Greetings Loyal Airmen. Recently we announced there were lots of new Brother Bones projects in the works and we were not kidding.  And to add to the fun, our artist pal, Delfin Barral whipped the awesome banner proclaiming that fact.  We think its dynamite.  Besides the new full length Brother Bones novel coming from Roman Leary for Airship 27 Productions, there will also be short stories appearing in various pulp magazines printed by Pro Se Productions, a great New Pulp outfit created and operated by our amigo, Tommy Hancock.

            
                                   The Pulptress Takes Aim At Writer Bobby Nash
Last year, as many of you pulp fanatics know, Tommy launched his own pulp convention in Batesville, Arkansas, aptly called Pulp Ark.  At that show, he also introduced a masked lady portraying New Pulp's newest spokes person, the Pulptress.  Tommy thought it would be extremely cool to have appear at shows and even in stories written by many of today's writers.  The Air Chief thought it was a grand idea and came home from the show to write, “The Butcher's Festival,” our first new Brother Bones story in ages.  In it the Pulptress is tracking down a psycho bomber in Cape Noir and crossed path with the Undead Avenger.

                        
                               The Pulptress Meets Brother Bones
Upon completing the story, we sent it to Rob Davis who sketched up the gorgeous illustration above.  Oh, and of course Tommy accepted for the brand new Pulptress digest magazine was going to put together.  Earlier tonight he announced on Facebook that is finished and will hopefully see print next month. It contains a half dozen Pulptress adventures including ours.  We'll let you know when it is available right here.

At the same time, our new long Brother Bones adventure, “The Bruiser From Bavaria” will be featured in Pro Se Presents, a New Pulp monthly mag Tommy publishes.  Look for it to be cover featured in their July edition.  As we promised, lots more Brother Bones is truly on the way.

And finally this Sunday is Palm Sunday and for Christians around the world the beginning of Holy Week, which will culminate on Easter the following week.  We wish all our fellow Christians a blessed, prayerful week ahead.
God bless one and all.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we're getting a late start this week.  Been  a crazy week for the Air Chief and we're just starting to get things back to semi-normal.  Valerie had a really bad toothache all last weekend and we learned on Monday that she needed a root-canal as an infection had set in on certain roots. So back and forth with several doctors and finally managed to get that taken care. Long gone are the days when all you needed was one just one dentist to do it all. Ha.

           
                                         AIRSHIP 27 ART DIRECTOR ROB DAVIS
Those of you heading out this week-end to Kansas City for the annual comic show, Planet-Comic-Con  do make a point of stopping by Rob Davis' table to say hi and check out the cool stuff you'll find on his table, both comics and a few of our pulp titles.  This is one of Rob's favorite cons and he makes it every year.  This year he'll be accompanied by his teenage son, Ryan, so again, if you are planning on attending this really fun show, do make a point to see him and say hi.  Next month Rob will be representing Airship 27 in Batesville, Arkanasas for the second Pulp Ark; which all starts the 20th of April. Wish the Air Chief could be there, but alas, not this year, Loyal Airmen.  Our first show will be the following week at the Windy City Paper & Pulp show.

On the home front, we've been very busy writing and editing this past week.  Earlier in the week, we got in three new pulp tales; a new Ghost Boy story by Terry Alexander, a new Crimson Mask by C.W. Russette and one of our regular writers, Greg Gick, sent in a new character, The Brown Recluse, who will make his appearance in “Mystery Men (& Woemn) Volume III.  No sooner had we edited these three wonderful stories then writer Brad Sinor sent in his new Sherlock Holmes adventure which we are now going through.  It's absolutely great.

    
                            BROTHER BONES IS RETURNING IN A BIG WAY!

At the same time we've started writing our Operator 5 adventure for Moonstone Books.  About a month ago we did a new Spider for them, now this Operator 5 thriller and later this summer we're scheduled to do another Spider.  Makes you wonder when the Air Chief ever sleeps.  Hahahaha.  Also on the writing front we've got some pretty awesome news.  Not only have we personally started writing new Brother Bones stories, at the constant demand of the Undead Avenger's multitude of fans, but a very talented writer named Roman Leary approached us with an idea for a full length Brother Bones novel.  After seeing how talented this gentlemen truly is, we gave the project thumbs up.  So stay tuned, Loyal Airmen, there's lots more great pulp adventures on the way.

