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What type of material did you read growing up? 

(RF) Started reading comics by the time I was six. By time I was eleven I’d graduated to paperback novels. This was late fifties, most of the stuff I was reading was private eye or sci-fi fantasy adventures. 

What books or authors influenced you? 

(RF) Richard Prather wrote the Shell Scott private eye series and Ed McBain the 87th Precinct books. I loved those. Then I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard and was hooked on amazing style fiction. But I’d have to say I thought Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) was by far the most polished writer I’d ever encountered and I learned so much from him about characterization and dialogue. 

Your first work in comics was I believe a Street Fighter book from Ocean Comics in 1985, how did that opportunity arise? And what was it like working on your first comic? 

(RF) My first comic work was for Charlton Comics almost a year and a half before Street Fighter. Gary Kato and I sold a space opera called Duel in the Stars to that appeared in Charlton Bullseye. Then the editors asked us for another story and we gave them the eleven page origin of our original character, Mr.Jigsaw Man of a Thousand Parts which appeared in Scary Tales # 38. Six months later I sold an eight page script to a horror anthology produced by Eclipse. It was drawn by Pat Broderick. Along about this time Gary had gotten hooked agent Mike Friedrich of Star Reach Productions and suggest to Mike that he take me on as a client. It was through Mike that Gary and I sold the Street Fighter five issue mini-series to Ocean Comics. We later did a Mr.Jigsaw one shot for Ocean and I wrote two Popeye one shots for them. 

You worked at NOW comics during the hey days of the 90′s writing on both The Terminator with Alex Ross and Green Hornet Licenses. How did you come to work on Terminator? 

(RF)After the Street Fighter gig at Ocean, Mike urged me to come to the big San Deigo con, so in 1989, my wife Valerie and I flew off to the West Coast to see the big show. In my briefcase was a forty page outline presentation for a Green Hornet comic series. While at the Con, Mike introduced me to president of Now Comics and he offered me the Terminator book to write. He was unhappy with the current writer, a sci-fi author whose scripts were slow on action and more talking-heads than anything else. I was told to go home and start writing issue # 9. Before leaving San Diego, I gave this fellow my presentation package on the Green Hornet and told him who owned the license. At that time it was a New York based company. Two weeks later, after were home, this fellow called me from New York saying he’d just met with the licensors, they loved my approach and we had the contract. I was being told to start writing the Green Hornet. So, for about a year I wrote two monthly titles for Now. 

This was some of Ross’s first work what was it like working with him? 

(RF)This was Ross’s first comic book ever. He walked into the Now editorial offices in Chicago fresh out of Art College, his portfolio in hand. Now had just lost the license to the Terminator and I’d been told to stop writing new scripts. A day after that call, I receive a second telling me they actually had five books left in their contract and they wanted me to write ultimate climax between the forces Skynet and mankind as led by rebel John Connors. It was then they told me I would be working with this new kid named Alex Ross. Obviously, I had no clue who he was or what he did. When I started pages coming in from my first script in what we called TERMINATOR – BURNING EARTH, I was blown away. 

For Green Hornet you worked up a back-story that resolved all the disparate version of the character under one continuity. How difficult was it to research and resolve the different versions of the character? 

(RF) It drove me nuts and took me almost six weeks to get it to work chronologically. My mistake was trying to tie the radio Hornet with the TV Hornet and then our new one through a linear father to son line. Alas, the time gabs were either too short of long in between Hornets. It was then I took a step back and tried to think outside the box. And of course the answer was already in the history of the Hornet. You see he is the Grand Nephew of the Lone Ranger. Not son but nephew! And when that light bulb went off in my head, I knew it would work. So back to the Family Tree, pull out my calculator and start over, this time going from Uncle to Nephew…and voila, it actually all fell into place. It was a great, great feeling to be able to pull it all together. And our fans came to love it as well. 

You infused the character with almost a pulp sensibility did that inspire you in your later work? 

(RF) I’ve always been a huge fan of the both the pulps and the old Republic cliffhanger serials. Remembering the original Green Hornet had been a product of radio at the same time these two other media were in full swing, it was just natural for me to give the stories a pulpish feel. I truly enjoyed that style of writing and it just became second nature to me in the years ahead. But yes, the Green Hornet was my first ever foray into pulp-like scripting. 

