Dave Lee Stevens (July 29, 1955 – March 11, 2008) was an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

artist. He was most famous for creating '' The Rocketeer'' comic book and film character, and for his

pin-up A pin-up model is a model (person), model whose mass-produced pictures and photographs have wide appeal within the popular culture of a society. Pin-up models are usually glamour photography, glamour, actresses, or fashion models whose pictures ...

style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model

Bettie Page Bettie Mae Page (April 22, 1923 – December 11, 2008) was an American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up model, pin-up photos.Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

's Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award in 1982, and received both an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

and the

Kirby Award The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985 to 1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Spo ...

for Best Graphic Album in 1986.

Early life

Stevens was born July 29, 1955, in

Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 67,265, down from 69,772 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Lynwood is located nea ...

, but grew up in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. His family relocated to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, where he attended

San Diego City College San Diego City College (City College or City) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of San Diego Community College District and the California Community Colleges system. The college is accredited by the Accrediting ...

for two years, and attended the then-new annual San Diego Comic-Con (now

Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

Career

Early work

Stevens's first professional comic work was inking

Russ Manning Russell George Manning (January 5, 1929"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VMMT-NZN : accessed 28 Aug 2014), Russell Manning, Dec 1981; citing U.S. Social Security Administratio ...

's pencils for the ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'' newspaper comic strip and two European ''Tarzan'' graphic novels in 1975; he later assisted Manning on the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' newspaper strip. Stout, William (March 11, 2008)
"DAVE STEVENS 1955 – 2008"
"Journal". The Worlds of William Stout. He began doing occasional comic book work, including providing illustrations for

fanzines A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

(inking drawings by comic book veteran

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

among them), as well as creating the Aurora feature for Japan's Sanrio Publishing.''Comic Book Artist Magazine'' #15 – Dave Stevens Interview – TwoMorrows Publishing
/ref> Starting in 1977, he drew

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...

s for

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

's animated TV shows, including ''

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of Am ...

'' and '' The Godzilla Power Hour'', where he worked with comics and animation veteran Doug Wildey. For the rest of the decade, he continued to work in animation and film, joining the art studio of illustrators

William Stout William Stout (born September 18, 1949) is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over ...

and Richard Hescox in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, working on projects such as storyboards for

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's ''

Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana ...

'' and pop singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's video " Thriller".

The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer series was an adventure story set in a

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

-styled 1930s (with allusions to heroes like

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...

and

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...

emphasizing the pulp tradition), about a down-on-his-luck pilot named Cliff Secord who finds a mysterious rocket pack. Despite its erratic publishing history, the Rocketeer proved to be one of the first successful features to emerge from the burgeoning

independent comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream su ...

movement. Influenced by

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

artists

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

, Lou Fine,

Reed Crandall Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall
at ...

, Maurice Whitman,

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

and

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

, Stevens was widely recognized, along with artists such as

Steve Rude Steve Rude (born December 31, 1956) is an Americans, American comics artist. He is best known as the co-creator of ''Nexus (comics), Nexus''. Early life Steve Rude was born on December 31, 1956, in Madison, Wisconsin. He attended the Milwaukee Sc ...

and

Jaime Hernandez Jaime (sometimes spelled Xaime) Hernandez (born 1959) is the co-creator of the alternative comic book '' Love and Rockets'' with his brothers Gilbert and Mario. Early life Jaime Hernandez grew up in Oxnard, California.Aldama, p. 119. He is the ...

, as one of the finest comic book artists of his generation. Stevens was a longtime admirer of 1950s glamour and pin-up model

Bettie Page Bettie Mae Page (April 22, 1923 – December 11, 2008) was an American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up model, pin-up photos. Two other characters that show up in the ''Rocketeer'' stories were based on personal acquaintances of Stevens: the "Peevy" character, based on cartoonist Doug Wildey, and the sleazy "Marco of Hollywood" character, based on real life glamour and porn photographer

Ken Marcus Ken Marcus (born October 2, 1946) is a famous American photographer, best known for his work in glamour and erotic photography with ''Penthouse'' and ''Playboy'' magazines and for his own website. For over 50 years he has produced hundreds of ...

Comic book series

The first comic book featuring the Rocketeer was released in 1982. Those first stories appeared as a second feature in issues #2 and #3 of

Mike Grell Mike Grell (born September 13, 1947) is an American comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as '' Green Lantern/Green Arrow'', '' The Warlord'', and '' Jon Sable Freelance''. Early life Grell studied at the University of ...

