Greeting Loyal Airmen, and welcome to this week’s Flight Log. This week we kick off things with news we consider both very good…and somewhat bad. So here goes.

In the past you Loyal Airmen have heard the Air Chief speak often about the greatest lawman ever to work in the old Wild West; Bass Reeves. In a 30 year career riding the Oklahoma badlands for Judge Issac Parker as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, Reeves brought in over 3,000 outlaws, was in 14 major shoot outs and never wounded once.  And yet, to this day, he’s rarely mentioned in history books because he was black. You see, before becoming a lawman, Reeves was a runaway slave during the Civil War. It was only after war that he took on being a Marshal to help supplement his income. Married to another freed slave, the Reeves went on to have ten children and ran a successful horse ranch. But money was tight and Reeves, as a Deputy Marshal, was allowed to keep a portion of the bounty on the badmen he captured and brought to justice.  Some ten years ago, a college professor named Art Burton wrote a terrific biography of Reeves but at the end of the book, for who knows what reasons, he put forth a ridiculous theory that Reeves’ exploits would later inspire Detroit radio writer Fran Striker and from that inspiration would come the Lone Ranger. Now all of this is pure fabrication and there is absolutely no proof whatsoever that Striker ever even heard of Reeves. But one has to wonder if Burton was purposely putting forth this ludicrous to cause sensationalism and thus bring more attention to his book and with that more sales. In other words, he was motivated to create a fairy tale out of pure greed.

So why are we spending so much time on this topic?  Well, dear Loyal Airmen, last Fall NBC launched a new time travel adventure series called TIMELESS…and in next week’s Monday night episode, the heroes will travel back into the Wild West where they are going to encounter both Jesse James….and….wait for it….Bass Reeves.  Above is a still from that episode featuring actor Coleman Dominog as Reeves.  Now when the Air Chief watched this little 30 second trailer and immediately identified Reeves by the cross-handle guns on his belt, he was ecstatic with joy.  Why Hollywood has never made a Bass Reeves movie is totally beyond our meager brain capacity. It’s really a crime. Anyway, as the short clip opens, Reeves steps out onto the porch and the black series league suddenly smiles and yes, “Oh my, the Lone Ranger is a black man!”  And we just felt our hearts sinking.  Yup, the stupid writers of this particular segment have opted to ignore the truth and put forth the stupid myth.  Martin Gram, a good friend of the Air Chief, and an authority on old time radio, has researched extensively the history of both Frank Strike, radio station WXYZ and the creation of the Lone Ranger. His research is without reproach and NOWHERES in it is there any mention of Striker having been influenced by hearing the story of Bass Reeves. Earlier in the week, Martin wrote the head of NBC, explaining the fallacy of what they are doing and politely asking them not to perpetuate what is a lie…about a real, authentic, factual great man.  Comparing Bass Reeves to a radio cowboy hero does him and all of us a disservice.  History should be about the truth…always.

One of our good friends is Christopher Chance of Texas. A few days ago he posted several pictures of men dressed up in classic hero costumes; sort of a Pulp Team Up that we thought was really fun. These guys did a great job on their costumes and we very much wanted to share it with all of you. Starting to left with the Green Hornet (we’re amazed that the mask is an exact double of the one featured in the cliff-hanger serials), then comes the bug-eyed character who the Air Chief can’t identify here. Then comes Lee Falks’ Phantom, Zorro and finally the Shadow. Now imagine a movie blockbuster featuring all these heroes together.

Finally, we thought you enjoy a few sneak peaks at what’s on the Air Chief desk these days. At present, Airship 27 Productions’ Art Director Rob Davis is doing interior illustrations for writer Nancy Hansen’s second Jezebel Johnston Pirate Queen novel, Queen of Anarchy which we hope to have out soon.  And….

…Fort Collins, graphic artist, Olivia Degaine has started doing breakdowns for the 8 pg fantasy comic strip we are doing together called “The Wooden Blade.” She is such a gifted artist and watching her bring our story to life is such a joy. We’ll let you know when its finished and in print.

And there you have it for another week, Loyal Airmen.  As ever, thanks for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week the Air Chief is going to promote a very special project. One that we’ve been sitting on for over a decade.  Way…way back in 2001 we wrote a 3 act play called “Where Love Takes You.” It was the true story of how our parents, George Fortier and Gabrielle Richer met in 1941 just prior to America’s entry into World War II. They has only started dating and the Dad was soon drafted and thus they were separated for four long years until his return home in 1945.  How their brand new romance somehow manage to grow in the interim, never mind survive at all, is the story of that special love.