You were even able to work in the Lone Ranger albeit in disguise so to speak, was there ever any talk of truly introducing a version of the Ranger? 

(RF) Oh no. At this time both were owned by two different licensing companies and it would have been impossible to get permission to use him in the book. Which is why we never used the name, only the image of the masked rider on the white stallion. I wonder these days, now that Dynamite publishes both, if they’ll ever try to tie them together in one story. I think the fans would love to see that. 

Do you know if NOW ever considered going after the license for the character? 

(RF) At one time I think Now looked into the character but discovered the legalities and price tag were more than they wanted to pay or deal with. 

Have you had a chance to read the new Green Hornet if so what did you think? Also what do you think of the new movie mixing in comedy? 

(RF) I’ve tried most of the new Dynamite titles to date and think they are really over using the characters to their detriment. Rather than go into why I think the books are poorly executed and not thought out, I will saw I do like two of them. Kevin Smith’s tale based on his screenplay is fun and I was happy to see he’d followed our lead and brought about a new “girl” Kato. Whereas Matt Wagner’s classic Green Hornet is clearly the best book of the lot. It is extremely well written, historically accurate and beautifully illustrated. A real winner. As for the Seth Rogen comedy, the least said about that abortion, the better. My prayer is that it goes direct to video and people forget about it soon. This great character deserves a whole lot better. But hey, it’s Hollywood. What do you expect? 

NOW’s books were still selling well when it went out of business what happened with the company? 

(RF) Rather than put the profits back into the company, pay the creators and vendors, the owner used the monies to finance his trips to the Caribbean and live the good life. He was a piss poor business man who ran it into the ground and had to claim bankruptcy. Not one, but twice. All of us who worked for Now sued them at one time or another. It was really sad. 

You’ve had worked published in DWP. How did you first learn of Digital Webbing? 

(RF) Artist Dario Carrasco came to me with an idea for a hero called the Gargoyle who would operate like Batman, only in Boston in the 1950s. As I’m a New England boy, I signed on and we did up three short Gargoyle adventures, two of which found their way into DWP. Dario had worked for them before and that became my first involvement. Later I would meet Ed Dukeshire at several New England shows and we hit it off. He’s a great guy and since those days I’ve used the DW forums to find lots of new artists to work with me on various pulp and comic projects. 

With DWP returning will we be seeing a return of any of your characters to its pages? 

(RF) Not at present, although it might be fun to offer them a Mr.Jigsaw story just to see Jiggy in full color again. Gary and I are doing all new stories now and self-publishing them via Ka-Blam. 

As of late you have been doing a great deal of work with pulp style story telling. Including working on Professor I.V. Frost for Moonstone. When did you first work for Moonstone and did they approach you to write Frost or did you offer? 

(RF) Moonstone Managing Editor Joe Gentile and I had known each other for a long-long time over the years, mostly from the comics field. About the time I started up Airship 27 Productions to produce new pulp novels and anthologies, Joe was getting Moonstone Books going. Both of us were coming to pulps at about the same time. Then one day Joe dropped me a line asking me if I could write him a Spider prose story. I was thrilled and turned one in. About two months later, Joe sends me a desperate e-mail message asking if I can whip up a Phantom story fast. They were putting together the first Phantom Chronicles and at the last one minute one of his schedule writers dropped out of the project leaving Joe with a big empty spot. I got his e-mail on Friday morning and had a story to him by Monday morning. After that Joe took over a Domino Lady anthology I’d begun and published it through Moonstone Books. When they won the rights to do Green Hornet anthologies, Joe once again came knocking. And then it was to do an Avenger tale for the second anthology of that series. As you can see, Joe is keeping me busy. Ha. 

Professor IV Frost

(RF) I.V. Frost is one of those truly obscure pulp characters. When Joe discovered him, he knew I’d be one of a handful of people familiar with the character and contacted me. When I fired back that I know the series and loved the character, Joe assigned me to handle him (in both prose and comics) for their terrific new Return of the Originals line. So far I’ve done one prose story and two comic tales. All of the art for these being done by the super talented Jake Minor. 

