Greetings Loyal Airmen, well as we being to write this entry, it is Tues 25th of Oct and we’re sick with a chest cold. Came on about three or four days after we returned from our New England trip. The old symptoms of a sore throat, body aches etc. To be on the safe side, Val made sure we went to the clinic for Covid test which happily turned out to be negative. Then it was off to see the family doc, who now has me on several meds including some anti-biotics. After our lung surgery years ago, we are highly prone to bouts of pneumonia and at our age, that’s something to be avoided at all cost. Meanwhile we’re about a week and a half away from this years Rocky Mountain Con in Denver, where we will once again be guest. Truly am praying this little setback is all gone by then, as that is our favorite show of the year and we really don’t want to miss it.

On a much happier note, a few weeks ago we showed you our new Suburu Forester which we’d purchased just before heading off to New England. Well now it sits in our driveway next to the old blue Suburu Outback which has been so good to us all these years. We gave it to our son and his wife to add to their fleet of vehicles in their landscaping business here in Fort Collins. Meanwhile Valerie and the Air Chief are having a blast getting to learn all the fancy new features on our new auto. It is truly amazing how far automobile technology has come since these days when the Air Chief first got his license to drive.

THEY STABBED MY BOOK!

File this episode under Weird. As most of you know, we’ve been writing our review blog, Pulp Fiction Reviews for over twenty years. In that time we’ve received books from both writers and publishers that have arrived in every shape possible. From pristine copies to those so ripped or bent one wonders what game the postal carriers were playing with the package before eventually delivering it into our hands. We thought we’d pretty much seen it all.  Ha. Never say never.

A few weeks ago, much to our delight, Titan Books sent us package. Inside was the newest Mike Hammer thriller “Kill Me if You Can,” written by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan. Folks who read the blog know we are big fans of both the late author and his super talented protégé. So, again, we are very happy and began flipping through to the pages. Which was when we realized several pages had a torn hole in the middle of them. Upon closer examination, we realized something had penetrated the book from the front as if stabbing through the hard cover and penetrating all way through to page 138! We have no idea what was used in the stabbing, but it would appear to have been some kind of very tough nail to have cut that deep into the volume.

Of course the damage is minimal in we are still able to read the book, which we are currently doing. Still, it is strange. And perhaps a case for a tough guy P.I. like Hammer to solve were he able. Our introduction would have been, “Mike, somebody stabbed our book!”

WHAT’S COMING NEXT

We’re happy to announce that our next SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE is almost ready to be released. This is volume # 18 in our best selling series and features three new Holmes tales by Michael Black, Ray Lovato and Ian Watson. Above are three random illustrations by Art Director from the stories. The cover is by Warren Montgomery and we gave you a sneak peek at it recently. With all fingers crossed, we’ll showcase the release in next week’s Flight Log. Stay tuned.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CON

We are within a week of this year’s Rocky Mountain Con, as hosted and promoted by Tim & Nicole Moret of Denver, our dear friends. This is what the Air Chief considers his “home con.” Tim always does such a great job with. The show is not too big, or too small. And the vendors for the most part all local talent from either Colorado or surrounding states. This year, one of the most talented and comic pros will be the featured guest-star, Mr. Joe Staton. We’ve been fans of Joe’s work from day one and are happy to call him and a personal friend. So Loyal Airmen, check out the ad above here and if you live anywhere within driving distance of Denver, why not make plans to come and join us. It’s going to be a great show.

THANKS END OF WEEK

Want to thank all my friends and family who took time to send me prayers in helping me get over the cold that sapped me at the start of the week. Amazing what a few short days can make. We are feeling lots better, almost totally free of the nagging cough that plagued us. Getting both our voice and normal energy back as well. So it looks like we’ll be seeing at the Rocky Mountain Con for sure. Thanks again, Loyal Airmen.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, well Valerie and the Air Chief are once again back home in Colorado after our ten day trip back to New England. We had a great time visiting with family and friends.