The play was produced in Aug by the Sanford Stage Company, a small community theater group in Sprinvale, Me.  They did three performance.  And that was it. Over the following years the Air Chief has always dreamed of seeing it done on stage again but really never got around to doing anything concrete about that.  Until this week, when, with the help of my partner at Airship 27 Productions, Art Director Rob Davis, we had the actual play published…see both cover above. That’s Mom on the front at age 17, the year she met Dad. That’s them on their wedding day four years later. The play is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and soon will also be available for Kindle. Again, Loyal Airmen, the hope is to have theater groups discover and then go on to produce it.  All fingers crossed.

As for Airship 27 Productions first release of 2017, it’s a terrific new western novel by R.A. Jones called “Comanche Blood.” It’s the story of Civil War veteran turned bounty hunter Jason Mankiller and his adventures along the Texas frontier. Artist Christ Kohler provided the interior illustrations and Adam Shaw did the cover. A truly awesome book now available at Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

Brother Bones movie producers Erik Franklin and Daniel Husser are working the opening shot of the film, with an airship flying above Cape Noire. We are so psyched by this image. What a way to start a movie!

As some of you will recall, a little over a year ago, the Air Chief wrote a Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery story for a new anthology title OCCULT DETECTIVES.  Well we are happy to announce that is now an audio available on-line from (www.Audible.com) The book includes our tale plus those from Joel Jenkins, Jim Beard and Josh Reynolds. The voice actor, Matthew Waldron, does a great job with these. We hope you’ll check it out.

And that’s it for this week, Loyal Airmen, as ever thanks for stopping by and be back next Friday.

Ron – Over & Out!

Welcome Loyal Airmen to our first Flight Log of 2017.  Again, we hope all of you had a fantastic holiday season.  Winter has descended on Fort Collins this past week and the temps keep going up and down, proving how fickle Mother Nature always is.  Okay, on to some fun stuff, which will portent lots of great things coming down the road this year.

Artist Silvestri Szilagyi, who is working with the Air Chief to do a graphic novel based on the Brother Bones movie screenplay, turned in another six page roughs this past week, above are pages 6 & 7 from that project. Again, these are just roughs.  His plan is to draw out completed the first 20 pages of our 130 page script and we will use those, as well as a few characters sketches, as a presentation package in our attempt to find a publisher willing to take on the project.  Keep your fingers crossed. Of course we are also sharing these roughs with the movie’s producers as they do make excellent storyboards as well.  We will keep you posted.

Happily, Silvestre sent in more sketches, this time of some of the principle characters that appear in the movie/graphic novel.  All based on Rob Davis’ original drawings.  Those in color are by Rob, Silvestre’s the black and white sketches.  Here is his take on Judy, the prostitute who is murdered by Tommy Bonello, thus setting the entire story in motion.

And here we have Trey Abelard, the mob informer.

And of course the twin killers themselves, the Bone brothers, Tommy and Jack. The Air Chief is truly excited about this project but also weary of the challenge to find a publisher for it. Independent comics like this are a hard sell.  But rest assured we’ll give it our best shot.

Whereas we are on a media theme here, we thought it would be appropriate to look at two other Airship 27 Productions titles that caught the attention of Hollywood last year.  A cable network agent approached author Robert Ricci about his west coast private eye, Rutherford Jones in regards to optioning the character for a possible TV series.  Meanwhile, Fred Adams Jr. met as yet another independent film producer interested in his horror/crime series Hitwolf. Both are of course tentative and these are simply initial feelers, but look at what it portents for the future of New Pulp. In one year, there was actual media interest in three of our titles, with Brother Bones leading the charge as it is moving ahead towards production. Whereas the expressed interest in Rutherford Jones and Hitwolf clearly indicates that Hollywood is discovering New Pulp and the great material it has to offer. What new titles will eventually grab their attention. The Air Chief truly believes the year ahead could be a very exciting one for the entire New Pulp community. Let’s make some dreams come true.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we pray all of you had a fantastic Christmas filled with love, friendship and some really cool Santa Surprises.  Last week the Air Chief showed you all the truly cool Black Beauty die-cast model given to us by pal James Gaubatz.  Well, the day before Christmas as yet another surprise Santa package arrived in the mail.