Hope by now everyone of you has gotten to see the movie JOHN CARTER at least once.  We're hoping to go back and see it again this weekend.  And yes, it is that good.  Who are you going to believe, those internet critics who wouldn't know a good action movie if it ran over them, or your ever faithful Air Chief?  Go see this movie, you can thank me later.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, we have a full boat of topics to cover and share with you this week, so let's jump right into them first with the latest book release form Airship 27 Productions.

                 
                         Cover by Mark Wheatley
Several months ago New Pulp writers Bobby Nash & Sean Taylor came to the Air Chief with an idea to create a brand new 1930s private-eye character like the old classic detectives ala Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.  They called their character Rick Ruby as homage to Richard Diamond and both of them agreed to each write a story if we went ahead and produced an anthology. We liked the idea so much, we gave them the green light to write up a series bible and then we offered this to our gang of writers at Airship 27 Productions.  Andrew Salmon & William Maynard signed on immediately to write the remaining two stories. Then we were amazingly lucky to have the legendary Mark Wheatley agree to do our cover and gifted artist Rob Moran to provide the interior illustrations.  This pasts week THE RUBY FILES debut on our Airship 27 Hangar site and at Amazon and the POD shop at Indy Planet.com – you can find links to these locales by clicking on our Airship 27 logo to the upper left hand corner of this log entry. We are truly excited about this book and if you are an avid private eye mystery fan, so will you be. 

Note, both Bobby & Sean are going all out to promote this super book and Sean actually created a Rick Ruby website. This is the URL for it (http://rickruby.blogspot.com/)  Check it out. We think you'll be very impressed. And as ever, we hope you'll give the book a try.

             
Over a hundred years ago, Edgar Rice Burroughs, perhaps the greatest pulp writer who ever lived, wrote an amazing sci-fi fantasy called, “A Princess of Mars.” It told the tale of an ex-Confederate soldier named John Carter who somehow was magically transported to the dying planet of Mars and there experienced a truly outstanding adventure.  He would meet the green martians, known as Tharks and not only become their fighting ally, but ultimately unite their warring tribes. Then he would discover the human-like red martians, among them the beautiful Deja Thoris, Princess of Helium City.  By the book's finale, John Carter battled overwhelming odds to win her hand and love in the greatest epic adventure ever conceived.  The book, upon its release, became a instant success and the publisher demanded sequels from Burroughs.  Eventually his Baroom books, the name the martians called their planet, would become just as popular as his Tarzan books.

The Air Chief, and many of his contemporaries, first read this book back in 1960 when he was only 13 years old. It totally fired up our imagination beyond belief and we immediately purchased all the sequels we could get our hands.  For over 52 years, “A Princess of Mars” has remained one of all time favorite books. And now Pixar and Disney have produced a truly amazing movie, JOHN CARTER, that is so true to the book, we are overjoyed.  We viewed it this past week and will be going back to the theater to see it again shortly.  It is very much THAT GOOD.  Director Andrew Staton has brilliantly adapted all the major elements from Burroughs'yarn and where necessary improved on them visually.  Here is that exact same tale that so inspired us in our youth.

          
                       John Carter & Deja Thoris – Princess of Mars
Everything about this movie is stellar, including the casting of Taylor Kitsch as the Virginian ex-soldier, John Carter and the lovely Lynn Collins as the warrior princess who steals his heart.  So you can readily see the Air Chief is giving this film our highest recommendation.  What we also need to do is warn all our Loyal Airmen to be aware of an actual conspiracy by rival communications companies who have been doing all they can to destroy this movie. How so? By spreading the falsehood that the movie has not been doing well at the box office. That is a blatant lie. All real reporting states the film made over 100 million dollars world wide in its opening weekend. The same naysayers have said it has been critically ill received. Again, a major falsehood. All the most popular film critics from the New York Times to the L.A. Times and Rolling Stone have called JOHN CARTER a terrific action blockbuster worthy of your attention and support.  So again, why would anyone purposely want to make it flop?  Simple, when you trace where these lies are emanating from. Their sources are the media groups that also own the Star Wars & Avatar franchise.  Their purpose is to destroy something they immediately recognize as a competitive threat to their money making machines. 

