Greetings Loyal Airmen, hope all of you have been enjoying the start of Spring.  As I write these words, Colorado and points west are getting nailed by a powerful blizzard.  Seems like in certain parts of the country, old man winter does not want to relinquish his hold just yet. But he will, as even nature cannot stand against the inevitable march of time.  Speaking of such, this past Tuesday, March 24th, marked the one year anniversary of my lung surgery.  This time last year, your Air Chief was in a hospital bed recovering and wondering what the future held in store for him.  Lots of prayers came my way those days and the weeks and months after.  All of which are why my recovery was so successful and I remain in good health to this day.  I will never forget those prayers and well wishes.

So how did we spend that memorable day?  Good question.  We spent it granting our granddaughter Chelsea a very special request.  A typical teenage girl, she is a huge fan of the music trio, the Jonas Brothers.  Their latest concert was playing at the local cinema as a special one night only event and she so wanted to go.  So we picked her up at her school that afternoon and drove down to the theater to catch the 4:40 PM showing.
      
                                                        The Jonas Brothers in Concert

All of us had a blast.  Chelsea for the obvious reasons.  Valerie and me, because this was a Disney digital 3-D production and absolutely fantastic to view.  Everything was so crystal clear.  It was like having the best seats in the hall at the actual concert.  Oh, and we were the only three people in the theater.  Talk about feeling like a VIP.  Ha.  After the showing, we stopped at a fast food restaurant to grab a burger then took her home.  Chelsea had a great time and so did her grandparents.  One we'll all remember fondly for years to come.  And though Ye Old Air Chief is no expert on teen-age boy bands, let me add, the Jonas Brothers are extremely talented and put on a truly fun show.

Last week we talked a great deal about pulps.  A new series just released from the folks who brought you the Hard Case Crime paperback series is called HUNT, featuring a modern day Indiana Jones-like hero named Gabriel Hunt.  The first book pictured above comes out at the end of April.  We received an advance reading copy and reviewed it favorably at our blog site, Pulp Fiction Reviews.   See the link above to read that.  This is one series you should keep an eye out for.

               
                        Captain Hazzard by Jay Piscopo

Meanwhile Airship 27 Productions is only a few weeks away from reprinting our very first Captain Hazzard novel, Python Men of the Lost City.  Cover painter, Mark Maddox, has turned in a gorgeous painting and we hope to announce the book's availability soon.  Meanwhile, our good friend, Maine illustrator, Jay Piscopo, did up this great Captain Hazzard pin-up for us and we think its super.  Wanted to share it with all you Loyal Airmen.  Jay has signed on to do some work for Airship 27 Prod. and we couldn't be happier to have him aboard.

               
                            Cast of Mr.Jigsaw by Gary Kato

After weeks and weeks of waiting, we just learned tonight that our second issue of  MR.JIGSAW – Man of a Thousand Parts should finally be out by early next week.  We'll post the actual cover for it in next week's Flight Log along with the link to where to purchase a copy.  In the meanwhile enjoy the color-guide artist Gary Kato did up for it years ago.  We've been hard at work this week writing a new Jiggy story.  Can't wait to finish those reprint issues and get to the new stuff.

Finally, ye Old Air Chief recently did a two hour podcast with Chuck Moore of Comic Related.  Joining us in this marathon gab-fest was fellow comics fan, Bill Gladman.  The topic was the evolution of comics in America over the past thirty years, good and bad.  Chuck posted both halves of this informal conversation over at the site, on the front page (www.comicrelated.com).  Part one is listed as Podcast # 93 and part two is # 94.  We hope you'll stop by and listen in.  We had a blast doing this.

And that's a wrap for another week, Loyal Airmen.  Thanks ever for stopping by.  Take care, have a great week and we'll be back in seven days.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen, well this has really been a week devoted to pulps, in lots of ways.  Before anything else, the Air Chief would like to send out a big thank you to Bill Cunningham and the gracious people at Geekarati.com who produce a weekly internet radio podcast about every cool topic under the sun.  Last night, via Bill suggestions, they decided to talk about pulps, their history and resurgence in the marketplace through outfits like our own Airship 27 Productions.  Beside the Air Chief and Bill, their other guest was writer/publisher, Wayne Skiver.  All in all it was a great hour conversation about a subject we all hold near and dear.  Should any of you Loyal Airmen be at all interested in hearing it, simply Google them. The podcast is up on their boards for either playing or downloading.

For the past two years, my Airship 27 partner, Rob Davis, and I, have attended the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention held in Chicago.  This year will mark our third trip there and we are really looking forward to see lots of our old friends and meeting many new ones.
                     
This year the show will be held between May 1st & 3rd.  John Gunnison and Doug Ellis are the promoters and every year they do a bang up job that is much fun for all the vendors, creators and fans.  We've seen a noticeable growth in attendance in the past two years and have no reason to believe it will end soon.  This is a truly wonderful weekend convention and if you are anywhere in the Chicago area on those dates, please stop on by and say hi.  You can learn more about the show itself by visiting their website on-line.

One of the longest running pulp conventions was simply called Pulp Con and it had been around for over thirty-five years, held in Dayton, Ohio.  The Air Chief attended a Pulp Con several years ago and was dismayed to see how small the attendance had fallen.  Many of the people involved with the show recognized the need for change and have branched out this year to start a brand new, more open venue, to be called Pulp Fest and it will have its home in Columbus, Ohio.  Unlike Pulp Con, which never attempted to attract the comic or gaming fans, Pulp Fest is willing to open its arms to all related genre fandom. 
                 
