Greetings Loyal Airmen and get ready for some really cool pictures, as the Air Chief does his best to recount the events of the last weekend whereupon we turned 70 at the fourth annual Rocky Mountain Con in Denver and had the best time ever what with a surprise birthday party and our getting to actually autograph a car.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as we do not want to forget any little detail of the past amazing three days.

We drove down to Denver late Friday afternoon with our pal, Todd Jones, to both set up and then register at the hotel where the convention center is located. As it was the Air Chief’s birthday the following day, Valerie had decided we should make a special weekend of it and so tagged along.  After setting up our booth in the main hall and saying hi to con promoter Tim Moret and his assistant Bob Mask, Val and the Air Chief proceeded to the hotel main lobby to register and get settled into our room.  So upon reaching there we find another our pal, Rio Herrera assisting a little gray haired lady get signed in. When he saw us, he immediately introduced us to actress Margot Kidder!!  Yup, THE LOIS LANE from the classic Richard Donner movie with the late Christopher Reeves.  As they were going to get her squared away, we all rode up to our individual floors in the elevator together.  Once in our room, the Air Chief and Valerie were simply overwhelmed. We’d actually met Lois Lane!!

The following morning, Nov 5th, the Air Chief’s big day, we got down to the con and discovered that our con neighbor at this show we be none other than comics legend, Mike Grell.  Mike is known primarily for three truly amazing series. The first being Sable from First Comic, where he first made his mark in the business and then he went to DC and not only created Warlord for them, but also revamped the Green Arrow in his minis-series, The Longbow Hunters.” The Air Chief has been a fan of his for years.

One of the biggest surprises for Mike was when a cos-player showed up on Sunday afternoon in the guise of The Warlord. The guy was fantastic and looked exactly like Mike’s creation. Valerie rushed over and quickly snapped a shot of them together. You can see the Air Chief in the background enjoying the moment to the max.

Believe me, Loyal Airmen, getting to meet your heroes is often a very anxious time. But Mike was so gracious and friendly. When we told him our favorite of all his works was Sable, he dropped everything he was doing and shook our hands enthusiastically. From that point on we chatted throughout the weekend and Valerie took the above pix of us back to back. Honestly one of our happiest moments at a con ever. Always great when your heroes turn out to be such great people. Mike Grell is totally one of those.

Another super star guest at the con, and one of the Air Chief’s buddies, was artist Chad Hardin who is currently drawing DC Comics popular Harlequin series. Over the years Chad has done several covers for Airship 27 Productions, the first of which was for our very first Jim Anthony Super Detective.  He’s currently putting the finishes touches on the Holmes & Houdini cover for the novel by Ian Watson. Should be out in just another week or so.

And of course we need to give out a Shout Out to all of the Air Chief’s amazing friends and colleagues who helped make the weekend so special. First up, at the left, the talented writer we call our Official Protege, Todd Jones. Todd was instrumental in assisting Valerie in putting the surprise party given to me at the end of the day. On the right is the Air Chief holding a bottle of Star Trek 50th Anniv. ale brewed and bottled back in 1997, a truly amazing gift from our good friend, Brett Smith. We run into Brett at every local show we do and it is always a pleasure to see him.

There would be no Rocky Mountain Con if not for Mr. Tim Moret and his lovely wife, Nicole. Tim is the salt of the earth, one of the nicest people the Air Chief has ever known. Tim came up with the idea of the show to get money to help the survivors of the Aurora Theater shootings and each year part of the con’s proceeds go to them.  And one of Tim’s many assistants is the always energized Rio Herrera, a former Army veteran, Rio brings so much fun and enthusiasm to whatever he does, the Air Chief is in awe of him most of the time.

Sincerely, it sure felt like every time the Air Chief turned around he was bumping into another good friend.  Of course that exactly what Black Lion artist Kevin Johnson is. We actually met at this show four years ago and that meeting resulted in the creation of this comic series. Kevin tells us he is almost done the pencils for issue # 2.  Now that put a huge smile on the Air Chief’s face for sure.

