Greetings Loyal Airmen, as indicated last week, this Flight Log is going up a day early as later tonight I'll be flying off to Chicago and the Windy City Paper & Pulp Show.  More about that in a minute, first a couple of really cool things to report.

This week Airship 27 Productions released its second title of 2011, the science fiction thriller, THE DARK LAND by Andrew Salmon.  This is a terrific, action packed story of a future world decimated by one natural disaster after another.   With almost half the world's population gone, scientist turn to cloning to help repopulate humanity. One of these is C-Peter Reilley, a Vancouver detective.  When clones are bred, the memories of the originals are wiped clean so they can begin fresh and unencumbered by any painful images of their past lives.  Not so for Reilley.  Soon after being “birthed” fully grown, he discovers he does have all the memories of the original Peter Reilley.  And that's just the beginning.  Andrew's book is a great read. It features a gorgeous cover by Mark Maddox and nine interior illustrations by Victor Dandridge and Rob Davis handling the overall design works.  We hope you'll check it out.  Now available at both our on-line show and digital store and soon to be available at Amazon and other popular book distributors.

Two years ago an outfit called Pulp Work Press put out a dandy anthology entitled HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD.  The Air Chief picked up a copy and thought it was much fun.  So naturally we were thrilled when editor Russ Anderson invited us to contribute a story to the sequel volume, the cover you above here.  As it turned out we had an unfinished western we had started writing over ten years ago and for whatever reason, never finished.  So we dusted it off and completed the tale, called “The Yellow Dog.”  Russ graciously accepted it and it will in this new book which will be released the 1st of July.  Mark your calendars.   Plus the Air Chief, the book includes over twenty stories by such gifted pulp amigos as Derrick Ferguson, Thomas Dejay, Barry Reese, Bobby Nash, Tommy Hancock and many, many more.

And finally here is a photo of the new statues for the 2010 Pulp Factory Awards which Rob and the Air Chief will be presenting Saturday night to the winners of the Best Pulp Novel, Best Pulp Short Story, Best Pulp Cover and Best Interior Illustrations for 2010.  This year's nominations from which the final ballot was culled featured twenty eight writers, twenty eight artists and fifteen pulp publishers.  That's four more publishers then last year.
Tell me we are not in the midst of a wonderful Pulp Renaissance.  On Sunday morning the Official Press Release naming the winners will go out across the internet, at Facebook and everywhere else.  And of course we'll list them here next week when we get back to Hangar 27.

That's it Loyal Airmen, got to go finish packing. As ever thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
Ron – Over & Out!!

                       
Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you can see the Air Chief has his special Flight Cap on and is gearing up for his trip to Chicago next week and the Windy City Paper & Pulp Show.  This will be the sixth consecutive year that Airship 27 Productions is represented at the show.   Art Director Rob Davis and the Air Chief hope to see many of you Loyal Airmen there as well.  Thinking about this hat, remember, you can purchase cool Airship 27 gear by visiting our on-line Cafe Press store.  Simply click on to the Dirigible logo to the left of this column that will take you to our on-line book store.  There you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the Link to our gear store.  As always, anyone wearing any Airship 27 Productions apparel to a show will either get something special for their efforts. 

As the show starts next Friday, April 15th, the Flight Log is going to be posted earlier on Wednesday night so that it is up come Thursday morning.  We will be doing this to premier to release of our latest pulp novel, THE DARK LAND, by writer Andrew Salmon.  This is a terrific science fiction thriller you won't want to miss from the writer of “The Light of Men.”  It features a stunning cover by Mark Maddox and interiors by a talented new comer named Victor Dandridge.  So again, be back here next Thursday morning.

