Greeting Loyal Airmen in what is turning out to be one of the warmest Springs we've ever experience here in good old Southern New Hampshire.  Yesterday temps climbed to the 80s, grass is turning green and birds of every variety are flocking back to neighboring trees to start building their nests.  Not that we are complaining mind you, we're just not use to it. 

Life around Hangar 27 has been anything but dull.  Val's Mom is now in a rehab facility, as local doctors have been unable to come up with a diagnosis as to why, without warning, her body is suddenly drained of all energy and she is unable to move her limbs.  These bouts of weakness may last five to ten minutes, then pass and she returns to her usual self once more. All manner of tests were performed to check her heart, organs, brain etc. and all came up empty.  And so she's in rehab and we are here to tell you HOUSE is just a TV show.  Doctors still don't know all there is to know.  The human body is still a vast mystery, as we are discovering.

On a happier note, son Kevin and his lovely fiancee, Melanie, will be married Saturday at York Beach, Me. Our daughter Heather is flying in from Chicago to be his “best man.”  Yup, that's what we said.  She and her brother have been pals ever since they were little and she never hesitated a second in saying yes to his request that she stand up for him. And if you wonder what his bride-to-be thinks of this arrangement, well she is one of Heather's dearest friends and it was Heather who introduced them years ago.  Should be a wonderful family day and looks like the weather is going to cooperate.  Kevin will be the fourth of our five children to wed. 

On to other fun things.  In the past three weeks our Mr.Jigsaw Man of a Thousand Parts # 6 has been out and selling quite well, thanks to all of you.  Shortly after we'd finished that particular script and turned it into artist, Gary Kato, we found ourselves coming up blank for what to write next.  Ideas are strange animals that exist in one's imagination and sometimes they are quite active and continuously emerge at the slightest stimulus while at other times they disappear altogether leaving us quite frustrated.  Such was the case here.  For several weeks, after finishing book # 6, we simply could not come up with what a decent idea for issue # 7.  Then one day, artist Scott Simmons sent us a digital pin-up of Mr.Jigsaw he had done at our request.  We are going to be combining issues 4 – 5 – 6 in another The Adventures of Mr.Jigsaw collection from Wild Wolf Entertainment (mostly like due out in summer) and wanted to add some special pin-ups to this project.  Scott was one of four artists who volunteered to do one.

The second we saw Scott's picture of Jiggy skiing down a treacherous slope being chased by helicopters filled with bad guys a truly wonderful and zany idea popped in our mind.  This scenario was so outlandish for our small time hero, trying to come up with a logical reason as to why he would be in such a pickle was all we needed to fire up our imagination and voila, we had the basic plot idea for issue # 7.  In no time at all we were writing it up and two weeks ago sent it off to Gary.  We also notified Scott as to what his marvelous pin-up had done for us and asked if we could use it, in full color, for that very issue.  Scott happily agreed and then surprised us with a request of his own.

              
                            Artist Scott Simmons Working On His Mr.Jigsaw Pin-Up

It seems a local museum in his area was presenting an exhibition of graphic art storytelling and had come to Scott and five other comic artists to display their work.  Scott asked if he could use the completed Mr.Jigsaw pin-up as part of his section in that showing.  We were only too thrilled and honored to give him that permission.  That show runs all month and it's wild to think the public will be seeing our Jiggy in such an august setting.  Life truly is strange and wonderful.

And there you have it for this week, Loyal Airmen.  See you back here next week.
Ron – Over & Out.