Rocketeer
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The Rocketeer is a superhero created by writer/illustrator Dave Stevens. The character is a homage to the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.
The Rocketeer is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jet pack that allows him to fly. His adventures are set in 1938 Los Angeles, and Stevens gave them a retro, nostalgic feel influenced by, among other things, Commando Cody movie serials and pinup diva Bettie Page.
In 1991, The Rocketeer was released as a feature film by Walt Disney Pictures and directed by Joe Johnston.
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[edit] Synopsis
[edit] The Rocketeer
In 1938 Los Angeles, Cliff Secord, a local racing pilot and barnstormer, discovers a mysterious package after police chase down two speeders who try to make a get away in his plane. Leading, of course to adventure.
[edit] References to other works in The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer makes a great number of references to pop culture from the 1930s to the 1950s. The first storyline, "The Rocketeer" features characters from the Doc Savage pulp series, though Stevens takes care to not refer to any of the characters—including Doc Savage himself—by name so as not to have to pay fees for using the characters. "Cliff's New York Adventure" similarly features unnamed characters from The Shadow including Lamont Cranston himself. The character Betty is drawn with the likeness of 1950s model Bettie Page.
[edit] Publication history
The Rocketeer’s first adventure appeared as a backup feature to Mike Grell's Starslayer #2 from Pacific Comics in 1982. Four more installments appeared in various Pacific publications, and were later collected together by Eclipse Comics (ISBN 1-56060-088-8). The fifth chapter ended in a cliffhanger.
The story picked up again in the Rocketeer Adventure Magazine. Two issues were published by Comico Comics in 1988 and 1989, but the third did not appear until years later, published by Dark Horse Comics in 1995. All three issues were collected by Dark Horse as The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure (ISBN 1-56971-092-9).
There was talk of further stories, perhaps with other artists, but nothing came of it.[citation needed]
[edit] Computer game
The Rocketeer was also adapted for a computer game for PC machines. Using digitized sound and 256-color VGA graphics, it consists of a sequence of several levels, each of them in different action style, and the story is carried between levels with comic book–style strips and spoken dialogue. The game was more true to the original source material than the movie. A version of this title later appeared on the Super Nintendo.[citation needed]
There is another Rocketeer game, one for the NES. This game was a side-scrolling platform jumping game closely based on the movie adaptation.
In 1988 the Cinemaware company also published a computer game called Rocket Ranger based on a similar idea and probably inspired by the Rocketeer comics.[citation needed]
[edit] The Rocket Man
A “Rocket Man” character first appeared in a number of movie serials including:
- King of the Rocket Men (1949)
- Radar Men from the Moon (1952)
- Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952)
- Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953)
[edit] In popular culture
- Gabe from Penny Arcade confuses the term racketeering with rocketeering as both a jab at a recent event and tribute to the character.[1]
- Eric Canete's cover for Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin #1 is a homage to the film's theatrical poster.[2]
- In the computer game Command and Conquer Red Alert 2 The Allied Forces have an infantry unit called Rocketeers.