During our trip we stayed at Wells Beach, Maine. Our rental was one mile from the beach itself and four out of the ten days we were there, Valerie and the Air Chief would walk down to the beach to see the sun come up over the Atlantic. It was breath-taking. Also a bit chilly. Happy Val had packed some cold weather gear.

Upper left, the Air Chief took a hike along the beach at low tide. That’s us waving to Val still on the viewing deck. Later that same day son Scott drove up to see us. It is always so great to see him.

A few days later our daughter Michelle and her husband Chris met up with us and drove us up along the Maine coast through places like Kennebuck Port (where the former President Bush and his family have their estate) and Sebago Lake. At one point we past a house selling pumpkins and stopped to take the pictures above.

We ended our trip with a drive up to Colchester, Vermont to visit our brother Paul. The Fall colors were fully on display. Valleys and mountains covered as if by a giant colorful quilt draped over the landscape by Mother Nature. We so love New England in October.

We grew up loving the old black and white Universal monster movies. Much more so than what passes for “horror” flicks these days. So you can easily image in just how much fun we had watching Marvel’s WEREWOLF BY NIGHT on Disny Plus. A perfect Halloween gift to all of us fans.

BEYOND THE STARS # 2

Artist Andrea Bormida turns n pencil pages for Pg # 14 of “BEYOND THE STARS” # 2. We love his panel compositions.

We’ve often said we at Airship 27 Production have the best fans in the world. Well that’s no understatement as we’re about to show you. Several years back a new writer/editor/publisher entered the New Pulp community and almost immediately became a great addition to our ranks. His name is Mark Vander Zanden (above) left and once a part of our pulp gatherings, Mark set a goal for himself of collecting every single Airship 27 title currently in print. Art director Rob Davis and the Air Chief were so bowled over by this enthusiasm, we actually acquiesced to Mark’s plea that we de “new” editions of those title that had long gone out of print. His sincerity won us over in the past few years we’ve done just that, allowing Mark to keep adding to his collection.  Yesterday afternoon, Mark posted the above photo (to the right) stating with arrival of our last two releases, he now owns the entire Airship 27 library.  WOW!! We honestly are at a loss of word. Talk about making the impossible happen. Meaning what you see on that book shelf is 267 Airship 27 titles.  Again…WOW!!  And way to go, Mark. Thanks so sincerely for your wonderful beyond the call support of our humble efforts. Oh yeah, we have the best fans ever!!

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week’s Flight Log is a wee bit small as by the time all of you are reading this, Valerie and the Air Chief will be wrapping up our two week trip back to New England to visit family and friends. Still, for those of you who actually check this out weekly (for which we are most appreciative) there are a few nifty little pieces.

BEYOND THE STARS Book # 2

In last week’s log entry, we showed off the finished inks to Pg 13 of Book # 2 by artist Andrea Bormida. Since posting that, Andrea finished the colors to that page.  We think, as always, he did a fantastic job.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION

A few weeks ago we announced we would soon be publishing a new Chinese fantasy adventure by writer Barbara Doran and give you a sneak-peek at one of the interior illustrations by artist Gary Kato (above left).  Well Colorado based cover artist Guy Davis used that very illustration to inspire him to create the finished cover for the book (above right). It just went up for sale at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. Trust us Loyal Airmen, the realms of Chinese magic are different than what most of us are at all familiar with. This is an awesome book and we hope you’ll check it out. As ever, thanks for your continued support.

And that’s our short Flight Log for this skip week, Loyal Airmen. Val and the Air Chief will be back home by next Friday. Hope to see you back here then. God bless.

Ron (Over & Out!)

Greetings Loyal Airmen. We’ve got some excellent news for you to kick off this flight Log. For those of you who were unable to support our Kickstarter Campaign for issue # 1 of our sci-fi series, BEYOND THE STARS, we are thrilled to announce it can now be bought on-line.

The book is now available from Indy Planet at this link. Including the alternate covers. So you that’s where you go. (https://www.indyplanet.com/beyond-the-stars-1) Meanwhile artist Andrea Bormida is hard work on completing issue # 2.  We’ll keep you posed with it is finished and published.

SHERLOCK HOLMES – Consulting Detective.