                
                                     THE HEROES OF ZONE 4
For the past several months, the Air Chief has had the good pleasure of being of four co-host to the weekly podcast, ZONE 4.  Begun nearly two years ago by Brant Fowler, the show records every Sat. night and then is posted the following Friday evening over on the Comic Related webside.  (www.ComicRelated.com) – We talk about comics, movies, conventions, pulps, a wide variety of topics.  Recently Brant had the grand idea of having a team illustration done up of the four of us in the guise of our favorite heroes.  We've adapted our own for a Tee-shirt with a dirigible background that we debut here a few weeks ago.  Now we thought it time to show you the team illo, which again, should eventually become a tee-shirt.  Pictured left to right are, yours truly in my Zone 4 personal as Captain Ron, then its fantasy swordsman, Brant Fowler, Superhero Chuck Kennedy and Dark Lord of the Sith, Cary Kelley.  Though why Cary wanted to be a Sith Lord is totally beyond any of us.  Hahahah. We still like this shot a great deal and don't be surprised to see the Air Chief wearing this as a tee-shirt in the future. Hope you'll mark off Friday nights and listen in on the fun.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  Signing off till next Thursday.  And again, hope to see you in the Windy City.  Oh, yeah.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, as you can see by the photo above, Airship 27 getting ready to lift for our very first pulp convention of the year, the Windy City Pulp & Paper show.  In just 14 days, the Air Chief and Rob Davis will be bound for Chicago and our sixth trip to one of the premier pulp events of each year.  Early this morning, con promoters announced over the internet that the show's main room has been opened up to include TWICE as many tables for vendors, publishers, etc.  That is just amazing news and bodes well for a big, successful show.  Rob and the Air Chief have lots of new Airship 27 titles to offer this year and hope many of old friends and lots more new ones will stop by our table to say hello and check out our pulp titles.  This is truly a great show.

          
Another fun facet of the Windy City show is our presenting this year's Pulp Factory Awards.  We inaugurated these awards last year, promoted by the Yahoo Group, the Pulp Factory, to recognize excellence in the fields of new pulp fiction and art.  Four awards were given out at last year's show for Best Pulp Novel, Best Pulp Short Story, Best Pulp Cover and Best Interior Illustrations. For the past two months, the 70 members of the Pulp Factory have been voting on stories and art produced in 2010.  By the time you read this, the winners will have been notified in private with the public announcement and trophy presentations made the Saturday night of the convention, prior to the auction.  Our thanks to Doug Ellis and John Gunnison of Windy City for allowing us to use their show as our public venue for these presentations.  And our sincerest congratulations to all the nominees on this year's final ballot.

 
                          Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart in “Night at the Museum II”
As most of you  Loyal Airmen are aware, there are lots of amazing movies coming out this year and next based on comic book properties.  This year we will see THOR,  GREEN LANTERN and the Air Chief's personal favorite, CAPTAIN AMERICA.  This trend will continue into 2012 when we are promised THE AVENGERS and two new relaunched series, SPIDERMAN and SUPERMAN.  Helming the new Man of Steel film is the creative genius, director Jack Snyder and earlier this week Warner Brothers announced the name of the actress cast as the new Lois Lane.  It was Amy Adams, one of the Air Chief's favorite actors.  She bowled us over in her comedic performance as Amelia Earhart in “Night at the Museum II” with Ben Stiller and Hank Azaria.  Then recently she was nominated for her third Oscar for her role in the gritty sport drama, “The Fighter.” We think she is going to make a dynamite Lois Lane.

 
                                             Red Sox David Ortiz Swings Aways!!
And finally, today, April 1st, marks the return of Major League Baseball as our beloved Red Sox begin their season in Arlington, Texas, battling last year's American League champs, the Texas Rangers. Over the winter months the Sox have loaded their bats with the additions of two fine young players, Andrian Beltre and Carl Crawford, while also shoring up their bullpen with the likes of Dave Wheeler and Bobby Jenks. It looks to be a great year of baseball for the boys from Beantown.  And even though we are now proud Coloradons, the mighty Red Sox will always be our team. GO SOX!!

That's it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, last week the big C2E2 comic convention was held in Chicago and from everything we've heard and read, it was a tremendous success.  And it does indeed open up the comic convention season.  In fact there's going to be a two day show this very weekend.

