The Writing (and Publishing) Life.

         I’ve been writing professionally for nearly 50 years,

My first published work was as a radio ad copywriter, for a number of radio stations in Fairfield and New Haven County. I had gotten an internship at a local radio station in 1977, during my senior year in college, as I had been working as a DJ in my college radio station and our station manager referred me to the station.

While that phase of my writing career only lasted a few years, I soon moved into a phase that is—on at least some level—is still with me. In 1981 my first published article appeared in print in Amazing Heroes, a comicbook-themed publication, this was followed by articles in numerous other comicbook, trading card and similar-themed publications, kicking off a nearly two-decade run of articles, interviews, and reviews making me one of the most prolific journalist in the field of comicbook reporting.

I even spent a goodly amount of time writing marketing and PR material for most of the major comicbook companies. This, of course, led to me creating and writing a comic of my own for an Indie company, in 1986. That comicbook was Agent Unknown, for Renegade Press. Unfortunately, that comic only lasted three issues, as there was a massive crash of B&W comics in ’87, so we canceled the comic, and sadly it would be nearly 20 years before I created another comic.

In 2006 I was approached to contribute a short story to a horror comic entitled Psychosis. From there I started contributing stories to several other Indie comicbook companies, including Pronto, Main Enterprises, Red Anvil, and others. In 2025 I inked a publishing deal with Dark Fire Press to produce comics and prose novels. It was here that my comicbook Wülf Girlz, and its accompanying novella Taste the Moon have appeared.

Meanwhile, unwilling to allow my past comicbook stories to disappear into the dustbin of comicbook history, I decided to gather together some of my older work into omnibus editions. The first such edition was Funnybook City, Jump the Shark issue, which collected stories I had published over at Main Enterprises (Funnybook City being the name of my self-publishing company, chosen because my Uncle always referred to comics as “Funnybooks”).

 My second book (which just dropped to Amazon) is titled Funnybook City Yesterday’s Neurosis and contains wok that originally appeared in Guild Works Publications, Atlas Unleashed, and elsewhere. Rounding out this issue are a handful of 500-word flash fiction and other prose stories that I penned. This volume will be followed by a third Funnybook City collection titled Lickety Split Tales which reprints stories I wrote for Pronto Comics. 

I also reprinted two articles from the beginning of my print career entitled Remembering Steve Ditko which covered both Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr.’s respective runs on Spider-Man, which ran in a book I put together for my appearance at the 2025 DitkoCon in Johnstown, PA. A second compilation I produced is called Wings of Man, which gathered together several “flight” stories, including a couple that involved a German Immigrant named Gustave Whitehead who not only lived in my home town, but built and flew a plane two years before the Wright brothers.

Future issues I am planning on publishing include a collection that reprints my Renegade Press Agent Unknown comics, as well as some related stories. I’m also compiling a number of short prose stories for an anthology, as well as writing and producing more Wülf Girlz stories and comics. Hope to see you when they arrive.

Pronto Comics goes IndyGogo!

Check out these folks and then support their cause to help comicbook creators to realize their dream.

Three from Pronto

OK Kids, here is my latest comic from Pronto Comics, it is a B&W short entitled Perceptions, with art from David Quiles!

It joins my other two Pronto Comics, Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl, and First In Flight (the story of Gustave Whitehead). I’m really very excited about this comic especially as it has now joined my other two books (alongside the rest of the Pronto line) up on IndyPlanet.com.

Let's hear it for Connecticut!

In 1901 (2 years before the Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk) Gustave Whitehead built and flew a plane in Fairfield, CT. I learned about this event some 40 years ago from my then science school teacher, Andy Kosch, who (in ’86) went on to build and fly a replica of Gustave's “Old #21.”

Andy has been actively attempting to get this fact acknowledged for years, He even operated a small Gustave Whitehead museum at Captain’s Cove in Bridgeport for a number of years, and the replica he had build has been on display over at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport for several years.

Well, a couple of years back I wrote a short story about that event which appeared in an anthology of historic, mythic and legendary characters entitled Iconic. I have since had that short story — First in Flight —reprinted through Pronto Comics and that comic is now available as an 8-page stand-alone comicbook. The comic was illustrated by Rick Lundeen.

On Earth Day this year Andy invited me to join him for an event at Fairfield Ward high school where Andy's replica of Old #21 was on display. There I sold several copies of the Gustave Whitehead comic I produced. Later on this month (June 15thI'll be appearing at an aeronautical museum on Long Island with Pronto Comics selling more copies!