As most of you Local Airmen are well aware, Airship 27 Production’s best selling book series, is our Sherlock Holmes anthology series, “Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective.” We are currently working on Vol 18 with Art Director Rob Davis doing the interior illustrations.

And this time we recruited artist Warren Montgomery to do our cover, as seen above in various stages. Warren had done a Bass Reeves – Frontier Marshal cover us last year that impressed both Rob and the Air Chief. He’s a terrific artist and we own, thanks to his generosity and kindness, several of his amazing prints to include one of the movie Frankenstein and the other of the Green Hornet and Kato from the 60s TV show.  Above left to right are 1) early pencils, 2) finished inks and 3) fully colored. The next time you Loyal Airmen will see this is when the book is finished and then it will sport the title logo etc. Something really great to look forward to.

ZEPPELINS OVER AFRIKA

After almost two and a half years, Airship 27 Production proudly announces the release of its newest title, “Zeppelins Over Afrika” by writer Gene Moyers. This is an alternate world adventure wherein World War One is chiefly fought in the air via might Zeppelins. Of course all you Loyal Airmen know the Air Chief loves airships and this book is a real treat. Artist Brian McCulloch provided the beautiful cover (above left) while Army Vet Mike Harris the nine stunning black and white interiors. (One such above right.) The book is now up at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle. We hope you aviation buffs will pick up a copy and as ever, thanks for your continued support.

BEYOND THE STARS # 2

Artist Andrea Bormida wraps up the inks on Pg # 13 of book # 2 of our six issue sci-fi mini-series, BEYOND THE STARS. Next comes colors and on to the next page. Past the half-way mark now.

OUR NEW WHEELS

After a year of debating, Valerie and the Air Chief bit the bullet and we’ve bought a brand new car. It is a 2022 Suburu Forester. We ordered it several months ago and it just came in this past week. We’ve still paperwork to sign and won’t be officially picking it up until we return from our forthcoming trip back to New England to visit family and friends. Still nothing was going to stop us from going to the dealership to see and the salesmen snapped the photo above for us. See how wide Valerie’s smile is. Our old Suburu Outback has been super good to us. We bought it ages again while still living in New Hampshire and it was a great car. But it was time to change and get something newer. Hope this one brings us as much good fortune.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As mentioned above, next Friday the Air Chief will be in New England. Be well, stay safe and God Bless. See you in two weeks.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  We kick off this week’s Flight Log with the gorgeous art above by Jamie Chase. As most of your Loyal Airmen know, the original King Kong is our favorite movie of all times. Chase’s depiction of the beautiful Fay Wray as Ann Darrow in Kong’s grasped appeared over on Facebook last week and it truly bowled us over. We had to share it with all of you.

SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE Vol 18

Airship 27 Art Director Rob Davis continues to turn new illustrations for “Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective Vol 18” now in the works. (Above left.) This continues to be our best selling series and all previous 17 volumes are available in both paperback and on Kindle at Amazon. Including # 1 (above right) with the gorgeous Mark Maddox cover. If you’re a true Holmes & Watson fan, you really should check them out.

BEYOND THE STARS # 2

Artist Andrea Bormida turns in his roughs for page # 13 of the second issue of our sci-fi mini-series, BEYOND THE STARS. Meanwhile, we recently wrapped up the script for issue # 3 and Andrea loved it. Always good sign when you make your artists excited.

MR. JIGSAW – Man of a Thousand Parts.

A quick reminder that all Mr. Jigsaw comics (1 – 17) are available at (https://www.indyplanet.com/) as are other Redbud Studio Titles. With the release of # 17 a few weeks ago, lots of you Loyal Airmen have been inquiring where to go to buy the regular issues. We are currently scripting # 18. Gay Kato and the Air Chief created the break-apart hero over 40 years ago. Amazing.

And that’s it for this week’s Flight Log, Loyal Airmen. As always thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, well after almost two months of blistering summer heat, Mother Nature has finally agree to turn the page and lower some of those temps to a more Fall like normal. Most welcome relief for many of us.

