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.

             
Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Your Old Air Chief is very excited today because we've got some really wonderful news to lay on all of you. There's an old literary adage that claims “you can never go home again.”  It's off course a metaphor meaning as you mature in life, you supposedly cannot reclaim the joys and innocence of one's youth.  To which we here at Hangar 27 say, Bull Feathers!!!  Not only do we go back quite often, if only in our vivid imaginations, but we often have the fun of taking you Loyal Airmen along for the ride.  This week is such a case.

                       
Back in 1982, artist Gary Kato and the Air Chief broke into the ranks of professional comic-dom with a 12 pg. science fiction story for Charlton Comic's Bullseye title.  The good people at Charlton liked our efforts so much they asked us to give them something else.  That something else was the 11 pg. origin story of Mr.Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts; a funny superhero story that both us had so much fun doing.  Charlton appreciated that effort and made it the cover feature for their book, Scary Takes # 38, dated May 1983.   Which both of us truly consider the launching our our respective careers.  Only a handful of people ever saw that particular comic, but among those who did were comics pro/writer/columnist Tony Isabella and the late comics historian, Don Thompson.  Both of them became avid Jiggy (as we came to call him for short) fans and helped spread the word about him.

                  
All of which lead to this one-shot Mr.Jigsaw comic book from Ocean Comics out of Rhode Island, owned and operated by our old pal, Bob Palin.  This garnered a lot of great reviews and we even did a few nice interviews in a lot of New England newspaper.  At point we even had a TV agent option the character for a possible Saturday morning cartoon show.  Keep in mind this was the age of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and cartoons were very, very big.  Alas the options expired and nothing along those lines ever materialized.  If you haven't guessed it by the covers yet, let me provide a little more info on the actual character.  Charlie Grant, alias Mr.Jigsaw, was a young man with the ability, since birth, to dismember himself and then control mentally the various parts of his body while they were separated.  Creepy, huh?  Still, Gary and I managed to convey some good-natured wackiness and most of our readers found Charlie loveable.

               
Jiggy disappeared for a long-long time after that Ocean Comics gig.  He would resurface in two more events in the intervening years.  Alpha Productions out of Maine, a small independent comics company did a series of E-MAN comics starring the electricity hero created by my good friend Joe Staton and writer Nick Cuti.  The editor of the book, Chris Mills, wanted to fill it with short back up stories and remembered Mr.Jigsaw.  So Gary and I did three short pieces that appeared in the back of those hard to find E-Man comics.  A few years later the same editor found himself working for an internet website called Adventure Strips, which every day of the week featured two new pages of comics.  We were invited to participate and in a six month period, the webstrip adventures of Jiggy featured three stories, two that were completed; “The Lobster That Ate Portland” and “How It All Began,” and had started a third, “The Icemen Cometh” when the project folded, and it was never completed.   Until now that is.

          
And that's our happy news, Loyal Airmen.  In just a few weeks, working with my pal Rob Davis, Gary and I are about to release a new series of Mr.Jigsaw comics to be published via Rob's Redbud Studio.  The first three issues will reprint ALL the previous Jiggy adventures ever done. Yup, every single one of them, to include the entire Icemen Cometh story.  Oh, and that's the cover # 1 above.  We don't want to reveal the fully colored version yet, we're saving that for the debut.  Again, in  just a few short weeks.  Once we've finished getting these three issues in print, then we are going to start producing brand new Mr.Jigsaw tales with issue # 4, and our plan is to continue doing them until…well, until, we can't anymore.  Hopefully that will be a long, long time.

In my entire career as a comics writer, no other single character has brought us so much good old fashion fun.  It seems appropriate in a time when things are really bleak all around us, with many of our Loyal Airmen unemployed and facing difficult challenges, that we try to maybe lighten the mood of things a wee bit with a few good-natured laughs.  Its our hope Jiggy will provide those for all of you.  Stay tuned. We really think you are going to love this guy!

Finally, several Loyal Airmen wrote this past week mentioning the very cool Airship 27 Prod. baseball shirt we are wearing in photos from last week's Log Entry and they wanted to know if those were for sale.  But of course, and you can find it and lots of other very cool Airship 27 merchandise by going to our Air Fare page and clicking on to the dirigible logo. That will bring you to our Cafe Press store were we have tons of great apparel and stationary stuff all bearing our cool logos and pulp covers.  Please stop over and check it out. And as always, thanks so much for you support.

Ron – Over & Out!