Pulp Fest has been organized by Mike Chomko, Barry Traylor, Jack Cullers, Ed Hulse and Chris Kalb.  You can find a link to their website on our Links page here.  We've exchanged a few e-mails with Mike and he's very, very excited about the prospects for this new show.  Although not officially committed, Rob and I are fairly sure by the time this one rolls around, July 31st, Airship 27 Prod. will most likely be there supporting the start of a brand new pulp con.  Do check them out.

One of the topics of last night's radio podcast allowed the Ye Old Air Chief to brag a bit about some of the really great pulp titles we have coming out in the next few weeks and months. One of these is our first JIM ANTHONY SUPER DETECTIVE anthology.   Jim Anthony was an original classic pulp hero described as “half Irish, half Indian..and all American!”   Here's one of the original covers.
                    
These were among some of the wildest pulp adventures ever published.  Again, our own Jim Anthony book is soon to roll off the presses and it features brand new stories by three of our most talented writers.  Last week we sent them a sneak-peek image of our stunning cover as painted by the fantastic Chad Hardin.  Robert Kennedy, one our group, was so taken by that cover, he printed it up and slapped on his cublicle wall at work, then snapped this photo for us to enjoy.
               
                       Writer Robert Kennedy and the cover to Jim Anthony Super Detective
Of course I realize this is a very small image.  Consider it a tease.   With fingers crossed, the book should be ready within a month. Then will let you see all of that cover and truly showcase how truly beautiful it is.  We pride ourselves at Airship 27 Prod. in delivering the finest pulp covers on the market today.  No one comes close to matching the quality and design of our books.  JIM ANTHONY SUPER DETECTIVE will clearly add to that claim and then some.

Finally, do visit the Links Page.  We've added a new one to another great pulp orientated internet site called The Pulp Works.  It's run by four of the finest writers we know and their work deserves yours attention and support. I've read several of their novels, reviewed a couple and was so impressed, recruited three of them to do work for Airship 27 Productions.  Derrick Ferguson, Joel Jenkins and Joshua Reynolds are the force behind Pulp Works and again, they do nothing but superior fiction.  Take a look see and tell them the Air Chief sent you.

That's it.  Spring has officially arrived.  Every day the dirty gray mounds of snow melt smaller and smaller.  Team USA has made it to the finals of the World Baseball Classic by a dramatic bottom of the ninth victory over powerhouse Puerto Rico and we were shouting and cheering all the while.  They are doing a grand job representing our country, tune in this week-end and add a few friendly screams of your own.

Ron – Over & Out!
                       

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Another Friday the 13th has rolled around and we've an odd assortment of subjects to
share with you this morning.  So let's get to them.
       

After telling all of you how we ended up with a actual piece of the WATCHMEN movie, it was time for Valerie and me to actually go see the movie that is currently topping the box office charts.  We've posted a longer, more complete movie review at various spots on the net and won't bore you with that here.  Rather we will say we both liked it a great deal, the Air Chief more than Val.  But then again that's because we've been a fan of the comic book upon which it is based and have been waiting over twenty years to see it.  We particularly enjoyed Jackie Earle Haley's portrayal of the fedora wearing Rorschach, Patrick Wilson's Night Owl and the love Malin Ackerman's Silk Specter.   We saw an afternoon matinee filled with only adults.  We point this out because of stories that have been emerging ever since the movie made its debut about shocked parents having to leave theaters because of the adult content.  Which truly bothers us a great deal.  Not because the movie is for adults, but that those parents are so guileless as to not know what an R rating means.  That they would simply assume because it is a “superhero” story, it must be for the whole family.  Right, and every comedy out there today must be okay too?  Duh.  When the WATCHMEN series was first published, DC Comics made it quite clear it was intended strictly for mature readers.  Movie ads and trailers highlight the violent content extremely well and that R rating is there for all the world to see.  Yet, these “parents” blindly walk into theaters dragging their little ones behind them and within minutes are exposing them to rape, a pregnant woman being gunned down and two adults having kinky sex in a floating mechanical owl.  Then these same mothers and fathers are storming out of the movie hall and damning the movie.  Huh, huh. Nope. Doesn't work that way folks.  As parents these people had a responsibility and they failed it.  They shouldn't be blaming the studios for their own shortcomings.  We trust anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet, after reading these comments, is now clear on the subject?  WATCHMEN IS FOR ADULTS!!!

While on the movie kick, might as well continue with several new DVD's we picked up recently.  Of course the normal process is to go see a movie at the local cineplex, then, if you enjoyed it, months later buy it when it comes out on disc.  Sadly, these economic times make seeing all the movies we'd like to see impossible and as weeks roll along, both Val and the Air Chief find themselves missing certain flicks.  So, we save our pennies (like everyone out there today) and wait for the DVDs to come out.  In the past two weeks two weeks we bought two such titles that we had missed at the theaters.  One we felt would be a sure winner, the other we took a gamble on. That one was AUSTRALIA, the sweeping epic starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, written and directed by Baz Luhrmann.  The Air Chief can't say enough good things about this movie.  If you, like me, miss all those grand old stories with vast landscapes and truly wonderful characters, do yourselves a favor and rent this movie.  And if you've got a big screen TV, then you'll soon be in seventh heaven, as the photography is just stunning throughout.  The story, the acting …everything is simply top notch and it is an old fashion, wonderful viewing experience.  Please, do not miss it.

