The Rocketeer (character)
The Rocketeer is a comic book superhero, created by writer/artist Dave Stevens. The character first appeared in 1982 and is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes from the 1930s through the 1950s. The Rocketeer's secret identity is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jetpack that allows him to fly. His adventures are set in pre-World War II America, and Stevens gave them a retro, nostalgic feel.
Analogues of pinup diva Bettie Page and fictional pulp characters appear prominently in the series. The character first appeared in publications from Pacific Comics, and would be printed by several other independent companies until 1995. Stevens' meticulous drawing style, perfectionism and careful research gave the various Rocketeer adventures a notoriously slow publishing schedule. Following Stevens' death in 2008, his estate licensed the Rocketeer to IDW Publishing, who have since produced numerous titles starring the character.
The Rocketeer was adapted into the 1991 Walt Disney Pictures film The Rocketeer by director Joe Johnston.
Creation
In 1981 Stevens was largely a jobbing artist, doing fill-in work on various comics as well as working in animation and design. In 1981 he was approached by Steve and Bill Schanes, brothers who had co-founded the independent Pacific Comics to produce short creator-owned back up features for Mike Grell's Starslayer. An avowed fan of Art Deco and pre-war Americana, Stevens swiftly designed the basic idea of The Rocketeer. A major influence was Republic Pictures film serial character Commando Cody.Publication history
Pacific Comics
The Rocketeer's first adventures appeared in 1982 as a backup feature in issues #2 and #3 of Starslayer. The two short stories drew huge positive responses from readers, and the Schanes brothers wanted to commission Stevens to produce a monthly Rocketeer title. However, Stevens was reluctant to give up his other freelancing work for what he felt would be a short-lived title; he also had reservations about his abilities as a writer. Instead, a compromise was reached whereby the character was transferred to Pacific's new anthology showcase comic Pacific Presents, appearing in issues #1 and #2. Stevens enjoyed the work more than he had expected, and resolved to continue The Rocketeer. The Rocketeer's success led to similar titles, including Bruce Jones' Cliff Hanger and Crash Ryan. He would recall being told that titles featuring the Rocketeer sold around 80,000 copies, a solid amount for an independent publisher of the period.However, due to the delays between the episodes holding up publication, no further installments appeared in the following two issues of Pacific Presents, and the cliffhanger the story had ended on was not resolved before Pacific Comics folded in 1984. The concluding chapter had actually been completed and was slated for inclusion in Pacific Presents #5 when the company went out of business.
Stevens also had to deal with a lawsuit brought about by Marvel Comics, who had featured a gang of super-criminals called 'The Rocketeers' in a 1975 issue of Daredevil. In a 1987 interview with Gary Groth of The Comics Journal, Stevens revealed Marvel's argument revolved entirely around trademarks, the suit claiming that the use of the name was causing confusion between the characters, something he felt was spurious. As a result Stevens refused to change the character's name and fought against the lawsuit for three years. Some years later, a fan sent Stevens a copy of Blast-Off #1, a 1965 Harvey Comics title featuring a Jack Kirby story called The 3 Rocketeers, which he felt only underlined the absurdity of Marvel's legal action. Stevens also felt Marvel's actions were influenced by his decision to turn down an offer to take the series to Marvel-owned Epic Comics following Pacific's demise. He would credit Disney coming onboard for the film adaptation of The Rocketeer with ending Marvel's pursuit. In 2016, Brian Cronin used his 'Comic Book Legends' column for Comic Book Resources to openly ridicule Marvel's actions.
Eclipse Comics
Like many of the creator-owned titles left without a publisher by Pacific's collapse, Stevens made a deal with California-based publisher Eclipse Comics to complete the storyline. The result was the one-shot Rocketeer Special Edition in November 1984, which concluded the story arc. The comic also included 8 pages of pin-ups by different artists, a sign of Stevens' growing status within the comics industry. The contributors included Gray Morrow, Doug Wildey, Murphy Anderson, and Al Williamson and an introduction by Mark Evanier. The issue was a sales success for Eclipse, and was the 51st bestselling title from a range of stores polled by Amazing Heroes, the second-highest position on the chart for a non-Marvel/DC comic.Following the publication of this Special Edition, Stevens worked with Eclipse to produce a trade paperback collecting the material produced so far. Stevens revised several pages for the compilation and recolored the story by hand, which was also relettered by Carrie Spiegle. Stevens created additional pages to address what he felt was poor storytelling in the serialized episodes, and was assisted in this endeavor by Jaime Hernandez. The album features an introduction from fantasist Harlan Ellison, a fan of the series who had also attempted to intercede in Stevens' dispute with Marvel Comics. The collected edition won "Best Graphic Album" at the 1986 Kirby Awards, beating volumes of Love and Rockets and Nexus.