It contained a beautiful letter bound journal made up like the old notebooks explorers would use on their travels around the globe. Truly a gorgeous item and the sender was our good friend, and super talented graphic artist, Michael Dorman. Michael and the Air Chief did a two part Black Bat – Domino Lady adventure for Moonstone Comics recently and with all fingers crossed, you’ll all be able to see those pages before the end of 2017. Meanwhile, upon seeing the journal, Valerie suggested we use it to keep notes from our conventions travels in the coming year and that was a splendid idea. Thus our first entry above. And Michael, thank you so very, very much.

Another wonderful surprise popped up on Facebook when our good friend, and huge Brother Bones fan, sculpture Kenneth Stock of Denver, did up a mock Bones cover featuring the bronze statue he had done and given us as a gift earlier in the year. We did he did a truly super bang up job with it.

With Christmas over, things slowly began to get back to some semblance of the routine and we decided to head to the local cinema to catch a movie.  What with all the hoople on the new Star Wars Rogue One, we opted to find something else to view wherein the theater wouldn’t be packed like a tin of sardines.  We chose Will Smith’s latest drama, Collateral Beauty and it was a truly wise move. This beautiful told story of life, love and death is clearly one of the best films of the year and the Air Chief cannot recommend highly enough. Smith is powerful as a grieving father trying to overcome the death of his six year old daughter. His marriage has fallen apart and he’s about to lose his advertising business and so his three best friends, played brilliantly by Ken Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Pena, hatch an incredible scheme to rescue him. The cast also includes Helen Miren and Kiera Knightly among others and the story is simply heartfelt. Easily one of the finest movies about life with its many joys and tragedies. Everyone should see this movie and reflect on its simple but true message.

As we wrap up this eventful year, we look at it as having been a truly good year what with our choice for President, Donal Trump, winning the election, the Chicago Cubs the baseball World Series and our amazing 70th birthday surprise party at the Rocky Mountain Con.  As we said, for the most part a great year. Of course it held its share of sadness as well. Lots has been made of all the celebrities who passed, but honestly those deaths really aren’t personal to us. What hurts is to lose family and real friends such as writer Mark Justice, who died back in Feb of this year.  We miss him terribly and it was an honor for us to republish in his last novel, The Dead Sheriff.

Speaking of publishing, we’re happy to report that Airship 27 Publications put out twenty-four titles in 2016. The record is twenty-six, but honestly, the Air Chief and his pal Rob Davis are thrilled with this output and we hope you Loyal Airmen are as well.  Now it’s time to look to the year ahead and what 2017 will have in store for us.  It looks like our first book of the new year with be R.A. Jones’ western COMANCHE BLOOD, which is a sequel to his earlier GUN GLORY which released back in 2015.  This book features the interior art of Chris Kohler, and super talented New Pulp creator and this marks his first ever work for Airship 27 Productions.  We’ve posted a peek at one of his pieces above.  After the western, our next pulp title should be the second in Nancy Hansen’s pirate queen saga.  Now that’s a book you don’t want to me.

And in that mix of activity, the Air Chief has a very special and personal project he hopes to see in print for the very first time.  We’ll tell you all about it within the first few weeks of 2017.  And there you have it, so long one year and welcome the next…with prayers and hopes.  We wish you all a glorious New Year.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, here we are only a day away from Christmas and the holiday spirit is all around us, what with Christmas cards, trees and all the other iconic symbols of this glorious time of the year.  Months ago, wanting to really get into the holiday festivities, Valerie bought us tickets to attend a new stage production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol being performed at the Lincoln Center here in Fort Collins. Since moving here almost eight years ago, we’ve always wanted to visit this magnificent theater and attend one of its presentation. This was our opportunity to do so in grand fashion, as A Christmas Carol has been one of the Air Chief’s favorite Christmas stories/movies. We knew seeing it live on stage would be something truly special.

So this past Tuesday off to the Lincoln Center we went.  It was a sold out performance and lots of families with young children in attendance. The show itself was truly amazing.  Easily one of the finest interpretations of Dickens’ classic the Air Chief has ever had the pleasure of seeing. The entire cast was magnificent and the props and settings truly amazing.  The Ghost of Christmas Future was particularly daunting and scary.