Then as Saturday started to come to an end, Valerie said we had to go up to the auction stage at the other end of the hall, as they needed the Air Chief’s signature on a Green Hornet book. Well that soon proved to be a bogus ploy to get us on stage where Tim and the rest of the gang started singing Happy Birthday to the Air Chief in front of the entire con.  Then they whipped out these two giant sheet cakes with the Green Hornet comic logo on each.  At which point Valerie and our daughter-in-law, Nicky, began cutting up lots and lots of cake pieces, which we started handing out to all the attendees. It was just totally wild.

Then as we were having a blast handing out cake, Todd comes over and gives the Air Chief a very special and unique piece of artwork. It seems during the course of the previous week, Todd had visited many of my artists pals here in Colorado and got them to draw one of the many characters we’ve had the joy of working on during our careers. Each artist contributed one character, while Jeff Herndon did that on of the Air Chief.  On the top level going to left to right we have – Mr. Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts, the Black Lion, and Bass Reeves.  The middle row features the Terminator, the Air Chief, the Black Bat and Brother Bones…while anchoring the bottom level are the Green Hornet, Captain Jain Marlee and Kato.  This is by far one of the most unique gifts we’ve ever been given and plan on getting it mounted and put up in our office. It is truly something we will always cherish.

Of course all our Loyal Airmen know nothing in this world is more important to the Air Chief than family and as stated above, none of this wonderful celebration could have happened without our son Alan’s help, along with his wife Nicky, grand daughter Cora and grandson Alex. The shot above was taken right after the big birthday bash and just before we headed out to have dinner together.  Then it was back to hotel for a the night.  By then we were pretty sure most of the major excitement had come and gone.  We could not have been more wrong with no clue what Sunday, the last day of the con would have in store for us.

Most of Sunday morning was more of the same typical convention fun and activity. By mid afternoon, Val and the Air Chief thought the show was begin to come to a close and we started talking about packing up.  It was then this fellow wearing a very neat Green Hornet tee-shirt came charging up to our table asking if I was the Ron Fortier who had written the Green Hornet comic series.  The Air Chief replied in the affirmative and this gentlemen, one Frank Bruso, asked if we’d go with him to the far end of the hall where he had his custom built Black Beauty; the special tricked out automobile used by the Green Hornet and his sidekick Kato.  Val and the Air Chief couldn’t believe this gorgeous vehicle had been at the show all weekend and we’d not known of its presence.  Poor Frank felt the same way in reverse, wishing he’d known we were there lots earlier.

The car itself is a gem, what with its green headlights etc.  But the biggest shock of all happened as we were standing there taking pictures with it when Frank asked we’d be willing to autograph the dashboard!  Valerie about had a melt down, being the car she is. But Frank would not be dissuaded and in the end he produced a silver magic marker and the Air Chief signed his dashboard…and then his home made Green Hornet gas gun. Wow. Note, a few days after the show, we shared the above pictures with our old amigo, Green Hornet artist, Jeff Butler.  He was blown away by them.

Finally, a few minutes after leaving Frank and his family, they came back to our table wanting to know if the Air Chief would take a picture with his two lovely daughters, the oldest as the Green Hornet and the little as Kato. Here it is. Now, Loyal Airmen, can you see why the Air Chief considers this best damn birthday we ever had.  This 70 years life journey has been an incredible adventure and we thank God for it every single day.

We hope you enjoyed this extra long Flight Log.  Maybe we’ll do another after the next 70 years. Ha. Till then, take care and as ever, thanks for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we’re of course hoping all of you survived those goblins and spooks and other tiny trick-or-treaters as Halloween came and went this year.  Now it’s time for us all to hunker down for winter and of course the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas now just around the corner.  Right now, we’ve a few fun things to share with you on this posting; the first being how life at times can imitate art.

Over the weekend, our beautiful granddaughter, Cora, and her lucky guy, were invited to a Halloween party.  Prior to going out that evening, Cora made a point of showing Val and the Air Chief her costume for the evening. Of course she looked lovely in that vibrant red outfit and mask. But when the Air Chief first saw her in this outfit, our memory kicked into high gear and we ushered Cora and Val into our office where we proceeded to pick up our huge copy of LEGENDS OF NEW PULP FICTION. In there was a story by our good pal, Kevin Noel Olson, called “The Masked Flapper” with an illustration by Morgan Fitzsimons.  Check the pictures above, Cora to the left and Morgan’s drawing to the right.  Wow.  When Cora saw the drawing, she was both surprised and delighted. Although not completely identical, it was close enough for her to assume that on this night, she was the Masked Flapper.  Now how cool is that?

Another reason the Air Chief loves this time of year, this past Tuesday our Mom, Gabrielle Fortier turned 92!!  Almost 70 years ago, at the age of 22, Gaby, as her friends and family called her was about to give birth to her first child and celebrating her 22nd birthday, she had hoped the baby might arrive on her birthday…but he was a stubborn little cuss and would wait till the 5th. Yup, that’s when the Air Chief arrived on the scene.  So Happy Birthday Mom, we love you more than words can say and in just another 24 hours, we’ll be blowing out our own candles as we turn 70.  Wow, just how the hell did that happen. Chuckle.

On to the publishing stuff.  For the second week in a row, Airship 27 Productions has a brand new title to announce; The Phantom Detective Vol 1.  Here are five brand new stories based on the classic pulp hero from the past.  Curtis Van Loan, the wealthy, man about town, is in reality the masked avenger who fights crime. A long, running, popular series, we are thrilled to be bringing him back into action via stories by Gene Moyers, Gary Lovisi (who actually wrote two in this premier) volume, Robert Ricci and Whit Howland.  Interior illustrations were by Andrew Ritchie with a stunning cover (that pays homage to the classic pulp “big head” covers of the past) by the amazing Pat Carbajal.  Available now in paperback from Amazon and soon to be out on Kindle.

Finally, the Air Chief will be one of the many guests at the 4th Annual Rocky Mountain Con, tomorrow and Sunday.  Nov 5th – 6th. So if you are in the Denver area, google the location and come on over.  Going to be a great time and we’d love to see you there. And that pretty much wraps up this week’s Flight Log. As ever, thanks so much for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out!

As a kid growing up in a small southern New Hampshire town, Halloween was easily the Air Chief’s second favorite holiday after Christmas.  Come on, who wouldn’t like a holiday that allowed us kids to go to a complete strangers house, knock on the door and ask for FREE candy? Ha. For many, many years, the Air Chief and his siblings so looked forward to what we then called Beggar’s Night, now more PC correct with Trick or Treat night. There was no way our folks could afford store-bought costumes, in fact there were none of those as we recall. So inventive mothers did their best. What the Air Chief remembers most importantly is instead of paper bags, Mom gave us old pillow cases and that’s what we collected our loot in. Honestly, the Air Chief can remember coming home after only a few hours roaming the streets with his pillow case weight a ton…or so it seemed that way to an 8 yr old. Then dumping that candy all over the kitchen table, our eyes as wide as silver dollars.  Of course Mom allowed us to have one or two pieces and then that was it, off to bed.  No sick stomachs in our house late at night. Ha. God this holiday brings back such amazing and wonderful memories.

And what is Halloween without some horror movies …or better yet, horror inspired pulp titles. We at Airship 27 Productions are truly thrilled to be offering up, for your fright fest, the second volume of brand new stories featuring the most bizarre, horrifying pulp avenger of them all, the Purple Scar. This new volume has stories by Gene Moyers, David Noe, Erik Franklin and Paul Findley, with art (both on interior illustrations and the amazing cover above) by Marco Santiago. Believe, when the Air Chief says there was never another pulp hero like the Purple Scar, he is giving you the straight out truth.  This horrific gem is now available at Amazon in both paperback and soon on Kindle.  As ever, thanks so much for you continued support, Loyal Airmen. We couldn’t do this without you.

Finally another treat for Halloween to all you Loyal Airmen.  Radio Archives has just released our third Brother Bones audio book – Brother Bones Tapestry of Blood as read by the amazing J. Scott Bennett.  You can download it from (www.audible.com) and listen to it on All Hallow’s Eve.  How’s that for being particularly pulp creepy.  Ha.  As ever, thanks for dropping by and have fun Trick or Treating.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this past week the Air Chief has been thinking a great deal of time.  How when we are young, we seem to believe we have an endless supply; that somehow we are immune to the aging process and it certainly can have no effect on us. We are immortal. Then we wake up one morning and realize in just a few short weeks we will be 70.  Frightening, in some ways…yes.  But then again life is always about the journey…from beginning to end.

The Air Chief attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, N.H. between the years 1960 and 64, being a fun part of the first ever graduating class. When we look back on those days, they were some of the best days of our life.  We were taught by nuns and for they were exceptional, talented, gifted teachers.  Recently the school website posted the picture above to sadly announce the passing of Sister Esther Mary, the lady on the far left. This past week she returned to heaven and her loving Creator.  Now to be honest, we aren’t positive as to the woman on to the right of this photo, taken a few years ago, but we do know the smiling woman in the light blue jacket. We knew her as Sister Mary Raymunda and she taught us English for three years, freshmen (had her for homeroom..a real blessing), sophomore and senior. No other individual is more responsible for my lifelong passion for writing and story telling than Sister Raymunda. Last we’d heard she was in her mid-90s and still going strong. God bless you, Sister, and forever my heartfelt thanks.

Continuing our discussion of time and what it means, the Air Chief want to relate the story of the Captain Hazzard graphic novel which has now been TEN YEARS in the making.  That’s right, we said ten years.  A full decade ago, along about the same time we were starting up Airship 27 Productions and diving into the world of pulps, the Air Chief thought it would be a good idea to do a graphic novel version of Cap’s first (and only classic) adventure, “Python Men of the Lost City.”  And so we adapted it to comic script form and began looking for an art team. Over a period of one year, we had two different artists sign on and then unprofessionally quit the project. Frustrated we kept looking and as fortune would have it, we ended meeting a terrific artist from Massachusetts, one Craig Shepard, who by the way, is the biggest Superman fan in the world.  Anyways, Craig and the Air Chief hit if off immediately and when explained this 80 page script, he agreed to take it on. As time went by, Craig started turning in pages, while dealing with all the other things going on his life, as happens to all of this.  After about five years, Craig had completed two thirds of the pages and we’d recruited a friend of his, inker Eric Lebow, to join the team as inker.  Somewhere in all this, Craig actually turned in a cover, which you see above in glorious color. It’s a wonderful piece that we love dearly and we’ve shared it many times with our pulp friends, all we kept waiting anxiously to see the book completed and published.

Of course somewhere along the line, things got sidetracked and Craig stopped turning in pages.  Years went by, we learned he and his family had moved to Florida; major life changes for sure.  Then he popped up on Facebook, we reconnected and we inquired as to the status of the book.  Craig, by now, had assumed incorrectly that we had given up on the book and didn’t believe it would ever see the light of day. We quickly assured him that was not the case and bit by bit, he started penciling new pages.  Which all leads up to about a month ago when he finished drawing the 80th and final page of this book.  Meanwhile, Eric, who is still inking away on the pages throws us a curve ball.  He wants to know if there is any chance we, i.e. Craig, can redo the cover piece, as he would like to ink it and thus say he did the entire book, to include the cover.  Hmm. What the hell? We’d already waited ten years. Chuckle. So we brought this up to Craig and lo and behold, he was all for it, saying it would allow him to correct a few things he wasn’t happy with in the first piece…and now add the character of Mary Parker, the female lead in the story, to the group shot.  Okay, the Air Chief simply shook his head and thought, why not? And there, next to the old colored over, is Craig’s new version, which Eric will eventually ink and we’ll get colored up.

Sometimes the Air Chief shakes his head at young comic creators who are frustrated that their comic project is taking a few months longer than they wanted it to. And we think about projects like this 10 year old graphic novel and have to laugh. Time can be your enemy, if that is how you view it. On the other hand, rather than fight the tide, you can simply allow yourself to float and ride with it to where it takes you. In regards to all this, sometime early next year, all you Loyal Airmen will have to chance to buy this graphic novel by the Air Chief, Craig Shepard, Eric Lebow and Rob Davis on letters. It’s been a hell of a long ride, but in the end, we think you’ll consider it worth while.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, thus far it has been a very exciting week here at Hangar 28 HQ and we’ll get right into that. But first we need to shout out our latest title.

Last week we released our fourth book in the Barry Baskerville childrens’ book series.  BARRY BASKERVILLE’S BLUE BICYCLE is written by series creator Richard Kellogg with art by our pal, Gary Kato, who mentioned meeting a few weeks ago on our great trip to Hawaii.  Anyways, in this installment, Barry, the boy wanting to grow up and be Sherlock Holmes, sets out to scour his neighborhood on his brand new bicycle.  As ever the story is fresh, fun and great for children of all ages.  Available now at Amazon in both paperback and on Kindle.

For several years now, the Air Chief has been predicting that the next level for the New Pulp Movement to attain is recognition from Hollywood.  We’ve always believe the stories being told in New Pulp books today are some of the most original and exciting on the market. Thus it seems only logical to us that sooner or later the film community would find that out.  As most of you Loyal Airmen already know, the Air Chief’s own Brother Bones stories are now being adapted into a feature length movie by Franklin – Husser Entertainment LLC.  Well just a few days ago, the Air Chief received an inquiry from a representative of a highly respected Hollywood production firm interested in the rights to one of the titles we published at the start of the year.  We immediately put these people in touch with the creator(s) of that particular book and are now keeping our fingers crossed something actually does come of this. The odds are always tremendously against most of these queries ever developing into full blown productions. Still, it is amazing to realize our books are actually getting into the hands of these people and that in itself says a lot. As for this particular title, we will be keeping everything confidential as we don’t want to go and jinx anything.  If something concrete does come from all this, you have our word, you Loyal Airmen will be the first to know.  In the meanwhile, let’s keep those fingers crossed.

On other fronts, the topic of heroes, both real and fictional, grabs our attention now. Earlier this week, all of Red Sox Nation, which the Air Chief is a proud member, bid a fond farewell to # 34, David Ortiz.  Better known as Big Papi, Ortiz was arguably the greatest designated hitter to play the game of baseball and in his eleven years with the Red Sox help carry them to three world series. He was a a tremendous player as well as a decent, humble, soul who reflected all that is good about the game.  We will miss him sorely, though the Air Chief predicts, Ortiz will make the Hall of Fame in his first ballot which comes in five years.  Mark our words.  And Big Papi, thanks for so many awesome memories from Fenway.

As for fictional heroes, well the Air Chief grew up in the 1950s a huge fan of Superman on television as played by George Reeves.  He was truly the embodiment of “Truth, Justice and the American Way.”  Later, when Richard Donner brought the character to the big screen, it was Christopher Reeves who donned the red cape and once again gave us the comic book hero bringing him to life as he should always be portrayed; as the Big Blue Boy Scout.  Several others have taken the role since then and done well with it, ala Dean Cain on TV and Brandon Routh in a badly panned rebooth of the old film series.  Both were still true to the character the Air Chief loved.  Then along came Zach Snyder and his “Man of Steel” and the recent “Superman VS Batman.”  And just like that, the hero we’d grown up admiring and wanting to emulate was gone, replaced by a pouty, egotistical, darker version which bears absolutely no resemblance to the comic character created by Jerry Seigel and Joe Schuster all those ages ago.  To the point that many of us began to believe, with Snyder’s control at Warner Brothers, we would never again see “our” Superman…the real one.

Whereas a few nights ago, WB aired the first episode of the highly popular SUPERGIRS series, which last year appeared on CBS and then jumped over to the WB channel.  And in this very first show, a new Superman takes center stage in the form of actor Taylor Hoechins….and simply blew us away.  There he was, the same bumbling, fun, smiling happy Clark Kent we all recognized immediately. Then when he becomes the Man of Steel, he’s determined, strong and a true hero of the people. In one of his earliest scenes, he greets people reaching out to shake their hands and win them over with his charming smile.  The Air Chief thought he was witnessing the impossible and we give heartfelt thanks to the producers and writers of this series, who obviously understand who Superman is the cultural history of America and how to do him properly.  All fingers crossed, they stay the course.  Welcome back, Superman, we’ve missed you so much.

And finally, on the Brother Bones movie front, we’ve something cool to share with all your Loyal Airman.  Screenwriter and co-producer, Erik Franklin turned in his first storyboard rough depicting one of the crucial scenes in the movie. Most such storyboards are done only in black and white, but Erik felt the colors would help dramatize what he was hoping to show.  People who have read the origin story should have no problems recognizing the scene.  We’ll continue to share such pieces as they are done.

And that’s a wrap for this week, Loyal Airmen. As ever thanks for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out!

Welcome Loyal Airmen, it’s been two weeks since we returned from our fabulous vacation on the islands of Hawaii.  And as promised last week, we’ve got lots of great photos to share with you.  Our first three days were spent in Honolulu and the pix above is the view from our hotel room.

