETIMES YOU WIN

This past Wednesday, March 5th was Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent for we Catholics. It also happened to be Valerie and the Air Chief’s 42nd wedding anniversary. She went and surprised us that morning by sending along the above pix to us via a text message attachment. God blesses us with the people he puts in our lives, knowing none us can get through this world on our own. Valerie has blessed us from day one and continues to be the light of our world. Thank you, Lord, for her.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen, for this week. Things never slow down around the old Hangar 27. Thanks for stopping by. God bless, Ron – Over & Out!

LULAMA & CNI

On 28 Feb | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we kick off this week’s Flight Log with the story behind the Air Chief’s latest published short story.

THE LOST JUNGLE

Last while attending the Windy City Pulp& Paper show in Chicago, writer/publisher Robert J. Mendenhall asked if the Air Chief might write a short story for his pulp anthology series called CNI CLASSIFIED. The concept concerns a top secret military group battling Nazis before the start of World War II. At that time Bob had already assembled three volumes and was looking to put together a fourth. The Air Chief was happy to sign on. The book is now and available at Amazon. It features, beside our own, stories by Fred Adams Jr., John C. Bruening, Gordon Dymowski, Andy Fix & Bob himself. It is really a great collection. So here’s how we came to write our story, “The Lost Jungle.”

DIGGER DOWNES MEETS LULAMA

Part of the deal was the Air Chief had to make one of the team members the protagonist of our tale and we were free to choose any of them we wanted to shed the spotlight on. From the start, the Air Chief had affinity for Master Sergeant “Hammer” Downes as a rough and tumble character we could have fun with. So next it was coming up with a plot. We wanted to set his adventure in an exotic part of the world in that era and that was when we remembered Luluma, Witch Queen of the Jungle. She was the invention of our late dear friend, writer Charles Saunders. Luluma only ever appeared in one story, which Charles wrote for the anthology “Black Pulp” published by our colleague, Tommy Hancock over at Pro Se Press. Before he passed unexpectedly, Charles and the Air Chief had discussed the possibilities of his doing more with her for Airship 27. So what if we were to send Downes on a mission to the Republic of the Congo and there he would cross path with the beautiful and mysterious Lulama. And thus our tale was born. We hope you’ll check it out. And we’d like to think Charles would have approved of our bringing her back in action.

JIN & TONIK # 2

BEYOND THE STARS # 5

Andrea Bormida delivers pages 10 & 11 of “Beyond the Stars” issue # 5. As it’s a 22 pg comic, he’s now officially half-way complete. And trust us, Loyal Airmen, the action in this only gets wilder and faster.

THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2 # 3

Finally, this week we’ll wrap things up with artist Rob Davis’ newest page from “The Boston Bombers” Vol-2 Issue # 3. We especially wanted to bring to your attention one of the many aspects of Rob’s talent as a comic artist. Often times artist find themselves having to draw what we call “talking head” pages. That simply means there is not physical action occurring in the scene, ala people fighting, running etc. These kind of slow paced scenes primarily involve character development and become a real challenge to the artist to make them interesting for the reader. Issue # 3 of this project had many such “talking head” pages and yet as you can see above, from Rob’s panel compositions, he deftly keeps the reader’s eye moving along and add some subtle drama to the interchange between the two characters with the intent of drawing (no pun intended) deeper into the story itself. Honestly, no one does this better than Rob.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks as ever for dropping by, be well and stay warm. It’s cold out there. Ron – Over & Out!

STILL KICKING

On 21 Feb | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, last week the Air Chief had his annual physical and we are happy to report the Doc gave us a whopping passing grade. All our vitals are where they belong, our weight is down to an unbelievable 181 pounds, and for 78 yrs old, our future looks solid and bright. Keep in mind that’s after surviving both lung and prostrate cancer in the past two decades. Yeah, you might say the Air Chief is doing alright. Let alone we are writing at least ten on-going comic book series with truly gifted artists and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has never been stronger. And that’s the part to understand. If you’ve been abundantly blessed, as we know we have been, then there is an obligation not only to give thanks for those blessings, but also to acknowledge their source and share that Good News with everyone. So, thank you Lord, and we humbly pray today that you bless every single soul reading these words. All of them are you precious sons and daughters worthy of your love. Amen.

