Several log entries back, I posted the illustration above by artist Rich Woodall and asked all you airmen to guess what famous pulp hero he was. I got quite a few good guesses, to include G-8 and Dusty Ayers among the more popular. But nobody actually nailed it. The flying action hero above is none other than, Lance Star-Sky Ranger.

He is the star of a new anthology I am going to be editing for Wild Cat Books. Each volume will contain all new stories about a specific pulp star. Choosing Lance Star as the first to open this series was easy. Flying heroes were really popular in the heydey of the pulps and there were dozens of such published monthly. Starr was certainly one of the more famous and his adventures are actually still being produced in South America.

To aid me in getting this first book off the ground, I've recruited four top-notch writers. They are Bobby Nash, Bill Spangler, Frank Dirscherl and Win Eckert. Bobby and I met at Dragon Con in Atlanta several years ago just when he was about to debut his first novel, a thriller called EVIL WAYS. He is one of the most gifted new writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Bill Spangler and I go way back, in our comic writing careers. Bill is a newspaper journalist by day and a sci-fi writer by night. Frank Dirscherl is an Australian who loves pulps, as is evidence by his character, THE WRAITH, who stars in both prose books and comics. There's even an independent Wraith movie on the way. This guy has creative drive to spare. And finally, another recent acquaintance, is Win Eckert, another pulp fan and authority. Win loves crossovers and I'm assured his Star story will feature some deligthful cameos from unexpected pulp characters. It's a classy group of penmen.

While I'm at, let me add that both EVIL WAYS and THE WRAITH are still available from Amazon Books. Check them out.

As part of my format, each anthology will sport lots of interior black and white illustrations and a new, colorful cover painting. Each book will spotlight one particular artist. For this premier outing, Rich Woodall, of JOHNNY RAYGUN fame, has taken the job. I've been a fan of Rich's graphic work for several years and when he once, in passing, mentioned wanting to some day spot illo a prose project, I knew I had my man.

So loyal airmen and other pulp lovers, keep your eyers glued to this flight log as I continue to update the progroess of the book. Right now I'm hoping to see in the print by the start of summer. Fingers crossed. At same time, while on the subject of new pulps books, my long-awaited rewrite of CAPTAIN HAZZARD is only weeks away as well. Gonna be a busy time in the old Hangar 27. Stay tuned.

Final reminder, airmen, the new DOCTOR WHO premiers on the Sci-Fi channel tonight. I've heard lots of good things about this new,updated Doctor. Should be fun.

Ron, for another week. Over and out.

Greetings airmen, it’s good to be home. Vacation was a 95% blast of fun. The fact that I caught a wicked chest cold three days into the trip is that 5% negative. Of course having a cold while away from home is a real inconvenience and I found myself, rather than enjoying the new sights, searching for the local drugstore to buy cold meds. And the darn thing refused to go away, staying with me all the way home. Yesterday I made in to the see my doctor, got put on some rugged anti-biotics and am hopefully on the road to good health. If you’re wondering why I bother about something as piccune as a cold, well I have cause. It was a cold last winter that kicked into pneumonia and ultimately led to the that entire spots-on-my-lung circus that I had to endure.
So now I’m really hyper-sensitive about even the tiniest cough.

Man oh man, when I booted up the old computer, I had 153 messages awaiting me. Ha.
And of course 150 of those were spam! Amazing the volume of junk mail, both real and digital, we pollute ourselves with. Do any of these internet companies really make any money off of these intrusive, stupid ads? What a waste of time and energy.

If you’re wondering about the 3 legitimate messages, well those were from fellow creators telling me that various projects we are working on had been delayed. Most frustrating to say the least. But none of these were disasterous, merely minor set-backs that are now being correcting. It’s just annoying to have to keep my friends and fans waiting a wee bit longer for some of these really cool comics.

On a completely postive note, Chris Mills, during my time away, finally launched our brand new 48 pg. Brother Grim comic adventure…BULLETS OF JADE as illustrated by
the gifted John Polacek. Chris is posting a brand new page every Tuesday over at his site,
Supernatural Crime, go over to the banner on my links page and click on it. When the front page comes up, click on the COMIC icon and away you go. Thus far 5 pages have been posted. So go
check it out and let me know what you think.
Please.

Valerie and I did manage to take in a movie while on vacation and we saw the crime thriller
RUNNING SCARED with Paul Walker. We both give it thumbs up as a nail-biting, extremely suspenseful outing with a terrific Mickey Spillane type ending I loved. But be warned, it is extremely violent. Not for kids.