Whereas the sure thing title was TRANSPORTER 3 starring my favorite action star, Jason Statham.  It is another rollicking chapter in the life of Frank Martin, a man who makes his living driving certain questionable packages from point A to point B.  The first two entries in this series were so much fun, we had no doubts this one would display the same over-the-top stunts and it delivers even more than we imagined.  When a car is racing across the top of a moving train, then you can believe your old Air Chief is in movie action heaven.  Statham never fails to deliver and has truly revitalized the action movie with his recent offerings such as the TRANSPORTER series, last year's CRANK and DEATH RACE. And we're told CRANK 2 is coming out soon.  A real cause for celebration.

                   
                                                      JOSH  BECKETT

What with the little snatches of warm weather March has been providing us, amidst the still infrequent snowfalls, baseball is in the air with its promise of better days.  And this year, in two very exciting venues.  The normal Red Sox Spring Training camp is in full tilt down in Ft.Myers, Florida and from what we've been able to see and read, the team is showing some very good signs.  Ace pitcher, Josh Beckett, who had a lackluster season last year, seems to have somehow shaken off his ennui and appears to be pitching to his level again.  Fingers crossed he can keep that going.  Meanwhile young John Lester, who clearly showed the world he too is an ace when it comes to hurling, is simply staying constant and his outings indicate 2009 is going to maintain his rise to prominence as one of the finest left handed pitchers in baseball.  All of this is great news.

At the same time, the international contest known as the World Baseball Classic is back and we've been really having a blast rooting for Team USA.   They won two out of their first three games and have moved on to Round Two.  Among the players are two Red Sox favorites, Kevin Youkalis and Dustin Pedroia.  Youk has already belted two home runs for Team USA.  And we have to confess, its really a lot of fun watching these play along side of Mr.Yankees himself, the terrific Derek Jeter.  We're cheering this team on to victory and hope you are too.

And there you have for this week, Loyal Airmen.  We've been out straight with our pulp projects these past few weeks and are hoping to announce not one, but several new titles in the coming weeks.  We are also planning our convention appearances for the year.  Rob Davis and ye old Air Chief will be attending the Windy City Paper and Pulp Con the first weekend in May, so we hope to see lots of you there.  It will be our third year going to this great show.  On June 14th, I'll be a guest at Larry Doherty's Comic Con in Lowell, Ma., where we will be debuting the relaunch of MR.JIGSAW, our comedy superhero.  We plan on having lots of copies of issue 1 & 2 at this show.  So if you live in the New England area, please, mark your calenders now.

That's wraps it up, Loyal Airmen.  Have a great week and see you back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  We are writing this Thursday evening, only hours away from the premier of one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year, THE WATCHMEN.  This adult, superhero action drama is based on the bestselling graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons.  There will be midnight showings all over the country tonight and then regular viewings starting tomorrow.  We bring all this up because as of  yesterday, thanks to the generosity of a good friend, Ye Old Airchief now owns a piece of this amazing movie.

You see, this friend was an extra in this film and over the months of principal photography, kept us constantly informed on the movie's faithfulness to the source material. Now, months later, the sets crafted for the film up in Vancouver, Canada, have been abandoned and left to rot in the elements. But our enterprising friend had other plans and revisited the site recently and walked away with lots of souvenirs.  One of which arrived in the mail the other day.  It is a five inch long wooden dowel that came from a stair railing.

        
                              Scene From Film – Notice the broken railing.

In the story, the costumed hero, Rorschack visits a rundown hotel to find and question a suspect only to find himself trapped there by the police.  When they start up the stairs, he starts a fire and then runs to the next landing and throws himself through the window in an attempt to escape them.

       
                 Scene From Film – Policeman on fire crashing through railing.

What our good friend sent us was a piece of this very railing in these photos from the movie.  We actually now own a piece of the Watchmen movie.

        
                                   Dowel From Set of Watchmen Movie

With Valerie's help, we set up this little display on the kitchen table and snapped the above photo, along with the screen shots to show you our little chunk of movie memorabilia.  A really big heartfelt thanks to our dear and thoughtful friend for this marvelous gesture.  We fully plan on seeing this film and applauding their presence in the background faces.  Bravo and thanks a again.  Long after the movie has become a cinema classic, we'll be treasuring our small piece of it and sharing this story with our family for years to come.

Speaking of superhero movies, Warner Brothers Animation released their latest gem this past week, WONDER WOMAN.  After years of giving us fans great animated TV shows and movies starring Superman and Batman, this feature starring DC's most popular female hero was long overdue.  It is a grand retelling of her origin with terrific animation throughout and great performances by voice actors Kerri Russell as Wonder Woman and Nathan Fillion as the man she comes to love, pilot Steve Trevor. Filled with tons of action, adventure and a saucy bit of adult humor, this is one of the finest animated movies Ye Old Airchief has ever seen and enjoyed.  We cannot recommend it enough. Do yourselves a favor and go buy, or rent, this entertaining movie.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen, a sort of movie Flight Log if you will.  Have a great weekend and go see The Watchmen and save us some popcorn.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen. What with Ash Wednesday behind us, we are now into Lent and getting closer every day to the promise of Easter and Spring.  Amen.  A time of renewal in both body and spirit. We're going to kick off this week's Log Entry with a final tale from my recent trip to the giant New York Comic Con, and then get into a few other topics of hopeful interests.