DC REPRINTS A CLASSIC

For the record, we stopped buying Marvel and DC comics years ago. Both the stories and art became lackluster and there was nothing in them to excite the comic-lover in me. Occasionally one of them will dig into their archives to when comics were good (and fun) and reproduce something worth reading again. Such is the case with “The Untold Legend of the Batman” now out in giant-size reprinting a three issue run by the great team of Len Wein writer and Jim Aparo artist. Thanks to Mike Belcher for telling us it was out there. And please, DC, give us lots more of these.

THE BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2 # 3

Speaking of those ten comic projects the Air Chief is working on, none is more endearing to us then the second volume of our alternate world adventure, The Boston Bombers. As you can see by the latest page above, artist Rob Davis is doing some of the finest art he’s ever created. And that’s saying a lot, as Rob is a truly great artist. We are both wound for sound for this series, and when finished, this issue will be published, as the previous two, from Rob’s own Redbud Studio. Stay tuned, Loyal Airmen.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION

THE CRIMSON NUN # 2

Meanwhile artist Jesse Thomas is busy are work on The Crimson Nun issue # 2. Above, left to right, are pages 18 and 19. Keeping in mind, the issue is 24 pages long, Jesse only has 5 more pages to draw. At present he’s inked 11 and colored 9. The Air Chief is just bowled over at his progress and how beautiful the work is throughout. Stay tuned.

UPDATE : ONE SCRIPT – TWO COMICS!

Update on ONE SCRIPT – TWO COMICS. The 24 pg Tomorrow Girl – Mr. Jigsaw story the Air Chief wrote months ago is moving ahead. The Mr. Jigsaw Redbud Studio edition has been completely drawn by artist Gary Kato and will eventually be made available at Indy Planet, whereas Ben Dunn hopes to have his Tomorrow Girl Antarctic Press edition finished by the end of June. Again, both artists drew the story from that one script the Air Chief wrote. Below are the covers to both, Gary’s upper left, and Ben’s upper right. Should be fun when both are out and fans can compare them, page for page. We’ll of course you posted for when each is actually available for purchase.

A VILLA IN ITALY

Finally we thought we’d share this wonderful drawing by Andrea Bormida, our artist on the sci-fi series. “Beyond the Stars.” Aside from his comic work, like most artists today, Andrea supplements his income by taking other commissions. Recently a friend who manages a villa, asked him to do this promotional piece. The venue rents out for parties, weddings, family gatherings etc. Just looking at this had the Air Chief dreaming of visiting Italy one day. God willing.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you all back here next Friday morning. Ron – Over & Out!

A CAPTAIN MARLEE MOVIE?

On 14 Feb | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week we kick off our Flight Log with an intriguing thought. What if someone made a movie based on the exploits of our character, Captain Jain Marlee, Space Smuggler? As it turns out we’ve gotten at least one step taken in that direction, among another thousand required. Chuckle. Artist – Writer Shane Aden a few years ago was going to illustrate one of our Captain Marlee comic strips but sadly had medical problems with his drawing hand. Not to be put off, Shane then had the idea of writing an original Captain Marlee movie script. He wrapped it up several weeks ago. We’ve read it…and we love it. He did a bang up job with our girl. Now, while he goes through some re-writes, comes the challenge of finding a production outfit willing to read the script and then, with fingers crossed, take a chance on it. Stay tuned, Loyal Airmen, we promise to keep you posted. Meanwhile you can still pick up a copy of The Captain Jain Marlee one-shot comic book at Amazon. Thanks always for your support.