During the past week the Air Chief has become a vocal member of the John Carter fan base spreading this truth throughout the internet, urging people not to listen to the lies; to go see the movie and if they feel as we do, then tell their friends what a real treasure it is and even go back for multiple viewings.  We are also a part of the Facebook campaign called “Take Me Back To Barsoom” attempting to make Disney Studios admit the film is a real financial success and to go ahead with their plans for sequels.  Great movies like this are rare and the Air Chief is calling on all Loyal Airmen to do their part in spreading the word. Together we can turn back the tide of lies and let a true cinematic treasure shine brightly.

                  
                                     ECO – TEEN
And finally, we'd like to bring to your attention a truly fun internet webstrip created and illustrated by our good friend, Carlos Henrique Silva. It's called Eco-Teen and is a manga styled sci-fi strip filled with lots of action fun for young and old alike.

                
                                                    ENGLISH VERSION OF STRIP
As this strip is produced in Brazil, it is presented in both Portuguese and English.  It really is a beautifully done strip with amazing colors.  If you wish to check it out, their URL is (http://ecoteenwebcomic.blogspot.com/) Be sure to tell them the Air Chief sent you.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  We hope you'll pick up a copy of THE RUBY FILES and some time in the next few days, if you haven't seen it yet, please, go to your local movie house and see JOHN CARTER.  If you've already seen it and agree with us how great it is, then go and see it again.  And with that we'll bid you ado until next week.  Thanks ever for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we hope all of you are doing well and keeping creatively busy.  Last week seemed like slow week at Hangar 27 HQ, and wouldn't you know it, that all got changed around real quick.  This week have two new releases to tell you about and a special sneak audio peek.  Yes, you read that correctly.  But let's get to it starting with our newest Airship 27 Productions release.

The Moon Man Vol One collects five brand new stories of one of the coolest classic pulp heroes of the 1930s. The Moon Man in reality was Detective Sgt. Steve Thatcher of the Great City police.  He was so sickened by the effects on the poor by the Great Depression, he donned the one way Argus globe and became a then modern day Robin Hood, robbing only from the very rich and then, through an accomplice, distributing the money to local charities and churches.  He was created by Frederick C.Davis for Ten Detective Aces magazine and appeared in seventy five stories.  Now we add another five, as penned by Andrew Salmon, Erwin K.Roberts, Gary Lovisi(who did two) and Ken Janssens.  The book is now available at Amazon via Create Space and at our digital store found by clicking on the Airship picture to the left corner of this blog.  We hope you'll give it a try. On, and that gorgeous cover is by Rob Davis & Rich Woodall.  Enjoy.

On the comic front, the Air Chief is thrilled to announce the re-release of a kid-friendly title called DAYS OF THE DRAGON, put together by the Air Chief and his artist pal, Gary Kato, of Mr.Jigsaw fame.  In this set up we tried to imagine a world where dinosaurs did not go extinct and continued to be the dominate, intelligent life on their world…and we are now in it's Middle Ages. And there you have DAYS OF THE DRAGON. The book contains three complete stories which we know children of all ages will enjoy. It was first published many, many years ago by another outfit and had long since gone out of print. So Gary and the Air Chief brought it to Rob and Redbud Studio to get it back in print and on sale for a whole new audience.  You can find the book at (www.IndyPlanet.com) or by going to our Redbud Studio link found on the link page.  If you've small children just getting into reading, we guarantee they'll love this comic.