In the starring role of Ebenezer Scrooge was veteran actor Scott Severance. His ability to take the character and mug him broadly for the audience was genius and bordered on slapstick to offset the grimness of this cautionary tale. In fact so good was he at this exaggerated performance, he had the children in audience laughing aloud non-stop by the final act. They truly loved him. It was until the next day when the Air Chief sent Mr. Severance a note of high praise and thanks via the internet that we learned he’s from our home state of New Hampshire, residing in the wonderful seaport town of Portsmouth, only 18 miles from the Air Chief’s home town of Somersworth. It’s truly a small world indeed.  Mr. Severance led us to believe they have been touring the country with this show and should you have the opportunity to see it, we recommend you do not pass it up. This is what the season is truly all about.

Once a week the Air Chief takes an afternoon break from work in the Hangar 27 offices to go out a get a cup of coffee with pals Todd Jones and James Gaubatz; two of the nicest people in the world.  So this past week, on our way out to he parking lot after our hourly get together talking all things movies, comics and TV shows, James asks us if we had any Black Beauty models at home; that being the name of the Green Hornet’s classic car from the 1960s TV series with Van Williams and Bruce Lee. To which we replied we did in fact have a Corgi die-cast Black Beauty packed away somewhere in our boxes of toys. At this James smiled, rushed over to his car, then back to me whereby he handed me the above Johnny Lightning die-cast Black Beauty he’d found at a toy store the previous week. Upon seeing it he picked it up for me just like that. And so the Air Chief was given as yet another early Christmas gift. What is the most touching about this little incident is the realization of how much a good friend thinks of us. That more than anything else demonstrates how truly blessed the Air Chief is with people James and Todd.  We truly pray all of you Loyal Airmen are thus blessed as well.

While amid all this holiday running around etc., we actually managed to release as yet another book, the 9th in as many weeks. This one is QUATERMAIN – The New Adventures Vol Two short stories by Erik Franklin and Alan J. Porter with a novella by Thomas Kent Miller.  Clayton Hinkle provides the interior illos and Graham Hill painted that gorgeous cover you see above here. Now available at Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Meanwhile Brother Bones movie producers Erik Franklin and Danile Husser have a posted a new video update on their Facebook page.  (https://www.facebook.com/fhentertainmentllc/?pnref=story) This has the Air Chief really excited.  Principle photography on the film will shoot in Seattle next summer. Stay tuned for more as it develops.

And so we come to the end of this week’s Flight Log, Loyal Airmen, with a wish that despite the hustle and bustle of this fun time of year, come Christmas morning all of you will take a moment to bow your heads in prayer at the true miracle we celebrate; the birth of our dear savior/lord  Jesus Christ. He came to us as a babe in a manger to show us the Father’s immortal love for each and every one of us. He came to serve us in the name of that love as example for all men and women, to cherish the gift of life and to understand our greatest Christmas gifts are the people who surround us each and every day.

God bless each of your and your loved ones, from us here at Hangar 27, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Ron- Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we trust you are enjoying the holiday season and hopefully have most of your important Christmas shopping done.  Yes, the stores out there are getting crazier with each passing day. Ha. And we at Airship 27 Productions have totally jumped into high gear as we put out one new book every week for the past eight weeks.  If that isn’t some kind of publishing record, the Air Chief has no idea what would be.

Now that eight book is WINGS OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON by writer Barbara Doran.  Last year Barbara gave us a book called CLAWS OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON which took place in a small West Coast seaport and was filled with intriguing characters both human and magical. With WINGS, she goes backward in time to offer up a prequel showing us the origins of some of these people. Artist Gary Kato provided the interior illustrations and our ow Art Director Rob Davis the beautiful cover seen above.  As ever this can be found at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.  So, will we make it 9 for 9 ? Stay tuned to find out.

Of course one of the things we love is to see our super talented writers doing bookstore signings and this past weekend, prolific penman, Fred Adams Jr. appeared at the Rickert & Beagle Books in Pittsburgh. Check out all his amazing Airship 27 tables on his table.  Take my word for it, Loyal Airmen, Fred’s got tons of new books coming your way in 2017.  The guy is a virtual writing machine.

