A Rocketeer Diverse Hands Gallery!

From the very beginning the elegance and masterful design alongside the vivid nostalgia has made many artists eager to try their hand at The Rocketeer. The realism required means it's not for every talent out there. Here some delightful examples which first appeared in The Rocketeer Special Edition form Eclipse Comics which finished the first Rocketeer story. 

(Mike Kaluta)

(George Freeman)

(Murphy Anderson)

(William Stout)

(Bruce Jones)

(Gray Morrow)

(Russ Heath)

(Al Williamson)

(Doug Wildey)

(Dave Stevens)

It's been great fun to revisit once again The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens and others. The character has a delightful evergreen quality which allows me to savor it all over again every few years. I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to see Cliff discover an experimental rocket pack and take to the skies and the next time I get to glom my peepers on the ravishing Betty. Good stuff! 

Next month things get a bit darker for us all here at the Dojo. 

Rip Off

A Dave Stevens Cover Gallery Showcase!

Dave Stevens is properly renowned for his magnificent Rocketeer. But he did do other things in his all-too brief career. He was often tapped to draw some covers for various books, bringing his smooth good-girl approach to many and sundry comic books over several years for several different companies. I've attempted in this gallery to bring together all of his non-Rocketeer covers from the years of his working career for Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics among many others. Some few of these are instances where he inked a prominent artist. 

(Inks over Wally Wood pencils)

(Inks over Jack Kirby pencils)

If I've forgotten one let me know. Dave Stevens was a special artist. For more Stevens and more Rocketeer check back later today.

Rip Off

Rocketeer Jet-Pack Adventures

The Rocketeer - Jet-Pack Adventures from IDW Publishing offers up prose stories starring Cliff Secord, The Rocketeer and his supporting cast, especially the delectable Betty. There are ten stories written by ten different authors. The collection features spot illustrations by Jay Bone, the same gent who produced the wraparound cover art. One thing about Bone's art, is that it's so different from Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens that it doesn't even rate that much of a comparison. It's a lighter more cartoonish approach, almost as if it were done for animation. Bone is the same artist who illustrated the comic mini-series "Haunted Hollywood". 

"The Red, White & Grey" by Yvonne Navarro (set in 1939) has Cliff and Betty on vacation at Avalon Island just off the coast of California where they meet famed western author Zane Grey. The rich Grey takes them in at his mansion in exchange for some flying lessons from Cliff. Very quickly though Cliff becomes suspicious of some of Grey's other guests and finds that the Nazi menace is even closer than he suspected. He finds himself up against another flying man dubbed "The Black Phantom". 

"Nazis in Paradise" by Don Webb (set in early 1940) has Cliff lead an expedition into the mountains of Tibet where they promptly crash and discover a warm paradise hidden away from the eyes of normal men. This "Shangri-La" is also inhabited by wayward Nazis looking for the power to rule the world in the service of the Hitler regime. Our hero has a difficult time keeping his eye on the ball as the very nature of this hidden land plays havoc with the memory and the girls are nice to look at as well. 

"Farewell, My Rocketeer" by Gregory Frost (set in 1940) has echoes of vintage crime dramas like The Maltese Falcon. The Nazis and other assorted criminals are looking for ancient Aztec treasure in the mountains around the Grand Canyon. Cliff just happens to fly into trouble gets snare into helping the villains. No Betty in this one, but there is a cute girl and a legit femme fatale for Cliff to contend with. Lots of brutish Nazis as well. This one has a dash of Raiders of the Lost Ark in it as well. We are also treated to a small appearance by a saintly gent with the initials S.T. 

"Atoll of Terror" by Simon Kurt Unsworth (set in 1941) is a lurid story set in the Caribbean. Cliff and Betty are there since Betty has been contracted by a British photographer to dally in the sun. Cliff is not happy and soon discovers an island community which is both economically depressed and frightened for their lives. Creatures come from both the sea and the air and steal away unsuspecting natives and they prove quite tough for even the Rocketeer to confront. This one evokes the classic horror of The Island of Dr. Moreau. 

"Sky Pirates of Rangoon" by Cody Goodfellow (set in late 1941) sees Cliff joining up in a matter of speaking with the Flying Tigers as they battle the Japanese in the air over China. He thought it would be a simple job of transport, but pirates led by a gorgeous "Dragon Lady" soon change that. Cliff gets some help and advice from a source very close to the might Kong himself. I'll say no more, but if you like air battles this one is the pick of the litter so far. We also meet Lee Chenault briefly as well. 

"Rockets to Hell" by Nancy Holder (set in early 1941) is an odd one. It begins with a strange tale of suicide on a mysterious bridge and the idea of some kind of psychic influence. Cliff and Betty get involved when they try to save a young couple but then the story shifts gears and incorporates the infamous "Battle of Lost Angeles" when strange flying objects resulted in substantial retaliation from ground forces. Frankly I thought I'd fallen out of one story and into another one. A highlight is the presence of Johnny Weissmuller. 

