Greeting Loyal Airmen. As we write this week's Flight Log, the fourth game of the American League Championship is on and after trailing 4 to 0 in the first six innings, the New York Yankees have scored 6 runs in the top of the 7th.  Just like that.  And it would be a good bet that before the evening is over, the contestants for this year's World Series contest, starting next Wed. night, will be between the Yanks and the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the National League crown last night for the second year in a row.  The Air Chief congratulates both teams and is really hoping for a good championship series.  All of which has brought to mind lots of thoughts we've had concerning American's favorite pastime this past season.

                    
                                 Mom, apple pie and baseball.
First of all some history.  Despite what you might have heard all your life, Abner Doubleday, the Civil War veteran General did not invent baseball.  That story is totally bogus.  Baseball's evolution is not clear cut but most experts believe it came from several British games to include two in particular; one called “rounders” and the other  “stool ball.”  And no, we did not make that up.

                     
                                               The Wind Up
What is the big deal about playing in lousy weather?  The long, six month season (for some teams) begins in April and if they are East coast teams, then the odds are very good they may be playing games in the rain and snow, the fans freezing their collective butts off.  We've seen enough of these horrendous ordeals happening at Fenway year after year. This having been an unusually rainy summer, a record number of games had to be postponed and rescheduled due to inclement weather.  Then we get to the end of the season, and East Coast teams in the play-offs are freezing, the players wearing caps with ear-muffs.  And in the midst of this suffering, the good people of the Minnesota Twins have proudly announced that after they tear down the eleven year old Metro Dome, the new stadium they are constructing will be roof-less!  Whoopee, the baseball announcers have been declaring.  Kiddies will be able to enjoy a baseball game as it should be viewed, under the open sky. And the Air Chief finds himself scratching his head.  Are these people daft?  This is Minnesota!  They have horrible Springs. I wonder how much the Twins fans are going to enjoy getting wet and cold in 2010?  What is truly frustrating is the fact that with today's technology, any ballpark can have the best of both.  Look at the Toronto Bluejays and their retractable roof.  When the weather is nice, its pulled back and games are played under the stars.  When it is raining, snowing or whatever, the roof is closed and the game goes on and the fans never suffer bouts of pneumonia inducing downpours.  No game at Toronto has ever been delayed or canceled because of weather. What the hell is the matter with the other clubs?  Every new field built today should have a retractable roof.  DOH!!

          
                                                                  It's a Hit!!
Another super pet peeve of the Air Chief is the constant belly-aching of baseball officials that games take way too long to play these days.  Oh, really?  Then why don't they stop the silliness we endure night after night and tighten them up.  Does a batter, after every single pitch, have to walk around for a minute to get himself set up again? And what's this constantly asking the Umpire for a time-out?  Are they little leaguers??  Want to speed up the game, then New Rule # 1. Once a batter steps into the batter's box, he can't leave it until he's either hit, been struck out or walked.  Period. And no more time-outs!

           
                                                                  SAFE!!!
And we aren't letting today's Prima Donna pitchers off the hook either.  How many times does a pitcher have to have people come to visit him on the pitcher's mound?  The catcher comes to clarify what calls they are using!!  Wasn't this discussed in the practice sessions?  And when a pitcher starts giving up runs, out comes the Pitching Coach to give him a little pep talk.  Oh, please.  If he's pitching in the Majors, he should have enough maturity to grit his teeth and either get the job done or not.  The only person who should be allowed to go out to that mound once the game has started is the Manager to pull the guy.  Period.  Rule #2, No more visits to the pitcher's mound!  Period. Now adhere to these two rules we guarantee you we've just shaved at least one hour from every game to be played.