Okay, time to go take some meds. Weather here in New England is changing to pre-Spring.
Saw a cardinal flitting through trees in the front yard this morning. Now that’s a wonderful omen of things to come. You take care, and see you next week. Ron, over and out.

Believe it or not, Rich Woodall and I, this past Tuesday night finished another 8 Week Comic School. Talk about time whizzing by. And above are the trio of talented artists
we handed out certificates to. Pictured from left to right, in foreground our students,
Adam DeGagne, David Freeman and Alex Eggleston.
The dude in the baseball cap waving is of course the comical Mr.Woodall and the old duffer to the right is yours truly. Adam, Dave and Alex are really gifted young men and it was a pure joy to work with them these past few months. Our next class kicks of on the 21st of March. So pass the word along if you know any talented comic book fans in the Southern New Hamphisre/Maine area. It’s a fun course and Rich and I have a ball teaching it.

Heads up air-crew, Valerie and I packing our bags for a week-long vacation. We leave the 1st of March and return home the 8th. That’s a Wed. to Wed., so sadly there will be no Log Entry next Fri. First miss in almost a year.
But I’ll be thinking of all of you, rest assured. As to where we are off to, well that’s a secret. Ever go someplace where relatives live nearby and because you din’t stop by to visit, they declare Holy Jihad? Am sure you know folks like this. Ergo, our destination remains a closely guarded secret. This is a getaway for us, not a visit-distant-relatives trip.

Son Scott sent along more great pictures of our newest grand-baby, Logan, the other day and you didn’t think I’d not post at least one here. Isn’t he a handsome little guy?

What with the really mild winter we’ve had thus far, Valerie and I have been enjoying a rather unique audio phenomenon lately. You see we live by a river and when the sun is out and the air not that cold, we love nothing better than bundling up and going for a long walk along the river-road. Well, for the past couple of days, as the morning sun hits the thick layer of ice on the water, it begins to shift and crack. Thus producing some amazing, almost musical noises that emerge from under the shifting ice. Almost a OOHHOOOMMM sound. What I like to call River Whales. It’s a wonderful, playful sound and another indication Spring really isn’t all that far away.

Before I forget, artist Johnny Atomic’s new website recently launched and he sent along a brand new banner for my links page. Check it out. Johnny is one of America’s premier young illustrators hands down.

Finally, before wrapping this up, I thought I’d leave all you loyal airmen with a puzzle. Sometime later this summer, I hope to edit a brand new anthology book for Wild Cat Books that will feature a very popular 1930s pulp hero. Rich Woodall has enthusiastically volunteered to do illustrations for the volume.
Above is his initial take on our classic hero.
So who do you think it is? Drop me a line if you think you know the answer. (Of course those of you who I have already taken into my confidence about this project are excluded..ha.)
Again, he was a popular pulp hero who did have his own magazine title for many years.

And that’s it. Take care, and I’ll be back at the hangar, all rested up and ready to go, come March 10 – till then, Ron, over and out.

Greetings, airmen. As I write this, artist Rich Woodall and I are wrapping up our second 8 week Comic School. Recently the topic one night centered around the diverse styles that exists in the world of graphic storytelling. I made the comment that even after 30 years in this business, I am still surprised by the appearance of new and original approaches to comic art. After having seen lots (…and lots) of comic art over the years, one begins to identify the particular approaches new artists are using and for the most part be able to trace their particular influences. Example; the first time I saw Paul Pelletier’s artwork, it was obvious he was a fan of John Byrne. Paul’s work was very derivative of Byrne’s techniques. My own good friend, Gary Kato, is a student of the great Steve Ditko. Nothing is wrong with any of this, as all young artists learn from studying those whose work they admired. The trick is not to stay locked in that particular mode overly long in one’s career because it really is living under another’s shadow. The task, and true evidence of real artistic talent, is to grow beyond your influences and develop your own unique, fresh style.

Now every once in a while, and all too rarely at that, an artist will burst on the scene with completely new stuff right from the get go. Again, this doesn’t happen very often and when it does, I take note. It’s hard not to. That’s what happen the first time I saw John Polacek’s art. It simply blew me away because it was like nothing else I’d ever seen before. And he continues to wow me like that to this day.

