The Rocketeer - The Great Race And More!

It had been more than a few years since a new Rocketeer story had emerged from IDW when in 2022 on the 40th anniversary of the debut of The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens in the back pages of Starslayer at Pacific Comics a new story was released. It's a four-part tale by writer and artist Stephen Mooney. He's an unknown to me, so I went into this story with no expectations, save that Rocketeer stories are supposed to be above average. The Great Race is well above average. 

The story seems to pick up right after the events in Cliff Secord's adventure in New York City where he and Betty made amends. Everything we've learned about the Rocketeer since feels like it doesn't matter or haven't happened yet. Mooney clearly wants to keep the story grounded and that's hard to do when your hero has been flying all over God's green Earth saving folks of all kinds. So, think of this story as a soft reboot -- not an official rejection of other continuities but just allowing memory of them to fade. That proves to be a good strategy. Cliff is hired to fly an experimental racing plane built by an eccentric and exceedingly wealthy inventor. But his motives seem suspect from the start. The Nazis are involved when Cliff finds a gang of them operating in a remote California camp and later when one of them becomes a dastardly flyer in the race. Betty has a logical role to play and flies to Paris where the finish line is to await Cliff's arrival. The race is dangerous and before it's over as you no doubt guess the Rocketeer has a big part to play. 

It's really great stuff. Mooney's artwork is excellent with colors by Len O'Grady. It captures the era and the characters without aping the Stevens style. Mooney is able to bring his own approach to the characters, keep them on model for the most part and deliver a story which works. It's not as fantastical as many previous attempts at Rocketeer stories, and it's not without flaws, but it does take you back to those precarious days quite effectively. 

Here are the covers for the four-issue run. 

I give this story a big thumbs up. The book also features "Dave Stevens - An Oral History of the Rocketeer" by Kelvin Mao which gives the reader the story of how the character came to be. From the earliest days at Pacific to the final moments of we follow the saga of Stevens as he fashions his comics with amazing attention to detail. The saga is related largely by quotes from a myriad of associates of Stevens including his former editors, his colleagues and even his former wife and model for Betty, Brinke Stevens. The Rocketeer was at once one of the most successful and most elusive products of the early Indy comic era, and was recognized from the very beginning as something quite special. 

This book is highly recommended, and now for a few other things of Rocketeer interest. 

The first is The Rocketeer One-Shot comic from IDW. It sports several handsome covers, the one above by Adam Hughes. I wasn't lucky enough to land that one, but still it's a fun little comic, though like many modern comics it takes very little time to read. It's made up of three small tales. The first is "Amelia" written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo who also happened to have written the well-remembered Rocketeer movie from so many years ago. In this tale drawn by Adam Hughes we discover the connection between Cliff and a certain famous aviatrix who mysteriously vanished. The second tale by writer Kelvin Mao and artist Craig Cermak has Cliff try to stop the theft of an ancient South American artifact during a lecture by a famous archeologist, and he is helped by a nameless man who is excellent with a bullwhip. The final tale is tiny one written by Robert Windom and drawn by Jae Lee and features the Rocketeer in furious action while all the time remembering his girl is the most important thing in his life. There are several pin-ups in the back as well. Fun stuff if you can find a copy. 

The second is a new limited series by Stephen Mooney in the Rocketeer universe titled "Den of Thieves". This one is coming out currently in comic book form. I'll wait for the trade to add this yarn to my stack of Rocketeer stories, which even after four decades is still pretty slender all things considered. 

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The Rocketeer Meets The Spirit!

The Rocketeer and The Spirit - Pulp Friction will have to be put into the missed opportunity section. Mark Waid creates a nifty story featuring the still largely experimental technology of television to bring together the sunny flying hero from California and the shadowy hard-bitten hero from Central City. The Spirit was the creation of Will Eisner arguably the finest comic book creator of all time, while the Rocketeer was the creation of Dave Stevens, one of the finest comic artists of his or any generation. 
Their milieus could not be more different. 

What brings them together is a murder, the murder of an alderman from Central City whose body turns up on the beaches of California in an impossible timeframe. Betty found the body and so becomes embroiled in this tale of corporate greed and government corruption. Cliff Secord is trying his best to keep her safe despite the fact she often seems more concerned with her career and with the Spirit's muscles. She meets the latter when he, Commissioner Dolan and his daughter Ellen fly to California to identify the body. The crime boss, a powerful businessman named Trask is in partnership with the Spirit's old nemesis the Octopus. Together they want to get control of the new technology of television with its potential for reaching the masses. It seems this technology has other uses as well which proves of interest to foreign powers. 