                     
                                              JINXED by Ken Leiker
Finally, on a purely comedic note.  What exactly does a Bench Coach do?  Teach people how to sit on the bench?  Looking at the other coaches on a team, it's easy to understand their tasks.  The first base coach is there to advise runners on first.  Likewise the third base coach, etc.  But a Bench Coach?  Is there a right and wrong way to sit on a bench?  And with that thought in your heads, let me end this baseball rant by recommending a truly wonderful little book; JINXED by Ken Leiker. It is a collection of some of the wildest superstitions practice by some of the most famous players in the history of baseball.  It's a small little book that will leave you chuckling on every page.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  Oh, and in the course of writing this log, the Angels have come back strong and are now retaking the lead in the top of the 8th.  It's 7 to 6 in their favor.  And here come the Yankees.  Got to run, Loyal Airmen.  This is getting good.

LAST MINUTE UPDATE –  No sooner did we wrap up this entry then the Angels beat the Yankees 7-6.
So it's on to Brooklyn tomorrow night (Sat.) for game six.  Our money is still on the Yankees.

Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  We at Airship 27 Productions and Cornerstone Book Publishers are extremely excited to announce the release of our 20th pulp title, LANCE STAR – SKY RANGER Vol. Two.  It's been a long time coming since we released Vol. One several years ago.

Unlike Volume One, which contained four new Lance Star adventures, Volume Two includes several other classic pulp aviators.  First up is Bobby Nash's Lance Star tale. There's two short adventures by Aaron Smith featuring the World War One squadron, the Three Mosquitos.  Van Allen Plexico has a Griffon story and we wrap it all up with the return of one of pulpdom's greatest flying aces, none other than the one and only Captain Midnight, by David Walker.  All in all, a jammed packed collection of high flying pulp thrillers.  And all you have to do is click on to our dirigible logo to the upper left of this column to go to our on-line store where this, and our other 19 titles are always on sale at a 25% discount over retail prices.

Two years and 20 titles!  The Air Chief and his partner, artist Rob Davis, are extremely proud of this achievement and we tip our pulp fedoras to Michael Poll, our publisher, who has made this all possible for us.  And within a few weeks we'll be bringing all of you our 21st title.  But let's not let the cat out of the bag yet, save to say it will be the official sequel to our most successful book of the past season.

Meanwhile here we are into October and all our Loyal Airmen are busy gearing up for the coolest holiday of them all, Halloween.  Since it's the time of hobgoblins and ghoulies of every sort, we thought we'd take a minute to remind you Loyal Airmen of two of our own best selling horror anthologies you might want to check out while visiting the Airship 27 on-line store.

Weird Horror Tales contains 13 masterful tales of extreme suspense and terror by the award winning writer Michael Vance, with interior illustrations by the master of the macabre, artist Earl Geier.  This is a perfect volume to help you Loyal Airmen get in the right creepy state of mind for the night of All Hallow's Eve.

And lastly here's Brother Bones featuring seven original tales of pulp horror featuring the Undead Avenger as envisioned by the Air Chief himself.  Art for this handsome volume, to include interior illos and that dynamite cover all by Rob Davis.  This is one of our hottest titles and if you haven't picked it up yet, you are truly missing a treat. 

Meanwhile, we continue to hold the fort at Hangar 27 while Val is in Colorado with our son and his family.  Baseball league championships have begun with the Dodgers battling the Phillies for the National League flag and the Yankees are taking on the Angels for the American League crown.  Our predictions, it's going to be a Yankees vs Dodgers World Series.  We were naturally sorry to see the Red Sox's post-season end so quickly, but not surprised.  The team was running out of gas these last few months and it's clear management has some weak links to shore up over the winter months.

Finally, we sign off with a heartfelt HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our son, Kevin.  At 36, our second son is a terrific young man who plays the guitar, enjoys fantasy books and movies, is devoted to his fiancee Melanie and adores their mischievous bulldog Zeke.  I am so proud to be his father.

Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Here we are into October, the leaves here in New Hampshire have started to turn color and fall with the cool weather. Halloween is just around the corner.  Meanwhile, Valerie flew out to Colorado two days ago to help visit our son, Alan, and his family, leaving the Air Chief to hold down the hangar. Most of you Loyal Airmen are well aware of how much the Air Chief likes toys, especially action figures.  We've put up pictures of many in our collection right here over the past few years, from Sherlock Holmes to our life-size Yoda. Well, recently we added another very cool toy to the pack.

