2010 Comic Book News Archives

November 9, 2010: Never-Made "Superman/Rocketeer" Comic Book Miniseries

Superman/Rocketeer ComicBookResources.com has an article about artist Dave Stevens and his pitch for a 3-issue miniseries teaming his beloved Rocketeer with the Man of Steel... a pitch DC Comics wasn't really interested in.

    Artist Dave Stevens was born with an old soul, a man essentially of another era. He was an individual with a fondness for the popular culture of yesteryear, particularly those good old days of the Dirty Thirties and Flying Forties. In the summer of 1981, Stevens' affinity for the past led the successful Hollywood storyboard artist to create the Rocketeer, his hallmark character, for what originally was intended as just a two-part story in the "Pacific Presents" comics anthology. The public outcry for more high-flying adventures of the beloved hero and his gal Betty would ultimately lead to new comics and, seemingly, culminate with a big Disney self-titled summer motion picture in 1991.

    With the movie behind him, Stevens returned to comics and completed "Cliff's New York Adventure" in 1995, his last published Rocketeer story. Although the high quality of the art in the stories never floundered, the sunny hero and his title became lost in the glut of dark titles of the era. Not long after, Stevens became intrigued with the notion of teaming his character with a certain Man of Steel. Maybe it was triggered by nostalgia and the memories of how much joy those old Superman television shows gave him as a child. In a 2001 interview with Jon B. Cooke (in "Comic Book Artist" magazine), Stevens reminisced, "We all watched ['Adventures of Superman'] and 'Zorro', and tied towels around our necks and jumped off the roof! [Laughs]"

    Besides his story treatment, Stevens left behind the plot and scripts for the first two issues of this proposed three-issue miniseries, along with a plot and notes for the final issue from an earlier draft. Accompanying the material was only a single pencil sketch of a Joe Shuster-style Superman by Stevens, the way he envisioned "The Man of Tomorrow" appearing in this event.

Read the complete article, including pages from the script, at ComicBookResources.com.



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