The collection would go on to become Eclipse's best-selling graphic novel, going through three printings. Eclipse's treatment of the series, which used high-quality over-sized pages printed using Baxter paper stock, led to Stevens signing a deal that would see the company print future collected editions, though none were completed before Eclipse folded in 1994. Eclipse also licensed the material for overseas publication, without Stevens' permission - and without paying him.
Comico
While Stevens was pleased with the collected edition, he did not enjoy working for Eclipse and searched for a new publisher to produce a sequel story, which he initially envisioned as a six-issue limited series. In August 1986 a deal was announced with Comico, which would see Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta's Galactic Girl Guides as a back-up, as well as non-fiction articles on aviation pioneers. The new material was planned as two three-issue mini-series, allowing Stevens the time required to create the material, and would run under the title The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine. Stevens chose Comico after being impressed by their production values and willingness to allow flexible deadlines. Comico administrative director Bob Schreck was however forced to clarify that, despite the title, The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine was a comic and not a magazine, noting the name had been chosen by Stevens as a homage to pulp magazines.Despite being planned for the summer of 1987, the first issue of the title did not appear until July 1988 due to Stevens' detailed approach and the concluding stages of the Marvel lawsuit. Due to the relative lack of money in independent comics at the time, he was also forced to frequently pause the series to produce covers for other series and other freelance assignments. In discussion with Heidi MacDonald of Amazing Heroes, Stevens defended the series' schedule, noting that while he was more than capable of producing a page a day the result "would look like anyone did it." It met with positive reviews and was nominated for 'Best Story or Single Issue' at the second annual Harvey Awards, but lost to Batman: The Killing Joke. Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson, who were working on the screenplay for the film version, would contribute to the writing of the storyline.
Only one more issue - in July 1989, and further delayed when Stevens suffered a car accident - appeared before Comico declared bankruptcy in 1990.
Film adaptation
Stevens had been quick to realize the potential of The Rocketeer, and had first sold film rights to the character in 1983. The project would finally make it to screen in 1991 under Walt Disney Pictures. Production was beset by shifting creative teams and Disney's desire to turn the property into a marketable family franchise, and Stevens would later consider the film to be The Rocketeer "in name only". One of the most significant changes was the replacement of Betty with an actress character called Jenny, played by Jennifer Connelly; Paul De Meo recalled this was partly informed by Disney wanting to make the film more family friendly, and partly due to not wanting to pay money to Bettie Page for the use of her name.As part of the promotional onslaught, an official adaptation of the film was made and published as a one-shot by Disney's comic label Hollywood Comics. This was adapted from the script by Peter David, and featured interior artwork by Russ Heath, who was hand-picked by Stevens. Stevens himself provided the cover for the title, while a 3-D comic with a storyline by Ron Kidd was also produced. T.K. Dean awarded The Rocketeer: The Official Movie Adaptation four stars out of five in a review for Amazing Heroes, praising the pace and David's dialogue.
Despite broadly positive critical response, the film under-performed financially and plans to make sequels were scrapped.
Dark Horse Comics
After Comico's financial troubles, Stevens signed with Dark Horse Comics to publish the third issue of the series. The deal was announced in June 1991; however, it would not be until 1995 that the third and final issue of The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine, featuring the conclusion of "Cliff's New York Adventure", finally appeared. This was partly due to Comico having incorrectly listed the Rocketeer as one of their assets in bankruptcy proceedings. Another setback came in January 1994 when an earthquake struck California, bursting water pipes in Stevens' studio and destroying several completed pages.Following the conclusion, Stevens lost interest in publishing new Rocketeer material. He grew tired of switching publishers, while finding new avenues for his approach dwindling after the collapse of the direct market after the early 1990s speculator boom period. Dark Horse also had reservations about the comic's high production values allowing the book to be profitable, though the company did produce a collected Rocketeer edition compiling all three issues of the "Cliff's New York Adventure" storyline. Stevens would later pitch a crossover Rocketeer miniseries to DC Comics featuring the Golden Age Superman meeting Cliff in 1938. However, he disliked DC's proposed revisions to the storyline, so he abandoned the idea.