        
                              ROB DAVIS – Artist, Editor & Art Director
Planet Comicon is a held March 26-27th in Kansas, KS.  One of the many creators on hand to have a great time with the fans is our own Airship 27 Productions partner, Rob Davis.  (That's a shot of Rob at last year's Mid Ohio Con.)  Rob tells me the Kansas City show is one of his favorites and he looks forward to attending every year.  So we hope you Loyal Airmen who live anywhere in the area will stop by to meet Rob and look over his table chock full of great pulp books and comics.  Be sure to commission an original sketch from him as well as  his art is amazing.  Rob's truly a great guy and getting to meet him would be worth your effort to go to the show.

Now come April 3rd in Dayton, Ohio, is a one day show called the Gem City Con.  Another fan favorite, this year a majority of the gang from Twilight Star Studios will be there with several tables full of their super cool comics, one of which is titled  RON FORTIER'S TALES OF THE MACABRE.  Now where have we heard that name before.

        
On hand will be the founders of Twilight Star, Bill Gladman and the Church brothers, all hailing from Sprinfield, Ohio.  Bill tells me their tables are going to be overflowing with great comics, trading cards, posters and tons of other wonderful stuff.

 
While on the fun topic of comics, a while back the Air Chief told you all about the new comic anthology we are doing with Rob and Redbud studios featuring classic pulp heroes.  Well progress on the project is coming along very nicely and we thought we'd give you a sneak-peek at two of the strips now in the works for this title.

          
This is a page from the story starring the Domino Lady; script by Percy Constantine, art by Mark Saxton and Jeff Austin. 

              
And here's one from the Secret Agent X strip, written by Bobby Nash, art by Jeremy McHugh.  From these two sample pages, you can see why all of us involved with the project are so excited about it.  With fingers crossed, the book should be out by mid-summer.  Beside these two characters, it will also feature the comic adventures of the Black Bat, the Purple Scar, the Green Lama, Jim Anthony – Super Detective and the Rook. Talk about big old fat comic book filled with great story and art.  Stay tuned Loyal Airmen and we'll keep you posted as it comes together.

And that wraps it up for another week, Loyal Airmen.  Thanks as ever for stopping by and if you've never been to a comic or pulp convention, this should be the year you give it some serious thought.  They are so much fun and for real, we could all use lots more of that in all our lives.  Stay well.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we hope you've had a great week so far.  Out here in sunny Fort Collins, we've been experiencing Spring like temperatures in the high 60s all week long.  Spring flowers are actually breaking through the top soil. An early Spring would be most welcome.

         
                                                        SETTING UP AT C2E2
What with Spring in the air, today (Friday) beings what most comic fans consider the start of the convention season with the big Chicago show, C2E2.  Above is a shot taken by Comic Related's chief honcho, Mr.Chuck Moore who will be in attendance with a large contingent of CR creators. All of which are the Air Chief's buddies as well.  Looks to be a super grand weekend for comic fans in that area. So if you are anywhere near the Windy City this weekend and a comic book fan, you need to get yourself there. Should you find the Comic Related table, do stop by and tell them the Air Chief sent you.  You'll get a really warm welcome.

                   
                                A CHEYENNE BRAVE
Sometimes when putting together new pulp titles for Airship 27 Productions, the Air Chief has to do some serious hunting to find just the right artists to help illustrate a particular book.  Several months ago veteran writer, R.A. Jones approached us about an idea he had for a book that would feature a Native American version of Conan the Barbarian.  Conan, as most of you Loyal Airmen are well aware, was the hero created by pulp author Robert E.Howard, perhaps his greatest creation.  Clearly the one he is most remembered for.  Conan was a savage warrior who roamed the earth in a fictional period Howard called the Hyborian Age. 

Jones' idea was to imagine a similar figure coming from a Native American past, in an alternate world where no Europeans ever settled North America.  In this world, only aboriginal people would populate the mountains, valleys and great plains.  And from the Cheyenne would come a mighty figure known as Deathwalker.  Jones sent me the first chapter and after reading it, the Air Chief was hooked. Just a little over two weeks ago he submitted the final manuscript and we started to edit it.  Generally the Air Chief will read/edit a book and then start thinking of who will be assigned to do the cover and spot illustrations afterwards.  Sometimes that can be a long and frustrating hunt, as we mentioned above.  But not so in this case.