Greeting Loyal Airmen and a hearty Happy 2009 to all of you.  I flew home on 31 Dec. (that's my grandson Logan's birthday..Happy Birthday, Logan!) and was happy to be back in the Granite State after a truly memorable two weeks in Ft.Collins, Colorado.  This, thanks to my son, Alan, and his family, was a fun vacation for ye old Air Chief and one very much centered around school, artists and comic shops. 

                      The Air Chief, grandson Alex Horne & teacher Mrs.Emily Yenny

When I first started my comix writing career, our five children were little tykes and when their respective teachers heard what I did, I was invited to come to their classes and talk about comic books.  I did quite a few of these presentations for our sons and daughters and lo and behold now I'm doing them for our grandkids.  Before flying out to Colorado, Valerie contacted Mrs.Emily Yenny, our grandson Alex' fifth grade teacher and together they set up a date for me to visit their class and give that hour long presentation.  I'm so happy to report everything went like clockwork and all of us, me, Alex, his school chums and Mrs.Yenny, had a really fun times.  These kids are so bright; their insightful questions were awesome.  It certainly was a day neither Alex or I will ever forget.

               
                                    
                        GRAND SLAM owner & manager Kevin Keen and the Air Chief

One of the things we love to do when traveling is look for Comic Shops, those magical places where you can find all kinds of amzing books and toys.  Well, two days into our visit, Alan decided to take us for a ride around the neighboring town of Loveland, Co. which is where I spotted a sign reading – Grand Slam Sports Cards & Comics.   No sooner had I pointed it out then Alan made a U-turn and we pulled up in the parking lot and headed inside.  Where we met store owner and manager, Kevin Keen and his brother Jason, two of the nicest folks ye old Air Chief has ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Grand Slam is a great comic shop and if you are ever in the Ft.Collins/Loveland area, do yourselves a major favor and check it out.  Their addres is –
                                          GRAND SLAM
                                          Sports Card & Comics
                                          1730 W. Eisnenhower Blvd.
                                           Loveland, CO. 80537     Tel – 667 8713
Should you stop by, tell them Ron Fortier said “Hi!”   During our first visit to the shop, while I was in a fun discussion with Kevin about the merits of the Dark Knight movie, unbeknown to me, Valerie had spotted an action figure she knew I would love and went over to Jason (at the other end of the shop) and purchased it for me.  Two days later, on Christmas morning, I opened a box in which was a Captain America action figure based on a new costume design by comics legend, Alex Ross.  Val then confessed as to how she and Alan had gotten this cool new toy while I was busy with Kevin.  Got to watch those two, they are sneaky. Ha…ha.

Speaking of Alex Ross, might as well segue into the next part of this amazing trip. The first comic work Alex ever did was a five issue mini-series called TERMINATOR – THE BURNING EARTH for the late Now Comics.  And, as you Loyal Airmen are well aware, that series was written by ye old Air Chief himself.  Try finding a copy of that collection.  It's almost impossible.  Anyway, Alan had informed me that one of his business associates had a son who was now in the comics game as a cover artist and one of his first projects was doing the new TERMINATOR – SALVATION covers for IDW comics.  This series soon to be released is an adaptation of the new film to star Christian Bale.  The coincidence was too cool and so Alan set it up for me to meet this young man while out there.  His name is Nick Runge and of course he's a huge Alex Ross fan.  We hit it off immediately and spent several hours, on two different occasions, discussing comics.

                               Nick Runge & the Air Chief

Nick is one of the most talented artist in comics today and his work is just stunning.  He's also one of the most personable young men I've ever had the good fortune to meet.  This fellow is going to do great things in our industry and you heard it here first.

Above is a preview of Nick's work.  Believe me, Loyal Airmen, this is one comic series I am not going to miss, and I urge you to order your copies today!!!  We can't help but be amused at how our lives have spun around certain properties; that is being involved with this science-fiction icon at the start of our career and now meeting the new vanguard in Nick.  Any wonder why we love comics so much?

So there you have it, our wonderful holiday comic jaunt to Colorado.  Come back next week when I reveal what old comic book character we are going to be bringing back in 2009 for your comic book enjoyment.  We think you Loyal Airmen are going to be pleasantly surprised.

Till then, Ron – Over & Out.

Greeting Loyal Airmen, on this day after Christmas 2008.  We certainly hope and pray all of you had a truly fun filled day spent with the people you love the most.  To all our Loyal Airmen in uniform protecting our country overseas, please know that on Christmas eve, while attending a beautiful church here in Ft.Collins, Colorado, Valerie and the Air Chief offered our heartfelt prayers for your continued safety and swift return home.  We never ever forget any of you.