                         
                                    Actor  William  Katt

William Katt is a talented movie and TV actor whose work we've enjoyed a great deal.  He came to fame back in 1979 when he played a young Sundance Kid opposite Tom Berenger's Butch Cassidy in the movie prequel, BUTCH AND SUNDANCE -THE EARLY YEARS.   He did several other films before landing his more famous role as teacher Ralph Hickey, in the popular television series, THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO which ran between 1981 and 1983.  In that show, he finds an alien suit, that when worn, gives him superpowers.  The trouble is, once he dons the suit, it will only work for him.  The government if befuddles and sends a tough FBI agent, played by Robert Culp, to manage Hickey's life as a superhero.  The show was tons of fun, never took itself seriously and endeared both Katt and Culp to a generation of comic book fans.

So, two weeks ago, Ye Old Airchief finds himself in the world's smallest men's room awaiting his turn at one of only three urinals in the micro-mini facility.  Which begs the question, why does the Jacob Javits Center, one of the largest convention venues in all the world, have the tiniest bathrooms?  Anyone who can solve that riddle deserves a medal.  But we digress.  So here I stand, awaiting our turn when another brave soul walks in behind us.  Turning to nod politely to this new fellow who now must share our frustration, I got a really nice surprise when I realized it was William Katt.  “You're William Katt,” I mumbled, still a bit dazed, and extended my hand. He smiled “Yes,” and we shook hands.  I no sooner told him I was a fan, when several other guys in line saw him and interrupted us.  Seems they had set up a signing for him and wanted to discuss.  To which he indicated they could wait for him outside, as he was in the men's room for a reason.   Then, as the line moved up, a small, white haired gentlemen came from around the corner making his exit and lo and behold it was Robert Culp.  Culp and Katt exchanged pleasant hellos, and Culp exited.

That was the extend of my meeting with William Katt, but then again, things like this happen at all time at comic conventions.  Not what you would label a highlight, but then again, meeting a favorite actor is still something to write in your Log about.

For almost a year now, artist Rob Davis and I have been selling our self-published horror graphic novel, THE DAUGHTER OF DRACULA.  (Cover above.) A heartfelt thanks to all of you that have purchased it to date, and a tip of the hat to those of you who have penned some various gracious reviews.  Still, one of our frustartions remained not being able to get the book out to a much larger audience.  (Yes, it is still available by going to our Air Fare page…so check it out there.)   A few months ago, we were approached by a brand new publishing outfit, Wild Wolf Entertainment, owned and managed by Sean Collins.  Sean asked if Wild Wolf could publish the book and help bring it to that wider market.  Agreements were made and very soon you will be able to find DAUGHTER OF DRACULA via this exciting new publisher.

By mid-march the book will be available via orders through all the major book chains.  Its numbers to do so are these.  IBSN 13:978-0-9823417-0-  and  ISBN 10: 0-9823417-0-9.    Rob and I want to thank Sean and Wild Wolf for their faith in our book and for taking us on.  We are truly grateful.  Oh, and do google Wild Wolf Entertainment while you're at it.  They have some very cool stuff planned.

Those of you who have followed this site for any period of time know there is nothing more important to me than my loving family.  Well, in the past few weeks there have been a couple of amazing events that have Ye Old Air Chief bubbling over.  The first being our youngest daughter, Heather, will soon be packing up and moving to Chicago, to begin a brand new life.  After getting he Masters in Finance, and having been with the same position for over ten years, she decided it was time for a new adventure, new chanllenges, and so made the decision to make this move.  Val and I are so proud of her and truly excited about what the future will bring for her in the Windy City.  We'll miss her greatly, but hey, that's why they invented planes, trains and automobiles.  If all goes well, especially a decent apartment etc., she should be on her way by mid-summer.  Being a sports fanastic, I'm betting the Cubs are about to get a new booster real soon.

The second whopping yahoo Fortier news is came just last week when our youngest son, Kevin, proposed to his long time girlfriend, Melanie.  She is an awesome young lady and all of us are so happy for both of them, and their cute-as-a-button bulldog, Zeke.  Kev says they hope to have the wedding in the Spring of 2010.   So, as always in life, changes continue.

                                 Kevin Youkalis  and Tim Wakefield

Of course there are things that stay constant, like the changing of the seasons, as we mentioned at the start of the Log.  And so with the coming of Spring, baball bats are crackign around the camps as the thirty big league clubs get into the full swing of Spring Training.  Down in Ft.Myers, FL, this past week, our beloved Red Sox got their exhibition season going with several games and we are very happy to see most of the 2008 team back again, although some a few new faces added.  And speaking of faces, Red Sox Nation has been abuzz in regards to First Baseman Kevin Youkalis' new facial hair.  Done ala the classic pulp villain, Fu Manchu, Youk was heard in a recent TV interview calling it the Youk-Manchu.  Ha.  He has also commented he would like all his teammates to adopt one.  Good luck with that one, Youk.  We're just happy to have you guys, and baseball, back.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen, another week.  Wrapping up the New York experience, getting into Lent prayerfully and looking forward to warmer weather.  See you all in seven days.
Ron – Over & Out!                            