   
Last year, at a local Portsmouth comic con, I met artist Jay Piscopo for the very first time and we hit it off immediately.  Both of us have a love of all things comics and pulps.  Jay introduced me to a new pulp character he had just created called Commander X, the Man From the Future.  About a week after that initial meeting, Jay called and asked if we would like to write a Commander X short pulp story for a digital comic he was putting together. Thrilled, we accepted immediately and ended up delivering, The Thing in the Moon, which was published with several illustrations by British artist, Mike Fyles.  It all came out great.  Meanwhile, Jay had asked what we wanted in payment for the story and we told him it was a gift from one pulp fan to another.  We honestly didn't want any money for doing this fun project.  But Jay's a persistent dude and he offered, in lieu of cash, to give us one of his newly made Commander X mego action figures.  That, we were only too happy to accept.

Two weeks ago, Jay and the Air Chief finally hooked up again at Bang Pop, the Bangor Maine comic con and there he handed us the Commander X 1930s version mego figure.  This is such a cool toy.  Above you see it in its package.  Believe me, Loyal Airmen, the Air Chief never waste any time getting his toys free of their plastic cells.  Comics are meant to be read, toys are meant to be played with.  We've often believed that our own imagination was fired when we were young by the toys we were blessed to have and dream with.

               
                  Commander X on Easter Island.
As you can see, our Commander X action figure soon found himself in the South Pacific on another perilous mission to save the world.  Complete with his black boots, X belt, pistol, mask and Captain's hat.  Believe me Loyal Airmen, this going to be only the first of his many adventures. 

If any of you are at all interested in picking up a Commander X figure, and Jay has several of them in various guises from a cowboy, to spaceman., to an undersea avenger.  All of them super, super cool.  Simply  go to his website (WWW.CAPTNELI.COM) and there you'll find these Commander X toys.  Tell him the Air Chief sent you.

That's it for another week, Loyal Airmen.  As I write these words, the final 8 baseball teams in the play-offs are doing battle and thus far we've seen some great games.  The Red Sox have their hands full with the Los Angeles Angels and the outcome right now is anyone's guess.  Go Sox!!

Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  As October rolls around and the temps get a wee bit cooler, we've some exciting news for all you lovers of fast paced private eye tales.  Back in the 1957, the husband and wife team of Gloria and Forest “Skip” Fickling created a sexy blond private eye named Honey West.  She would be featured in ten paperback potboilers, all of them steamy thrillers wherein Miss West's secondary goal, after dodging bullets, seemed to be staying in her clothes.  Lighthearted romps, the books quickly amassed a loyal following of readers who appreciated the couples breezy style of writing.

                     
By 1960 the series came to attention of television producer, Aaron Spelling and he saw to it that Honey would appear in an episode of his cop melodrama, Burker's Law.  The lovely Ann Francis was cast as Honey and her appearance was so popular that Spelling was able to convince ABC to give the character her own show.  Thus between 1965 -1966, Honey West aired in 30 half hour episodes.  Of course as media people will always do, they changed the character slightly by adding to her set-up. Now she was aided by a male partner named Sam Bolt, played by the dashing John Erickson; lived with her Aunt Peg, and now own a pet ocelot named Bruce and drove a stylish Cobra convertible sportscar. 

                    
As a tough, martial arts expert and femme fatale, Honey West was a mold breaking lady far ahead of her time.  Still, despite strong ratings, the network canceled the show after only one season.  Happily VCI Entertainment has released the entire 30 episodes on a 4 disc set pictured above. We recommend highly, as the stories were a lot of fun.  And there is a Honey West revival in progress, soon to be spear-headed by Moonstone Books in a series of prose anthologies and comic books. While the Ficklings are producing a Honey West feature film set to be released in 2010.  Now that's great news.

