the Rocketeer

the Rocketeer, American comic strip character created by writer and artist Dave Stevens in 1982.

The character had its genesis in a backup story in Starslayer, a fantasy comic by independent publisher Pacific Comics. Drawing on the Commando Cody movie serials of the 1950s and pulp novels of the 1930s, Stevens created the Rocketeer and his world as a beautifully rendered homage to a more innocent age. The story, set in 1938, begins when a pair of criminals hide a stolen rocket pack in the cockpit of stunt pilot Cliff Secord’s plane. When Secord discovers the strange contraption—essentially a small rocket with a harness to attach it to the pilot’s back—he seizes on it as a chance to win fame and impress his girlfriend Betty. With the help of his curmudgeonly pal Peevy, Secord fashions himself a costume of brown breeches, a flying jacket, and a metal-plumed steel helmet and flies into action. As a normal human with no physical advantages to speak of, Secord, as the Rocketeer, relies on his superfast rocket pack to help him save the day. Inevitably, various forces conspire to relieve Secord of the rocket pack, including Nazis, the FBI, and its mysterious inventor, a thinly veiled analog of pulp-era adventurer Doc Savage.

The original Rocketeer story appeared in Starslayer no. 2 and no. 3 in 1982, and the strip was promoted to the lead feature in the first two issues of the anthology Pacific Presents later that year. It was finally completed two years later in a Rocketeer special edition from Eclipse Comics. The change of publisher was notable; unlike many creators who worked for hire, Stevens retained the rights to his work, giving him full control of the characters’ use.

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While readers were certainly captivated by the Rocketeer’s thrilling adventures, Stevens’s masterful artwork—particularly his depiction of the female form—was an obvious draw. Stevens was perhaps the most-skilled practitioner of the “good girl art” style of his generation, and he based Secord’s girlfriend Betty on Bettie Page, then a largely forgotten 1950s pinup model. As fans devoured the comic and bought posters of the fictional Betty in droves, interest was revived in the character’s original inspiration. From forgotten model to counterculture icon, Page’s reemergence as a sex symbol, with a merchandising machine to match, stemmed largely from the pages of The Rocketeer. If Betty was a remarkable comic-book character, so too was the artist’s depiction of the 1930s milieu surrounding her adventures with Secord. Stevens delighted in delineating the eccentric architecture of prewar Hollywood, its stylish cars and airplanes, and its sense of fun.

Stevens’s meticulous, time-consuming attention to detail, as well as his successful life in Hollywood as a storyboard artist and designer, meant that it was four more years before a second Rocketeer adventure was serialized. That tale appeared in 1988 from new publisher Comico. After just two issues, Comico folded, and six years passed before the final installment was published by Dark Horse Comics. The new tale was, if anything, even more majestically drawn than the earlier episodes, featuring hard-boiled gangsters, old-time carnivals and freak shows, and a crime-fighting patron clearly inspired by the Shadow.

Both stories did well in comic-book form, but long before the first tale had been completed, it had been optioned by Hollywood. In 1991 Disney released The Rocketeer, a live-action feature film directed by Joe Johnston. Although the film received generally positive reviews, it underperformed at the box office, and Disney chose not to execute its planned option for a pair of sequels. Critics observed that the film might have been ahead of its time, as The Rocketeer’s easy mixture of humour and action anticipated a wave of hugely successful comic-book screen adaptations.