Greeting loyal airmen.  Well I've just about got my legs back under me after a week home from the giant New York Comic Con, which I began to report on in last week's Log Entry.  I told you I had lots of pictures to share with you, so let's get to them. Then I'll leave the very cool announcement that came out of that show for last.

          
                   Ralph DiBernardo of Jetpack Comics selling comics!

I mentioned last week how my pal Jarrod Courtemanche was my roommate at the show and how Chuck Moore of Comic Related was most gracious to provide us with a table at his booths in Podcast Alley.  Well, none of this would have been of any help if I had not been able to get to and from New York and for that transportation, I owe my long-time friend, Ralph DiBernardo who owns and operates the coolest comic shop in all of New Hampshire, Jetpack Comics located in downtown Rochester, NH.  Ralph was only to happy to have me tag along with his gang from Jetpack comics and I rode to and from with Tom Bonello, a middle grade school art teacher who is one of Ralph's crew.  Thanks a million, Ralph and Tom.  You guys are terrific.

         
                  Jarrod Courtemanche  –  Lady Action –  Ye Old Air Chief.

The moderator of the Pulp Panel ye Old Air Chief sat on Friday afternoon was hosted by entrepeneur, Ed Catto, who handles the Captain Action license.  The following day he was touring the convention hall decked as Captain Action and accompanied by a lovely  young model attired as Lady Action.  Stopping by our table, Ed suggested we snap a photo with adventuress and we weren't about to argue. 

          
                           Jarrod Undergoing Electric Shock Massage

Of course all the folks who passed by our table weren't models or movie stars or even comic fans.  Early Sunday morning, after the doors had been opened to the public, an Asian woman walked by our table, stopped and approached Ed Chuck Sellner and asked him if he would like a free electric massage.   Ed looked at Jarrod and the Air Chief, and we simply shrugged our shoulders.  None of us had a clue what she was talking about. The woman then explained the process involved giving mild little shocks to stimilate the flow of blood through various body parts.  Well, Ed was a brave soul and agreed to the treatment.  She then proceeded to pull a plastic-metal contraption the size of a fat cigar out of her purse, stepped behind Ed and began clicking it against his back.  Instantly he gave a little jump as the miniscule shocks tingled through his body.  Jarrod and I were grinning from ear to ear.  When she was finished with Ed she turned to the two of us and I waved her off politely.  Whereas Jarrod decided to give it a go.  As she started working on him, I grabbed my camera and got off this shot.  Ye Old Air Chief just couldn't help by laugh.  The things you see at a comic con.  Go figure.  Oh, and just in passing, we do know that after the three of us returned home, both Jarrod and Ed came down with the flu but Ye Old Air Chief did not.   So words of caution when attending comic cons, avoid cattle prods, no matter how harmless they may appear.  Ha.

              
                          Artist Eric Maruscak  and his Watchmen floor mural.

One of the most anticipated new movies of this year is Warner Bros. adaptation of the famous graphic novel, THE WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.  Almost directly behind our booths at the con, we found a truly talented young artist named Eric Maruscak hard at work on a giant mural of the central characters of that saga.  We chatted early Sunday morning as he was putting the final touches on this gorgeous piece.  The fellow is really a super talent.  Check him out on Google.  He's done amazing pieces and one day hopes to do something for the San Diego Comic Con.

                  
                                   Ye Old Air Chief & Moonstone Editor/Publisher Joe Gentile

And now for the big news regarding a character Ye Old Air Chief is most identified with his comics writing career, the Green Hornet.  My good friend, Joe Gentile of Moonstone Books, announced they had obtained the license to produce a series of Green Hornet prose anthology books.  (See the sign over our heads!) And God Bless Joe, I was one of the first people he invited to contribute to this awesome new series.  Ye Old Air Chief is thrilled to be writing another Hornet tale of adventure.  Stay tuned.  I'll give you details and this project begins to take shape.  The artist for volume one is another good pal, Ruben Procopio, who is a huge Hornet fan as well.  These books are going to be so much fun.

Finally, Loyal Airmen I just finished writing my first new Mr.Jigsaw comics script in ten years.  It's 24 pages long, making it the longest Jigsaw (other than the web adventures) ever written.  This new story is slated for issue # 4, and with fingers crossed, issue # 2 (continuing our reprints) will be out some time next week.  Jiggy just keeps rolling along.

Spring Training is officially underway in Ft.Myers, Fl, with the Red Sox eager to get this new season started and make another run for the World Series championship.  We'd like to thing their chances are really good this year. Can't wait for the season to start.

Till next week, Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting, Loyal Airmen.  Here it is a week after my return from the great, bombastic, over-the-top New York Comic Con, where I spent all of last weekend, from Thursday through Sunday. What an amazing time your
Air Chief had with only seventy-six thousand other comic fans.  Sincerely, on Saturday the security people had to close the gates as all the tickets had been sold and the Fire Dept. rules would not let another soul into that huge convention center.  During the course of those amazing three days, and the Thursday prior, I had the wonderful experience of meeting some of the nicest people ever, both the fans and fellow creators.  We saw costumed folks dressed up as their favorite heroes from comics, TV and movies.  All of it was, as I often described at the time, sensory overload.  One's mind was taking so much data, it was humanly impossible to process it all.  So here I am, on a Thursday evening, setting down tomorrow's Flight Log and hoping to capture a small taste of the fun I had while in the Big Apple.  Of course there's no way I can remember or relate it all, but in the next few weeks I do hope to share with all of you some of the real highlights of the con and to publicly thank my gracious pals who made it possible for me to attend this mega party.

