The full saga is coming back to print…
Hey, folks, The Rocketeer is back with a fancy new slipcase deluxe edition, bringing back to print the entire original saga by the late Dave Stevens.
Dig this official description of The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures Deluxe Edition from Penguin Random House, which is distributing the volume for IDW later in 2022:
THE ROCKETEER: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES DELUXE EDITION
Take flight with Cliff and Betty in this beautiful oversized collection that features the original complete comics saga!
This long-out-of-print collection, and Eisner-award winner for best design, features the entire Rocketeer saga by Dave Stevens, plus more than 100 pages of supplemental material—sketches, prelims, and tons more—giving new insight into the artist’s thought processes as he was developing The Rocketeer! And all wrapped up in a lovely slipcase!
Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer burst onto the shelves of comic book shops 40 years ago! This beautifully illustrated and charming story features the adventures of down-and-out stunt pilot Cliff Secord after he finds an experimental jetpack. With the help of his closest friend and confidante Peevy, and the support (mostly) of his beautiful girlfriend Betty, Cliff takes to the skies in 1938 Los Angeles. Intrigue abounds as Cliff finds himself fighting enemy spies and nefarious criminals, all the while trying to keep his personal life with Betty from being waylaid by his double-life as the Rocketeer!
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A few thoughts:
— There aren’t that many non-Big Two series that whip fans into a frenzy across the board. The Rocketeer is certainly one of them. (Hellboy and The Walking Dead are two others off the top of my head.) It’s well deserved not just because it’s fun but because it’s beautiful.
— The Rocketeer debuted in 1982 as a backup feature in Mike Grell’s Starslayer series from Pacific Comics. Hardcore fans know that, but if you didn’t, now you do.
— The $100, 276-page volume is due Oct 25, 2022.
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MORE
— DAVE STEVENS’ ROCKETEER Artist’s Edition to Get 40th Anniversary Re-Release. Click here.
— The Curious Case of When SUPERMAN Met the ROCKETEER. Click here.
September 18, 2022
Re: “more than 100 pages of supplemental material—sketches, prelims, and tons more”. Have these extras been printed somewhere else before?