A few months back I posted some of John’s pages in the Gallery section and announced he’d just signed on to do a 48 pg. Brother Grim comic with me and writer Chris Mills. (note..go check those out and the new pieces I’ve added this past week) When I first suggested John to Chris for this job, he was unaware of John’s skills. Now, with 22 pages of that project under his belt, John is having the same affect on Chris he’s had on me all along.
Both of us are just stunned by what he is producing on a weekly basis. John’s art is dark, moody and just plain different..and I mean that in a good way. The concept of the story is a tale of murder and intrigue all set against the background of a 40ish city known as Port Nocturne. Chris says John is making it look like a classic black and white classic Warner Brothers gangster movie from the 40s and I couldn’t agree more.

In about two weeks or so, Chris is going to start posting the story at his site (www.SupernaturalCrime.com) and will continue to do so until is is finished. At which time we’ll have it printed up. Neither of us has any doubts it will be picked up by a publisher, not after they see John’s work. So stay tuned, airmen, and I’ll announce when the postings start so you can enjoy this tale from page #1. Meanwhile check out these sample panels and see why I’m so bloody thrilled to be working with this young man. It’s just great comics!

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

Greetings airmen, I sincerely hope all of you are doing well. As I mentioned last week, Valerie and I took the Amtrak train from Boston to New Haven, CT, last Sat. to go visit our son Scott, his wife, Katie, daugther Taryn and the lastest member of the Fortier clan, son Logan.
As you’ll recall, Logan arrived on the 31st of Dec. and we had yet to make his acquaintance, what with Val off to Colorado for her annual Jan. visit. So it was time to take care of that important business. As you can see we didn’t waste a single minute getting acquainted with the little guy. That’s the proud grandfather up above holding him while his Big Sister looks on affectionately. Babies are a true blessing from God, and our entire family is so happy with Logan’s arrival.

Of course babies aren’t just about playing. There’s also the important matter of feeding them, as Valerie was only too thrilled to help out with that. As grandparents it is impossible for either of not to hold this new generation and not remember when it was their parents we were holding and cuddling not so long ago. Babies grow up so fast. You blink your eyes and their off to school. Then college. Then married and with babies of their own. And the miracle that is life keeps rolling along. Logan is our sixth grand child. God, I pray we have lots..lots more.

On a sour note, a good pal wrote me a few days ago to inform me that a hacker had taken over his website and shut it down so that neither he or his friends could get on and chat.
I have such a difficult time trying to imagine the mind of such a cruel act. It is wanton maliciousness and utterly senseless. What bothers me is the phony self-image hackers of themselves, ala some kind of hero-rebel little guys battling the big conglomorates. For some,that may actually be true. But when someone purposely destroys a small, intimate, friendly site for no other purpose than mischief, that isn’t heroics, that base evil. Shame on all of them.

I don’t often recommend books on this log, rather leaving that to my bi-weekly Pulp Fiction review column over at the Paperback Bazaar site.
But this week I posted the review of a really fun book I wanted to tell all you airmen about.
It’s an anthology series called KOLCHAK- The Night Stalker Chronicles and put out by Moonstone. 27 all new stories focusing on the hero of the late TV series that starred Darren McGavin and was a personal favorite of mine.
The book is available from Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobles on-line. If you like weird, twisty yarns, give it a try.

And that wraps it up for this week. Weather man says we got a major North-Easter storm heading our way for the weekend. Better go check the snow-blower. Ron, over and out.

I first saw a Tarzan movie as a child, accompanying my father to the theater and then having to put up with him attempting to imitate actor Johnny Weissmuller’s cry all way home. I don’t recall which particular film it was, but having been born in 1946, it was certainly a re-release, as by the 1950s, Weissmuller, perhaps the most famous screen Tarzan of them all, had given up the role to a younger, leaner actor; Lex Barker. Anyway, this was my first introduction to the famous apeman as invented by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. I liked the character a lot, what fun loving America kid wouldn’t?

Many years later, as a teenager, I tripped over the Tarzan books then being printed in paperbacks. Being a fan of the character, I bought them to finally see if there were any differences between the source books and the film interpretations. To say there were plenty would be a gross understatement. Immediately upon reading TARZAN OF THE APES, the reader learns the true origins of the character and how he is a descendant of British gentry. At the end of the first book, he’s traveled to Europe, become educated and speaks several languages fluently. He is known as Lord John Graystoke and is a very wealthy man. A far cry from the illiterate, grunting figure portrayed in the movies. As much as I was thrilled to discover the “true” Tarzan of the novels, it made viewing the cinematic version quite difficult from that point on.
My young teenage mind wondered why it was Hollywood couldn’t give us the real Tarzan from the books. In 1962 filmland my wish, and that of thousand other Tarzan fans, was granted.