Paul Smith is the artist of the first installment and it's outstanding, offering up a nigh believable story which commands the reader's attention. Smith has always had an attractive style which is well suited to drawing dames such as Betty. Unfortunately for whatever reason Smith only draws the first issue and is replaced by Loston Wallace on the second. Wallace is an old internet colleague and once did some work for an early Yahoo group I managed for a time. I like his work immensely, but it seems a bit less dynamic here than I'd have hoped. The third and fourth issues are drawn by Jay Bone, a dandy artist, but one with a style much different than what had come before. There is nothing wrong with any single episode on its own, but the clash of styles does not do the storytelling any favors. It's a pity Smith couldn't have done all four issues. 

Below are the covers. The first and second issues are by the late Darwyn Cooke. Jay Bone does a bang- up job on the final two. 

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The Rocketeer At War!

I went to a lot of trouble to find a copy of The Rocketeer at War story for reading this month. I passed it up when it hit the stands originally and had never really thought much about it since. But it's been hard to find and I spent a little more than I wanted to land a copy in a timely manner. And after all that effort, I was pretty disappointed in this adventure, which to my mind is easily the worst Rocketeer story to date. 

The story fails on a number of counts. The artwork is suspect. I'm more than willing to entertain a variety of styles on this character, but the storytelling must be competent, and the basic draftsmanship must be above average. This has suspect storytelling and the plain old drawing is weak, weaker than I'd have expected IDW to accept. The writer is Marc Guggenheim and the artist for the first to chapters is Mike Bullock, who is replaced on the last two installments by Jay Bone. I'm on record as liking Bone's take on Rocketeer, but his work here seems rushed and is weaker than what I've seen before. I suspect he did this in a rush. Bullock's work is okay, in places reminiscent of Kevin O'Neill, but it's very uneven.

The story begins with Cliff Secord in the army fighting in North Africa. He has given his rocket to the military who are testing it with limited success. He is eventually asked to come back and resume the role, and that leaves a giant question as to why he was not there from the get-go. I assume he got permission from the unseen owners of the rocket to do what he did. In very quick succession we meet new characters such as ace flyer Molly O'Hara and a Nazi in a strange flying outfit, one which makes him resemble Batman. Betty is dancing for the USO and Peevy gets collected to help with the rocket. Later still we meet another Nazi called Blitzkrieg who uses a Nazi version of the rocket. We also have a partnership between the Japanese and the Nazis. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of parts in this relatively short yarn, perhaps too many. 

The key problem is that at its core The Rocketeer is a saga driven by character and not so much by plot. It's a good old-fashioned serial, but one with a richness of character those movies often lack. Stevens gave us a serial hero, but one with foibles and a great heart to go with his reckless courage. The love between Cliff and Betty is also bedrock and while that is on display in his story, it's shoehorned in with Betty taking part in action sequences which make little sense. The plot rules in this story and it's a bit  hairbrained. 

(Nick Bradshaw)

This collection features additional art by Bullock and alternate cover art by Nick Bradshaw who draws a way better Rocketeer than we seen in the comic. We also get a short story by Lisa Morton titled "The Rivet Gang" which is set after the war. I'll be taking a look at this story later this month. Below are the covers for this disappointing Rocketeer limited series.  

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The Rocketeer - High Flying Adventures!

When IDW Publishing first acquired the rights to The Rocketeer, they first published handsome collected reprints of the Dave Stevens saga, both in hardcover and paperback. They have since published the stories in more than a few different formats. The death of Dave Stevens in 2008 meant that for all of us Rocketeer fans there would be no more adventures of Cliff and Betty by their creator, the man who first wowed us all way back in the early 1980's to these retro 1930's adventures of a "rocket man". 

But that only meant that IDW needed to find new ways and new talents to treat the world to new adventures of The Rocketeer. They first did this with The Rocketeer Adventures, an anthology series which utilized the sundry talents of many of the best comic artists and writers of the time. It seemed everyone was itching to do a Rocketeer story. IDW produced eight issues, published in two four-issue limited series. Their featured covers by Alex Ross and the second by the late Darwyn Cooke. Inside each issue three different talents or teams of talents told stories about Cliff, Betty, Peevy, and the gang around the Bulldog Cafe. These issues are collected in the hardback volume The Rocketeer - High Flying Adventures. 

Things kick off with "The Rocketeer" by John Cassaday and tells how Cliff saves Betty from a rocket but she's less than happy with his methods. "Home Again" by Michael Allred shows how Cliff meets the mysterious Mr. Jonas again and makes a deal to keep the rocket at an unknown expense. "Dear Betty" was written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Mike  Kaluta and focuses on our heroine as is working as nurse during WWII and getting precious few letters from Cliff, until finally there are no more, but that's not all. 

