Greeting Loyal Airmen, well here we are, home from the first ever Pulp Ark convention/conference. It truly was one of the most memorable weekends we've ever experienced and we wish to thank pulp promoter Tommy Hancock and the good people of Batesville, Arkansas who welcomed us and help make this first show a tremendous success.

       
           The ALL PULP Crew – Plexico – Fergusson – Fortier -Hancock & Reese
We could wax eloquently for hours on all the various aspects of those three days that made them so unique and special to us, but the Air Chief truly believes the primary reason for the show's success was the amazing assemblage of the coolest, most talented new pulp writers in the business today.  Shown above are five of the All Pulp crew led by Tommy Hancock and they are right to left, Van Allen Plexico, Derrick Ferguson, the Air Chief, Tommy Hancock & Barry Reese. To say we were humbled to be among these great writers is an understatement and the only thing greater then their talent was their kindness and generosity towards each other.  This truly was a Band of Pulp Brothers.

      Rob Davis of Redbud Studio Shares Award Air Chief
Another truly memorable moment was Sat. night at the Award presentation where the Air Chief picked up the Pulp Ark Award for Best Pulp Comic for our graphic novel THE BOSTON BOMBERS, published by Rob Davis' Redbud Studio. Happily my amigo went up to accept the award with the yours truly, given to us by Tommy via the charming and lovely Pulptress.  She is Tommy's new spokeswoman/representative for the New Pulp movement we discussed last week.  Anyway, THE BOSTON BOMBERS is one of the Air Chief's personal favorites of all our comics work and to see it recognized in this fashion was a true joy.

     
                   Hamming it up, the Air Chief, Van Plexico & Tommy Hancock
Tommy had so many cool things happening all weekend it was hard to keep up with them.  One was the radio melodramas that were staged live, reading excerpts from several pulp stories written by some of the guests. Above the Air Chief participates in a scene from Van's own GIDEON CAIN story, with Van and Tommy. Oh, we assayed the role of the demon monster Cain slays.

     
          More radio fun with Rob Davis, Tommy, Art Sippo & Fuller Bumpers
Not to be outdone, Rob got involved in the second radio skit, this time with Tommy, Art Sippo and Fuller Bumpers based on a scene from a LANCE STAR adventure by our own Bobby Nash.  They performed superbly.  The audience loved every second.

    
                    The gun-toting Pulptress gets a bead on writer Bobby Nash
Speaking of the affable Mr.Nash, he was supposed to be in the group shot with us posted at the top of this column, but alas had to split just prior to it being snapped.  So here's a shot of him having fun with the Pulptress. Bobby and the Air Chief first met nearly five years ago at Dragon Con in Atlanta and it was much fun to catch up with this talented young man once again.

     
                   In the “real” Bookcave with Ric Croxton & Dr.Art Sippo
Radio wasn't the only audio feature at Pulp Ark.  The entire show was recorded live by pulp podcasters supreme, Ric Croxton and Dr. Art Sippo.  Ric & Art host the tremendously popular pulp podcast known as the Bookcave and they were true celebrities at the show.  One of the highlights was getting them to pose in the old, musty, rock walled cellar where panels were held.  It seemed like the appropriate, authentic setting for these two inhibitors of the literary “book” cave.

          
               Wayne Reinagel & the Domino Lady
Also on hand during the weekend was one of pulpdom's true classic characters, the sexy and mysterious Domino Lady; a character the Air Chief has actually written.  The young lady portraying her truly looked the part and our writer amigo, Wayne Reinagle was only too happy to have his photo taken by her side.

In the course of those three days the Air Chief took lots more pictures and they could easily fill this Flight Log for the next month; photos of other friends old and new such as Wayne Judge and his son, Victor, the Cranford brothers Scott & Patrick, Nancy Hansen and Lee Houston Jr., Bob Kennedy and Joe Gentile of Moonstone.  Believe us when we say the weekend was indeed a Pulp All Star Gathering. One we will never ever forget and hope to see you at next year for Pulp Ark Two.  For sure!!

     
               COMING IN THE FALL!
Finally we leave you with this gorgeous cover by Doug Klauba of Moonstone's newest project, a comic size pulp magazine that will combine both prose and comic stories.  You Loyal Airmen will recall that last year the Air Chief wrote several stories (in both formats) of an obscure pulp hero form the 30s, I.V. Frost. Well we are delighted to let you know those stories will be appearing in this and subsequent issues of this exciting new magazine.  We are told this premier issue will be out in August.  We can't wait!

And that wraps it up for this week, Loyal Airmen.  As always thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. We'll be back in seven days as always.
Ron – Over & Out!