Veteran actor/stuntman, Jock Mahoney, was cast as an intelligent, sophisticated Tarzan in TARZAN GOES TO INDIA. Using the sixties environmental issues as a backdrop, Tarzan became not only an action hero, but a defender of mother earth and all wildlife as well. The studios followed this up with TARZAN’S THREE CHALLENGES. To this day, I am still a big fan of both these movies. But I was naiively ignorant of a long forgotten Tarzan project that had trumped these movies by nearly thirty years.
It was an eye-opening revelation and one I would come to appreciate more and more as time went on.

In 1934 a group of Hollywood investors came to Burroughs suggesting he join them in a business partnership to exploit his now highly lucrative writings. A silent screen Tarzans had made millions for the studios and MGM was just going into production for what would be the biggest Tarzan of them all, starring Olympic swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller and the lovely Maureen O’Hara. It was easy to convince Burroughs that he would make a bigger profit if he were directly involved and he signed on. First he wrote a screen treatment for a story to be called TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS, then he asked for permission to choose the actor who would portray his famous tree dweller. From a long list of possible wannabes, Burroughs hand picked as yet another Olympic veteran, handsome, young Herman Brix.
Brix was a former shot-putter with a tall, rangy physique and a charasmatic visage perfect to play the Jungle Lord. Since this newly formed company had no real studio to shoot in, it was decided to film on location in the jungles of Guatemala. In the late months of 1934, an expedition of twenty-nine cast and crew members, with tons of freight, via a huge line, set sail for the highland ruins of Guatemala. Under the direction of Edward Kull and Wilber F.McGaugh, the movie, now called THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN, was shot in four months. Upon completion, MGM, having gotten wind of this competitive venture, purposely set about making sure they could not get a decent distribution contract with any of the major theater chains.
This effectively buried the movie in America and paved the way for the MGM Weissmuller movie to become a major blockbuster hit. Meanwhile NEW ADVENTURES found acceptance in Eurpoean markets and is still considered among the favorite Tarzan movies of all time to this day in these countries.

The company that produced this long-ago classic released it in multiple versions, including a 12 Chapter Serial and this is available today from various DVD outfits. I recently purchased one from the Roan Film Group and watched it this past week. I’d seen it many years ago but am thrilled to own it on DVD. It is a damn shame that history conspired against Brix in his role as the true Tarzan, but thanks to modern technology, his performance is captured forever in this rare, wonderful adventure from a long ago time. I can’t recommend it enough to all airmen who truly love grand, old fashion jungle adventures. This is Burroughs noble savage played to perfection. Go find it and see if I’m not right.

As I write this, a steady, warm rain is blanketing most of New England. A dismal weekend if forecast with more of the same. But that isn’t dampening are our plans. Valerie and I are catching an Amtrak train out of Boston tomorrow and heading for Conn. to visit our new grandson, Logan, for the very first time. Going to be a great weekend. I hope yours is as well. See you in seven.

Ron, over and out.

During the heyday of the pulps, the three best selling hero magazines were; The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Spider. The Spider was a blatant attempt to compete against the highly popular Shadow. Still the publishers were smart enough to make their character different from the other. They did so by making him scarier, meaner and just plain bloodier in his death dealing. Polo-playing Richard Wentworth lives by one credo, “the only good gangster is a dead gangster.” And he never had any problems dispatching dozens of them in each and every one of his many adventures.
Aided and abetted by his sweetheart, socialite Nita Van Sloan, his impressive Indian Sikh manservant, Ram Singh and his tough-as-nails chauffeur, Ron Jackson, he blazed his way across pulpdom.

His adventures were credited to one Grant Stockbridge. That was a house pen-name for such stalwarth wordsmiths as Norvell Page, Emil C.Tepperman, Wayne Rogers and countless others.

Earlier this week I was invited to write a Spider story for a new anthology being produced by Moonstone Comics under the editorship of Joe Gentile. Last year, exploring the prose market, Moonstone put out a Kolchak the Nightstalker anthology that sold through the roof and won them a Bram Stoker award nomination for best new horror anthology. It didn’t take Joe very long to realize there is a real audience for these old fashion, purple prose tales of wonder.