Pacific Comics Pacific Comics was a comic book Distribution (marketing), distributor and Comic book publisher, publisher active from 1971 to 1984. The company began as a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill Schanes, Bill and Steve Schan ...

' '' Starslayer'' series. For its next two installments, Steven's feature moved to the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

comic title ''Pacific Presents'' #1 and #2. The fourth chapter ended in a cliffhanger that was later concluded in a lone ''Rocketeer'' comic released by

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...

.The Comics Reporter
/ref> The character was then continued in the ''Rocketeer Adventure Magazine'', with two issues being published in 1988 and then 1989 by Comico Comics; a third and final issue was published six years later in 1995 by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

. Stevens's extensive background research and meticulous approach to his illustrations contributed to the long delays between ''Rocketeer'' issues. The first completed story line was then collected into a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

, in both trade paperback and

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

formats, and simply titled ''The Rocketeer'' (); the second story line was collected into a glossy trade paperback graphic novel by Dark Horse called ''The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure'' ().

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...

announced a hardcover edition collecting the entire Rocketeer series for the first time, due originally in October 2009. ''Dave Stevens's The Rocketeer, The Complete Adventures'' would contain all-new coloring by Laura Martin who was chosen by Dave Stevens before his untimely death. The book finally appeared in December of that year in two separate states: a trade hardcover edition with full color

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...

and a second, more lavish, deluxe hardcover edition () of 3,000 copies. The deluxe edition sold out almost immediately upon publication, and IDW announced a second printing. In 2011, IDW launched an all-new Rocketeer comic book series, illustrated by various artists, called ''Rocketeer Adventures''.

Other work

Stevens began developing a Rocketeer theatrical film proposal in 1985 and then sold the rights to his character to the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. After the release of ''Batman'', movie studios rushed to produce similar properties that had not yet been fully greenlit. During this time, Stevens created costume illustrations for ''The Flash'' television series which built by

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the ''Terminator'' series, the first three '' Jurassic Park'' films, '' Aliens'', '' The Thing'', ...

Studios. That same year, principal photography commenced on ''The Rocketeer'' and was released in 1991. The film was directed by

Joe Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston II (born May 13, 1950) is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including '' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), '' The Rocketeer' ...

, and starred

Billy Campbell William Oliver Campbell (born July 7, 1959) is an American film and television actor. He first gained recognition for his recurring role as Luke Fuller in the TV series ''Dynasty'' and in '' The Rocketeer''. Then, he became known for playing R ...

Jennifer Connelly Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She began her career as a child model before making her acting debut in the 1984 crime film ''Once Upon a Time in America''. After a few more years of modeling, she began t ...

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (March 26, 1934 – June 29, 2023) was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony A ...

and

Timothy Dalton Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (; born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in '' The Living Dayli ...

. Stevens was a hands-on co-producer of the film. It received a mixture of highly positive and lukewarm reviews and disappointing domestic ticket sales, ensuring no immediate sequels would follow. Dave Stevens always felt that a majority of the problem was that the studio's movie poster and promotional graphics were over-stylized and vague and didn't convey to people what the film was all about. After the Walt Disney Company purchased the Rocketeer character for film production, comics artist

Russ Heath Russell Heath Jr. (September 29, 1926 – August 23, 2018) was an American artist best known for his comic book work, particularly his DC Comics war stories and his 1960s art for ''Playboy'' magazine's " Little Annie Fanny" feature. He also prod ...

illustrated a promotional film tie-in

, ''The Rocketeer: The Official Movie Adaptation'', based on their feature film. Following ''The Rocketeer'', Stevens worked primarily as an illustrator, doing a variety of ink and painted illustrations for book and comic book covers, posters, prints, portfolios, and private commissions, including a number of covers for

Comico Comico or Cómico (Spanish "comical" or "funny") may refer to: * Comico: The Comic Company, American comic company 1982–1997 * Comico (NHN Japan), a webtoon portal owned by NHN Japan Corporation NHN Japan Corporation is the Japanese subsidiary ...