            
                             Katie (head down..ah) & Chuck Moore of COMIC RELATED

For the past two years Ye Old Air Chief has been a part of the coolest comics site on the internet, Comic Related, owned and operated by the affable Chuck Moore.  When I hinted to Chuck weeks ago that I might be entertaining going to this super con, he immediately offered to help me in any way possible, to the point of helping me get reservations with his crew and then went as far as to offer me a free table at his booths to show off and sell my comics and pulps…at no charge!  Chuck is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and getting to spend the past weekend with him and his lovely wife Katie was a pure joy.  I should note, the day we hooked up at the Milford Plaza hotel (a week ago today) was Katie's birthday and that night, after a day spent at the convention hall setting up, Chuck took her to see the Broadway show, WICKED.  You see, our hotel was one single block away from Times Square and the theater district.  That was so cool.

           
                        Jarrod Courtemanche and Ye Old Air Chief

Still, even with Chuck's wonderful sponsorship, I knew the cost of a four night stay in Manhattan wasn't going to be cheap and if I couldn't find someone to share the expense, it would have been a no go.  So Ye Old Air Chief put out the word he was looking for a roommate and to the rescue comes Jarrod Courtemanche of Lowell, MA.  Jarrod is an independent filmmaker and freelance writer I met last year and recruited to work for Airship 27 Prod.  He was one of the writers for our SECRET AGENT X – VOL III which we released at the end of last year.  Jarrod had never been to a big con and jumped at the chance to tag along and have the experience.  I couldn't have had a better roomie and table-partner.  Together we had a blast.  Thanks, Jarrod, for making it possible for me to be there.

                
                                 Ye Old Air Chief with Loyal Airmen Erin & Anthony Schiavino

Way back when Rob Davis and I first launched Airship 27 Prod., our chief designer was Anthony Schiavino, then of New York.  Anthony's designs and his help teaching Rob to use the pc programs for that kind of work was invaluable to helping us launch our first books.  We, to this day, still use some of the beautiful logos Anthony whipped up for us.  Since those days, Anthony married Erin Crocker and they now reside in New Jersey and although Anthony is no longer part of Airship 27 Prod. (he now has his own production team) he remains a dear friend and faithful supporter, as we are of his work.  Anthony has a new pulp comics in the works and we'll be telling you lots more about that as it nears publication.  Anthony and Erin took time out of their busy day to come to New York specifically so we could meet face to face for the very first time.  It was a real pleasure for me and and one I hope we can repeat it again soon.

             
                  Joe Gentile of Moonstone – Ye Old Air Chief –  Stephen Segal :Editor of Weird Tales

Of course the first person who ever put a bug in my ear about attending the show was Moonstone Books editor, Joe Gentile, who e-mailed me several months ago to tell me the con was planning on having its first Pulp Panel and would I be interested in sitting on it.  In my twenty-eight years in the comics game, at all the cons I've ever attended, I've never once sat on a panel.  And to be able to spread the news about pulps and Airship 27 Prod. was too good an opportunity to pass up.  And thus I set about making plans to go to New York. And happily last Friday afternoon, I was there on that Panel, along with other pulp folks such as Joe, Stephen Seagel, the editor of Weird Tales magazine, Will Murray, pulp historian, Charles Ardai, publisher of Hard Case Crime and Mark Haelgua, president of the Gotham Pulp Club.  An august group indeed.  The panel was much fun and Joe made a rather special announcement while on it, which I will get to in next week's Log Entry.  It concerns the return of a great old radio hero that I had the good fortune to write long ago.  It's exciting news you Loyal Airmen will really get a kick out of.
             
    Airship 27 pulp writers Aaron Smith – Ye Old Air Chief – & Frank Schildiner

Also on hand to support Ye Old Air Chief at this panel were several Airship 27 pulp writers, to include Jarrod,
Aaron Smith and Frank Schildiner.  It was a pure joy for me to meet these talented writers for the first time.  If it weren't for their amazing stories, there would be no Airship 27 Prod.  Both Aaron and Frank are the salt of the earth, regular guys who love writing pulp and made my weekend super special by coming down.  I owe you guys more than words can say.  And believe me, Loyal Airmen, you haven't read the last of their great fiction by a long shot.  Both of them are busy at work even now spinning fantastic new tales of pure purple prose you are going to love.  With Airship 27, as always, the best is yet to come.

So there you have it for this installment, Loyal Airmen.  Next week I'll roll out a few more photos, relate some really wild and wacky tales from the Big Con and reveal some truly awesome new projects in the works.  In the mean time, I am very happy to relate that this afternoon I made my regular six month visit to the hospital to see my oncologist.  A few weeks ago I had my yearly Cat-Scan to see how that cancer lymphoma in my right lung was doing…or better yet, not doing.  Next month will mark the year anniversary of my surgery which removed the lower portion of my left lung and the node it contained.  Well, it seems the node in my right lung is very much static, in fact we were told it has shrunk a little (thank you, Lord) and that I'm a relatively healthy fellow. So see you in six months, Doc.  And for all you Loyal Airmen who continue to keep me in your prayers daily, much obliged.  You are always in mine as well.