I’m very excited about this project and actually got butterflies in the pit of my stomach when I learned who else will be contributing to the book. Heading a very stellar list, is the famous historical novelist, John Jakes. Also on board is Warner Bros. Animation guru, Bruce Timm, plus popular writers like Robert Weinberg, Chuck Dixon and my own amigos, Chris Mills and Martin Powell. Like I said, it’s a stellar cast. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know more as it develops.

Off course, life does seem to balance out and shortly after getting this good news, I received a terribly sad notice that a local comic book personality in our area had passed away at the young age of 41. Hector Diaz owned and operated a comic shop in nearby Portsmouth, NH. I’d known Hector for over twenty years,when he first moved into the area and one night, out of the blue, called and asked if he could come over and meet me. He was an artist wanting to get into the comics game and was hoping I could give him some mentoring on that career choice. Valerie and I were immediately taken with his personable enthusiam and over the years our friendship grew. Then we drifted out of touch as Hector went on to make his dreams a reality. About ten years ago I learned he’d opened JUMPGATE, the comic shop I mentioned. I made a point of driving up to see him and congradulate him. He was the same Hector, full of bubbly fun and engergy. Sadly, according to his obituary, he lost a four year battle with cancer. He leaves behind his loving wife, Sharon, and two sons. I’m still in shock by his passing. It’s a cautionary warning to me that we have to live every day to the fullest as there are no guarantees in this life as to how long any of us will be here. Rest in peace, old friend. You won’t be forgotten.

Finally, Valerie flies home tomorrow. Yahoo.
You see, airmen, every year she spends the entire month of January in Ft.Collins, CO, with our son, Alan and his family. It helps her get through the winter, which are brutal here in New England. We miss each other deeply, but it has helped her cope with these long lasting winters and that’s what counts. Whereas asbsence certainly makes the heart grow fonder..and how. And tomorrow she’s home. I hope your weekend will be just as happy as mine is going be.

Until next week, over and out, Ron.

Back in 1985, after having had some small successes with short comic strip projects, artist Gary Kato and I decided to try our hands at a full blown mini-series. The result was the five issue STREET-FIGHTER series we created for Bob Palin’s Ocean Comics. It was well received, the late Don Thompson comparing it favorably to the early Stan Lee & Steve Ditko work on SPIDERMAN.
High praise indeed.

In case any of you out there are aware of that “other” Street Fighter, the one based on a highly popular series of computer games, allow me to set the record straight. We proceed them by almost a full year. When their arcade games began appearing in local malls with the very same logo we were employing, we sought a lawyer to see if we could take any legal action and make them stop. Which is when we learned one of the harsh truths of this life, it’s not always fair. To have taken the parent company Via Com and made them desist from using our name and logo, would have completely driven us into the poor house. This wasn’t a case of David versus Goliath. It was more like David versus a hundred Goliaths. Our lawyers advice in the end, continue to do you comic and alter the name slightly. Ergo, when the series was collected as a graphic novel years later by Alpha Production, it was under the title..THE ORIGINAL STREET-FIGHTER. A claim I feel we were rightly entitled to.

So why bring is all up? Because in a few short months he is going to be back in action. Or, should I say, those long forgotten books are getting a brand new, shiny release on a forthcoming comics website. I’m not liberty to divulge much more save to say, when the series begins to run on the site, it will also be made available for print sales. And I very much wanted to introduce all of you to the magnificent work of Mickey Clausen. Mickey has signed on to recolor all those pages of the series and his work is just gorgeous. We’re lucky to have him on board. More as things develop further.

I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I have maybe 95% of all the movies based on his exploits on DVD and many, many volumes in my library. I’m also a major toy fancier of action figures. How do these two hobbies relate to one another? Well, I’ve often wished I could have an action figure of the famous Baker Street detective. But alas, it seemed a rather far fetched dream. I mean, one one thinks of Holmes, one thinks of brilliant deductive skills, not slam-bang all-out action adventures.

So, fellow, airmen, you can all imagine my complete surprise and total euphoric glee when a pacakage arrived yesterday in the mail containing such a toy! No, fooling! See picture above. It was a gift from my good pal,
Anthony Schiavino who actually knew nothing of my secret wish for such a toy. I immediately e-mailed him a heartfelt thanks. Now I have to find an appropriate place in the Batcave to display it. Ain’t it cool?