"Codename: Ecstasy" by Nacy A. Collins (set in 1942) allows Cliff and the gang to hook up with the gorgeous film actress Hedy LeMarr. For those who might not know, LeMarr was an inventor of significant note and as such was of much interest to the forces on both sides during WWII. One of her inventions (a precursor of the cellphone no less) is the maguffin in this story which pits the Rocketeer against American Nazis and also features a stealth Hollywood squad of anti-Nazi commandos who will be more than a little bit familiar to the reader I suspect. 

"Flying Death" by Robert Hood (set in late 1943) offers up a science fiction bonanza with references to the Philadelphia Experiment, alien spacecraft at Tunguska, alternate universes, and death rays. Cliff finds himself confronted by his doppleganger from another dimension, one in which the Nazis won the war. Major Secord of the other world is the leader of the "Flying Death" a legion of commandos armed with lasers and jet packs. Betty becomes a pawn in a battle between the two Cliffs, and the entire safety of the world is at stake if the Rocketeer loses. 

"The Mask of the Pharaoh" by Nicholas Kaufmann (set in 1943) is as the title suggests a lurid tale of moviemaking in "Poverty Row" area of Hollywood. Betty lands a lead in a horror flick, but all too quickly a grisly murder creates havoc and Cliff finds himself working with a hard-boiled police detective who likes mustard yellow named Argyle. They discover a world of intrigue, deception, and possibly even the supernatural. Hollywood was adept at making horror flicks and this tale pays homage to that and the often duplicitous way it was done by men of questionable character. 

"The Rivet Gang" by Lisa Morton (set in 1945) is the final story in the collection and the only post-WWII story. Cliff and Betty find themselves facing off against a gang of women known as "The Rivet Gang". The name comes from the weapon they use in the commission of their high-profile heist, a rivet gun designed to disable and maim. They prove to be quite a cantankerous crew and at one point Cliff ends up in the La Brea Tar Pits after a battle gone wrong. Like many of these stories, this one too remarks on social conditions at the time and speaks about how women were summarily discarded from the workplace when the men critical to the war returned home. 

There are some rousing adventures here. I'd love to see some of them adapted to comic book form at some point, but it's been many years since this collection dropped, so I guess this will have to do. I will note that several of the stories do have leave dangling threads and not all the baddies are brought to heel. There is definitely the suggestion that more was to come from this. Still and all it's an entertaining package for any Rocketeer fan. Highly recommended. 

Rip Off

The Complete Aztec Ace!

It was a great pleasure to at long last read the full run of Doug Moench's Aztec Ace from Eclipse. I was an Indy fan when this book debuted from Eclipse but soon had to draw back in because of family responsibilities and financial obligations. One cannot justify getting expensive (at the time) comic when the wife and child need to taken care of. I could've filled in the collection at anytime, but never did. But when I saw that Dark Horse had reprinted the complete run with a few extras I was intrigued. That is until I saw the asking price of $79.99 -- too much for idle curiosity I thought. Then I found the book for half that and jumped. I'm very happy I did for this is a very intriguing read. I won't suggest it's a complete epic, because the reader is left with a number of questions after all is read and done. But that's to be expected of a series this densely packed with details and motivations which doesn't reach its natural ending. 

Aztec Ace is a time traveler from the 23rd century who operates out of a base hidden in the world of the Aztecs in the 14th century. The funniest detail is that he uses the accumulated slime from slugs to power his time travel devices. He hooks up with a woman named Bridget Kronopoulous from 1940 and they fall in love. But first she has to die. Later they take a swing at a bogus Ben Franklin and a fake Cleopatra among others. There are appearances by the real Amelia Earhart, Glenn Miller and Ambrose Bierce. They have an ally hidden in a head shop in 1969 and another who is a detached head who sounds like Sigmund Freud. They make sure that Galileo's work survives. They battle strange creatures called "Gaunts" which serve the whims of a man behind a gas mask named Nine-Crocodiles who rules a land isolated from time itself. The latter has a wife named Shakreen who gives birth to a baby, but the baby might the child of Aztec Ace himself. Aztec (or Caza as he's called) pretends to be a number of things including a Mummy and a bonafide Golden Age superhero. There is no way to fully explain all that goes on in this series without creating a vast network of cross-referenced entries with deep annotations. The series rewards dealing with the complexity by treating the reader as an adult. 

Doug Moench's scripts are dense and require a reader's full attention, but that's worth the effort. The artwork is by a number of talented chaps including Mike Hernandez who does the first two issues another later on, and Ron Harris who lays out several issues late in the run. Tom Yeates sneaks in toward the end of the series and I assume we'd have seen more from him if it had continued. (His cover rendition of Cleopatra in the penultimate issue is a stunner.) But the core of the art is done by Dan Day who offers up sterling and ornate artwork ideally suited to the tone of the book. Nestor Redondo is on hand to give the series a solid look with is masterful inks. Mike Gustovich steps in to ink later issues with great results. 

Below are the covers for the full run. Also included in the collection is a single story from Total Eclipse. 

It's a lot of money for a collection. But if you can find it for less like I did, I highly recommend it. It was nice to time travel back to the 80's again, if even for a little while. 

Rip Off