In this edition of Revolutionary Interviews, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ron Fortier. I have had the pleasure of knowing Ron since his days as the writer of Now Comics Green Hornet. With the new Green Hornet comic getting ready I thought it would be a good time to talk to him. Fans of comic books and pulp stories can follow Ron at his website Airship 27 and read his pulp reviews at Pulp Fiction Reviews.
1. How did you break into comics?
Ron: Back in the mid-70s Charlton Comics was launching a new try-out title called Charlton Bulls-Eye and specifically looking for comic strips from new creators. Artist Gary Kato and I had met in fanzines and decided to give this a shot. Charlton accepted two of our strips. A sci-fi 12 pager called Duel in the Stars that did appear in Bulls-Eye # 3, and the origin story of Mr.Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts that became the cover feature for their Scary Tales # 38.
Ron: Of course. A small handful, but I could never ever stop reading comics. I love them too much. Off the top of my head, my regular reading these days includes DC’s Justice Society of American and Batman & Robin. While from Marvel I get Captain 
America and Agents of Atlas. I also read Moonstone’s Phantom books and Dynamite’s new Lone Ranger.
Ron: The recent DC Spirit by Darwyn Cooke. I also loved his New Frontiers mini-series, as it brought back tons of great Silver Age characters I remember reading as kid growing up.
Ron: I actually made it happen, Jim. I had written up a 40 page proposal for a new Green Hornet comic book and took it with me to the San Diego Comic Con back in 1979. There I had I handed it to Tony Caputo, the publisher of Now Comics. In my proposal was the name and address of the property’s licensor in New York. Tony called them, flew to New York and had a meeting with them, showing them my proposal. They accepted it, made a deal with Now and I got the job of writing.
5. What was your favorite experience with the book?Ron: Easily attending the big Green Hornet Convention in Baltimore the year after book came out. Got to meet and hang out with actor Van Williams who played Britt Reid/Green Hornet in the 60s TV show. What a great guy. It was a truly memorable weekend.
Ron: Jim, I’ve never stopped. Obviously as I’m not working for the big guys, I’m not on your radar. Ha. Two years ago former DC artist Rob Davis and I self-published DAUGHTER OF DRACULA, a 108 pg adult graphic novel that I wrote. Rob created his Redbud Studio to publish this. We then followed it up with the return of MR.JIGSAW, Man of a Thousand Parts, as an on-going series. I wrote the scripts, original artist Gary Kato is 
back doing all the art and Rob is designing and editing. Thus far we’ve done five issues, all of which are available on-line at (www.IndyPlanet.com) with issue # 6 coming out in Jan. 2010.
Later next year, I will be writing a brand new sci-fi webstrip called DR.DEMISE & THE SPACE GYPSIES for the new Delve Comics website. The artist and creator of the concept is Eric Hurley.
Ron: No, because Alex came on after I’d started writing the scripts themselves. The only thing that did change was how lean my writing became. Initially the script for issue # 1 was overly long, as I had no idea who this guy was, what his strengths and weaknesses were as an artist. After I started seeing his first few pages from my script, I immediately realized he was a born storyteller and my remaining four script were truly lean. I’d simply tell him the action and let him do his magic. It was quite a rush so that artwork. I’m still one of his biggest fans.
8. I know you are a big fan of the pulps. What do you think of the new pulp style lines from Marvel (Noir) and DC (First Wave)?Ron: I only saw one of Marvel’s Noir series and that was the Wolverine title, which I truly liked a great deal. It totally captured the feel of the old 40s black and white Noir movies. Really adult stuff. Whereas I’ve only seen the first issue of First Wave via the Batman-Doc Savage team up and have to confess at not being impressed. The writer’s style is too curt and Doc here is certainly not the character from the pulps. But then again, I don’t DC really cares if they get him right or not.
Ron: I just answered that. DC is well aware Sam Raimi is going to being a new Doc movie after his company does the new Shadow flick. So they jumped on the license and then immediately put people on it who have absolutely no love or respect for the character. So I fully expect the stories to suck. Whereas artist Rags Morales is a talent I like. In the end it will be pretty junk.
Ron: Of course I like the famous heroes ala the Shadow, the Spider, Doc Savage etc. But since starting our own pulp outfit, Airship 27 Productions, I’ve come to know and really, really like the more obscure B-characters like Secret Agent X, the Moon Man and the Black Bat.
Ron: Not really. At least as a comic. Too many hurdles in that regard. But who knows, maybe someday in a series of new pulp novels. Anything is possible.
Ron: Some very fun short pulp pieces. I’ve a crime story in a new collection called BAD COP – NO DONUT. I just finished a Green Hornet story and an Avenger story, both for Moonstone anthologies. And I’ll soon be writing an Athena Voltaire short for writer/creator Steve Bryant’s fiction anthology. All of these will be coming out sometime in 2010. Then I plan on continuing writing Mr.Jigsaw and the webstrip Dr.Demise. And… if I can somehow find any free time at all (ha) I really want to start a fifth Captain Hazzard pulp novel. I’ve written four of these in past two years and fans want more. So I’m going to be busy as ever, and I love it.
I apologize to Ron for missing his recent comic work. I will be looking for them at convention time. Fans of good comics should take the time to find his books. If you like the new Green Hornet book, pick up Ron’s Green Hornet. You will not be disappointed.
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Jim