Long after the unfortunate and untimely demise of the Rocketeer’s creator, Dave Stevens (1955-2008), his creation is back, resurrected by some of the sharpest talents in today’s comic-book business. Since then sixteen new volumes have been released, forming three all-new series.
It’s about the first of these, Rocketeer Adventures, I would like to talk in our last review of 2012.
Originally it was published in four volumes, several of which had different editions, each with their own cover. All of these covers are also in the hardcover collection.
Each is a collection of different short stories, drawn by different artists (there are 27 contributors in total), all painting a new tale of our intrepid hero, Cliff Secord, who spends most of his time as the airborne Rocketeer.
With so many artists, it is impossible to please everyone with every single drawing style, but even the ones that weren’t much to my tastes were still paired with a good story. And that is definitely the strength of this collection: every single story is in the style of the originals. If Dave Stevens could see this, I’m sure he would rejoice in the afterlife.
My only lament is the lack of chronology as you will have one story that happens far later than the next. But this is a fact easily ignored and it should definitely not stop you from getting the book. This remains, without a doubt, one of the best pieces of dieselpunk storytelling and art available.