Recently a gentleman named John Brown wrote in Jane’s all the world’s Aircraft (the foremost authority of all things aeronautical) that, yes, Gustave flew first. Yesterday, the Connecticut state Senate passed a bill acknowledging that historically provable fact. This is so cool!

The Connecticut Senate passed a bill just after midnight on Wednesday that would delete the Wright brothers from history, explicitly stripping recognition for the first powered flight from Orville and Wilbur and assigning it to someone else.

“The Governor shall proclaim a date certain in each year as Powered Flight Day to honor the first powered flight by [the Wright brothers] Gustave Whitehead and to commemorate the Connecticut aviation and aerospace industry,” reads House Bill No. 6671, which now sits on the Governor’s desk awaiting passage into 

(Via Fox News)

Yeah, I’m pretty excited about all of this, and am looking to secure funding to produce a longer-form comic about Gustave and his magnificent event, which I want to make available to students in the Fairfield and Bridgeport school systems (indeed, throughout all of Connecticut).

Bronx Kids Con 7

Last Saturday I spent the day (once again) in the Bronx. This time I was attending Alex Simmons’ Kids Con. While there I was at the Pronto Comics table selling some of my books First in Flight and Iconic), where I again turned a bit of a profit. (Hey, that’s three weeks in a row! How cool is that?) Both of my recent comics First in Flight (about Gustave Whitehead, who flew before the Wright brothers), and Hot Girl and Totally Hot Girl) were published with Pronto.

Anyways, here are the pics I took at Kids ComicCon

First up, welcome to the Con.

  Who is that shadowy figure?

Why it is our host, Alex Simmons

Ray Felix and his Bronx Heroes!

East Coast Black Age of Comics

Pronto Comics

Jim Salicrup & Adam Post

And now, for the Cosplay folks

First in Flight

OK kids the other day you read about my latest comicbook, First in Flight, a short story about Gustave Whitehead, the German immigrant who lived in Fairfield, Conn and flew two years before the Wright brothers.

Well I want you all to know that the book is now available through Pronto Comics via IndyPlanet. That's right, kids, for a mere $2.00 (+P&H), you too can have your very own copy of First in Flight.

We debuted the comic this past Saturday at an Earth Day ceremony at Fairfield Ward HighSchool where I spent the day with Andy Kosch and the guys from the  aeronautical museum.

It was a great day (we sold 16 copies of the comic!). This coming Saturday we'll be at the fifth annual Bronx Heroes Con which this year is being held at the Bronx library.

It is out hope that we can not only raise awareness of Gustave’s flight, but raise funds so that we can publish a longer-form comic about the actual event.

So if you missed us at Earth Day, come on out to the Bronx this saturday and see what all the excitement is about!

Gustave Whitehead flew first!

Forty-three years ago in 1970, we celebrated the first Earth Day, This past Saturday (April 27), I participated in my first Earth Day celebration event. I joined my former high school teacher Andrew Kosch at Fairfield Ward High School, where he was there talking about (as he is wont to do) Gustave Whitehead, a local resident who in 1901 — two years before the Wright brothers — flew a motorized air craft.

Andy has always been a parachutist and ultra-light plane enthusiast. Back when I was still in high school, Andy first began talking about Gustave, who flew in the Bridgeport/Fairfield area a full two years prior to the Wright brothers. Andy has spent most of the years between then and now attempting to get Gustave his proper credit for this magnificent feat.

Andy even constructed a replica of Gustave’s “Old #21” and flying it way back in 1986. Andy has done a great amount of research about Gustave, even interviewing someone who (as a young lad) worked with Gustave on the plane and witnessed it flying. For my own part, I recall, back in high school, talking with Andy about Gustave and saying that it would be cool to produce a comicbook about Gustave. Well, it took me 36 years but I finally was able to write a short story about Gustave Whitehead. It appeared in a a graphic album called Iconic that was published by The Comics Arts Guild. that graphic album is still available for sale (it also contains short stories about a number of historic, legendary, and/or mythic figures).

Well, recently an an Australian researcher who works in the aviation industry in Germany named John Brown was doing some research for The Smithsonian Channel was commissioned to research flying cars. During that research he came across Whitehead’s name, and descriptions of his craft — as well as of his flight and after investigating the matter came to the conclusion that Gustave Whitehead actually did fly prior to the Wright Brothers. Brown then went on to publish his research in the 100th anniversary edition of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, one of the foremost publications about aviation in the world. In the March 8, Brown acknowledged that Whitehead flew his No. 21 aircraft more than two years before the Wright brothers left the ground at Kitty Hawk.