There were lots of wonderful places to tour in this grand South Pacific metropolis, but the most memorable was the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, where events there led to the U.S. entry into World War II. Quite a spiritual moment when you step onto the memorial itself realizing the remains of that great battleship and its lots crew are there, under the water below your feet.

If you’ve ever watched the TV police show, HAWAII 5-O then you are familiar with the palace picture above and the stature of the King.  Truly impressive to see for real.

Most restaurants are open enclosures and even while enjoying the local nightlife of the city, one is still subject to the warm sea breezes from all around.

Of course, one of the main reasons for including Honolulu on our itinerary was to afford the Air Chief the opportunity to meet his comics co-creator and friend of 47 years, artist Gary Kato.  Honestly, meeting Gary was like meeting a long lost relative. We’ve been pals for so long, no surprise we all relished the meeting.

Here’s a shot of me, Gary and our brother-in-law, Gus, as Gary was demonstrating the “Hang Loose” gesture to us. We saw it used quite often while on our trip.  With only a few days on Oahu, it was time to pack up and head for Maui where we would spend the next five days.

Less developed than Oahu, Maui still retains its island feel, a paradise buried in a sea of floral green everywhere one looked.

The western shore is fairly developed with some truly beautiful hotels. This was the view of the pool at ours. It was over an acre in size. In distant background you can see the blue line of the Pacific.

The outer landscaping of the resorts is all themes around the natural beauty of the island.

A closer shot of the pool.  We did venture into the ocean, but found the shoreline extremely rocky and the surf powerful. Only for the brave of heart.

Of course that didn’t stop us from walking the surf and enjoying beach to the max. Here we are hamming up, while Val’s shadow snaps the pix.

All the pools around the hotel were stocked with these beautifully colored coy fish.

Valerie before a smaller statue of King Kamehameha.

Here we are one sunset seated on the outside porch of our room. View from there was spectacular, looking out over the Pacific.

Here’s one such sunset…truly inspiring.

And here’s a typical morning on the beach at Maui.

Our traveling companions, Valerie’s sister Barbara and husband Gus. We always have such a great time together.

Of course you can’t visit the island without going to a traditional luau, which we did on our second there.  Some of those dances are over a hundred years old.

One of the Air Chief’s favorite pictures, as we shared the garden beauty of this magical place.

The flowers were so beautiful and everywhere.  Val loved them all.

On the third day, we boarded a shuttle bus for an 8 hour excursion all around the island of Maui, called “The Road to Hana,” a plantation located at the very top of the island.

Sadly, as we learned, all the sugar and pineapple plantations are gone from the islands now, being too expensive to compete with South American growers. Whereas the island’s economy now depends primarily on tourism. Here’s another spectacular shot from high up the small narrow jungle road.

Where bridges were concerned, the roads narrowed to one lane and if there was traffic coming from the opposite side, one vehicle would have to pull over and let it pass before moving on. Many bridges crossed gorgeous waterfalls.

There is an hypnotic beauty of this jungle paradise that captivates the soul. It is pristine and uncluttered, save for Mother Nature’s opulent colors.

It was not difficult to imagine this landscape ala the Garden of Eden.

With so many plants and trees having been brought to the islands from far Eastern countries, the flora is diverse and a botanist would be in seventh heaven exploring it all.

Happiness on the islands is contagious. But as all good things, our trip came to an end all too soon.

Our last night together, before flying home the next day.  As you can tell from this pix, all of us were tired but happy beyond words, left with such wonderful memories we will keep forever.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoying them with us.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, we were fully expecting to spend this week’s Flight Log relating some of our fun experiences while on vacation in beautiful Hawaii these past few weeks but alas, yesterday we learned of the passing of Robert Weinberg, a man very much responsible for many of the things the Air Chief has done the past 47 years. So if you’ll bear with us, we’ll save the vacation tales for next week.