              
                          Honey by artist Rob Davis

To that end, artist Rob Davis and the Air Chief are wasting no time in putting our services up in regards to this fantastic new project.  Both of us are long time Honey West fans, and as Rob's pin-up above attest, we totally understand the character and very much want to develop her into the graphic world.  So here is an unabashed shout-out to Moonstone Books!!!  We want to do Honey West for you!!!  If you Loyal Airmen agree that we are the team for such a project, feel free to add your voices and let the good people at Moonstone know we're here ready to deliver some rock & sock'em comic action.  We truly will appreciate all your support in this campaign.  And regardless of the outcome, we will certainly be supporting all of Moonstone's Honey West projects and hope you will as well.

Finally, we can't sign off without tipping our baseball caps to the Boston Red Sox for making the play-offs for the sixth time in seven years.  Sadly, the team hasn't been playing it's best baseball, but one thing about the play-offs, they are an entirely brand new season and anything can happen.  So pull it together, Red Sox, and let's win us another World Series.  Go Sox!!!

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, it's been an up and down week ever since we got back last Sunday night from our guest stint at the Bangor, Me. Bang Pop Convention.  Before anything, we need to thank promoter Gabrin Graham for a truly fun show and inviting us.  We had a great time meeting Maine fans and talking comics with them.  As you would expect, our Mr.Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts books were a big hit.

Keep in mind, Loyal Airmen, this was the very first Maine comic con we've done bringing along copies of Jiggy, who is a Maine based superhero.  Once Ye Old Air Chief start announcing that fact, the fans stopped to take notice and soon were picking up copies right and left.  We sold out of number one and most of number three.  So Jiggy was a hit in Bangor, which, as stated above, really was no surprise.

One of the real joys of attending comics, aside from meeting new fans, is getting to meet other comic creators and this show was no exception.  We traveled to the show, and roomed with Jason Casey of Manchester, NH.  Jason is a dynamite artist and a huge LOST fan, so we had lots in common and it was a blast getting to know this talented young man.  He does lots of New England shows where he sells his prints of genre heroes from STAR TREK, HARRY POTTER and LOST characters.  All are amazing. 

Also at the show we had the good pleasure of meeting artist Bob Raymond, who was our con neighbor.  Bob is doing a brand new book for Jetpack Press, as managed by Jetpack Comics own Ralph DiBernardo.  Bob and his wife Melissa are fun people and we hope to see them again soon.   Another new creator on hand at this show was writer, William Ward.  William is responsible for a new comic fantasy anthology released by Ape Entertainment called – FABLEWOOD.

This amazing book contains 13 tales of the weird and fantastic, all edited by William.  It is available in comic shops around the country.  If you like top-notch fantasy, then go find this book.  You'll be glad you did.

Beside meeting new friends, we also had the fun of getting caught up with an old one, our good pal, artist Jay Piscopo.  Jay's a native of Maine and it was much fun hooking up with him again.  For the past few months Jay has been entertaining all of us on the social network, Facebook, with his beautiful pin-ups of great golden age comic heroes.  Well, he went and collected these pin-ups and self-published them in a marvelous little comic called HEROES – Lost & Found and I was quick to snag one Sunday morning. If you'd like to get one, just go to (www.IndyPlanet.com) and pick one up.  Jay's work is always stunning.

So as you can see, Ye Old Air Chief really enjoyed himself to the max while up at Bang Pop.  Unfortunately we came home to discover our PC system had been infected by an annoying virus that was gumming our all our programs.  Eventually we took out the hard-drive from our PC and sent it off to our son, Scott, the PC guru of the family.  Happily he was able to clean it up, effectively deleting that pesky virus and we should have back within a few days. Right now we're working on a spare PC we keep just for these kind of emergencies.

So far the start of Fall has been really beautiful here.  We hope the same for you. And of course our prayers and well wishes go out to all our Loyal Airmen living in the South this past week who were affected by those awful floods. Hopefully the waters have receded and folks down there, with the help of the government, can start getting their lives back on track.

Finally a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our grandson, Alex, who turns 12 today.  Have a great day, Alex!!!