Needless to say this greatly pleased Andy. When I spoke to him after the story broke in the local press he told me that he was going to be exhibiting his replica of Old #21 at Ward and invited me to join him and sell copies of my comic. So I then pulled my Gustave Whitehead story out of the Iconic graphic album and turned it into a stand-alone 8-pager that we are going to use to help promote Gustave's accomplishments, and (hopefully) turn it into a full-sized 32-page comic which we want to then distribute to schools in Conn.

One of the reasons that Gustave’s accomplishments have not been recognized is because of a long-standing contract between the Smithsonian and the heirs of Orville & Wilbur Wright (all of which was reported in the book History by Contract), by William J O'Dwyer). Well, I (with the help of my buddies over at Pronto Comics — who published my first stand-alone comic, Hot Girl and Totally Hot Girl) was able to publish First in Flight, my 8-page comic story about Gustave Whitehead and how he flew Old #21. The art on the Whitehead comic is by Rick Lundeen, and that book will also be available on IndyPlanet ($2.00).

Well, the books made it in time (I wasn't sure they were going to make it, so I produced a smaller B&W version that I’m selling for $1.00), and I made it to the Earth Day event. In addition to Andy and several members of the Connecticut Air & Space Center in Stratford, CT there was also Anne Fiyalka, a local woman who — as a teen — got the opportunity to fly with famed aviator, Amelia Earhart.

Needless to say, the day was glorious (one of the first really nice days we’ve had around here all year thus far), and there was a very receptive crowd that was amazed that the history that we all learned, wasn’t quite true. Anyway, we had a great day, I was able to sell quite a few copies of my comic, and Andy informed me that he’ll be doing another “green” event with Old #21 in August here in Norwalk at Taylor Farm Park and invited me to join him for that event as well.

Next weekend, I’ll be at the Bronx Heroes Comicbook Convention which will be held at The Bronx Library Center (310 E Kingsbridge Rd Bronx, NY 10458;
718.579.4257) on Sat. May 4^th through Sun. May 5^th, 2013. I also hope to be attending the Kids Comicbook Convention on Saturday, May 11 at Bronx Community College (the show runs from 10 a,m to 6 p.m.) and have copies of the comic there as well.

Now, here are some photos from Earth Day at Fairfield Ward High School:

Anne Fiyalka and Andrew Kosch and at Earth Day, Fairfield Ward High School, standing in front of a replica of Gustave Whitehead's "Old #21"

Anne Fiyalka who actually flew with Amelia Earheart as a teen, inside Gustave Whitehead’s Old #21.

Gustave Whitehead exhibit at Earth Day at Fairfield Ward High School, April 27, 2013

Gustave Whitehead’s Old #21

Gustave Whitehead’s Old #21

It's my birthday, and I'll post if I want to!

Yep, today I'm Half-a-Hundred, Plus Seven (and still counting). If you want to get me a present (and you are certainly encouraged to do so), then you should hurry over to IndyPlanet and purchase a copy of my insanely popular comic ($2.50 + S&H) Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl!

Your life will totally be enriched because of it! (We kid you not.)

It is fun, entertaining, and totally non-fattening!

It was published by the good folks over at Pronto Comics.

My “Second” Review

On the heals of the review of my comic Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl I've been reviewed again, this time on IndyPlanet by a couple of folks who bought and read the comic. For a preview of the comic, check out the Pronto Comics page.

OK, OK, one of the folks who reviewed the comic was me (again), but there was someone else that was looking forward to it.

Anyways, I urge you all to go to the IndyPlanet site, but the comic and leave a (positive) review of the comic. Thanks all!

My first review

OK, that's not quite right. I've been reviewed before, it is just that this particular review is my first review of Hot Girl and Totally Hot Girl, my brand-spanking new comic from Pronto Comics which is available as a Print on Demand (PoD) from IndyPlanet. Spiderfan gave the comic five out of five stars, and totally loved it:

SpiderFan is a site totally dedicated to Spider-Man and places he appears, and since Spidey appears in a crowd scene on the first page, the fine folks over at SpiderFan chose to post the comic and review it.

Here is a picture (with link to the review) on the front page of the Spiderfan website.

