The Rocketeer Thrills, Spills, And Chills

I was there at the beginning. Back in the 1980s when the Direct Market became the main distributor to comic book shops many small independent publishers released their own creator-owned comic books.

One of those publishers: Pacific Comics, happened to one of my favorites. I bought most of their titles. Starslayer was one of them.

In issue number two a short back-up story by artist/writer Dave Stevens featured a retro character straight out of old movie serials: The Rocketeer.

I read the story and I was hooked. I bought all of his Pacific Comics appearances and after the publisher went out of business I picked up the Dark Horse Comics series and sporadically from the five publishers that printed his adventures after Dark Horse. I still have all the issues. Yay for me!

Artist/writer Dave Stevens introduced The Rocketeer to readers way back in 1982. Unfortunately Dave passed away a number of years later and did not get to enjoy his character’s adventures as envisioned by some talented people like John Byrne, Alex Ross, Walter Simonson, Mike Allred, John Cassady and many others.

However he did get to see his character adapted as a movie.

The oversize book contains lots of new stories, it’s beautifully colored and all of the stories continue the spirit of the character and his quirky class of characters.

IDW Publishing has done an outstanding job of continuing The Rocketeer’s adventures in The Rocketeer Thrills, Spills, And Chills and for compiling them all in one spectacular trade paperback fans are sure to enjoy.

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.