Hello friends,

  It's been a while, so let me get in here and touch base with y'all.first of all, I want to thank all of you for the cards, letters, e-mail and your overall support. it's always good to hear from my amigos old and new.

  I should start off by mentioning the brief but grand time I had at the San Diego comicon. I hung out with my pal, Jimmy Palmiotti and he made sure that I met all the folks that I had never met along the long and winding road of the comic biz because that dude knows everybody. That would include Karen Berger,Gareb Shamus, Mike Royer, Jim Valentino to name a few. others fellow pros that I do know that I bumped into were my man, Howie Chaykin, John Mcrea, Tony Bedard, Mike Richardson, Brian Tolbart, Mark Schultz, Paul Mounts and too many others to mention.it was a packed house. and,by the way,that was just at the bar in the morning. just kidding.

  A highlight was getting the pleasure of meeting face to face, Gene Simmons of Kiss fame. I about fell over when he told me that he collected everything I ever worked on including fanzines. I walked away on a cloud.

  I also honed in on the powers-that-be from Hollywood who expressed strong interest in possibly turning S.C.I. Spy® into a major motion picture. I'll keep you posted as more developes.

If you've never been at the San Diego Con., you owe it to youself to check it out. Drag the wife, kids, girlfriend, boyfriend, Ma, Pa, whatever, and make the trip.and I'm talking to you people who live outside the U.S. as well.save up your rubles and come on over, godammit.

  As you know, the first issue of Master of Kung Fu is due on the shelves next month. We've really been getting the press,and as I speak I just finished the eighth interview last night with more to follow. It has'nt been the smoothest road getting there. This series should have been done long ago in my opinion. We gotta give props to the editor Axel Alonzo for fighting the good fight at Marvel and convincing those in charge that it was a worthwhile project. As I speak, we have four issues in the can, as they say, and that's really fortunate, because there was some clashing going that almost brought the series to a screeching halt not long ago. This is going to happen when you have strong opinions and perspectives from an editor, writer and artist. mix in a divorce, and pretty soon you're reaching for an aspirin or a quiet beach a zillion miles away. But fear not , my friends, the show will always go on.

  The main challenge of doing this series is introducing a brand new audience to a twenty year old cancelled comic with a cult following.we want to hook them in and retain the older readers as well. I think we pulled it off. The gist is that at least ten years have passed since the main characters have been brought all together.

  We thought it would be the best route to incorporate Fu Manchu in there as the primary villain since a powerful focal point of the old series was the estranged relationship of Shang Chi and his father. But, due to legal ramifications involving Marvel and the Rohmer Estate, he won't be addressed as Fu Manchu but we'll all know who he is. Many people have asked what it's like to be drawing these characters again and my answer is that it's just like they were standing on my shoulders waiting to be brought down onto the paper all these years. It's second nature.they're like old friends.

  I never looked back at the old issues before I began this. I wanted to approach it from a brand new perspective. I want to let you know that if you think you're going to see some kind of ground breaking approach with dazzling page layouts and graphics, it ain't gonna happen. I have to play it instinctively, so it's going to be a very cinematic approach which Archie Goodwin once described as "movies on paper". If you want to reminisce for that look of days gone by, you'll have to look at the old books. You can never go home again.that was a different fire Doug and I had back then. Axel ,Doug and myself feel we have what it should be... a fun,exciting action thriller.

  Drop us a line and tell us what you think. Your opinion and comments are very important to us.

  Stay well.

        Your comrade,

                Paul