Lowdown
The Adventures Returns
A
Steve Calitri Editor-in-Chief scalitri@towman.com
pril 2021 was the first issue in sixteen years without the Adventures of the American Towman in the back of the magazine, or anywhere. We immediately heard from the fans who religiously followed the exploits of AT, Pop, and HP (Horsepower). Phone calls, emails, messages. We had always run into Adventures fans at the shows and in aside remarks during phone conversations, but never so many in a short period of time. The last several weeks has been like fielding registration calls for AT Expo. “What happened to the Adventures!?” everyone wanted to know. The Adventures comic-illustrator and co-writer, Don Lomax, has for now had to step back from the rigor of creating the monthly series. Don is truly irreplaceable, a throwback to the old comic creators who colored and lettered each comic frame by hand. Each Adventures episode is a priceless hand creation, unlike today’s comics produced and colored digitally via Illustrator or Photoshop graphic software. Let this Lowdown serve as a call-out to any comic illustrator who is a member of a towing family or somehow a part of our industry: if you’re interested in taking the baton on the Adventures, email me, scalitri@ towman.com. Meanwhile, we are reviving the original first episodes of the Adventures that so mesmerized readers two decades back. Episode One is presented in the back of this issue. Many of today’s Adventures fans were too young to be reading AT back during the first episodes. I know they will be a thrill for you to read. For those who did read them back then, you’ll enjoy a second read all the more, like a long lost brother come back home to regale once again with the old tales. The early Adventures were filled with episodes of intrigue involving terrorism and espionage and even a stint in the middle east. The episodes involved unusual recoveries and a flashback into our hero’s origins. Episodes featured a battle with a
66 • May 2021 | Towman.com
Hp and AT rescue abducted newscaster
town councilman, abductors, a romance with a TV reporter, and the mystery of the beached whales. For sixteen years the Adventures of the American Towman have represented the colorful world of the towing industry through the trials and tribulations of A.T. Armada, his Pop, and HP, his sidekick. We salute Don Lomax for his incredible work. Thousands of people in our industry are grateful for his talents and the dedication he brought to his drawing table. The Adventures will also be reprised through a series of four books collecting all the episodes in exclusive printed and bound editions. The first book of about fifty episodes will be available by August. Should you need even more of an Adventures fix before then, Adventures illustrations will be available on posters, coffee mugs, t-shirts and hats at www. towmanoriginals.com, AT’s new online merchandise store. Meanwhile, enjoy Episode One.
