Written by Choyrt | 26 January 2012

Right-O.  Time to take a break from classic Sci-Fi/classic literature to get some comic books up in here, yo!  Dawg!  Fo ... sho?  Bah.

Anyways, this comic is credited for a lot of major changes in the comic industry once it was published in the early 1980's.  The Rocketeer is often cited as a major influence in giving the independant artist/publishing combo greater traction as well as being the poster child for early comic-to-movie sucess.  On top of it, this comic book is almost exclusively to thank for bringing Bettie Page to a whole new generation.  In case you do not know Bettie Page, please see figure 1.1 below.

Figure 1.1

You are welcome.  Moving along, the Rocketeer is a very pulpy tongue-in-cheek comic adventure involving Nazi spies, vengful circus folk, high-flying adventure, long-winded internal monologue during fight scenes, and strung-along romance of the juvenile variety.  This is not high-brow stuff.  It is fairly fun, and most importantly it is very well drawn.  Behold the combination of styles present below:

Notice how the layout of the comic is structured, but still non-traditional given the backdrop.  As for the line work, it adds skin/musle tone that reminds the viewer of those old Edgar Rice Buroughs book covers in a way to harken back to classic adventure tales while the color maintains a more modern/early 90's approach.

As for dialogue, it's pretty cheesy in a traditional Indiana Jones style.  Charming, yet kistchy.  The story is playfully convoulted yet transparent while maintaining the naivette of 1950's American pop-culture and the action is fratic and playful.  The complete collection of these comics is fairly small, limiting The Rocketeer to two story arcs; one involving Nazi spies regarding the rocket pack itself and the other arc involving a tragic love tale borrowed from the film Freaks.

With a idealization of Bettie Page prancing around half-dressed every other page combined with vintage banter, well-penned action, and vivid colorization, this is a very well made comic book that is a monument of fanservice.  Add it to your collection for casual reading and as an example of independant comics done right without falling victim to avant garde temptations.

Get it here at amazon.  Also, as a little bit of trivia, Bettie Page apparently was so flattered by her comic-self in Rocketeer she became friends with the comic's creator Dave Stevens.