Tales from the past viewed through rose tinted glasses
Monday, August 15, 2022
Bring on the back-ups: "A dream of flying" by Stan Saki (with a nostalgic superhero ending)
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Christmas countdown: Revisiting 1966 and the James Bond "Thunderball" movie in 2014
Like most blokes I like to keep in contact with my old friends usually for a quick pint and to talk about the old days. Although we all us...
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I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he... -
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ... -
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
I have to confess that I have found no other artist capable of drawing Rocketeer to suit me. There have been some fine talents make quality attempts and the early Rocketeer Adventures was the best of the batch, but I only ever want more Stevens on this character and as we sadly know that can never be. Love those strips!
ReplyDeleteDave Stevens was an exceptional talent and there is no doubt the Rocketeer flew highest under his stewardship . But I think Dave would have been proud of the work many of these artists put into his creation.
ReplyDeleteThose old-fashioned depictions of Tyrannosaurus Rex look quite comical nowadays. Modern scientific discoveries have revealed that they looked quite different.
ReplyDeleteHi Colin, Its amazing just how quickly our understanding of how Dinosaurs actually looked has progressed after thinking they were lumbering lizards for so long. Now of course that's all changed and they may all have had feathers and were agile and more intelligent than we thought. I think in this case the poster by Art Adams was drawn to reflect how it was thought they looked in the late 1930s, when the Rocketeer was set.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice, McScotty. I was a great fan of the Rocketeer in the early 80s, and it probably prolonged my comic collecting at that time, when my enthusiasm for DC and Marvel was waning. I missed the first two parts of the Rocketeer story as published in issues #2 and #3 of Mike Grell's Starslayer series from Pacific Comics. My first exposure was to the two subsequent installments that appeared in Pacific's showcase comic Pacific Presents #1 and 2. I was hooked on the story, the appearance of Doc Savage and most of all on Dave Steven’s artwork. I then picked up the conclusion of the story in The Rocketeer Special Edition #1, released by Eclipse Comics in 1984.
ReplyDeleteI think I’ve picked up every reprint and IDW issues since then, but none of them capture for me lightening in a bottle that Dave Stevens brought to it - the innocence and fun that is so intrinsic to the character. I did like the film, but Joe Johnson’s direction was too pedestrian; the material needed the genius of Steven Spielberg to give it the spark that was needed to turn it into a blockbuster success.
My first encounter with the Rocketeer was the Eclipse editions in the mid 1980s and like yourself Dave Stevens art really captivated me. I have all the Rocketeer Adventures comics by IDW and the Chris Samnee and Mark Waid (Cargo of Doom) IDW mini- series that were really good. I liked the movie a lot but it needed a bit more of an edge to it. Your 100% right, Spielberg would have certainly made this a hit.
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