And that's it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  Take care one and all.  Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Well ye old Air Chief has had way better weeks.  It started off well enough, what with my being invited to speak to the York County Women's Connection group last Monday.  My daughter, Michelle, is a member and as the guest coordinator for this month's dinner, she needed to find a speaker and she asked her Dad to help her out.  Over the years the Air Chief has spoken at various functions to all kinds of groups, but most of have been of a younger age.  Realizing we would be talking about comics to men and women in their primarily in their 40s and above, it was a tricky decision to find just the right topic to enthrall them with for all of 15 minutes, the amount of time we would be allotted.  Then again, it wasn't all that difficult.

            
                             Michelle Leclerc introducing her dad, the Air Chief.

The subject of my little talk was all about my involvement with one of America's iconic cartoon superstars, POPEYE.  Way back at the start of our comics career, we were given the opportunity to write two Popeye comics for small Rhode Island publisher called Ocean Comics.  In that first one, we were given the distinct honor of writing Popeye's origin for the very first time, meaning we got to create his mother, Roxanne Crusher, and to tell the word Popeye's actual name.  It's Ugly Kidd.  Don't believe us, go find those books. If you can, that is, they are very much collector's items these days.

         
                                        The Air Chief tells his Popeye stories.

We're very happy to say the talk was a hit and after the dinner, many kind people stop by to discuss their own childhood memories of the crusty, one-eyed sailor.  People thanked me graciously for attending and telling them those stories.  It was a fun evening all around.

Sadly the next morning, ye old Air Chief awoke with a scratch throat and things went downhill after that, until several days we had us a nice full blown-head cold.  Now this wouldn't be so awful save for the fact we are heading up north to Bangor, Maine, later tonight for the big two day show, Bang Pop Con.  Obviously we did not want to disappoint the show's promoters or our fans.  So we began a regiment of vitamin C, lots of rest and finally yesterday got in to see our family doctor, who was a real angel and put the Air Chief on antibiotics.  You see, unlike most folks who get a cold and it's strictly a viral infection, what with my lung condition, there is always the threat of bacterial infection leading to pneumonia.  So it's simply a preventive measure to douse ourselves with these miracle drugs.  As of 10AM, as we write this, most of the aches and pains are gone and it looks like it is going to be a fun weekend in Maine after all.  Should any of you Loyal Airmen in the area want to stop by and say hi, the show is being held at the Civic Center – 100 Dutton Rd. Bangor, Me. 

Finally, our last item of the week and one totally on the good and fun side.  MR.JIGSAW # 5 was released this past week from Ka-Blam and is now on sale at their on-line store, Indy Planet.com –  The link is posted in our Air Fare page.

This issue has two brand new stories by yours truly and artist Gary Kato.  The cover tale, “Charlie's Best Friend” stars none other than Zeke the bulldog, who happens to belong to my son, Kevin, and his fiancee, Melanie.  We took lots of photos of the lovable guy and sent them off to Gary along with the script and he did a fantastic job of capturing him perfectly.  This is then followed up by a short Jiggy tale called “The Bully & the Knight.”  As always we hope you'll pick up a copy and help us keep doing these new adventures of “Maine's only living superhero.”

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  We have heard from several of you recently, and this cold/flu season is very much upon us all over the country.  Do be careful in public, wash your hands often and stay well.  Trust me, these past few days were not fun. 

Ron – Over & Out.

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Well, the pool man came over today and together we closed up the back yard swimming pool for another season.  Always sad to look out the kitchen window and see that drab green cover stretched over it.  Still, it was a great summer, what with our grand kids visiting and all. One filled with terrific memories we won't ever forget.  So, bring on the Fall and the most colorful season of them all.

During the Great Depression, many people turned to crime to supposedly better then lot in life.  Of course this wrong headed thinking only led to their incarceration or demise, as all of these outlaws, both  famous and petty, all soon learned crime never pays.  Many, like John Dillinger pictured in the official wanted poster above, became celebrities to a populace that saw them  as romantic figures taking on the heartless establishment of the times.  It was misplaced idol worship, as Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Machine Kelly and all the others were nothing more than criminals out for their own selfish interests.  Most were cruel, sadistic and cold blooded killers. It would take brave and dedicated law enforcement agents to track them down and bring them to justice; men like Elliot Ness and Melvin Purvis, amongst many others.

Their stories went on to inspire the pulp writers of the time and one of the most popular such fictional crime busters ever to appear in the pulps was none other than….DAN FOWLER G-MAN.

Airship 27 Productions is proud as punch to announce the release of our 19th pulp title, the anthology DAN FOWLER G-MAN.  It features four brand new, action packed stories starring the intrepid Fowler and his fellow agents as they hunt down America's Most Wanted during the days of the Great Depression.  Stories by Greg Bastianelli, B.C.Bell, Aaron Smith and Andrew Salmon all deliver action and adventure in the grand style of the classic pulps.  Our cover is by the talented Robert Brown and the interiors by Canadian artist, Kelly Everaert.

                
                            Dan Fowler grilling a suspect.

We're damn proud of this book and hope you'll check it out.  As always the book is on sale at our on-line store and you can go there simply by clicking on the dirigible logo to the left of this column.  Books sold at our store are always 25% off from retail. Of course if you'd prefer to buy it via the more popular outlets ala Amazon or Barnes & Noble on-line, it will appear there in another week or so.  Again, do check it out.  We think it's a winner.

And that wraps up this week's Flight Log. Next week we'll be all set to head up to Bangor, Maine, for the big two day Bang Pop Comic Con.  Looks to be a fun time for all.  The Air Chief will have more info etc. come next Friday.  As always, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend, Loyal Airmen.

Ron – Over & Out!
 

Greetings Loyal Airmen, here we go into the Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of the summer season.  Weather is become a bit more seasonal with warm days and cooling nights.  And the old Farmer's Almanac is predicting a very cold and snowy Winter ahead.  But then again this is New England and this is what we usually expect.  Two nights ago, on Wednesday, as we related last week, Valerie and I drove up to Portland, Maine
and the downtown TV studios of WCSH Channel 6.  The Air Chief was the first guest on their nightly feature magazine show, 207.  All this having come about because years ago we put news anchors Pat Callaghan and Cindy Williams into one of our Mr.Jigsaw comic book stories.  So the Air Chief was invited to the show to talk about his comic career and that particular comic tale.  Pat is a lifelong comic collector, and good friend, whereas Cindy truly is an exuberant person and a lot of fun to talk with.  Both of them made the Air Chief relaxed and our five minute spot went extremely well…and fast.

               
                             Pat Callaghan  – Cindy Williams & The Air Chief on the set of 207.

After we'd finished, Valerie snapped a nice shot of us together on the set.  Anyone wishing to view the clip need only find the WCSH Channel 6 website on their computers.  On their main page, look up to the heading marked 207 and click on it.  There you'll find the middle column has a long list of this week's guest clips.  Simply scroll down till you find my name, click on it and it should pull up my 5 minute interview.  Friends and colleagues who have seen it today have been writing to let me know how much they enjoyed it.  All of this was due to Pat and Cindy making it so much fun.  And bless them, here they are holding up a copy of the latest Mr.Jigsaw.

And while on the subject of fine state of Maine, Ye Old Air Chief has been invited to be a special guest at a two day comic con to be held in Bangor, Me. on Sept. 19-20.  It looks to be a fun event with lots of local comic writers and artist on hand, to include my pal Jay Piscopo.  If you'd like to learn more about this show, simply go to their website at (www.BangPopMaine.com) tell them the Air Chief sent you.

                      
                       Air Chief models his Wild Wolf  Tour tee-shirt.

Meanwhile moving westward, a few weeks ago the Wild Wolf Entertainment group led by owner/managing editor Sean Collins, went out on a tour of half a dozen comic shops in the grand state of Ohio.  Sean, his assistant
Bill Gladman and several writers and artists visited these stores and showed off their wares to the fans who came in to meet and greet them.  Among which were Wild Wolf's editions of our DAUGHTER OF DRACULA graphic novel and our ADVENTURES OF MR.JIGSAW collection, which I'm holding up in the picture above.
It contains the complete first three issues of our Mr.Jigsaw series and is available at Amazon.com, so if you'd like a pick up a copy, simply click on to our Air Fare page and find the appropriate link posted there.  Anyway, Sean was generous enough to send the Air Chief his own Wild Wolf Tour 2009 tee-shirt, which he had made up for the gang to wear while on their circuit.  Much appreciated, Sean, I'll wear it proudly.

