Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer comic series Complete Adventures Deluxe Edition gets a reprint this month.
And Deluxe it is! It’s a hardcover full colour compilation of all of Stevens’ Rocketeer stories, plus over a hundred pages of his sketches, character profiles, musings, rough drawings, page layouts, and more.
This is a superb gathering of all materials around Rocketeer, Stevens’ drama adventure saga set in the American 1930s. Planes, trains, automobiles, molls, moola! This retro story is filled with gorgeous-yet-cartoonishly-caricatured characters, including pilot Cliff Secord, his friend Peevy, and his girlfriend Betty, modeled after Bettie Page. The line work is meticulous and wonderful, the colouring is top-notch, the dialogue witty and nicely “1930s.”
A savvy reader of this volume will begin to understand more of Stevens’ work process throughout and appreciate the behind-the-scenes assists by Michael W. Kaluta, Jaime Hernandez, Doug Wildey, and others.
Following its original 2009 release, this volume won an Eisner Award for its page design.
IDW, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures Deluxe Edition, $130.00 for 274 pages hardcover.
Newsdesk