The Senior Home where Mom resides, held their annual Christmas party this past week. Whereas Mom had a little cold, we thought she might skip.  Ha. The photo above was sent to us by one of the attendants who said Mom was in total good spirits and even made a point of greeting Santa.  For 92, the Air Chief wishes he had her energy and stamina. Way to go, Mom!!

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks as ever for stopping by and we’ll see you back here in seven days.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, here we are full into the Christimas holiday season and if you’ve been to any of the major retail stores in the past week you’ll know just how crazy things are getting out there. Do be careful when out and about and do your best to keep your patience in check.  More than ever this is the season when good manners mean the most.

Okay, so the Airship 27 Productions’ Juggernaut keeps plowing ahead with the released of our seventh book in as many weeks.  You heard the Air Chief correctly, we’ve put out one book a week for the past seven weeks!  It is by far the best production record we’ve ever achieved.  The new book is a full length Sherlock Holmes mystery titled “The Picture of Innocence,” by Chuck Miller. In the tale, Holmes and Watson meet up with both Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde as they attempt to solve a truly bizarre mystery.  As ever, Chuck Miller delivers a really awesome story you won’t want to miss.  As ever it’s available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.  Now let’s see if we can make it eight for eight. Ha.

Meanwhile among the batch of Christmas cards greetings coming into Hangar 27 Headquarters, we also received this wonderful picture of Norma Kay Justice holding up her copy of her late husband’s book.  By now all you Loyal Airmen must know the story of Mark Justice’s sad passing back in February of this year and how, before that horrible event, we had agreed to do a brand new edition of his amazing weird western thriller.  Well, we honored that promise for both Mark and Norma Kay.  We hope you’ll pick up a copy at Amazon. We really want this book to be a huge hit for the obvious reasons.

Dear Loyal Airmen, you cannot possibly how happy the Air Chief is these days.  After three long years, we finally completed our fifth Captain Hazzard pulp novel, “Custer’s Ghost” and it is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. It’s rousing action-adventure where the Champion of Justice teams up with another classic pulp hero, Jim Anthony, Super Detective.  Pal and Airship 27 Art Director Rob Davis provided the great interior illustrations and the truly talented Pat Carbajal contributed that stunning cover seen above here. And so it is out and we really hope all you Loyal Airmen will pick up a copy and give it a read. Then write and tell us it was worth the wait. As ever, thanks so much for your continued support.

Years ago when we first started Airship 27 Productions, we thought it would be cool to open up a Cafe Press shop and offer items some of you Loyal Airmen might want to have, ala coffee cups, tee-shirts or the super cool baseball cap above.  The Air Chief had one of these it wore it until it pretty much fell apart.  We were reminded the shop is still up and active a few days ago when one of our Loyal Airmen wrote to say he had just ordered one.  Too cool. And as we are getting into the Christmas season we thought it only appropriate to post the link to that shop here.  (http://www.cafepress.com/airship27.642113448)  Trust the Air Chief, you’ll look super cool in this cap announcing to the world you are a Loyal Airmen.

The third and final issue of Moonstone Comics GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT hits the comic shop shelves next week, 7th Dec. Features art by the amazing Sivestre Szlagyi with script by the Air Chief.  We hope you’ll check it out. Cover by Michael Stribling.

As many of you will recall, last month the Air Chief celebrated his 70th birthday while being a guest at the Rocky Mountain Con.  While there a video outfit stopped by our table to do an interview which has now been posted to You Tube.  You can find it here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xYkomdS98)

And that’s it for our first Dec. Flight Log, Loyal Airmen, as ever, thanks for stopping by and we’ll be back next week.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you are reading this, we’re now fully in the Holiday Season what with Thanksgiving yesterday.  We truly hope all of you had the opportunity to spend time with your family and loved ones. In that regards this is one of the Air Chief’s favorite holidays.  And we were also very happy to see that many retail chains actually closed their doors yesterday in deference to the holiday allowing their employees to spend the day at home.  Now that’s just great.  Of course, we’re going to guess lots of you also stayed up all night to fight the Black Friday crowds.  The less said about that phenomenon, the better.  Just be safe out there, please.  No sale is worth your health or sanity.

As you’d probably guess, the Air Chief loves action figures…especially those inspired by characters we’ve created.  Recently our BLACK LION artist partner, Kevin Johnson, was given this truly amazing Black Lion custom made action figure by one Ricky Para. Ricky, you did a fantastic job. It is truly an awesome likeness.