And that wraps up another week, Loyal Airmen. Hopefully next week we'll be announcing the release of another Airship 27 Prod. pulp.  The Red Sox took two out of three from the Tampa Bay Rays this week, maintaining their hold on the Wild Card position in the American League East Division, so for now, all's well. Ha.  Hope all of you have a great holiday weekend.  If you are traveling, be safe.  We want you back here next week.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen, we've got some exciting news to pass along to all of you, but most especially you Airmen who live in New Hampshire and Maine.  Many years ago when Ye Old Air Chief was starting his comics writing career, we were guest at a Portland, Me. convention. It was there we met a familiar face, Pat Callaghan.  Pat, at that time had just become the anchorman for Portland's WCSH Channel 6 evening newscast.  As Valerie and the Air Chief watch this program daily, we recognized Pat immediately when he came to our table and there discovered he is a life long comic book fan. 

During the course of the next decade our association with Pat continued to grow, as we would see him at most of these Maine conventions.  All of which led to his coming to our home one year to tape an interview with the Air Chief concerning the debut of our new, original character, MR.JIGSAW, Man of a Thousand Parts.  As the character lives and operates in the city of Portland, Pat saw an opportunity to give us the spotlight and that interview ran during the Christmas week of that year.  Pat instantly became a huge Jiggy fan.

                            
                              Pat Callaghan & Cindy Williams of Channel 6

Over the years Cindy Williams joined Pat as co-anchor and for as long as the Air Chief can remember, they've been THE news team for Channel 6.  Several years ago, we found ourselves writing Mr.Jigsaw stories for a website called Adventure Strips.  Before it folded up, artist Gary Kato and the Air Chief managed to produce three new Jiggy stories for that project.  One of these was called…THE ICEMEN COMETH!

In the tale, Jiggy survives a massive explosion when a robot snowman he is battling blows up under him.  When his friends recover the dis-assembled parts of his body, they discover his head is still missing.  As we were writing this scenario, it dawned on us that this story-line might be the perfect opportunity to put Pat and Cindy in a Mr.Jigsaw comic.  We taped one of their broadcast, then sent that tape, along with the finished script, to Gary to draw.  He did a magnificent job of capturing these two and the page has Pat asking the public's help in finding Mr.Jigsaw's head.

                     
                                      Pat & Cindy in a Jigsaw adventure.

Although the page was completed, the strip site folded before it could be posted and so for the past eight years Pat and Cindy never knew they had been guest stars in a Mr.Jigsaw comic adventure.  Until a few months ago, that is.  As all you Loyal Airmen know, we've brought back the character in a brand new comic series which we are self-publishing with the help of Rob Davis and Redbud Studio.  The first three issues being reprints of all the earlier Jiggy tales to include, The Icemen Cometh.   Once that issue was printed up, the Air Chief immediately sent a few to the Channel 6 studios in Portland, addressed to Pat.  A few days later Pat e-mailed us relating how the books were a big hit among the entire crew and passed around from studio hand to another.  Of course both he and Cindy were delighted with their comic cameos.

It was then that Pat suggested we come up to Portland one night and appear on their live half-hour feature show entitled 207.  (That's the phone area code for Maine.)  The show features two to three segments a night focusing on anything doing with the state of Maine.  Whereas both Pat & Cindy appear in this comic and Jiggy is a Portland resident, Pat brought the idea of our being a guest to his producers and they enthusiastically agreed to make it happen.  SO….this coming Wednesday evening, 2 Sept., at 7 PM, Ye Old Air Chief is going to be guest on Channel 6's 207.  And as it turns out, the regular host, Rob Caldwell, will be on vacation next week and Pat will be filling in for him.  So, it will be me and Pat, and co-host Kathleen Shannon, talking about Mr.Jigsaw on live TV.  To say Ye Old Air Chief is excited would be a real understatement.   This looks to be a really fun experience and again, we're hoping those of you Loyal Airmen who live in the area will be able to tune in and catch our first ever live-TV appearance.   As always, we so appreciate the support.