BOB WEINBERG (4 Sept 1946 – 25 Sept 2016)

It was 47 years ago when the Air Chief came home from Vietnam and back to civilian life. It didn’t take us long to get back to comic book collecting and one of the first things we did was get a subscription to the Comic Buyer’s Guide, a weekly newspaper that covered all facets of comicdom, to include fan made magazines. Among those classified ads, we found one offering reprinted pulp magazines in small facsimile editions for only $5 each. Not at all aware of the pulps at that time, we were intrigued and began ordering these little books from one Bob Weinberg. Wow, but they totally opened our eyes to amazing world of the classic old pulps. Through Bob’s books we found the Moon Man, Doctor Satan, Captain Hazzard and so many others. They totally fired up our imagination and eventually would lead us not only to a career in comic writing, but the creation of Airship 27 Productions which then help with the establishing of the New Pulp Movement.

Over time we learned Bob was no only a pulp fan/historian but also a terrific writer and editor with a well deserved reputation of being one of the best. It would take almost 40 years but we did eventually meet Bob at the Windy City Pulp & Paper Con and personally thanked him for helping inspires us all those years earlier. In ill heath for quite some time, Bob left us shortly after turning 70, where he was given a wonderful party surrounded by family and close friends. His loss leaves a huge hole in our community and the Air Chief will be forever in his debt. Rest well, old friend, and thanks.

The latest from Airship 27 Productions is a special edition book starring Ravenwood – The Stepson of Mystery in which we reprint 4 of his adventures.  Three by Aaron Smith, Jonathan Fisher and Gene Moyers first appeared in Volume Two of his series and the fourth was by Ye Old Air Chief that was featured in Occult Detectives Vol One.  Rob Davis provided the nifty cover above. As ever it is available at Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. As to why do this book at all, the truth is it became impossible for us to keep Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery Vol Two in our catalog any longer, for reasons way to complicated to get into here. So this was our alternative to assure these great stories stayed in print.

Meanwhile the good folks at Radio Archives have continuing adapting our Airship 27 titles into audio books and here are four of their more current releases.

From occult detectives to our Brother Bones series, Sinbad to monsters, these great listening books are all available from (www.Audible.com)  If you enjoy audiobooks we hope you’ll give them a try. The Radio Archives narrators are among the best in the business.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen. Thanks ever for stopping and come back next week to see lots of our pictures from beautiful Hawaii.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal airmen.  As you read today’s Flight Log, Valerie and the Air Chief are still on vacation.  So, to thank you for stopping by, as promised, we thought we’d show off some artwork for up and coming projects.  Again, do keep in mind, these could be weeks or even months away from completion, but we thought you’d enjoy seeing these gorgeous pieces.

Our second Allan Quatermain anthology is coming along nicely and super artist Graham Hill turned in the above cover that blew us away.  Meanwhile, interior artist Clayton Hinkle is hard at work on his 12 black and white pieces that will grace this issue.

Another title in the works is our second DOMINO LADY anthology.  Like the first this one will have gorgeous interior illustrations by James Lyle.  Above is one such illo.

Another anthology in the works is MYSTERY MEN (& Women) Vol. 4 No cover has been set for this one yet, but our own Rob Davis is providing the glorious interior pieces. This volume will feature stories by B.C. Bell, Joel Jenkins, Craig Russette and Thomas Deja.

Last year we released a western called GUN GLORY by writer R.A. Jones. It featured a civil war vet named Jason Mankiller.  Now R.A. has written a sequel called COMANCHE BLOOD and that’s the cover above, as painted by the amazing Adam Shaw.  Artist Chris Kohler is now busy at work on the interiors.

Finally, the special HOLMES & HOUDINI novel written by I.A. Watson is ready to be published as soon as we get in Chad Hardin’s cover.  As you might recall, we printed up 15 copies of this volume and sold them as special Collector’s Editions at this year’s PulpFest.  Above is one of Rob Davis’ brilliant illustrations. Believe me, Loyal Airmen, we are truly anxious to get in Chad’s cover and get this book out. It is a great story.

And there you have, Loyal Airmen. Just a few of the exciting new projects coming your way from Airship 27 Productions.  As ever thanks for stopping by and next week, back in the office, Ye Old Air Chief should be.

Ron – Over and Out!

Greetings Loyal, Airmen, as you are reading this Flight Log, the Air Chief and Valerie are somewhere on the beach at Honolulu enjoying our first real vacation in a long, long time. We’ll be gone for two weeks and plan on enjoying every single minute of it, ergo, we’ve time this Flight Log to post via a date program.