THE CRIMSON NUN # 2

Artist Jesse Thomas continues his wonderful work on “The Crimson Nun” issue number two. Above are his pencil and inks for pages 13 – 14 – 15. His work is magnificent. He’s also coloring the pages and if you enjoyed issue one of this series. the Air Chief is here to tell you that issue two is even better. Oh yeah.

THE PULP FACTORY AWARDS ARE HERE!

Once again, Loyal Airmen, the New Pulp community has assembled a final ballot for the Pulp Factory Awards. Winners of which will be presented at this year’s Windy City Pulp & Paper con in Chicago. The Air Chief and Art Director Rob Davis will be doing the honors. Above is a list of the Airship 27 titles, stories and art nominated on this year’s ballot. As voting is open to the public, we would kindly ask for your support Loyal Airmen, by going to this link (https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSdx9faoF47BMP…/viewform) and voting for our Airship 27 creators. We would be extremely grateful.

HAMLET’S END KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

Our Kickstarter Campaign to fund our western comic “Hamlet’s End” continues. Though there has been very little progress in the past week. We still need well over $2,000 dollars to make this comic a reality. We need lots more supporters if we’re to reach our goal by 7 March. So again, please spread this link. In the words of John Wayne, “We need your help, pilgrim!” (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pulpfission/hamlets-end-1-vengeance-rides-on-the-horizon?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=Hamlet%27s+End&total_hits=13) Above is a completed page from artist Zane DeGaine. His attention to detail is fantastic.

JIN & TONIK # 2

THE SILVERLINE COMICS TUES NIGHT PODCAST

Wanted to remind all you Loyal Airmen, that the Air Chief is now a member of the Tuesday night Silverline Podcast found on Facebook and You Tube at 11 P.M. EST and 9 P.M. Mountain time. This past week, because of the Hamlet’s End campaign, our topic was “Writing Western Comics.” Below is the link to the show. Once posted, you can check it out any time. Our audience is growing.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-cV7iSLhI0)

POSSIBLE NEW RED SOX LINE UP

As a Red Sox fan, both Valerie and the Air Chief were disappointed in the team’s performance last year. Which was frustrating as they have some extremely talented ballplayers. You had the sense they were only missing one or two elements and things could have been turned around. Now with this week’s big news of the acquisition of Alex Bregman, maybe that’s a big step in the right direction. It would also be nice if Trevor Story could stay healthy for one entire season. And of course, the Air Chief is not forgetting the elephant in the clubhouse. NO ACE PITCHER. Here’s hoping before opening day at Fenway, the front office can sign on a pitcher…who knows how to pitch. Oh, yeah.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you back here next week. Ron – Over & Out!

KICKSTARTER CONTINUES

On 7 Feb | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, well our second week of the Hamlet’s End kickstarter is in progress and donations have slowed down to a trickle. Hoping that changes in the days and weeks ahead. One of the perks available to all of you will be the chance to have an original art piece of yourself made as an authentic Wanted Poster courtesy of artist Zane DeGaine. You can be on a wanted poster. Wow.
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pulpfission/hamlets-end-1-vengeance-rides-on-the-horizon?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=Hamlet%27s+End&total_hits=13) Check it out at this link.

ROB AND PLANET COMICON

We are still a ways off, but thought it prudent to remind all you Loyal Airmen that every year our Chief Engineer and Airship 27 Art Director, Rob Davis, is a guest at Planet Comicon in Kansas City. He considers it his “home” con much like the Nov. Rocky Mountain Con in Denver is ours. So he’s already whipped up a promo piece (above) and we’re only too happy to share it with you. If any of you Loyal Airmen have plans to be in the Kansas City area during that time frame, we urge you to make plans to attend this really great con and to meet Rob. Even get him draw a sketch for you. You’ll be glad you did.

BEYOND THE STARS # 5

At the same time, artist Andrea Bormida and colorist Angelo, are working feverishly on “Beyond the Stars” Issue #5. And the action continues to heat up as the Science Warrior search other dimensions for the three powerful solar batteries to arm the alien mother-ship. Stay tuned, Loyal Airmen.