For the fifth week in a row, Airship 27 Productions has released as yet another new pulp title. This one is DOMINO LADY Vol 2 – and feature brand new adventures starring pulpdom’s sexiest avenger as written by Brad Mengel, Gene Moyers, Paul Findley and Robert Ricci. Features 12 amazing interior illustrations by James Lyle and another stunning cover by the one and only Ted Hammond.  If you liked volume one, you are going to love this one, Loyal Airmen. Now available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.

The other really big news of the past week was our recruiting popular, New Pulp writer Barry Reese to join the Captain Action team. In the past two years, we, in conjunction with Captain Action Enterprises LLC have published two Captain Action full length novels, “Riddle of the Glowing Men” and “Hearts of the Rising Sun,” both by Jim Beard.  It was Jim’s plan all along to do three books but in the past year is own career has skyrocketed and what time he had available began to shrink. Which is when he had the idea of reaching out to Reese, his friend and colleague.  Barry is know for his fast paced action series, Lazarus Gray, the Peregrine and Gravedigger all published by Pro Se Productions. The plan is for Jim to do the outline and detail chapter breakdowns and Barry to then write the actual prose. This will be the first team-up of this talented writing duo ever and we at Airship 27 are thrilled to be publishing.  Fingers crossed, the yet untitled book three in the Captain Action series will be out early in 2017.

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

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, what with the big 70th birthday bash behind us, it was time for the Air Chief to roll up his sleeves and get back to work in Hangar 27.  Lots of great pulp and comic projects still to get out before the end of the year.

Happily the mail flight dropped off a big box the other day containing our copies of THE GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT # 3 from Moonstone Comics.  This is the third and final issue of this mini featuring the Black Bat and lots of guest pulp heroes. Script by the Air Chief with amazing art by Sylvestre Szilagyi of Argentina. Fingers crossed you Loyal Airmen should see this in your comic shops in another few weeks.

Another fun happening, Airship 27 Productions has just released its third Kindle-Only project, “The Adventures of Lance Star – Sky Ranger,” by Bobby Nash. Over the past ten years, Bobby has had a story in each of the four Lance Star anthologies we’ve published (all still available at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle).  Now Bobby is putting the finishing touches  on the first ever full length Lance Star novel we hope to have out early in 2017.  To help promote that title, we thought it would be fun to collect all of Bobby’s four stories in one digital collection and thus this Kindle Only title.  Note, our two previous Kindle Only books were Sherlock Holmes Mysteries, Vol 1 collecting I.A. Watson’s tales and Vol 2 bringing together many of Aaron Smith’s stories.  If you’re a Kindle reader, we hope you’ll give this high flying collection a try.

A few years ago the Air Chief met writer Shawn Gustafson at a local convention. Shawn is a talented comic writer who does a webstrip called THE SPECIALISTS with his artist partner, Al Kukalek.  After that initial meeting, Shawn was decent enough to give us copies of the early issues and we were hooked immediately. The Specialists takes place during World War II and deals with American super powered heroes battling super powered Nazi agents. It is tons of fun. So when Shawn and Al, after five years worth of weekly strips, opted to collect them all into one huge ominbus, they came to the Air Chief asking if we’d write an introduction. We were only too honored to do so. This wonderful hardback is now out and on sale at their website (www.TheSpecialistsComic.com) and we truly can’t recommend it enough. This is what good comics look like today. Please, take a look and give these talented guys your support. They truly deserve it.

Finally, the big news of the past week was that veteran action director, Gavin O’Connor and his production partner have acquired the rights, through Paramount Studios, to the Green Hornet and plan on making a much darker and more realistic film.  O’Connor’s latest effort was the well received “The Accountant,” with Ben Afflect.  A huge fan of the Green Hornet all his life, O’Connor was upset, like most of us, with the recent Seth Rogen comedy version and when Universal allowed their rights to expire, jump at the chance to procure them.  Although not officially announced, some of the Air Chief’s sources say O’Connor has plans for three films as a series.  His version of the character will be a modern one centering around the hero’s journey of self discovery.  What with our noticeable connection to this character, the Air Chief has no idea if O’Connor ever read our Now Comics run on the Green Hornet.  But we are certainly happy with the idea of a “serious” movie on the character.  All fingers are crossed.

Thanks for stopping by as ever,

Ron – Over & Out!