BOSTON BOMBERS #1 Vol 2

Artist Rob Davis continues his amazingly beautiful work on the new Boston Bombers series. He’s working on issue # 1 of Vol 2 and we love his work. He just turned in Pg # 12 (above left). If you are at all intrigued by this pulpish alternate world adventure, we’d happily remind that volume one is very much available at Amazon (cover above right) and the perfect introduction to this world and its fantastic female leads.

JIN & TONIK

Matt Webb continues to add his brilliant coloring to issue # 1 of JIN & TONIK. Art by Cesar Felicano, story by the Air chief. Going to be truly beautiful comic when completed.

NEW OFFICE ART

Last week our good pal, artist Mike Belcher did up several pin-up sketches of the various incarnations of the Green Hornet & Kato based on our Now Comics Green Hornet series. Imagine the our surprise when the mailed showed up this week with truly beautiful prints of those pieces. We wasted no time affixing them to the bookshelf right behind our chair, where we now see them every morning upon entering the office. Thanks so much, Mike, you are truly awesome friend.

PULP SNEAK PEEK

Barbara Doran is one of our regular writers at Airship 27  and in the past has given us several great adventure fantasy novels centered around Chinese magic and mythology. She now working on a new series dealing with special magicians known as the Book Hunters and volume # 1 “Apprentice” is currently being assembled. Artist Gary Kato has done the nine black and white interior illustrations (see above right) and Colorado based artist Guy Davis will finish the color cover. Keep an eye on future Flight Logs Loyal Airmen as we’ll announce when the book is up and available. This one is really different.

And that’s our entry for this week. As ever, thanks for stopping by, be good and God bless,

Ron – Over & Out!!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, with September finally here and Labor Day now in the rear-view mirror, it’s time we say so-long to summer (though by our continued 90s weather that’s sounds silly) and hello to Fall and the opening of schools across the country.

THE GREEN HORNET

We received so many wonderful comments on last week’s Flight Log showcasing artist Mike Belcher’s tribute to our old Now Comics run on the Green Hornet which we did with artist Jeff Butler. Well Mike turned in a final piece, after we’d posted that entry and of course we wanted all of you to see it. Above, it features (left to right on top – Britt Reid and Ikano Kato, Britt Reid II and Hiyahsi Kato, Alan Reid (the short lived GH) and finally the major stars of that particular series, Paul Reid & Mishi Kato. Seeing these pieces by Mike was certainly a trip down memory lane for the Air Chief.

BEYOND THE STARS # 2

Artist Andrea Bormida wraps up Pg # 11 of issue two of Beyond the Stars. We love this page. The composition and design of the ships stellar.

HERE COMES THE SUN

Every morning the Air Chief and Valerie, after having our first cup of Coffee, set off on a mile and a half walk around the neighborhood. If time permits, we’ll do a second one later in the day to maintain our three miles a day goal. Well yesterday, we got out there just as the sun, in all its wonderful splendor was rising over the tree tops. We were delighted and Val whipped out cell-phone and snapped the pix above. We’re reminded of how Saint Francis had names for all of God’s majestic creations, calling this beautiful orb in the heavens his Brother Sun. And of course, by night we have the splendor of Sister Moon. He was truly a blessed and wise soul. Today Brother Sun was magnificent.

CONSULTING DETECTIVE Vol 18

Finally we end this week’s Flight Log with a great illustration of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from Rob Davis which is part of Airship 27 Production’s newest volume of “Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective Vol 18.” This one features two short stories and one novella. Now in production. We’ll keep you posted as it comes along.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever, thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you here next Friday.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen. Well this past weekend the Air Chief and Valerie had the fun of attending the local Fort Collins Comic Con. Val managed to snap a few pictures and we met so many wonderful people while there.

Saturday morning after setting up. One table had all our comics and the second all our pulp novels and anthologies. The crowds were great and lots of amazing costume players.

The folks at Faraway Creations were there with their animated Bantha from Star Wars. We couldn’t wait to get a picture standing along side of it. Once the doors opened and the fans starting coming, it was time for the Air Chief to “meet and greet” and show off some fun issues of Mr. Jigsaw to this nice family.