Finally, I hope you've all gone and picked up a copy of MR.JIGSAW # 1 (go to our Air Fare page to find the link).  Sales for this new superhero comedy comic are great.  And don't forget horror lovers, our first ever pulp scare-fest, WEIRD HORROR TALES by Michael Vance, is also on sale.  Check it out via the dirigible logo to our left.  Quality fiction you won't soon forget.   Our sales for the last quarter of 2008 were our highest yet, which says a great deal about your tremendous support for our humble efforts. Thanks to all of you. We have the greatest fans in the world.

Till next week, Ron, over & out!
     

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Well, its been another wild and crazy week at Hangar 27.  First we get nailed with as yet another snowstorm this past Wednesday.  Valerie had to postpone her flight home from Colorado as we knew there was no way she would make it to New Hampshire.  Sure enough, the Manchester airport was shut down midday.  So on Tuesday, she switched her flight to Thursday and came home safe and sound, yesterday.

On other fronts, our flat screen computer monitor opted to blitz out on us yesterday morning, pretty much shutting down any of the dozens of projects I needed to work on.  Luckily the warranty on it is still valid and we'll be zipping up to the store to get a new one later today.  Had to swap out Valerie's monitor to get this Log Entry done and off to you Loyal Airmen.  We truly hate missing a single week.  Which is going to have to happen next week as we will be at the huge New York Comic Con. from Thurs to Sunday.  Still hoping to see many of you Loyal Airmen there.  So, now on to the big news.  We have two new books out this week, in fact one of them debuts today.

Airship 27 Prod. is very excited about the release of our very first real horror pulp title, WEIRD HORROR TALES.   It features thirteen Lovecraft-like tales of the macabre by Michael Vance.  Each is illustrated by horror artist Earl Geier and the cover is by the award winning Keith Birdsong.  The book is officially on-sale this morning at our on-line store.  Simply go to the dirigible logo to the left of this column, click on it and there you are.  In a few weeks, it will of course be available at all major book outlets ala Barnes & Nobles on-line, Amazon, etc.etc.  We hope you'll check it out, especially if you are into creepy stories.  This is a super collection.

Secondly, just a few weeks ago I mentioned we were bringing back one of our most endearing characters, Mr.Jigsaw-Man of a Thousand Parts.  Well here he is, in issue # 1 of his new comic series.  Again, to recap, issues one through three will reprint all the Mr.Jigsaw tales done in the past twenty-seven (our favorite number..ha) years and then with number four, we will launch into brand new tales.  So, how can you snatch a copy of this all ages friendly fun comic?  By simply going to our Air Fare page and click on to the listing you will find there.  The book has been on sale for about six days now and sales are very, very good.  Of course all us, Gary, Rob and Ye Old Airchief will have copies at conventions too.  Count on it.  This is a dream come true for me in lots of ways.

And there you have it, Loyal Airmen.  Two new books, Valerie is home (no more of my own cooking for a while ..yahoo) and now its time to pack for the Big Con.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post a brief Log Entry the day after I get home, which will be the 9th of Feb.  Till then, stay warm and keep praying for an early Spring.  Please.

Ron-Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Been checking the calendar more and more these days.  In less than five days, Valerie comes homes and things around Hangar 27 will be back to normal.  And none too soon, as the Air Chief needs her expert skills in packing up for the big New York Comic Con coming up the very next week.  The more we hear about all the activities planned for that show, the more excited we become.  The last big comic show we attended was the San Diego Comic Con back in the early 80s when our career was starting.

It was at the Con in 1979 that we met artist Jeff Butler, who at the time was one of the artistic directors at the very popular Dungeons and Dragons outfit.  After being introduced to Jeff by a mutual friend, he showed us his portfolio and amongst all the great pieces was hidden a cute pin-up lass decked out like a female Green Hornet.  Now the Hornet had always been a favorite TV hero of mine and as it turned out, of Jeff as well.

                
By this time, to most comic fans he was a very distant memory.  The one season TV series starring Van Williams and the late Bruce Lee was long gone.  And the last time the characters had appeared in comic form had been three issues of a limited from Gold Key based on that short-lived series.  That's one of the three pictured above.
Now we bring this all up because several months after that San Diego convention, we were instrumental in helping Now Comics acquire the rights to the character for the launching of a brand new Green Hornet comic book series with ye old Air Chief as the writer.  Thing is the original artist slated to work with me had to drop out of the project for personal reasons leaving us scrambling to find a replacement.  Luckily we remembered Jeff's little pin-up and his fondness for the Hornet.  A quick call to Jeff and much to our stunned surprise, he happily gave up his lucrative job at D & D to join us in bringing this character back to comic life.

                     
The following year, both Jeff and I were at San Diego again, this time as the creative force behind the new comic book.  The first issue sold over a quarter of a million copies and it quickly became Now Comic's best selling title ever.  For the next few years, Jeff and I whipped up tale after tale of this amazing character who had his roots in radio back during the Great Depression and then went on to star in two Universal cliff-hanger serials.  All of which culminated in the four issue mini-series, STING OF THE GREEN HORNET, which starred that classic
character as pictured above by Jeff.  To this day most GH fans consider it the best GH story ever produced and neither of us will argue that point.  Ha.