Finally, for the past few weeks we've told you Loyal Airmen how Airship 27 Productions was working with Broken Sea Audio to do audio versions of several of our books.  The first of these will be an audio version of “Captain Hazzard – Python Men of the Lost City,” by the Air Chief and Chester Hawkes; the house name under which pulp writer Paul Chadwick first penned it.   The book is being read by veteran actor Joe Stofko and the sound engineer on the project is Chris Barnes.  Recently Chris put together a small five minute preview tape for us to share with all of you.  To give you a tiny sample of what the finished book will sound like. Note when it is completed, we will be selling it both as a digital download on our Airship 27 Hangar site and as a packaged multi dics set you can order by mail for your car stereo or PC.  To say we are excited about this venture would be a silly understatement.  So without further ado, here is the that sample audio.

               Play Captain Hazzard Audio

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  Sounds amazing, doesn't it? We truly hope you've enjoyed this little audio bonus. A big thanks goes to our son, the PC guru and site manager here, Scott Fortier.  The Air Chief could never have made this fly or anything else without Scott's efforts.

Next Valerie and the Air Chief are very excited to see the new JOHN CARTER movie opening this weekend across the country.  The Air Chief grew up on the books of pulp master Edgar Rice Burroughs and his Martian series, from which this movie springs, was one of our favorites.  Can't wait to see it up on the big silver screen. Take care and have a great week.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, and here we are into the month of March with things popping right and left for us here at Airship 27 Hangar and the Air Chief has never been busier.  We've got lots of cool pulp projects in the work, both from Airship 27 Productions and those individual jobs we'll be writing for other companies.  And before you ask why is the Air Chief is always glad to work for outfits that are in fact our main competitors in the New Pulp community, the short answer is our participation is about making the entire pulp fan community stronger any way we can.  As the old adage goes, the same tide raises all our boats.

  
Truly one of the coolest classic pulp heroes of the 1930s was ace spy Jimmy Christopher, better known as Operator 5.  His magazine was published by Popular Publications and among the writers who detailed his adventures under the house-name of Curtis Steele were Frederick C.Davis and Emile C.Tepperman, two of the finest pulp writers of their time. He appeared in 48 stories from 1934 to 1939.  Now Moonstone Books is assembling a brand new Operator 5 anthology and has recruited some of the best known writers currently working the filed today.  Both editors Joe Gentile & Gary Phillips will be joined in writing new Operator 5 adventures bu Win Scott Eckert, Jeri Westerson, Tommy Hancock, Eric Fein, Aaron Shaps, Will Murray, Martin Powell and Ye Old Air Chief.  To say we are thrilled with this assignment would be a gross understatement.  We are wound for sound.  Of course as the project progresses, we'll keep you posted.

            
                    Cover by Brian McCulloch
One of the finest titles Airship 27 Productions released last year was the third volume in our every popular “Sherlock Holmes – Consulting Detective” series.  These books are truly loved by Holmes fans around the globe. The super talented artist who provided us with the stunning cover above was Brian McCulloch.  Fortunately we were able to coax Brian into doing as yet another great cover for a new Airship 27 book we hope to release by the end of this year.   It will be the second volume in our “Dan Folwer G-Man” series.

          
               New Cover for Dan Fowler G-Man #2
Knowing you Loyal Airmen like sneak-peeks of forthcoming projects, we thought we'd let you see Brian's truly gorgeous new cover before Airship 27 Productions' Art Director, Rob Davis, does his design magic to it when it is ready for publishing.  That is still going to be a while yet.  Although we do have all four brand new Dan Fowler stories ready to rock and roll by Aaron Smith, Derrick Fergson, Joshua Reynolds & B.C. Bell, we are waiting on the accompanying twelve interior illustrations that will grace this new book.

