To say that Dave Stevens was a great comic book artist is a gross understatement. Nothing can compare to his incredibly meticulous line work and brush strokes. Practically everything he produced was as perfect a job as it could possibly be. You can't say that about any other comic artist in my opinion. When I first saw his work, I said to myself (probably out loud): "Who is this guy?"
And yet he openly admitted he was "lazy". In a 1998 interview, he stated flatly:
“My status in comics? I don’t ever do anything. I’m the lazy man of comics. I’ve never had any illusions about this business being a playground for me. I’m an illustrator; I’m not a cartoon guy. My meat and potatoes are covers and poster art. I have a lot of ideas that will never get down on paper if I’m the one who has to draw them.”
Most famous for his creation of the retro action-adventure hero, The Rocketeer (later made into a film), he dazzled us with a lot of other work, too. And to top it off, he's responsible for re-invigorating the career of 50's pinup queen, Bettie Page.
One thing that I don't see that he did a lot of were monsters. In a photo, he's seen with a bust of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, but I don't recall ever coming across any illustration of the gill man done by him. We do have his cover of King Kong and Fay Wray for MONSTER COMICS (Fantagraphics, 1991) and it's a doozy.
Here are a few other covers he did with horror-esque themes (rescue me if you can think of others):
Thankfully, we've had comic artists like Jack Kirby, Wallace Wood and Steve Ditko who had long careers and gifted us with reams of their beautiful work. Not so with Dave Stevens; his death at the age of 52 in 2008 stopped short an already-illustrious career. What he left behind, though, were many masterpieces that he'll be remembered forever more by the industry and his fans.
Further reading: COMIC BOOK CREATOR #40 (TwoMorrows Publishing). Preview and order HERE.
Further viewing: DAVE STEVENS: DRAWN TO PERFECTION (watch on Amazon Prime)