We bring all this up because early this week, after months of preparations, Jeff has finally launched his very own website and it features lots and lots of great artwork from his nearly 30 year career as a graphic artists.  If you love gorgeous, jaw-dropping art, you owe it to yourselves to check it out.   Simply go to our Links page and you'll find the new, colorful banner with his name splashed all over it.   Looking through this beautiful work has brought back tons of happy memories for ye Old Air Chief.  Although no longer in comics, Jeff now handles artwork for a gaming company that produces material for the big boys ala X-Box and Nintendo.  Jeff reports he's got a few ideas for a possible webstrip in the future and you can bet your pennies, Loyal Airmen, if there's any way the Air Chief can get involved with this new gig, he will make it happen.  Good luck with the website, my friend.

                  
                                  LOST IS BACK!!!
If you don't think ye Old Air Chief isn't psyched by the return of his all time favorite show, well, guess again.  The two hour season five premier this past Wed. night was just terrific start to finish and we are predicting it is going to be the most daring and explosive season yet.  Couple this great series with J.J.Abrams' new FRINGE, and is it any wonder we've named Abrams our favorite media writer!!  

And finally, as a few of your Loyal Airmen are aware, we do actually have a live forum and it is safely anchored at the most amazing comic book website on the internet, COMIC RELATED.   This past week, CR's head man, Chuck Moore, revealed a beautiful new face-lift to the site and it is just stunning.  So if you've ever wanted to drop me a line, you can still do so via the contact link.  We do so love getting your letters.  But if you'd also like to chat up comics, movies, pulps and whatever, please, check out the link to CR just above this column, click on it and come on over.  Once you've visited CR, we think you'll come back again and again.

Which is what we hope you do here as well, Loyal Airmen.  Hope all of you are keeping warm.  Spring is just around the corner and with comes baseball!!!  Have a great week,  Ron- Over & Out.

                    
                                                            WHO NEEDS TV ?

Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Hope all of you are staying warm as a bitter cold blanket falls across the country.  As I write this Log entry, its a balmy minus eleven degrees outside.  Obviously winter is the time of the year to stay safe and snug indoors, especially if, like the Ross Family above, you can curl up with a good pulp.  Ye Old Air Chief has been telling anyone who would listen for the past two and a half years that we are enjoying a new interest in the pulps.  We here at Hangar 27 will go so far as to call it a Renaissance of Pulps.  The above photo was sent to us by writer John Bear Ross, who has his first published story in SECRET AGENT X Vol III, the book his supportive family are all locked into.  Now that's our kind of family, and by their looks, Mom, Dad and his two younger brothers seem very, very engrossed with those amazing adventures of pulpdom's greatest spy.  Oddly enough, John sent me this shot within days of Rob Davis, showing us a recent article in the L.A. Times that says, according to an association of book-sellers, reading is up by 33% in America today.  Now that is something I call great news.

Rob of course is our Art Director for Airship 27 Prod. and provides much of the fantastic artwork that graces our titles, both covers and interior illustrations like the one above, from the very same book the Ross Family are so enthralled by.  So, if you haven't picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for?  Simply go to the dirigible logo to the right of this column and click away.  The link takes you to our on-line store where this volume and all our books are available at a discount price for all you Loyal Airmen.  Don't get caught short and left behind.  The Pulp Revolution is underway and you need to join in.

Still skeptical about that?  Then might I suggest you take at trip to the New York Comic Con held Feb. 6-8 th. in downtown Manhattan.  Well over 60,000 fans showed up last year to make this show a total blow out.  This year the promoters expect that number to swell.  We bring this up because this year the Con will be hosting a Pulp Panel!  Yup, a bonafide gathering of pulp enthusiasts to spend an hour talking about the coolest old-new genre in the book world.   Ed Catto of Captain Action Enterprises, LLC will be the moderator and seated up on the stage will be Joe Gentile, editor/writer of Moonstone Books, Anthony Tollin, editor of Nostalgia Press, the fine folks doing those Amazing Doc Savage & Shadow reprints.  Mark Halegua, pulp dealer/historian and President of the Gotham Pulp Club, Charles Ardai, Editor of Hard Case Crime and the current editor of Weird Tales Mag. whose name escapes me and I apologize for that.  Oh, and one other notable pulp character, Ye Old Air Chief!!  Yup!!  The invitation came this week and I could not be happier or more excited to help spread the Gospel of Pulp to a huge, HUGE audience.  We've been spreading the word about this panel all week long and many of our Loyal Airmen and Airship 27 writers and artists have made plans to attend.  So if this is the first time you are hearing about this and live in the metropolitan New York City area, we hope you'll come on over and join in the fun.  The actual panel will be held Friday 6th at 4:30 PM in room 1 A21.  We really hope to fill up the place and have a great time.

So there you have it,  Pulps are back and in a big-big way.  We wouldn't lie to you.  Also, before signing out this week we want to thank all you Loyal Airmen who wrote in saying how happy you were about the return of our Mr.Jigsaw comic book, as explained in last week's entry.  Really made us feel super to get so many messages from Loyal Airmen who remember the character so fondly and share our joy in bringing him back.  We'd also want to offer our sympathies to the families of actors Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban, both of whom passed away this week.  Ye Old Air Chief was a fan of both these gentlemen and enjoyed their work immensely. They will be sadly missed.

Okay, that's it for this week.  Thanks as ever for stopping by and catching up.  Stay warm and for those of you with strong faith, say a few prayers for our President Elect.  He's facing some truly daunting challenges and will need all our support in the weeks and months ahead to get America back on its feet.  We didn't vote for the fellow, but that was politics and we'd like to think those are finished.  Now its time to roll up our sleeves and work together. That's what we Americans do best.

Till next week, Ron, Over & Out.