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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