Well the Political Circus that is the Primaries has left New Hampshire in search of greener broadcast pastures.  Good luck to all, and our personal tip of the hat to Senator John McCain on his victory here in the Granite State.  I voted for Senator McCain and am truly hoping he eventually gets the party's nomination and is our next President of the United States.  Okay, now back to the fun things we all get a charge out of.

In course of a thirty-five year career in writing comics and adventure novels, I've had the good fortune to meet many, many people.  A few have gone on to become truly good friends.  One of these was a young man I met lots and lots of years ago who lives nearby in Maine.  His name is Larry Young.  Larry at first wanted to get into comics as an artist/inker and he worked very, very hard at it.  Alas, it just didn't seem to be going anywhere and I could sense his frustration as time went on and he simply couldn't crack the art market.   Then Larry met Heidi, fell in love, married and started raising a family.  Today they have a handsome teenage son and a beautiful young daughter.  Larry earns his living working at a nearby factory.  Its hard work, but he doesn't complain, as he's not that kind of guy.  He a loyal husband and father.  But he's also still a would be comic book creator.  A few years ago, Larry confided in me that he was shifting gears and was going to try his shot at writing comics instead.  I encouraged him to go for it and began telling him about all the very cool on-demand printing companies coming into existence via the internet that now made it possible for anyone to produce comics, at a very affordable price.  Larry was all ears and pretty soon he was locked into doing just what I had suggested; producing his own comics.

                   
Larry hooked up with several artists on-line, most of whom live overseas, and began commissioning them to do artwork based on his short comic scripts.  The first of these was a black and white manga style adventure called Legends of the Spellbinders.  See the color cover above.   Larry also named his company High Voltage Comics. That's a very cool.  Once he had this project under way, he wasted no time starting a second.

                               
This time Larry whipped up a western-science fiction 16 pager called Shadow Rider.  This one is completely in color and a really terrific package.  For the price, you simply can't go wrong.  This week both these titles have gone on sale at (www.indyplanet.com), the same outfit where you can get our Daughter of Dracula graphic novel. I cannot recommend these books strongly enough and not applaud Larry for his indomitable will of never giving up on his dream all these years.  A couple of years ago, Heidi gave him a surprsie 40th Birthday party and invited me to along.  Oh yeah, my young protege has gray hair these days, but that hasn't diminished the childish gleam in his eyes whenever he starts talking about comics.  Please, take a second and go to Indy Planet and check out these two new comics from a truly gifted fellow.  He truly deserves all your support.  Larry, keep it up.   I'm sure this is only the beginning.

Meanwhile, should any of you wonder what new paths of imagination I've started along recently, well here's a very early sneak peek.  The wonder of the internet to the comics community has been how it has made it truly international.  Remember I told you Larry recruited artists from the far corners of the globe, well a few years ago I made contact with a French outfit called Makma Studios run by one Edmond Tourrial.  Edmond's a talented comics creator and he was very eager for us to work together.  We started one particular project that stalled on us for a while, then got sidetracked.  Still wanted to do something with me, Edmond proceeded to send me the following artwork by a fellow named Sam.  The character is a sexy, galactic bounty hunter with a passion for vanilla ice cream.  Edmond asked if I'd like to write her adventures?

One look at this illustration and I was hooked, line and sinker.  Within a week I wrote out some ideas for a background history and sent them off to Makma.   Both Edmond and Sam loved what I had come up with and will soon be busy doing up a presentation proposal.  It is our hope to sell VANILLA VINYLE to a European comics company.  The market for comics overseas is huge and they appreciate a wider variety of subjects unlike our American market that seems perpetual trapped in a super-hero mode.  Anyway, should this concept fly we do eventually plan on having it released stateside as well.

So there you go, loyal airmen.  My association with a fellow from across the river and another from across the ocean.  Both fun, worthwhile and exciting.  It really is a small world.

Take care, Ron, Over & Out