            
                   ART BY MICHAEL MIKOS
Not two days after we received Jones' manuscript, the Air Chief received sample artwork from a super talented fellow named Michael Mikos who was every interested in working with us.  Among his half dozen art pieces were several featuring Native Americans like the one above.  We were bowled over.  Talk about a truly happy twist of fate.  We immediately replied that we loved his work and had just been handed the perfect assignment for his particular talent. Now we've finished editing the book and Michael is busily at work doing the nine illustrations that will be featured in its page.  Meanwhile, earlier this evening, Laura Givens, one of the finest book cover painters in the business today, turned in her cover for DEATHWALKER.  As it is still many weeks before we are ready to go to press here, we're going to hold off revealing it, but we will offer this little tease.  Upon giving Laura the assignment, we suggested she study the works of Frank Frazetta, the late artist who made a reputation based on his Conan paperback covers.  And Laura delivered way beyond what even  the Air Chief's fertile imagination could envision. Believe me, it is a stunning winner.

So there you go, Loyal Airmen.  Sometimes these books actually do go together ala one-two-three.  Not often, but when they do, we are only too happy to thank the fates, stars, whatever made things possible.  Take care, have a great week ahead and we'll see you back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to announce the release of our first pulp title for 2011, “Mars McCoy – Space Ranger Vol One.”  If you are a fan of old sci-fi adventure tales ala Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon or Tom Corbett – Space Cadet, then you are going to love these adventures. The book features three brand new Mars McCoy adventures as written by John Bear Ross, Greg Gick and Andrew Salmon with a truly stunning cover by artist Chad Hardin and beautiful interiors by Michael Youngblood.  Edited by Van Plexico and the Air Chief, the book features design by Rob Davis, with a fun logo created by Mark Maddox. Now the book is available at our on-line store. As always simply click on to the Airship 27 dirigible logo to the left of this column. Here you can buy it for 25% off the retail price. It will be available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other distributors within a week. If you own an e-reader with a Kindle or Nook, you can also visit our on-line digital shop (go to our link page) and download a PDF copy for only $3. As you can see we've gone out of our way to make “Mars McCoy Space Ranger” accessible to whichever way our Loyal Airmen enjoy their fiction. We hope you'll give it a shot and as always thanks for your continued support.

              
Last week we showed off a brand new Avatar of the Air Chief in action pulp attire standing before our beloved Airship 27.  Well several of you Loyal Airmen suggested this would make a dandy tee-shirt and we agreed.  In fact Rob and the Air Chief thought it was time we added two more such to our collection. Above is the SKY CAPTAIN RON shirt.
               
And the second features the gorgeous Rob Davis cover to our award winning graphic novel, “The Boston Bombers.” Also available on a striking black tee.  Note both these two garments or on sale at (www.IndyPlanet.com).  Also we have had posters made up of the Bomber's cover and will be selling them at the Pulp Cons we are attending this year.  Any Loyal Airmen who comes to our table at any show wearing either of these two tee-shirts (or any other Airship 27 Productions gear from our Cafe Press Shop) will receive a free Boston Bombers poster, a $3 value.  Again our way of thanking all you Loyal Airmen who continue to support our efforts so wonderfully.  Or course regardless of whether you get any of our cool swag, we truly hope to see lots of you at these shows. Truly the more the merrier always.

             
Finally we leave you this week with a visual sneak-peek at the Air Chief's latest comic scripting.  “Price For The Asking” is an on-line private eye mystery strip that appears every Monday at the Comic Related website. This past week the first story wrapped up and starting next Monday morning, March 14th, my Simon Pryce mystery called, “Moving Targets” premiers. The art for this story arc is provided by Rob Davis (pencils) and Steve Farfan  (inks) with Brant Fowler lettering. This is the first major comics works between Rob and the Air Chief  since the release of our graphic novel, “Daughter of Dracula” a few years ago. Needless to say, the Air Chief is thrilled to be working with Rob, who just happens to be one of his all time favorite artist.  Above is a portion of one of the early scenes in the story. We truly hope that come Monday, many of you will be logging on.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen. Again, a busy fun time at the old Hangar 27. Have a great week and we'll see you all back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out!