's '' Jonny Quest'' title and a series of eight covers for Eclipse comics, featuring characters such as

Airboy Airboy is a fictional Golden Age of comic books, Golden Age aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II, before ending his initial run in 1953. The hero was the costumed identi ...

and the DNAgents. The Eclipse covers were also published in the form of large posters. Many of his illustrations were in the "

good girl art Good girl art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

" genre. He also returned to art school to study painting. Before his death in 2008 from

hairy cell leukemia Hairy cell leukemia is an uncommon hematological malignancy characterized by an accumulation of abnormal B lymphocytes. The incidence of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is 0.28-0.30 cases per 100,000 people in Europe and the United States and the pre ...

, Stevens was working on a career retrospective collection of his work with editors Arnie and Cathy Fenner titled ''Brush with Passion – The Life and Art of Dave Stevens''. The book was published the same year in a regular hardcover, as well a deluxe

slipcase A slipcase is a five-sided box, usually made of high-quality cardboard, into which ring binder, binders, books or book sets are ''slipped'' for protection, leaving the spine (book), spine exposed. Special editions of books are often slipcased for ...

d hardcover edition. In addition, very limited signed and leather-bound proof copies were also published, all from Underwood Books.

Personal life and death

In 1980, Stevens married longtime girlfriend Charlene Brinkman, later known as horror film

scream queen A scream queen (a wordplay on ''screen queen'') is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. Scream king is the equivalent for men. Notable scream queen examples include ...

Brinke Stevens; their marriage ended in divorce just six months later, though she later modeled for Stevens. Following several years of struggling with uncommon

, which caused a gradual reduction in his artistic output, Stevens died on March 11, 2008, in

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its population was 72,740 at the 2020 United States census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by pr ...

Legacy

Stevens's work has had a significant influence on comic book and fantasy illustrators, among them

Adam Hughes Adam Hughes (born May 5, 1967) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as ''Wonder Woman'' and ''Catwoman''. ...

. Artist Laura Molina, with whom Stevens had a romantic relationship in the late 1970s, used him as the subject of her controversial '' Naked Dave'' series of paintings.Naked Dave
/ref> On November 3, 2022,

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Th ...

announced they acquired distribution rights to the feature-length documentary ''Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection''.

Quotes

"Dave had more artistic integrity than anyone I've ever known. He always marched to his own drummer whether it benefited him financially or not. He turned down many lucrative job offers—including a monthly pin-up assignment for ''Playboy'' offered by Hugh Hefner as a replacement for their regular

Alberto Vargas Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez (9 February 1896 – 30 December 1982) was a Peruvian-American painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists, and as one of the pioneers of airbrush art. Numerous ...

feature—when they didn't jibe with his own highly personal vision of what he should be doing. As a businessman, Dave often drove his close friends nuts. We'd watch in astonishment at the riches passing him by." – William Stout "Dave was truly one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life ... and was certainly among the most gifted. Our first encounter was at Jack Kirby's house around 1971 when he came to visit and show Jack some of his work. As I said, Kirby was very encouraging and he urged Dave not to try and draw like anyone else but to follow his own passions. This was advice Dave took to heart, which probably explains why he took so long with every drawing. They were rarely just jobs to Dave. Most of the time, what emerged from his drawing board or easel was a deeply personal effort. He was truly in love with every beautiful woman he drew, at least insofar as the paper versions were concerned." – Mark Evanier "Well, I do expect a lot of myself. I'm a harsh critic because I know what I'm capable of. I have hit those occasional peaks amongst the valleys, but the peaks are so few—things like genuine flashes of virtuoso brush inking, like I've never executed before or since—I can count on one hand the number of jobs where I've been able to hit that mark. The same with penciling. Sometimes it just flows, but more often than not, it's pure physical and spiritual torment just to get something decent on paper. I often get very discouraged with the whole creative process." – Dave Stevens

Selected works

* ''The Rocketeer'', Eclipse books (1990). * ''Just Teasing'', Ursus Imprints (1991). * ''The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure'', Dark Horse (1997). * ''Vamps and Vixens: The Seductive Art of Dave Stevens'', Verotik (1998). * ''Dave Stevens: Selected Sketches and Studies'', (Vols. 1–4), Bulldog Studios. No ISBN * ''Brush with Passion: The Art and Life of Dave Stevens'', Underwood Books (2008). * ''Dave Steven's The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures'', IDW Publishing (2010).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Dave The Rocketeer (character) 1955 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American artists 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American male artists American comics artists Hanna-Barbera people Deaths from leukemia in California Artists from Portland, Oregon People from Lynwood, California