FINALLY – This week’s entry is a short one. The Air Chief is hoping in another week or so, we’ll announce the shipping out of issue # 4 of “Beyond the Stars” that wrapped up it’s funding campaign at the end of last year. Anxious to get those copies into the hands of all of you who continue to support us. Meanwhile, at last count, we’d gotten $750 for the western Kickstarter. Meaning we still have $2,250 to raise before March 7th. Seems like an insurmountable mountain to climb, but then the Air Chief was born an optimist. Who knows, maybe we’ll win the lottery before then. One can always dream.

RON – Over & Out?

WELCOME HOME SOLDIER

On 31 Jan | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, as most of you know, the Air Chief treasures nothing more in this world than his family and last week was super special for us. Our gran-daughter Cora’s husband, Calvin, after being deployed with his Colorado National Guard Brigade for a year in the Middle East, came home. Above is son Alan, grand-son Alex, Calvin, Cora, Valerie and the Air Chief. Note, while Calvin was overseas, Cora volunteered to act as a liaison between the families and the Army. It was a demanding job and she did with grace and efficiency. Enough so that during the welcoming home ceremony for the Brigade, the Army surprised her with a special plaque commemorating her self-less service to the unit. Like husband, like we. All of us are so proud of them both, as we are of all our men and women in uniform. God continue to bless and protect and one day bring them all home.

HAMLET’S END KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!

The big news is after two years in production (one year for the Air Chief to write the script and another for artist Zane DeGaine to draw all 24 pgs) our first issue of “Hamlet’s End” is now up at Kickstarter for the next month as a funding campaign. You can support us by going to link below and donating whatever you can. Believe me, Loyal Airmen, the independent market is more crowded than ever and there are hundreds of such campaigns vying for your pennies. It’s our hope that you will check out the Kickstarter page and deem our western tale worthy of your support. And please, do share the link with your friends and family. The more people who see it the better our chances of success. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pulpfission/hamlets-end-1-vengeance-rides-on-the-horizon?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=Hamlet%27s+End&total_hits=13

CHIVALRY INC.

BEYOND THE STARS # 5

And let’s not forget artist Andrea Bormida, and his colorist friend Angelo, as they continue to work the fifth issue of our six issue mini-series “Beyond the Stars” also coming from Silverline Comics. They are doing a magnificent job. Above are pages 7 – 8 – 9. Stay tuned Loyal Airmen, it’s only going to get better.

JIN & TONIK # 2

Meanwhile artist/creator Cesar Feliciano continues to knock out fantastic pages for our “Jin & Tonik” spy series issue # 2. While associate colorist Matt Webb brings the black and white pages to vibrant life.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS

The Air Chief is thrilled to announce the latest pulp title from Airship 27 Production. Vol 10 of our highly popular Mystery Men (& Women) series featuring four brand new stories featuring of some of the most original and at times bizarre heroes. Above are the covers (back and front) provided by Art Director Rob Davis, who also did all the interior illustrations. Writers featured are Teel James Glenn, Jonathan Sweet, Carson Demmans, Harding McFadden & Eleanor Hawkins. Book is now available at Amazon in paperback and will soon be on Kindle. As ever, we thank you Loyal Airmen for your continued support.

A KICKSTARTER PICK

And finally, we want to thank the good people at Kickstarter for spotlighting Hamlet’s End as one of their best picks for the past week. When you consider hundreds of new comics arrive at Kickstarter every week, having them personally single out a title is a big deal and hopefully will translate into our reaching a wider audience with the dollars to help support us.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen, as ever thanks so much for stopping by and we’ll see you all back here next Friday morning. Ron – Over & Out!