                       COMING LATE FALL 2012!
Greetings Loyal Airmen. Ever have one of those days when it seemed everything, both good and bad all occurred at the same time?  That was our experience this past Tuesday, March 1st.  There was good news and not-so-good news.  Let's deal with the not-so-good and get it out of the way. For the past few months the Air Chief has been beating the drums about the new mega sci-fi comic project we were doing with Brazilian artist Joe Bennett. Well, certain legalities neither of us had foreseen have arisen which make it impossible for us to release this project before Sept. 2012.  Believe me, no one was more saddened by this news than Joe and the Air Chief, but our hands are tied on this one.  The one shining light here is that the good folks at Moonstone, with whom we had signed a contract, are still one hundred percent behind NEUTRAL WORLD and are willing to wait the extra time.  Rest assured, you will see this comic book, only just a little later now.

          
     PULP ARK AWARD BEST PULP COMIC 2011
The results for the first ever Pulp Ark Awards were handed out Tuesday morning and our graphic novel, THE BOSTON BOMBERS won in the category of Best Pulp Comic.  We were thrilled. We extend our heartfelt thank to all the people of PulpArk and our congratulations to all the nominees and winners.  The wooden plaque awards will be presented at the first ever Pulp Ark Convention in May.  You can bet the Air Chief is going to be there with one wicked big smile on his face.  If you are one of the few airmen who has not yet read this book, you can pick up a copy by going to our LINKS page and clicking on the Redbud Comics logo.  And of course with this win, you can be sure Rob and the Air Chief will have copies for sale at the pulp shows we'll be attending; Windy City Paper & Pulp, Pulp Ark and Pulp Fest. So please, if you are planning on attending any of these, do stop by our Airship 27 table to get your copy.  We will be only too happy to autograph it for you.
And lastly, this great cover by Rob will soon be gracing a brand new, black tee-shirt we will be making available to all your Loyal Airmen, so stay tuned.

          
                              THE AIR CHIEF
The drawing above was done by Allison Brown as a commission for the ZONE 4 crew. Brant Fowler, the creator of this long-running podcast, of which the Air Chief is a co-host. along with Cary Kelley and Chuck Kennedy, had the idea of creating an image depicting each us as our favorite heroes.  Allison drew Brant as a fantasy swordsman, Cary as a Dark Lord of the Sith from Star Wards, Chuck as a superhero and the Air Chief as an honest-to-goodness aviation pulp hero!!  After seeing the figure drawing, beautifully colored by Lisa Moore, we imposed on Rob Davis to draw a flying airship behind us. He was only too happy to comply and Lisa then colored that as well, resulting in the finished image above.  Tell me we aren't having fun.  Ha.

                                  SCREEN CAPTURE FROM LAST WEEK'S SMALLVILLE
Heck, we even have fun when we aren't even involved.  The TV series SMALLVILLE airs on Friday night. Last week during the course of the show, an armored truck was seen with the name FORTIER emblazoned on the side panel.  Now the Air Chief doesn't watch this series but many of his friends do and when they spotted our name, they quickly notified us.  One even went so far as to capture the above screen-shot so that we could see it ourselves and now they weren't making it all up. Ha.

Phew, it truly has been a busy, roller coaster, up and down week.  And we wouldn't have it any other way. Life is an adventure and should be embraced as such. Always.  Thanks for stopping by as always and we'll see you all back here at Hanger 27 next week.  Till then…
Ron – Over & Out!

    
                                     Writer – Editor – DWAYNE McDUFFIE
Dear Loyal Airmen, a few days ago we, like the rest of the comic community were shocked and saddened by the passing of one of the most talented writer/editors to ever work in our field, 48 yr. old Dwayne McDuffie.  Dwayne first entered the business as a writer for Marvel and soon became an editor with them.  Always concerned with improving the comics work place for minority groups, Dwayne and several African American colleagues went on to create Milestone Comics to further their goals.  It was here he created the cool teenage African American superhero, Static.  Eventually DC assimilated the line and Warner Brothers Animation picked developed Static as a Saturday morning cartoon series. It lasted four years and was one of the most exciting an original such shows ever produced. Its success led to Dwayne continuing his association with Warners Animation and in particular writer/producer Bruce Timm who then hired him as a story editor on the amazing cartoon series Justice League and its popular sequel Justice League Unlimited.  Known for it is great animation and marvelous stories, JLU is considered one of the finest animated series ever realized and Story Editor Dwayne McDuffie was a big part of that success.  Ironically, on the day his passing was announced, WB Animation had just released their latest DVD animated release, ALL STAR SUPERMAN, screenplay by Dwayne McDuffie. 