          
                            Art by Neil T. Foster
Turning in his first illustration job for Airship 27 Productions on this terrific new gun-blasting anthology is artist Neil T. Foster.  Above is a sample of his terrific work, an illustration from Derrick Ferguson's story which kicks off the volume.  Needless to say, Art Director Rob Davis and the Air Chief both think we have as yet another fantastic winner on our hands.  Just one of the many we hope to release throughout the year.  So do keep coming back here, Loyal Airmen, because in all honesty, if you like this stuff, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Take care and see you back her in seven days.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week we're talking about a few odds and end things we've been developing and want to share with you.  Earlier today, the Air Chief had the fun of visiting the Polaris Expeditionary School here in Fort Collins, Colorado and speaking with Mr. Ryan Grindel's class about writing comics.  We had a great time and the kids were wonderfully enthusiastic and asked a lot of great questions.  Hopefully we'll be able to do this again often. We do love sharing our love of comics with the next generation.

Mr.Jigsaw Man of a Thousand Parts #10 is now being drawn by Gary Kato.  It will have two stories in it, one which will feature the winner of our Zone 4 Podcast contest, “Git Jiggy With It,” Ms. Lisa Moore.  In having her name chosen, Lisa won the privilege of becoming a character in a Mr.Jigsaw comic story and so she appears in the book's second story, “A Helping Hand.”  We're always having cool contests like this on Zone 4 and you can follow the show by “liking” our Zone 4 Facebook page.  Fingers crossed the issue will be out by the end of March.

                             
                                            Cover by Rob Davis

On the pulp side of things, the Air Chief has been extremely busy with several different projects.  Many of our fans have been asking when we were going to do another collection of Brother Bones stories.  Last summer we wrote our first new Bones story in several years for Tommy Hancock and his Pro Se pulp magazines called “The Butcher's Festival.”  It hasn't been published yet.  We do love this character and this past week sat down to begin as yet another story, this one called, “The Bruiser From Bavaria.”  Our plan is to continue writing a series of Brother Bones short stories and having Pro Se publish them individually in their monthly magazine, “Pro Se Presents”.  When we have enough to fill a book, Airship 27 Productions will release a second volume as you've all been demanding.  Oh, and here's an exciting news flash, one of our new Airship 27 writers, Roman Leary, is currently in the process of writing a brand new, full length Brother Bones novel.  Stay tuned for further details.

                            
                                        Cover by Mark Maddox
Meanwhile, Airship 27 Productions has entered into a partnership with Broken Sea Audio out of Australia for them to produce audio versions of some of our titles.  They are now recording two of them; “Captain Hazzard – Python Men of the Lost City” by Chester Hawkes & the Air Chief, and “Witchifre,” again by yours truly and my recently deceased mentor, Ardath Mayhar.  When the audio versions are completed, they will be sold at our new Airship 27 Hangar website as digital downloads or on disc in an attractive plastic case.  We haven't determined what the cost will be yet.  Soon you'll be able to listen to our pulp books on your car stereos or PC or other listening devices.  We've heard the first there chapters of “Python Men of the Lost City,” as recorded by actor Joe Stofko and are blown away.  This is really amazing stuff.

Beside this the Air Chief has taken on several new writing assignments for both Moonstone Books and Pro Se productions.  Although we aren't at liberty to tell you what these projects are, we are extremely excited to be involved with both and a part of these writing teams.  One is of a classic pulp hero and other a brand new pulp type action adventure series.  So stay tuned.  As soon as we can divulge more, we'll gladly do so right here.

As you all know the convention season is also right around the corner.  Although the Air Chief will be unable to attend the second Pulp Ark happening in Batesville, Arkansas on the weekend of April 20th, our partner, Rob Davis will be there representing Airship 27 Prodcutions and having most of our great pulp books and some comics available at the table.  The very following weekend of the 27th, we'll both be in Chicago at the Windy City Paper & Pulp Show, this being our seventh trip back.  Wow.  Sure hope to see lots of you Loyal Airmen there.  And later in August it will be off to Columbus, Ohio and Pulp Fest 3. Again, looking forward to hooking up with all our great pulp amigos.  If you've never been to a pulp show, you really should give it some serious thought and start making plans to attend at least one. The Air Chief guarantees you'll have a blast.