The second issue begins with "It Ain't the Fall That Kills Ya..." by Mark Waid and Chris Weston. Weston is ideal for this project. Cliff is jealous (as always) of Betty as she makes a serial movie about a hero named Aeroman. "Betty Saves the Day" by Darwyn Cooke is formatted like a chapter from a movie serial and allows Betty to be the one who wears the rocket. "TKO" by Lowell Francis and artist Gene Ha features a standoff between the Rocketeer and another man in a somewhat different flying suit. Monk and Ham make an appearance. 

Ryan Sook kicks off the third issue with "A Rocketeer Story" which has Cliff stop a robbery at a theater which just so happened to be debuting a new movie in which she appears. Things go poorly. "Heaven's Devils" is a prose story by Joe A. Lansdale with spot illustrations by Bruce Timm and has our heroic duo in a movie which turns out to be a scam, but does put a barely dressed Betty in danger. "Junior Rocketeer" by Jonathan Ross and artist Tommy Lee Edwards tells about some kids who idolize the Rocketeer and show up at Peevy's and Cliff's hanger while Betty is tapped to play a version of Mary Marvel. 

The first quartet of comics wraps up with a story by Dave Gibbons and art by Scott Hampton titled "A Day at the Beach" which showcaes surfing, something new and a bit arcane in those years. "Waterlogged" by Joe Pruett with art by Tony Harris goes back to the beach and beneath the waves to face the threat of a Japanese sub intent on destruction. "The Flight of the Aeronaut" by John Arcudi and artist Brendan McCarthy pits the Rocketeer against a Nazi woman who has a rocket pack of her own and a more powerful one at that. 

The second set of four issues Rocketeer Adventures 2 begins with "The Good Guys" by Marc Guggenheim and artist Sandy Plunkett and has the Rocketeer fall into the hands of local farmers who fear this strange man might be a criminal. Plunkett's art is the most like that of Stevens of any of the artists in this series. Arguably the weirdest story in the series is "The Ducketeer" by Peter David and Bill Sienkiewicz and has Cliff and Betty reacting to a cartoon which makes hay off of the fame the Rocketeer has garnered. "A Dream of Flying" by Stan Sakai is strange one also and has Cliff shot down by a youth named Lex who wants his secrets, but is saved by a dark-haired boy who likes to fly and later we meet his older parents who might just be named "Kent" though that's not said expressly.

"Work to Do" by Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson puts the Rocketeer on the battlefield and confronting the horror of war. "Betty's Big Break" was written by Paul Dini and drawn by Bill Morrison and has Betty in another serial, this one a blend of western and science fiction and despite himself Cliff gets involved much to his eventual chagrin. Walt Simonson writes "Autograph" with art by John Paul Leon. This time Rocketeer saves a Hollywood starlet from kidnapping and gets her autograph for Betty which sends her over the rainbow with glee. 

The third issue of the second set begins with "Coulda Been..." by Dave Lapham and artist Christ Sprouse and has Cliff and Betty talk about a future together in a remote farmhouse, but then they have reservations. "Butchy Saves Betty" by Kyle Baker is a wild romp, again styled as the chapter of a serial in which the rocket gets attached to the Bulldog and Betty wing walks to save the day perhaps. The mysterious Mr. Jonas reappears. "History Lesson" was written by Matt Wagner and drawn by Eric Canete and reprises the life of Cliff Secord and his rise as a hero as the Rocketeer which we see has influenced the future mightily. 

The series wraps with "War Hero" by Louise Simonson and her hubbie Walt on art chores this time. Cliff and Betty have been helping the war effort and Cliff finds out why the Rocketeer has been kept from the front lines. Then a strange bomber threatens Washington, DC. Writer Bill Mandel and artist J.Bone offer up the totally strange "Cliff Secord Warlor of Blargon". This one has hit by lightning and ending up on a strange alien world where he imagines he is there to do heroic things but maybe he misunderstands the alien speak. The final story in the run is by John Byrne and is titled "Fair Game" and has the Rocketeer heading out to the 1939 World Fair to save some royalty from a terrorist attack. 

The volume ends with a Rocketeer Gallery and features artists Alex Ross, Tommy Lee Edwards, Stephanie Buscema, Mike Mignola, Jim Silkie, Joe Chiodo, Geof Darrow (with an awesome two-page spread), Ash Wood, Art Adams, Scot Campbell, Eric Powell, and J.K. Snyder III. I should also point out that each issue of every one of the eight issues in the two series showcases a classic Dave Stevens image from the many years he drew The Rocketeer. 

At forty bucks this is a heavy price for this reprint volume, but very entertaining, especially for Rocketeer fans. 

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The Rocketeer - Cargo Of Doom!