One of the real joys of this trip will be our getting to meet our life-long friend and creative partner, artist Gary Kato.  The Air Chief came out of Vietnam the summer of 1968. In 1969, we discovered the art of Gary Kato in a fanzine and wrote to him in care of that magazine. Gary replied and thus began a friendship that is now 47 years old. Together we created Mr. Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts and broke into the world of professional comics together. Throughout our long careers, we’ve remained friends and done quite a few comic books together.  We’ve exchanged hundreds of letters and now communicate by e-mail, we’ve had hours and hours of phone conversations….but we have never actually met face to face. By the time you are reading this, that will have finally happened.  To the Air Chief it will be like being reunited with a soul brother, Gary means that much to us. And no worries, Val is bringing along her camera and plans on taking lots and lots of pictures.

On other exciting matters, we’ve been fans of the Max Allan Collins crime series that features a professional assassin known only as Quarry.  We’ve been reading them for a long time and each is great, we can’t recommend them enough.  Well, good old Cinemax has just launched a new weekly drama series based on those books and the premier episode aired last week.  Above is a photo of Max and the series star, Martin-Green. This is a gritty tale of a Vietnam vet who returns home disillusioned with life and desperate to find his place in this world.  The era is the 70s and the show captures it perfectly, with intelligent scripting taken directly from Max’ books, taut directing and very capable action.  You might want to check it out.

And that’s a wrap.  Note, as we’ll be out of the office next week, we are going to post a very special Flight Log made up of a few illustration sneak peeks on our up and coming titles.  A little treat for all you Loyal Airmen who make it a point to stop by every week. Our way of saying thanks.  And that’s all from here till after the 26th.

Aloha!

Ron Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you will recall, two weeks ago the Air Chief was a guest at the second annual Fort Collins Comic Con. While there, we did a long interview  with Neil Greenway for Bleedin’ Cool, in it I talk about my comic career, Mr. Jigsaw, Airship 27 Productions, the New Pulp Movement, the Black Bat series and of course the Brother Bones movie.  Oh yeah.  Here’s the link to it below.

(http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/09/04/how-the-comic-brother-bones-is-becoming-a-movie-talking-to-ron-fortier/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook)

Meanwhile Producer/Director Erik Franklin and his partner, Daniel Husser, have been scouting the great Seattle area for possible location sites to film the Brother Bones movie and these are some of the places that may end up in the finished film. As Erik explained in, special PC digital magic will remove all modern signs, cars, etc. to leave the architecture untouched and provide the look of the 1930s in which the story takes place.

In fact, one particular house, which Erik drives by daily, is one he wants to eventually use as the setting for the home of Cape Noire’s own mad scientist, Prof. Bugosi. As the creator of these tales, the Air Chief is fascinated in seeing how Seattle gradually morphs into the make-believe city of Cape Noire.  Stay tuned for more as it develops.

Next up, we’re happy to announce that the second issue of our GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT mini-series for Moonstone Comics is now on sale at comicbook shops across the country.  Script by yours truly, art by Silvestry Szilagyi with a stunning cover by Michael Stirbling.  Adventure continues as the Black Bat continues to recruit pulp heroes to aid in his battle against the group known as the Black Sun.  Hope you’ll give it a look.

Finally, on a more serious note, this week the Air Chief had his annual visit with his oncologist. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this situation, we were diagnosed with two non-Hodgkin lymphomas (one in each lung) almost ten years ago now. That discovery was made by having the lower quadrant of our left lung removed so doctors could get to the node and learn what it was. Once we knew what the Air Chief had, we visited an expert in this kind of cancer at the Dana-Farber Center in Boston and we’re told ours is mostly a non-life threatening cancer. In fact that very doctor suggested we’ll most likely die of something altogether different long before this dime size node could hurt us. Still, it is a cancer and thus once a year we have it X-rayed and visit the oncologist. Always good to keep an eye on these things. Thus the visit this morning wherein we were told, considering my general state of well being, having no symptoms of any kind and the X-ray pic remaining unchanged, that Ye Old Air Chief is good to go for as yet another year.  Welcome news as always, though it doesn’t slow down time or aging in the slightest and come the 5th of Nov. we’ll still be hitting the big 70!  Damn, the Air Chief wonders, just how the hell did that happen?

Ron – Over & Out!