Finally, as most Loyal Airmen know, we are major Red Sox fans and are excited to see the new 2012 team now in Fort Myers, Florida at their new Jet Blue park, which is a mini-version of their homebase in Boston, Fenway Park.  In eight more days the team starts exhibition games.  The beauty of baseball is no matter how bad the memories of last year are, Spring brings with it brand hew hope for a winning season.  It's a nice metaphor for life, eternal hope.  As ever thanks for stopping by and we'll see you back here next Friday.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we trust you had a good week and a nice Valentine's Day.  Seems like we are getting into the holiday season as President's Day is coming up soon as well. Car dealerships across the land will soon be bombarding the airwaves with their “Big Deals” so, as they are fond of pitching, Come On Down!  Ha.

                        
                                   Sketch by Sean Collins
We had a nice surprise waiting for us when we logged on to our e-mail this morning and found a new sketch there of the Air Chief and our beloved Airship 27.  It was rendered by our good friend, and super talented fellow, Mr. Sean Collins.  Sean is also the president of Wild Wolf Entertainment, the publisher who has printed our Mr.Jigsaw collections, volumes one and two with number three soon on the way.  Wild Wolf has also done a version of our graphic novel Daughter of Dracula and will soon be releasing their edition of The Boston Bombers.  These are vital to us because our own titles are self-published and therefore not sold through big outlets such as Amazon, whereas all Wild Wolf books are, thus making our comics available to a much larger audience.  We are very appreciative of this fact and so grateful to Sean for partnering with us at Redbud Studios to make this possible.

                        
                                      Rick Ruby by artist Rob Moran
Recently the Air Chief and his partner at Airship 27 Productions, Rob Moran, have been very busy getting out new Airship 27 pulp titles.  In March we hope to release two more titles, one of them called “The Ruby Files.” This is the start of a new series featuring a private-eye in the 1930s named Rich Ruby and was created for us by writers Bobby Nash and Sean Taylor.  Each has a story in the anthology plus two more by writers Andrew Salmon and William Maynard.  The cover will sport a painting by graphic artist legend Mark Wheatley and the book contains eight amazing interior illustrations (like the one above) by the amazing Rob Moran.  Moran loves the old black and white Warner Brothers crime movies and his noirish art reflects those movies in almost poster like detail.  We were thrilled to recruit him for this book as he was the perfect artist to help Rick Ruby to life.  So count the days and of course we'll let you know as soon as the book is out and available.

Finally, as most Loyal Airmen know, the Air Chief writes a blog called Pulp Fiction Reviews.  There is a link to that site above this column.  Since the start of the year we've been reading a great many new books and just finished this new one by our pal, Barry Reese called, “The Adventures of Lazarus Gray” published by our friends at Pro Se Productions.  If you'd like to read our complete review, go on over to the site and check it out.  This is one terrific pulp book.

That's it for this week, Loyal Airmen, again thanks for stopping by.  We always appreciate you doing so.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  It truly is funny how life sometimes leads us down paths we never would have thought possible when young.  When the Air Chief started writing pulp fiction, we never dreamed we'd be given the opportunity to work in so many different genres.  Last year saw the publication of our first western short story and last month we had the release of our very first pulp sports story, “The Hot Dog Kid” in the newly released “Final Fenway Fiction.”

         
                     One Happy Member of Red Son Nation
Two days ago our copies of this very awesome book arrived and we were thrilled.  It's a great package and we truly believe it will be a hit with Red Sox fans everywhere.

Off course we had to find a place of honor for the book on our bookshelf and what better setting then as a backstop to our Big Papi, David Ortiz action figure and our Red Sox glass mug.  Funny note to this story, we wrote this story almost three years ago.  Yeah, sometimes the publishing business does move slowly.  Thing is, upon reading our story, we had to chuckle at how many of the ballplayers we included in the tale are no longer with the team, most having been traded and a few actually retired.  Long gone are the days when the team roster stayed the same for more than one season.  Of course we are really anxious for this year's team to take to the field in historic Fenway what with a new Manager in Bobby Valentine and the new players.  Fingers crossed this book is going to herald a winning year for the home team.

     
                     JUST RELEASED
Whereas just last summer the Air Chief was asked to write a boxing story by colleague Gary Lovisi, the same gentlemen who wrote our new Airship 27 Sherlock Holmes novel, “The Baron's Revenge.”  Although never a big fan of the sport, our father was very much so and we have some wonderful memories of sitting up with him to watch the Friday Night Fights on TV.  Of all the sports magazines produced in the golden days of the pulps, the boxing titles were the most popular.  So we found ourselves accepting the challenge and eventually wrote “Blood Feud” and submitted it.  Gary loved the story and accepted it and now the book has just been released and is on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all other well known book sellers.  Above is the very cool cover.  We really hope our Loyal Airmen will pick up a copy.  Amazing, two pulp sports out in less than a month of each other.  Something we never ever would have imagined a few years ago.  See what I mean about life's surprises along the way?

        
                       ART BY JIM BOTT
Of course our first love remains comic writing and we couldn't wrap this week's Flight Log without giving you a sneak peek at a beautiful piece of graphic art by British artist Jim Bott.  It is page three of a six page sci-fi mystery we are doing called, “A Cold Demise.”  Jim's work is simply amazing and as soon as the strip is finished and in print, we'll let you know where and how to pick up a copy as usual.

And there you go, Loyal Airmen, another awesome week here at Hangar 27.  We told you back at the start of Jan. that 2012 was going to be a banner year for all of us and thus far it has proven to be so.  Next week is Valentine's Day.  Don't forget to acknowledge all those people in your life that love and support you, let them know you feel the same way.  There are no mind readers in this world.  Say the words, that's why God created them – I LOVE YOU!

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, this week we are talk about a personal favorite comic book series of ours and a recent movie release that got us thinking about a new action queen. 

Ms. Tree was created by award winning mystery writer Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty.  For over the past three decades she has starred in dozen of comics from various publishers.  Collins was inspired by Mickey Spillane's tough guy private eye, Mike Hammer, but wondered what would happen if he put a new spin on that popular genre and made his hero a tough-as-nails female.  Thus, on the night of her wedding to the owner of the Tree Investigation outfit, Michael Tree (her father wanted a boy) becomes a widow as someone guns down her husband.  She assumes the ownership of the agency and then proceeds to hunt her husband's killer and bring him to gun-blasting justice.  Ms. Tree was a hit from her first issue and today has a huge following of loyal fans.  Ironically over the years, Hollywood has tried several times to adapt the series to either the big screen or television and for some truly mysterious reasons, can't seem to get the job done.  Totally insane.

         
                        GINA CARANO
Now a few years ago there was a television show on the air called American Gladiators.  The idea was to pit average contestants against trained professional athletes for cash prizes. One of the show's regular was the beautiful Gina Carano known on the series as Crush.  Recently some Hollywood folks thought it might be a very good idea to turn Carano into the next screen action queen ala Angelina Jolie and they put together a short 90 minute action piece entitled HAYWIRE.

Earlier in the week the Air Chief attended a screening of this terrific film and was simply blown away by both this young woman's beauty and physical prowess. Surrounding her with an all male cast of some of the most recognizable names in movies, the producers wisely allowed Carano to shine in the role of an ex-Marine spy who has been framed for the murder of a political Chinese dissident.  Single handedly she goes after these conspirators and survives one attempt after another to silence her forever.  Why?  Because in the end she is both smarter and tougher than all of them.  If you haven't seen HAYWIRE yet, do so.  You will not be disappointed.

            SKETCH BY TERRY BEATTY
Still coming out of the theater after seeing HAYWIRE, the Air Chief couldn't help but think of another stunningly beautiful and tough brunette, Ms. Tree.  And we couldn't help but think, Gina Carano would be perfect to bring Collins & Beatty's gun-toting P.I. to cinematic life.  Honestly, she IS Ms. Tree.  Don't believe me us, look at this next picture from the movie HAYWIRE.