Finally, to wrap this week up, we have to tip our baseball caps to Red Sox short-stop, Nick Green who during last night's trouncing by the Chicago White Sox, was asked by manager Terry Francona to go out and pitch the 8th and 9th innings!!  Yup, a position player put on the mound in sheer desperation, to save the bullpen, which Francona obviously believes had been over-taxes lately.  Well, Mr.Green certainly gave up hits, but none of them scored, in other words he pitched two complete innings against batters who earlier in the game had tallied up 9 runs by the fourth inning and shut them down…most impressively!  Way to go, Green.  As for the rest of the Red Sox pitching staff, if you feel a wee bit embarrassed by all this…well, you should be!!!

Till next week, “We're ready for our close up, Mr.DeVille.”  Ha.
Ron – Over & Out

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Sometimes when thinking about this log, we look over events of the past week to find some reoccurring theme.  And finding one this week was rather easy.  As most of you who logged on last week saw, British artist Mike Fyles had done an amazing job with the cover painting to our newest Airship 27 Prod. pulp title, THE GREEN LAMA.  Well, what most of you don't know is that Mike loves to take brand new illustrations and then using a little PC magic, age them to appear worn, used and old.  Of course once he'd handed over his dazzling cover to our book, he could not resist the temptation to play with it in the manner discussed.

              
And here it is with worn, yellowed and wrinkled edges, as if it were an authentic 1930s pulp that had been locked away in somebody's trunk all these years.  All of us involved with the book thought it was just too cool.  And as one of our gang pointed out, this is most likely just how our book will look in another 30 years.  Amazing.  Sort of like a handy time-machine experience.  Two days later, we signed up for Social Security.

We were given early retirement from our day jobs upon turning 55.  The company gave us a full monthly pension plus a nice settlement until we were ready to sign up for Social Security.  Whereas the Air Chief will turn 63 in November, it was time to sign up now as to make sure we are on the rolls and our first check arrives when it is suppose to, as that same month our supplement will end.  So there we were on-line, filling out the forms and becoming the latest post-World War II baby-boomer to sign up.  Which led to lots of thoughts about aging these past few days.

My father worked hard all his life and always predicted he would never get a single penny of social security.  He was in ill-health and his prediction was realized when he died at the age of 59.  Just wasn't fair at all.  Yet we here we are, surviving with lung cancer, feeling good (save for a few extra pounds) and planning on being around for a bit longer.  As for the extra pounds, Valerie, since her return from Colorado, has gotten us on a really good exercise regiment and portion control.  Goodbye snack foods, hello fruits and veggies.  Still, 63!  Just how the hell did that happen?

Val says the older we get, the more we look like the actor Wilford Brimley.  Ha.  Don't worry, we're not about to start selling you oat meal, although it “really” is good for you.  The Air Chief dug around in his files to find a decent mug shot of himself to show how he looks these days.  We picked the photo above.  It's the Air Chief in the Batcave hard at work on a new comic script, and surrounded by all his posters and toys.  Not exactly the decor of most soon-to-be-63 yr. old seniors is it?  And that's the point.  Aging is about both the body and the spirit. We certainly have no illusions about the physical limits time and nature have placed on us.  Gravity is a bitch.  But then again, we still love to laugh, to play, to read comics, to see dumb aciton movies like G.I.JOE, and to truly get a whopping big charge out of life.  Somehow wisdom has managed to creep into our youthful imagination and that's a strange and very new aspect to our identity.  One we hope to explore in much greater depths in the years ahead.  You see, like everything else in life, aging is what you choose to make it.  We think it's an adventure, one we're very happy to be on.

Till next week, you youngsters take care,
Ron – Over & Out