You’ve worked on the Phantom, Green Hornet, IV Frost, Captain Hazzard and your own Brother Bones. That being said what pulp hero would you most like to write that you haven’t yet? 

(RF) Honestly, there are a dozen little know pulp characters I’d love to work on some day. That was one of the reasons artist Rob Davis and I launched Airship 27 Productions three years ago. One final note, there is another radio hero from that era that I have comic plans for but at present can’t let the cat out of the bag. 

What exactly is Airship 27 and how did it come about? 

(RF) About four years ago I retired from my day job with a nice pension and realized I could devote lots of time to my writing. But what to focus on? All the years I’d written comics, I’d had a hankering to jump into pulp fandom and see what that was all about, so I started going to pulp shows. I learned that most modern publishers were only doing reprints of all the old classic pulps, even though 90% of the characters from the magazines had long since fallen into public domain. But no one thought there was an audience for new adventures of these great classic heroes. So I began sending out feelers to my writer pals asking if they’d like to write new stories of these characters. When the responses were all overwhelmingly positive, Rob and I knew we were on to something and we started putting together books, both novels and anthologies; all done up like the pulps with beautiful, colorful covers and a handful of interior illustrations. When we partnered up with Cornerstone Book Publishers out of New Orleans, there was no stopping us. Since that launch, we now have 28 titles in our catalog with a lot more to come. And the pulp community as a whole has embraced Airship 27 Productions and come to truly appreciate and support out efforts. 

You’ve also been a prolific prose writer as well. Writing short stories and novels some with other writers like Kevin J Anderson and Ardath Mayhar. What’s it like collaborating with another writer on a book? 

(RF) Sometimes it’s easy, other times it’s like pulling teeth. Ha. Honestly, the two you listed here and Martin Powell and Andrew Salmon were all professionals and much fun to work. I’d like to think I learned from all of them and they from me. 

Of your collaborations which book is your favorite? 

(RF) That’s a toss up, really. Martin Powell and I wrote the first new Captain Hazzard novel in sixty-years and that was a dream I’d had for a long-long time. The book means a lot to me. Then the following year, Andrew Salmon joined me in creating a brand new pulp series called The Ghost Squad that has been very well received by our readers. Hopefully, as time allows, we’ll be doing others real soon. 

Which do you find more challenging writing prose or comics and how do they differ? 

(RF) Both have their challenges, but with comics you have an artist partner who can make a poor script shine. Nice to have that security blanket. Whereas when I’m writing my Captain Hazzard novels, it’s my neck out there alone. If the book fails it’s all on me. So writing prose for the most part puts more pressure on this writer. Not that I don’t have fun doing it, but it truly is a singular daunting task at times. 

The original Captain Hazzard had a short life in the pulps but you’ve had four books with your version of the character. Of all the pulp heroes what made you decide to bring the character back? 

(RF) For the very reason you just stated. Having only been published once, he was pretty much a blank slate that I could put my stamp on and make mine. Had I opted to write a Shadow or Doc Savage pastiche, I’d have gotten lost in the list of dozens of writers who have worked on those great characters. With Hazzard, the more books I wrote, the more my name would become affixed to this character and that was something I wanted very much. To own a little piece of pulp history. 

How does your version differ from the original? 

(RF) Only in that with each new book I get to develop the characters more and more, give them backgrounds, histories, etc.etc. I get to shape this series. For example in the one and only Captain Hazzard novel, Captain Hazzard – Python Men of the Lost City, the writer never bothered to give him a name. When I took it upon myself to re-write that same book (and fix its many problems) I gave him one; Kevin Douglas Hazzard. My second son is named Kevin Douglas Fortier. The pilot Tyler Randall wasn’t fully developed as a member of the team, I made him one. Etc.etc.etc. 

Are any more books planned? 

(RF) For sure. I’ve no plans to stop writing them. Right now I’ve ten thousands words into Captain Hazzard # 5 and hope to have it out before the year is out. Every time we attend a new Pulp con, fans come over to the table asking if I’ve done a new one yet. Time to stop talking and start writing again. Ha. 

Do you have any new books or comics on the horizon? 