       
                                                    BEAUTIFUL AND DEADLY
After getting home from the movie theater, the Air Chief posted over on Facebook how much we enjoyed this movie and also expressed our belief that this actress should be playing Ms. Tree.  Artist Terry Beatty chimed in agreeing with us immediately.  So if there is anyone at all connected with Hollywood reading these words, WAKE UP..and get this done.  We comic fans have waited long enough for a blockbuster Ms. Tree movie.  Now we have the ultimate person to play her.  Hollywood, what the hell are you waiting for!!

And finally a few days ago THE PULP FACTORY nominations were announced publicly. These are four awards given for the best pulp novel, short story, cover and interior artwork from the previous year.  The Air Chief was thrilled to find himself as one of the nominees for Best Pulp Short Story for “Vengeance Is Mine,” our Avenger story which appeared in Moonstone Books “The Avenger – The Justice Inc. Files.” See cover above.  The book is still available at Amazon and other book distributors if you'd like to pick up a copy.  Only members of the Yahoo Pulp Factory Group can vote in these awards and winners will be announced at this year's Windy City Paper & Pulp Convention beginning April 27th.  This will be the third year the awards are given out.  Wish us luck Loyal Airmen.

And that's it for another week at Hangar 27.  As ever thanks for stopping by and stay warm.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, well time is once again up to its old tricks and pretty much moving through the new year like a runaway freight train.  And dragging us all along for the ride.  The Air Chief is so happy to announce the first new Airship 27 Productions title for 2012 and it's a brand new Sherlock Holmes novel.

SHERLOCK HOLMES – The Baron's Revenge was written by writer Gary Lovisi and is a sequel to an actual story by Arthur Conan Doyle; “The Case of the Illustrious Client.”  It is a gripping suspense thriller with a madman out to destroy both the Great Detective and his loyal ally, Dr.Watson.  It features a cover by Rob Davis and digital painter Shane Evans, with nine black and white interior illustrations by Rob.  The renewed popularity of Holmes via the new movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law plus BBC's new “Sherlock” series has rekindled a huge world wide interest in this amazing fictional character and we've no doubt this book is going to be a huge seller.  You can pick up a copy by clicking on our airship logo to the left of this column.  Our Airship 27 Hangar store is selling digital PDF copies you can download on most e-readers for only $3, or you can go to (www.IndyPlanet.com) to purchase a hard copy for only $13.99 (plus shipping & handling).  Again, we are thrilled to get the new year rolling along with this great book.

Another book we hope you'll pick up is FINAL FENWAY FICTION.  Edited by Adam Patcher, and published by Cornerstone Book Publishers, it features a collection of stories, essays and fiction all dealing with the Boston Red Sox and their historical park, Fenway.  This year Fenway celebrates its 100th Anniversary as a national baseball park where millions of have come to enjoy America's favorite pastime.  It was an honor for the Air Chief to have been a part of this remarkable book.  Our contribution is a short story, our very first ever published pulp sports story, entitled “The Hot Dog Kid” and it tells the story of a young player coming up from the minors to the “big show.”  The book is now available at Amazon and will soon be on sale via all the big book selling distributors.  It features a stunning cover by Colorado based artist Daniel Ibanez with design work done by our good friend Rob Davis.  If you're a sports lover, you need to pick up this book.

                
                             150th SHOW GOES LIVE TONIGHT!!!
Finally, as many of you Loyal Airmen are aware, the Air Chief has co-hosted a comic book podcast known as Zone 4 for the past six months or so and had a blast doing it.  Along with co-host Brant Fowler & Gordon Dymowski, the three of us record a new episode every Saturday night and then they are posted at the Comic Related website the following Friday evening.  Whereas Brant started the show nearly three years ago, today, Jan 27th marks the 150th episode of Zone 4.  To help celebrate this monumental achievement, all of us thought it would be wild to record the show “live.”  It will be a two-hour gab-fest of craziness as the three of us welcome back former hosts, lots of past guests and just cut up with whatever pops into our heads to celebrate.

You can listen into the show by going to the following link at 7 pm EST. and logging on.
(http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/117412)  We can promise you a really fun time, so give it a shot. And as ever thanks for your support.  We'll see you back here in seven.

Ron – Over & Out!