WESTERN COMING SOON

On 24 Jan | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we certainly hope all of you are keeping warm in these cold, bitter sub freezing temperatures blanketing the country. Hopefully this gorgeous artwork by artist Zane DeGaine will warm you up a bit. We are almost ready to launch the Kickstarter Campaign for our western series, “Hamlet’s End” and the Air Chief thought we’d start this Flight Log with showing you the two main promo pieces Zane did up. The one above right was his first take on our character Dallas Maddox, both as the little girl at the start of the series and one of her as the young woman turned bounty hunter. Then Zane worked these images to creating a stunning poster (center) that is now our primary cover to issue # 1. Note there will be an alternate revealed with the campaign begins. Meanwhile Zane has made up posters without logo etc. and is selling them. Any Loyal Airmen interested in picking one up, contact either the Air Chief or Zane directly via Facebook. Stay tuned.

BEYOND THE STARS # 5

Next up, our Italian pal, Andrea Bormida is back to work on his pencils for issue # 5 of “Beyond the Stars” after our successful funding campaign for Issue # 4. Am wicked excited to see this issue come together. Once it is finished, we’ll have one left to go in the series.

THE CRIMSON NUN # 2

REST IN PEACE STEVE

Losing good friends always hurts like hell. This week we learned that Ohio native, Steve Bennett passed away over the holidays of cardiac arrest. He wrote the comic series, The Rovers for Malibu Comics. The Air Chief and Steve became pals way back in the 80s when they both broke into the comics game. He was a great human being and we are going to miss him so much. Rest in peace, my friend. (https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/58672/r-i-p-steve-bennett)

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by. Take care and stay warm out there. Ron – Over & Out!

A MATTER OF FAITH

On 16 Jan | '2025

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week the Air Chief thought it might be interesting to look at some of current comic projects and their relationship to my personal faith journey as a practicing Catholic. We were brought up in a Catholic home, went to a parochial grade school and attended Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover NH. After which, upon the joining the US. Army, we pretty didn’t give either religion or our faith a second thought. Oh yeah, that was a mistake.

In the years that followed, we skirted around the the subject and weren’t really concerned about it. Yet somehow familiar themes of the church continued to find their way into our stories. A good example being the mini-series we first developed for Caliber Press in the 1980s, The Boston Bombers. In that series, we envisioned an alternate world where women were part of the clergy and one of our major character’s mother was the Bishop of Boston.

Some thirty years later, due to the urging of artist Rob Davis, we returned to the series to write a volume two, after having collected the first volume. As it turned out, in the interim, our faith has resurfaced, and in a big way. Gradually we began to feel God’s presence in our lives and see that this “talent” for making up stories was in fact His gift to us. The more that realization took root in our soul, the more our life changed…and for the better. Above are two pages for Issue # 3 of Vol 2 and that’s Mother Pirelle Jordan at center stage long before she becomes a bishop of the church.

THE CRIMSON NUN

No sooner did we get Bombers back in action, then the Air Chief ended up working on an old comic series created by writer/creator Ben Dunn, The Crimson Nun. She was a spin-off from Ben’s highly popular Warrior Nun comic but more with a pulp feel to her. The Air Chief had wanted to write this character for well over thirty years. Now having that green light from Ben, we began doing some planning and research. In the process we learned about Saint Jean of Arc, a teenage girl called by God to help save France in its hour of need. Feeling the faith motivation, we saw an opportunity to add an historical background that would give spiritual weight to what we wanted to do. And that inspiration was picked up by artist Jesse Thomas who brilliantly visualized the character of Gabrielle Cauxvette, our new Crimson Nun.

CHIVALRY INC.

BEYOND THE STARS

JIN & TONIK # 2

HAMLET’S END

And finally, wrapping up this week’s Flight Log, we thought you’d get a kick out of the above. Artist Zane DeGaine, now wrapping up issue one of our western series, “Hamlet’s End,” has been going over the completed 24 pages and decided to change the one above. You can see from his earlier version on the left to the new one how heightened the drama with by changing the point of view. He’s another super talented artist we’re exciting to be working with and most anxious to get this comic to you. There you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you back here next Friday.

RON – OVER & OUT!