                 
We never had the pleasure of meeting Dwayne, though we were lucky enough to exchange a few messages with him on Facebook shortly after connecting with each other. To a stranger he was courteous and polite and the Air Chief is happy he got the chance to tell him what big fans we were of his work.  Now his unique, thoughtful and creative voice is gone and we as a creative community are wounded by that loss.  Still, it is my hope that all of us involved with comics will remember Dwayne McDuffie and honor his legacy by striving in our own careers to produce only the best we have to offer. He never gave anything less.  Rest in peace, Dwayne.

              
And so we thought it would be fitting to end this week's Flight Log with a sneak-peek at a new 8 pg comic strip we wrote recently for Twilight Start Studios called “The Lonely Guy.”  The art is by the talented Cesar Feliciano and above is page two. The unique feature of this particular strip is that it is told solely through Cesar's wonderful art. There are no captions or word balloons. It is a silent, visual experience and only the second time the Air Chief has ever done this.  As soon as the strip appears in print, we'll let you know in what title it is available and how to procure a copy.

Thanks for stopping as always and we'll see you here again next week.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Airships have fascinated the Air Chief as long as we can remember.  There is something stately and majestic about them.  Truly they are the Clippers of the Air. Thus many years ago when it came time to choose an internet I.D., there was no doubt we would choose Airship as part of our tag.  As 27 is a lucky number for the Air Chief, our internet home, e-mail and eventually our pulp producing outfit were all given the Airship designation.   And this week, we added one more such to our family.

        
                        Our  New  Colorado Specialty Plates  AIR-SHP!!!
Shortly after moving here to Fort Collins, CO, Valerie suggested when registering our car that we might get Specialty Plates.  (Back in New Hampshire they were called Vanity Plates)  When we asked her what she had in mind, she smiled and said, “How about Airship?”  Of course there are never any guarantees the name you want will be available, still we gave it a go and were given a form by the Department of Motor Vehicles in which we had to list six variations of the word Airship we would accept.  The second AIR-SHP was found to be available and earlier this week they arrived.  Val and the Air Chief hurried over to the DMV offices to pick them up and get them on.  We think they look fantastic and the Air Chief is thrilled, as if you couldn't tell by the picture above.  Ha.

        
                                        Our Lovely Granddaughter, Ms. Kristi Leclerc
Another cause of much joy this past week was the news that our oldest granddaughter, Kristi, now a freshmen at the University of New Hampshire, having completed her first semester, made the Dean's List with Highest Honors.  Val and the Air Chief couldn't be any prouder.  She is truly an amazing, wonderful young lady who is going to great things with her life.  Way to go, Kristi!  Mem & Pep Love You Dearly!!

Baseball's Spring Training has started and down in Ft. Myers, Florida, this week and the 2011 reloaded Red Sox have arrived and will soon be playing exhibition games.  We are really excited about the new acquisitions to the team and hoping for a much more successful season than the one past. The injuries that riddled the Sox last year were non-stop and eventually kept them from making the play-offs for the first time in six years.  So, fingers crossed, with sustained good health, the Red Sox will get back to their winning ways and take Red Sox Nation all the way this year.  We can't wait for the magic words to echo across the land, THE PLAY BALL!!

      
                       Art by Jesus Marquez
Finally, the Air Chief has been writing a lot of short horror comic scripts lately.  Many of these will be published in comics from Twilight Star Studios during the course of the year to include our own title, which we've spoken of here on these flight logs, “Ron Fortier's Tales of the Macabre.”  We recently penned another of these short, spooky tales. This one is called “The Scarecrow Scares” and illustrating it is a talented young cartoonist named Jesus Marquez.  This is the first time we've worked together and after reading through our script, Jesus sent along the above rough sketches of the characters that appear in the story. We thought you'd get a kick out of seeing them.  We'll let you know when the story is published and how to get a copy.