Hidden behind a rather lackluster and generic cover, the story of The Rocketeer - Cargo of Doom is actually quite an exciting fast-paced adventure with more than enough peril for our hero and his allies. Mark Waid and artist Chris Samnee tell a tale which grows out of threads from the original Dave Stevens yarn and gives us a peek at more ties to other fictional creations. 

Our villain this time is direct from the pages of Doc Savage and though his name is never uttered, John Sunlight proves to be an antagonist who demands the most from our hero Cliff. Working in alliance with some unseen crime lord, Sunlight brings a shipment of dinosaurs from Skull Island to Los Angeles. And of course, they escape to wreak havoc in the city. With a few new allies, Rocketeer takes the battle to Sunlight because the latter has also managed to get his hands on the Rocketeer's rocket. 

Chris Samnee's artwork is exceedingly nice, and he does a great job of displaying the action. How the Rocketeer finally manages to subdue the prehistoric threats is more than a tad far-fetched, but then this is a story filled with dinosaurs, so far-fetched seems par for the course. 

Below are the covers for this 2013 series from IDW Publishing. 

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The Rocketeer At The Cinema!

(John Mattos)

How The Rocketeer movie didn't make enough money to convince the powers in Hollywood to make more is beyond me. It's an exquisite movie, with wonderful actors in perfect roles giving ideal performances, and a delightful period setting which evokes at once realism and romance. There's no reason this shouldn't have been a bigger hit, buy it just wasn't. 

Released in 1991 I immediately went to see it. Later I collected it on VHS and later still on DVD. I dug out my DVD and watched it again just a few days ago. I was much impressed by how well this story held up after several decades. The actors were convincing in a story which demands a lot from actors to sell parts which are at once naturalistic and extreme. Bill Campbell is ideal as Cliff Secord. His youthful face sells with conviction the love he has for Jenny and the desire he has to fly using the rocket pack. Jennifer Connelly was a perfect choice to play Jenny (not Betty), though she is a good deal less openly sexy than Betty found in the original Stevens story.  Disney wanted her a bit more demure. Alan Arkin is a great Peevy.  And a bunch of the other parts are well filled out. The standout for me though is Timothy Dalton. 

(Promotional art by Stevens)

Timothy Dalton as the Nazi agent posing as an actor in Hollywood. I'm a big Dalton fan and think his days as Bond were much better than is generally remembered. He's the actor closest to the Bond of the novels, at least as I envision him. Turning him into a baddie is delightful and he seems to enjoy. He's played many a great bad guy since. The use of Lothar from the second Rocketeer story (which also gives us the auto-gyro at the end of the movie) was a stroke of genius. 

But it's the world that the movie recreates that is the real star of The Rocketeer. I never for a moment feel I'm not in the late 1930's in Los Angeles. The period is maintained wonderfully, at least to my untrained eyes. Not only does the movie recreate the delightful settings from the Stevens comic but they also give us more. There's a nifty blend of scenes and settings coming from both Dave Stevens stories, the second on not even finished when the movie was produced. The humble Bulldog Cafe and the swanky nightclub are all well realized. 

Somewhen along the way I picked up The Rocketeer Official Movie Souvenir Magazine which is chock full of imagery from the movie while at the same time offering up a lighthearted summary of the movie's action. In those days before the internet, these kinds of artifacts held greater value. This book is from Topps which also did a card set for the movie. I also have those. 

My favorite movie-tie in item is The Rocketeer - The Official Movie Adaptation which sports an iconic Dave Stevens cover, one of his most famous Rocketeer images. The story inside was actually written by Peter David and drawn magnificently by Russ Heath. Heath's interpretation of the Rocketeer world cleaves very close to the Stevens original without being cloying or imitative. 

One of the weirder tie-ins in my collection is the 3-D adaptation of the story by Neal Adams and his Continuity Associates outfit. The 3-D is pretty good in places, but the imagery is less effective as a comic story. The characters are often off model quite a bit. This originally came with a cassette tape which followed the comics story, but I don't have that. Those were different times indeed and it's sometimes painful to remember just how long it's been. I've read off and on for decades of a potential sequel, but I'll believe it when I see it in the theaters. 

Above is a fun piece of artwork by Dave Stevens for the movie. This does appear in the movie as part of the folder with all the rocket specifications which Howard Hughes tosses into a fire when he determines the rocket is just too dangerous to continue to develop. 

And here's the infamous Nazi propaganda film from the movie showing what the deadly forces of Hitler planned to do with the rocket packs if they got their hands on the prototype again. 

And here is a delightfully scandalous image of Betty (not Jenny) reminding Cliff and all of us what they were fighting for. Why include this? Why not! 

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