That’s it for another week in the hangar, airmen. Stay safe and well. Ron, over and out.

Greetings airmen. Almost twenty years ago, I made my one and only sale to Marvel Comics. It was a short, 8 pg. HULK story and illustrated by then newbie, Paul Pelletier. The story was our campaign to get Paul into the pros and it worked. He is still one of today’s finest, most dependable pencillers, having worked for all the big guys. Thing is, I had hoped to maybe make a few more sales to the old House of Ideas and suggested something radical to then HULK editor, Bobbie Chase. At that time Peter David was writing the HULK and his brand of wry wit was quite evident throughout his run. Meanwhile John Byrne was handling SHE-HULK and he too was giving it a really broad, comedic feel. So much so that I saw both books very much ala the old Fawcett CAPTAIN MARVEL titles, what with Captain Marvel and Mary Marvel leading the clan. But they had a Captain Marvel Jr. and I felt that junior member of the family was the missing element at Marvel. So I suggested to Ms.Chase the possiblities of creating a KID HULK!

She turned me down quite cooly, stating in no uncertain terms that the HULK was not a humorous title. No? You could have fooled me. I’ve often wondered since then if Ms.Chase actually read her own books? But that is neither here nor there, loyal airmen. I was shot down. But I still liked the idea of a HULK-like teenager roaming the world. There was a real appeal to it. So I sat down and wrote up the concept, only now making it my own, and leaving out anything remotely connected to the Marvel Universe. I then tried to find some interested artists who would want to work on this idea, but alas wasn’t lucky there either. So, as I’ve done so many times in the past, I simply slid the now tagged folder, BULLDOZER, into my files and went on to other things.

Of course, if any of you are at all aware of the current crop of Marvel titles, you’ll note that a few years back they put forth a Junior Avengers group and smack dab in the middle of this teen group was a KID HULK!!! Several of my comic amigos made a point of calling to tell me this. Oh, yeah. Was upset. Naw. It was a good idea twenty years ago. I’m just sorry it took Marvel so long to figure it out. NOTE, I have not seen a single comic with this character, nor do I plan to. Why? Because, somewhere during our first session of the School for Sequential Graphics, I gave out BULLDOZER presentation packages to our two students and gave them the assignment of doing up character sketches from it. Little did I know at the time that homework would result in a full-blown resurrection of the project.

Tom Bonello, one of those first two students, turned in such fantastic sketches, both artist Rich Woodall and I were amazed. As the class wound down, I began to nurture the thought of returning to BULLDOZER full-force, if Tom were willing to take it on. I popped the question to him on our last night of class..and he said yes! I was estatic!! The pin-up above is one of several Tom has completed since then. It was inked by Ken McFarlane, another local talent I’ve known for many, many years. They make a great team. So there you have it, airmen. What was thought to be long dead, now has a new life and a very hopeful future. And rest assred, I’ll keep all of you posted with lots of previews as Tom starts turning in full pages.

This week saw the posting of my latest PULP FICTION review column. See the logo above this log? Go to it and click on to it. Please. As I had mentioned in one of my entries last year,
2005 saw the passing of my favorite writer of all time, Ed McBain. Well, one of his last published titles was a reprint from Hard Case Crime, the best new mystery publisher on the market. If you haven’t checked out any of their titles yet, you are missing out on some great reading. Check them out, and do let me know what you think of the reviews.

Finally, this week saw the return to television of my favorite show, LOST. After a long, holiday hiatus, they came back strong with one of their best episodes ever. I love this series and think it has the best writing on televsion.

Take care, Ron over and out.

In 1904, French Canadian Pierre Fortier left Thedford Mines in Quebec and moved his family to the small, southern New Hampshire town of Somersworth. One of his many children was the strapping 13 year old, John Basptiste Fortier.
John had never been to school and he didn’t know how to read and write. What he knew how to do was work and help support his loving family. Thus,no sooner settled in their home, John went to work at a local tannery that cured and treated leather hides. It was hard work, but he was big for his age and he never shied away from getting his hands dirty. At the age of 15 he met one of his foreman’s daughter. She was a pretty 16 yr.old named Alphonsine, but everyone called her Rose. They courted and eight years later were married and started raising a family. And although, in his life time, Big John Fortier never learned to read, he did become a U.S. citizen and was selected to be a poll monitor during town elections; a task he did with much pride. At nights, after the evening dishes were washed and put away, Rose and he would sit in the front pallor with the local newspaper. John would light up a cigarette and Rose would put on her glasses and then proceed to read the entire paper aloud, cover to cover. They were truly amazing, wonderful people.

John and Rose Fortier had six children, all boys! The second, born in 1916, they named George Joseph Fortier. George grew up loving to play pick-up baseball games in the big fields by their home in the French section of Somersworth.
He went to Catholic parochial school until the seventh grade and then quit to get a job. Times were hard and he wanted to make money to help the family. One of the first jobs he had as a teenager was usher in a the local movie house. It was a great way to see movies for free and George loved the movies; especially the westerns. Tom Mix,the great first true superstar of the silver screen was his favorite, followed by Buck Jones and later John Wayne.
When World War II broke out, he was drafted into the Army and fought in the South Pacific with an artillery company. After the war, George came home, married his sweetheart, Gabrielle Richer, and went to work at the same tannery his father was employed by. George and Gaby Fortier had four children, three boys and a girl. Their first born they named Ronald because George’s best friend in the Army had been a fellow named Ron. He would grow up to be a comic book writer and the author of this log.

When my grandfather John passed away, I had just come home from Vietnam. I remember standing with my father at the funeral, both of lost in our grief and loving memories of that good man. A few years later, tired of college, I went to work in a local shoe factory and met a young woman, fell in love and got married. That the marriage didn’t survive does in no way diminish the three most beautiful results of that union, Scott, Kevin and Heather Fortier. Scott was born on May, 20th, 1971.
The very next day, I was standing in the maternity ward with my father, George, his arms across my shoulders, as we both looked through the viewing glass at the newest Fortier to enter this world. Dad was so damn happy, he was bubbling with joy. Sadly he passed away a few short years later, after Heather was born. He was my hero in life and I’ve always wished my kids could have gotten to know him better.

Scott Fortier has an inquistive, seeking mind. Even as a child he always wanted to know how things worked. One Christmas somone gave him a small portable radio. After finding it, Scott ran back into his bedroom and his mother and I didn’t hear a peep out of him for almost an hour. When I finally went to check on him, he was sitting on the floor by his bed. Spread out before him on the rug was the entire radio completely broken down into its individual parts. No, he couldn’t put it back together again, but that was no big deal to Scott. Satisfying his curiousity was the prevailing urge of his life. That he would ultimately discover computers at a young age seems like fate to me now. After graduating high school and doing six years in the Army Reserve, Scott went to work in the computer field. Hands on, learned everything there is to know about the darn things, and can both repair the hardware as well as write the most sophisticated programs imaginable. I wouldn’t have this site if it weren’t for Scott and that fantastic mind of his. Oh, and less you envision a stilted egghead, let me assure you, he is also a very personable, fun loving soul who people just naturally gravitate to the minute they meet him.
He’s a lot like his grandfather that way.

About six years ago (okay, I’m bad with dates, ha) Scott met Katie Gilberg from Long Island, NY. They were married in a gorgeous
Spring wedding in Kennebunk Port, ME, with the blue Atlantic as a backdrop. A year later, their first child, Taryn was born. That was four years ago, and she is a beautifuly little girl today, who is very, very excited. You see,
last Sat, on the very last day of the year 2005,
Taryn got a baby brother! At 5:15 PM on 31st Dec., Katie gave birth to Logan Scott Fortier. All of us are so happy! And when I sat down to plan this log entry, I decided to do it in a special way.

Pierre, John Baptist, George, Ron, Scott and now Logan. He is an amazing miracle, this little guy; the totall realization of all the dreams and hopes of those who came before him.
Will he do great things? He already has by adding more love into all our lives. Welcome, grandson, to the world.
Last week I gave you all a sneek-peek at the new CAPTAIN HAZZARD pulp cover as turned in by Tom Floyd. When the book is published, hopefully next month, it will also contain nine marvelous interior spot illustrations as done by my talented friend, Rob Davis. I thought you’d enjoy seeing one of these as well. Rob did the spot illos for my previous two pulp thrillers, BROTHER GRIM and THE HOUNDS OF HELL. I’m am always thrilled to work with him as he brings so much to each and every project.

Finally Rich Woodall and I have started our second session of the School of Sequential Graphics at the Paperback Bazaar and look to have as much fun with our new students as we did last time. 2006 is getting started on some really positive notes.

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