And that Loyal Airmen is our Flight Log for this week.  Thanks as ever for stopping by and come back next week to see what other fun stuff we've got on the Flight Line.
Ron – Over & Out!      

Greeting Loyal Airmen, another few fun topics to share with all of you this week.  The Air Chief has never been a big football fan, baseball is our game (Go Red Sox!) but we did find ourselves glued to the TV set last Sunday evening to watch the Super Bowl.  No, not because we were cheering either team, but because we were aware that somewhere during the course of that telecast, Marvel Studios would be airing for the first time their official Captain America movie trailer.

Earlier in the week the studio had released the first official poster (see above) for this action adventure film and now we were at long last going to see 30 seconds of clips from the actual movie.  And what an awesome 30 seconds those were.  We saw Steve Rogers, a 90 lb weakling transformed into the one and only Super Solder, Captain America, then off to the European Front to fight in WW II alongside American soldiers such as the Howling Commandos.  To battle the Nazis and the dreaded Red Skull. And let's not forget that all too quick shot of the enemies' Flying Wing.  Directed by one of our favorite directors, Joe Johnson, CAPTAIN AMERICA – THE FIRST AVENGER arrives in theaters July 22nd.  Guess who is going to be first in line to see  this one?

As most of you Loyal Airmen are aware, the Air Chief also writes a review blog called Pulp Fiction Review and every now and then we find a book so entertaining, we showcase it here as well so that you won't miss it.  Such a book is KISS HER GOODBYE by the late Mickey Spillane and his protege, Max Allan Collins.  The book will be released on the 25th May and we recommend it highly.  If you care to read our entire review, simply go to the link posted above this column.

           
                         Check These Out!!!  Mr.Jigsaw Trading Cards
About a month ago, we announced that our good friends at the Comic Related website were in the process of putting together a series of trading cards featuring independent comic characters that were in some way connected with Comic Related.  The result was a 26 card set and earlier this week Darren Mueller and Chuck Moore, the CR dudes who came up with this grand idea, picked up all the cards from the printers and mailed them out to the various creators.  This afternoon the Air Chief received his box of Jiggy cards and they are truly beautiful.  The printing job is fantastic and the color reproduction awesome. Loyal Airmen can expect to see these on our tables at conventions during the coming year.  Rob Davis and the Air Chief haven't quite decided yet how we are going to offer these, whether selling them individually or offering them as a bonus to folks who buy copies of Mr.Jigsaw at our table.  We'll keep you posted.

          
                                         Collect Them All!!
And for those of you comic fans who would like to get a look at the entire 26 cards, check out the picture above.  Darren spread out all the cards to show us all what they all looked like.  Note Comic Related has also printed a # 00 Check List card.  Chuck and the gang will have these check list cards and a limited number of all 26 cards at their tables this summer as they make the comic convention circuit.  Believe the Air Chief when I say this first series is soon going to be a highly sought after collector's set and you will want to get them all.  Good hunting.

Finally, we have to end this week's Flight Log with a somber item.  Last Saturday, publisher Michael Poll of Cornerstone Book Publishers, the fellow who publishes all our Airship 27 Productions pulp books, suffered a mild heart attack. Thank the Lord it wasn't more serious. After a few days in the hospital he was released and is home recuperating.  Doctors believe the attack was brought by hypertension and overwork.  Now Michael is confined to bed rest for the next few weeks, forbidden to do any business or use the phone and his computer.  We keep him in our prayers and wish him a speedy recovery. At the same time, hope his scare will serve as a reminder to all our Loyal Airmen to stay healthy, monitor your blood pressure constantly and regulate your cholesterol levels. You are all important to us and we do want all of you around for a long-long time.  So please, do what it takes and stay healthy.

And there you go, Loyal Airmen, for another busy week at Hangar 27.  As always thanks for stopping by.  We'll be back next week with hopefully more fun things to share with you. Till then, take care.

Ron – Over & Out!