Two good friends popped over with some truly nice surprises for the Air Chief.  Above left we’re standing along artist Kevin Johnson, with who we did the Black Lion graphic novel. Kevin also did a painting for our Jezebel Johnston pirate series from Airship 27 Production and really surprised us by gifting us with the original painting. Later one of our biggest Green Hornet pals, Frank Bruso (above right) came over to give the Air Chief a classic Corgi metal Black Beauty toy car. Again, these are classics and having this now in our collection is fantastic. We can’t thank Frank enough.

And finally, we were thrilled on Sunday when Godzilla made an appearance at the show. Valerie immediately snapped the picture above as he passed our tables. One can only imagine how hot it must have been for the poor soul in that heavy get-up. All total it was a great two days. One of the most positive aspects was our chance to hype our new comics-writing course which begins in two weeks, Wed 9th Sept at the Front Range Community College here in Fort Collins. It will be the fifth time we do the course and we talked with several attendees at the show who may be signing up for the class. Again, to all involved with Foco from Nick Armstrong to Todd Jones, great job. It was a fun time.

BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2

And while the Air Chief was at the Con, artist Rob Davis was busy whipping up Pg # 10 of “The Boston Bombers” Vol 2 Issue # 1. He’s doings such an amazing job and every page gets us more and more wound up to see this project wrapped. Going to take a while, but it will happen.

THE GREEN HORNET

One of the biggest fans of our Green Hornet series from Now Comics. Above is a new pin-up Mike recently posted on both Facebook & Link-In. Here’s what he had to say “Now Comics published Green Hornet #1 in October of 1989. Within it’s pages, writer Ronald Fortier and artist Jeff Butler brought the Green Hornet and Kato to a new generation. I was one of those lucky guys.Here’s the original pair of Ron’s story Britt Reid and trusted friend Ikano Kato (Ron was the first writer to give the Kato family first names).Judging by some of the reaction by my recent Green Hornet pinup, I’m not alone in my appreciation of what Ron and Jeff did. Because of that, let me put this out there. Isn’t it a puzzling that other than one hardback Now Comics put out during the publication years, no one has reprinted the series since? I’d argue that Ron most definitely brought the spotlight back to the Hornet, enough for the license to be appreciated again at least.Wouldn’t it be nice to see a re-release of his original run? Just to have a nice package for those of us that grew up with it or to introduce a whole new generation to Ron’s generational approach that got so much of our interest. Or, am I in the only one?”

And then Mike goes on to talk about GREEN HORNET and KATO II – “Continuing my tribute to Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler’s GREEN HORNET series of the early 90s. Also, I’m wanting to show the fine folks who currently publish Green Hornet comics, Dynamite there’s interest in seeing the much beloved series reprinted. The approach Ron and Jeff took in their series was treating the original radio/serial Green Hornet and the short lived 60s series as one universe. Going as far as actually using the likeness of stars Van Williams and Bruce Lee as Britt Reid II and Hayashi Kato. The Hornet identity is established here as being passed on by uncle to nephew. Britt II asks his uncle to continue the legacy. While Hayashi is the eldest son of the original Kato, Ikano.  We get some fun adventures establishing the duo in both action and family life. The very personal nature of the comic’s family dynamic is what I’ve always thought made it a must read for me. I invested in the characters and Ron led me through their lives. Side note: To my understanding, Van Williams was a great fan of the series and appreciated being thought of.”

Mike continues – “GREEN HORNET III – Alan Reid -The heir apparent to the Green Hornet legacy, Alan Reid would train with Hayashi Kato from a young age to one day inherit the mask. Taking over from his Uncle Britt, Alan would meet tragedy on his very first case. Leading up to his taking on the Green Hornet we’re given a few issues to get to know Alan and his younger brother Paul, as they would come to live with their Uncle Britt after the death of their parents. I remember being quite shocked and touched by what happened to Alan as Ron’s story rolled out.Alan’s costume was designed by Steve Erwin, who was supposed to work on the series with Ron. But other work prevented him from doing so.Again, please help me spread the good word about this series in the hope that Dynamite might reprint the first series.”