OK, to be entirely truthful, I was the one who reviewed the comic. (Hey, I’m really a reviewer for the site. Honest. And hey, if you can't give yourself a good reviewer for your own comic, then why bother being a reviewer, eh?) Anyway, if you want to buy a copy for yourself, then you can go here to check out a preview of the comic first, and then go here and get yourself a copy of your own.

Have fun!

Bronx Hero Con 2012

This Saturday I’ll be returning to the Bronx Hero Con which is (as always) hosted by my good buddy, Ray Felix. Hopefully, by then I should have copies of my new Pronto comic Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl, as well as copies of the numerous Main Enterprises comics in which my stories have appeared.

This is one of my favorite cons and it will be held at The Bronx Museum on  May Friday 11^th  and Sat. 12 ^th  2012 @ The Bronx Museum, located at
1040 Grand Concourse
At 165th Street
Bronx, New York 10456
T: 718.681.6000
F: 718.681.6181

Looking forward to seeing all of you there!

Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl are (finally) here!

Well, kids, it has been a long road, but finally my comicbook Hot Girl and Totally Hot Girl is now available over at IndyPlanet for a mere $2.50 (+ S&H).

The journey from idea to fully-published comic took me probably close to five years. It grew out of an idea that got pitched as, well, as something of a joke, but then festered and grew into an actually fully-formed real concept. It was then typed out on my smartphone (no really), then presented to a guy I met who was a co-worker of someone I had known for years.

Then it took almost another year until the — then unpublished artist — to get his rather hectic life in order enough to realize that I was serious and to buckle down to do the work. Once the art was finally completed (pencils, inks and colors), it was lettered (then re-lettered), and pitched to a couple of publishers.

Needless to say, it was generally well received, but it was the visionary folks over at Pronto Comics who finally committed to publishing it. Originally it was supposed to have been a part of a full-color anthology, but that project hit a snag or three and apparently vaporized. Not wanting the strip to linger in limbo I was asked if I wanted to publish it as a stand-alone Print-on-Demand comic. I agreed and we proceeded with that idea.

Unfortunately we hit yet another snag when the editor assigned to the project abruptly left Pronto. Not to worry, Pronto’s Editor-in-Chief stepped in and helped Shepherd the project to fruition. So here we are. with an 8-page, full-color comic for just $2.50.

Buy one, oh why be shy, buy two and give one to a friend!

Hot Girl & Totally Hot Girl are (almost) here!

Yep, you folks read that right, My long-awaited comicbook, Hot Girl and totally Hot Girl is almost here. Brought to you by the Unbelievable folks at Pronto Comics. My comic is being published as Print on Demand comic over @ Indyplanet. Now I'm totally feeling that this is like the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m wicked psyched over it.

While the comic itself isn’t posted as of yet, I’ve been assured that it will be posted by the end of the week. and that Pronto will have copies at MoCCA Fest (Saturday, April 28 & Sunday, April 29). I’m hoping to be there one day over the weekend, only at the moment I’m not quite sure which day it will be).

More info to follow.

In the mean time, you can preview the first few pages over at the Pronto Webcomic site.

Pronto Comics

One of the cool things about attending comicbook conventions (especially big ones like NYCC), is that you get to meet up with old friends, make new ones, and see what other indie creators are doing. That is precisely what happened to me this past weekend, and, well, it will probably be something I'll be talking about for the rest of the month here.

One of the surprises of the show was running across the folks from Pronto Comics. I had actually met up with them some time back (earlier this year), and had considered working with them. Unfortunately, things came up, and I never got back to them, now I'm a bit upset over it, as I was gifted with a copy of their very entertaining anthology, Kicked.

The comic is a rather sardonic look at a self-centered superhero (Captain Awesome), and his revolving cadre of sidekicks. It seems that Awesome has a history of treating them like crap, and they kidnap his newest sidekick to stage an intervention to prevent him from joining up with this ass-clown hero.

The anthology itself is story,after story of various sidekicks relating their individual stories about how badly Awesome treated them over the years. The stories and art range from, well amateur, to, quite good, giving the comic a very eclectic feel, that makes it very entertaining, and well worth picking up and reading.

I highly recommend checking out Pronto’s site, and (if you are reasonably talented), trying to hook up with this interesting group of creators, as they are always on the prowl for new talent,a nd if you are an indie creator  with little or no creative outlet, then you just might benefit from hanging with these guys.