(RF) Well, as mentioned, I’m continuing the new adventures of Mr.Jigsaw with my old time amigo, Gary Kato. Issue # 7 should be on sale next week and I’ve just finished the script to # 8. Then I’ve just started work on a mega sci-fi adventure with Brazilian artist, Joe Bennett, called Neutral World. Joe came to me two months ago with this idea had been working on for almost ten years and asked if I’d like to be the writer on it. When I saw his preliminary sketches there was no going back. This is going to be huge. We’ve already interested an American publisher and with fingers crossed, Neutral World # 1 will be out at the start of 2011. I’m wicked excited about this project.

Thanks very much for taking the time to answer the questions, Ron.  

(RF) Thank you, Marc. It was a real pleasure.

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Barnstorming

The anthology grew out of the message boards on Digitalwebbing.com. “One day someone looked around and saw all the talent and said, ‘we should put together an anthology’, remembers Kel Nutall the current editor of DWP and Ed Dukeshire did just that. The book quickly gained a reputation as a breeding ground for new talent. It helped launch the careers of Yildiray Cinar, Mahmud Asrar, Ryan Ottley, Kody Chamberlain and numerous others. The story goes that editors would send aspiring talent to DWP to get some real experience in the comic book field.

With the dawn of the digital age of comics the original 35 issue run is being considered for placement on the Comixolgy app for the IPad, IPhone, and Web. Kel Nuttal thought it would be a good idea to restart the anthology. “I suggested a digital relaunch to Ed. Told him I’d help however he needed me to, that I’d try to “wrangle” the talent and do all that lettering that he’d taken on himself in the books first incarnation.” Dukeshire took it a step further, “You’re the EIC, run your book, don’t break anything.”

The first issue of DWP 2.0 is already taking shape with stories like Geekpunks by Dan Taylor, Kid Lightspeed and the Neutron Women by Aaron Nelson, Barnstorming by Chris Kirby and The Hunt by Derek Fridolfs.

The Hunt

“The thing that’s fantastic about Ed Dukeshire and Kel is that they helped put out such a cool anthology the first time around, that I was real happy to see them return to the title. And they’ve done work on all sorts of other projects of quality, so DWP will be guided in the right hands,” Fridolfs said as we discussed his story slated for the first issue of DWP. “It’s a sci-fi bounty hunter tale called The Hunt drawn superbly by Dean Kotz (of BOOM! Studios POE mini-series), lush colors by Garry Henderson, and sweet lettering by Thomas Mauer. The short synopsis of it is that it’s a bounty hunter that has successfully captured or killed many things, but one thing still eludes them…until this story.” Fridolfs is not new to DWP having worked on the original version, “At the time, I had done some work inking for Marvel and Wildstorm, and I was always anxious to get more stuff in print. So I inked the cover for issue #9, and also did some inks over a Nick Bradshaw/zombie story later on in issue #21.”

Already having established himself as an inker with a regular post on Batman: Streets of Gotham, Derek felt that DWP was a great place to be able to showcase his writing skills. “I’m pretty excited for it to finally see print, and possibly do more stories with the character. And it’s a chance to do more writing, which is something I’ve been slowly working more towards, aside from inking professionally full time.”

This new generation of creators is ready to show digital comics what they can do, but that’s not to say that DWP won’t have alumni grace its pages. The first issue is going to feature a cover by Yildiray Cinar, the artist for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes. Though he is signed to an exclusive deal with DC, Cinar received permission to return to his roots and help out with the relaunch.

DWP #1 Cover by Yildiray Cinar

Atomic Robo is a comic book series from Red 5 comics that has released four minis series including Vol 1: The Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne, Vol 2: The Dogs of War,Vol 3: The Shadow From Beyond Time,Vol 4: Other Strangeness.

This is one of the best comics out there for all ages and I look forward to seeing the short. Below we’ve got a look at a scene from the short and a look at the logo.

Ryan Reynolds is still attached to reprise his role from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Though that hasn’t given fans much hope considering how badly mishandled the character was in that movie. Reynolds is currently filming the Green Lantern where he plays Hal Jordan. This is something of a growing trend with actors playing numerous super-hero parts as with Chris Evans as Human Torch and Captain America. maybe its time Hollywood went a little further a field to find some fresh blood.