Wow, thanks so much, Mike. Personally the Air Chief has often wondered why no one at Dynamite ever thought to reprint the run we did with artist Jeff Butler. Especially the highly critically acclaimed four issue mini-series, “Sting of the Green Hornet.” Who knows, maybe if enough folks respond to Mike’s urging, someone at Dynamite will take notice.

BEYOND THE STARS Book # 2

Meanwhile artist Andrea Bormida turns in roughs of Pg # 12 of “Beyond the Stars” # 2. The team is assembling from different parts the empire. The Air Chief so loves this page.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by and see you next week.

Ron Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, last week Airship 27 Production released its third Sam Dunne mystery by writer, Fred Adams Jr. In the series, Sam is a guitar playing musician who seems to get into trouble no matter how hard he tries to avoid it.

In assembling the book, the Air Chief was challenged by putting together a photo-real cover, as we had done for the first two Sam Dunne mysteries, “Dead Man’s Melody” and “Blood is the New Black.” Until that is we realized our own son, Kevin, is a gifted guitar playing musician himself. We immediately dug into our digital albums, found a good shot of Kevin with one of his new guitars, handed it all off to Art Director Rob Davis and voila we had our cover; with son Kevin posing as our hero, Sam Dunne. As ever you can find a copy in both paperback and on Kindle at Amazon. Thanks for your continued to support and of course a tip of the pulp fedora Kevin for being such a good sport. Guess we call this keeping it in the family.

JIM & TONIK

Colorist Matt Webb turns his brilliant work to Pg # 4 of JIN & TONIK Book # 1 – featuring the amazing art of Cesar Feliciano and script by yours truly. This is going to be such a beautiful book when finished.

BOSTON BOMBERS Vol 2

Rob Davis does another great job with Pg # 9 of Issue # 1 of “The Boston Bombers” Vol 2. We particularly love the handling of the flashback sequence in this page. Great visuals and composition.

FORT COLLINS COMIC CON

This coming weekend, Aug 27th & 28th, the Air Chief will be a guest at the Fort Collins Comic Con, here in our hometown of Fort Collins, CO. On Sunday morning at 10:10 a.m. we’ll be giving a 50 minute presentation on the history of the Green Hornet from radio to comics. Looking forward to talking about this great character with other fans. Hope to see you there, Colorado Loyal Airmen.

THE WOODEN BLADE # 2

Finally, our copies of “The Wooden Blade # 2 ” have arrived, and we’ll have them on our table at this week’s Fort Collins Comic Con. Artist Olivia DeGaine did such a great job with the art. We love working with her.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks for stopping by and see you back here next Friday morning. God bless.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, well after last week’s rollicking Flight Log, we’re happy to settle back into a more relaxed outing this week. Chief of which is our return to the Fort Collins Comic Con in another two weeks.

Sadly the show was canceled the year of the Covid outbreak. But now it’s back and the Air Chief has a bunch of new comics and pulps to show our fans. Never mind the hour long presentation we’ll be giving on Sunday morning regarding the history of the Green Hornet From Radio to Comics. Should be a fun time.

BEYOND THE STARS # 2

Artist Andrea Bormida wraps up Pg # 10 with colors (above left) and turns in both the roughs for Pg # 11 and finally the colors. Hoping to start writing Script # 3 some time next week. Like issue # 1, this book is looking fantastic. Andrea is such a great artist.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION

We are thrilled to announce our second omnibus edition from the Jezebel Johnston Pirate Queen saga by Award Winning writer Nancy Hansen. This second omnibus contains books 5-6-7-8 in her ongoing series. Upper left is the cover by Rob Davis, whereas to the right is the actual back cover showcasing the individual covers. The omnibus edition, along with all the individual books, are available at Amazon. As ever thanks for your continued to support and keep an eye out for Vol 9 coming soon.

And that’s a wrap for this week, Loyal Airmen. Going to be a busy week packing up comics and pulps to bring to FoCo. Again hope to see you there.

Ron – Over & Out!