Well Santa was certainly generous to our grand kids, despite these hard economics times.  Logan back in Conn. now has a Lightning McQueen (from the Disney movie CARS) scooter and red new winter boots while his older sister Taryn has a brand new, big-girl bike.  Chelsea in Maine has a digital camera and can now text on her cell phone.  Talk about children of the digital age.  Whereas, Kristi, our oldest of this new generation will soon have a stereo set up in that Toyota pick-up truck of hers.  Remind me to tell you that story some day.  Out here in sunny Colorado, Cora found herself the new owner of an electronic keyboard; she has a real talent for music and entertained us all later with a few tunes. Brother Alex now has X-Box 360 which came with the popular action game HALO….and the biggest treat of all, Guitar Hero.   He, Cora and our their dad, Alan, all took turns on it during the course of the day, really providing us with lots of good-natured laughs.  All in all it was another wonderful family Christmas to be added to our expanding memory files.

And less you think ye old Air Chief was left out of the toy grab-bag, rest assured he was not.  We now own a truly awesome Lone Ranger & Tonto coffee mug and a marvelous Captain America action figure!  Among other very cool things, like the shirt pictured below.

This was a gift from Val to help the Air Chief look super cool at the next Windy City Paper & Pulp Con being held in May 09.  You too can find all kinds of very cool Airship 27 clothing and swag at our on-line Cafe Press shop.  To find it, merely click on to the dirigible logo to the left of this column.  That will bring you to our on-line book store where all our Airship 27 Prod. are always available.  Scroll to the bottom of that page and you'll find the link to our Airship 27 store.  Remember our standing offer.  Anyone coming to a show wearing any of our cool shirts, hats, whatever, will be entitled to purchasing any one item from our table of goodies for fifty percent off.  Our way of saying thanks for your support.

And if the logo our outfit on my baseball shirt wasn't big enough for you, check this absolutely gorgeous stand up banner Rob (the smiling dude) Davis had made up.  We love it!  It will also be making its debut in Chicago at Windy City.  This will be our third trip to this super pulp show and we really hope to see lots of you Loyal Airmen there.  As you can see, what with shirts and banners, we are really excited about 2009 and the new pulp and comics we've got coming your way.  Stay tuned.

Finally, befoe signing out, we want to steer all of you to a great book.  In the course of this past year we have read many, many books for our Pulp Fiction Review blog.  In looking back on all those titles, the one that clearly was our favorite was the above pictured, FLYGIRL by Sherri L.Smith.  It's a World War II story about a group of truly brave American women that totally mesmerized me.  I hope you'll check it out.

And that wraps up our Log Entries for 2008.  Thanks for sticking with us and making it, with your support, another positive year.  We sincerely wish all our Loyal Airmen and their loved ones a truly Happy New Year.
See you back at the Hangar 27 in 09.
Ron – Over & Out!

Greetings Loyal Airmen.  Well here we are in the Rocky Mountain State of Colorado.  Valerie and I woke up to snowfall in New Hampshire yesterday morning and knew we had an extra long day ahead of us.  Driving fifty miles through sleet and freezing rain, we arrived at the Manchester airport safe and sound and managed to fly out of there only a half hour later than planned.  Thing was, the prevailing headwinds across the country were strong and by the time we landed at Midway in Chicago, we were later still.  Finally our plane to Denver arrived and we got into the Mile High City about a hour later than scheduled.  Our son Alan, and his wife were on hand to pick us up and here we are in Ft.Collins, were we will spending the holidays.  

The above is a little something Rob Davis whipped up so that we at Airship 27 Prod. could wish you our best at this holiday season and again thank all you Loyal Airmen for tremendous support you've given our humble efforts throughout the year.  When I say we couldn't do it without you, that's the God's honest truth.

Tomorrow I'm going to be giving an hour presentation on comic books for my grandson Alex's fifth grade class.  He says not only are his school pals excited about my visit but so is his teacher.  Ha.  I've done such school presentations starting way back when his father was a little tyke and I still get a kick out of doing them.  Should be much fun.

                              
                                             Valerie & Ye Old Airchief

Finally, Valerie and I want to wish all your Loyal Airmen, all the old and new friends we have made through this website over the years, a truly wonderful, love filled holiday.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and whatever else you may celebrate at this truly festive time of the year.  We wish all of you a joyous time and nothing but the best for the New Year ahead.  This last one has been rough on many of you and please know we keep you always in our prayers.  Never forgotten.

God bless all you Loyal Airmen and your loved ones.
Ron – Over & Out