Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Graphic Novel Review: 'The Rocketeer' by Dave Stevens

Found this at a second hand collectables stall over the holiday period and really enjoyed reading this! It's a rollickingly fast paced adventure set in the late 1930s. The discovery of a prototype engine pack, stowed away in a jet by a couple of German spies, before they are apprehended by the law, leads aviator Cliff Secord, along with some help from ace engineer Peevey, to use the jetpack to revitalise his act in an airshow. But when both the Feds and the German agents get wind of him and the jetpack, he tries to keep the jetpack from falling into their clutches.

With story and awesome art by the legendary Dave Stevens, this collects the five chapters of 'The Rocketeer' into one volume. You really get a sense that it's set in the 30s, especially with the settings and with some of the vocabulary that is very evocative of the time. The art is superb! Some of the best comic art I've seen, making you linger on some of the comic panels longer just to savour some of the added details and visual expressions on the faces of the characters. And with Stevens reknowned for pinup comic art, Cliff's girlfriend Betty, modelled on vintage pinup model Bettie Page, gives him ample excuse for some exquisite pinup art too!

Well worth picking up if you're a fan of golden age comics, vintage serials and of the movie that was based on the comic.

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