Bringing Airboy into the future

(or On Writing Airboy)

He certainly isn’t a character that went without a revival in the 1980s. Chuck Dixon and Tim Truman created a rather amazing series at Eclipse (now being collected by IDW) with art by the likes of Stan Woch, Ben Dunn, Ron Randall and Tom Lyle.

But that series didn’t tell the story of the original Airboy. Instead it focused on Davy Nelson Jr., the son of the original character and his interaction with a mix of the original Air Fighters and new “ripped from the headlines” adventures. Despite being written by well known Republican writer Chuck Dixon, it was even famous for being the anti-Reagan comic. But while it offered great stories, it wasn’t the take on Airboy I wanted to see.

I wanted to go back to the original, I wanted to make him a fish out of water and I wanted to update the Air Fighters in a very different way. Pulpsploitation was the perfect way to accomplish both, as I could revive the classic figure in a unique light different from the Golden Age character, Dixon's version or subsequent takes on the character.

In my initial short story, Misery and the Airtomb play their part in the first story, but they are really a subplot as Airboy finds himself young and alive again in the early 1980s. He’s immediately thrust into a plot to stop the massive super-weapon that nearly killed him once before and at war with the legacy of an old threat in the form of the nefarious Bombshell.

All three of these classic characters are planned for future installments!

While the original volume of Pulpsploitation landed several years ago, I am far from done with Airboy or the rest of the cast of Air Fighters. I already have the first of several short Airboy novels in the planning stages, with more planned in the future. They will feature Airboy, Misery and Bombshell from the original story. But I’ve also already got plans for the return of Valkyrie and the Heap, a very different Iron Ace, and the debut of a new Bald Eagle.

The future is bright for Airboy and the Air Fighters. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride!