Man, I don’t own a lot of graphic novels. What am I? Nuv?! Did I spend my teenage years hoarding crappy manga (redundant) because it had badly drawn boobies that I could sneak past my mom for shameful times? No, I just befriended an awesome kid who looked way older than he was. And you know what? Together we bought our porn (and comics) the good old fashioned patriotic way: off our friends’ older brothers, paid for with Canadian Tire money stolen from our parents fridge-top fondue pots. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from listening to that old lame-nuts Stuart McLean on the CBC, it’s that people frigging love old timey slice-of-life stories like that last one.
Well here’s another gem. Back in 1982 a righteous dude named Dave Stevens took his love for everything that’s good in life (art deco design, comic books, rockets and jet-packs, action, adventure and Bettie Page) and created one of the greatest and most beautifully illustrated comics of all time: The Rocketeer. My goodness, Stevens was THE MAN before that old villain leukemia took him way too soon. But listen, this ain’t no eulogy! We’re not gonna sit around and bemoan the end of The Rocketeer are we? Because something magical happened a couple of weeks ago!
Brothers and sisters, I’m talking about ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #1 from IDW Publishing!
Who in the what now? I know! Gentlemen and scholars like myself who only own a handful of the MOST PREMIUM graphic novels (see Nuv? I tied in the first paragraph! JESUS!) already know this, but last year IDW published a deluxe collection called The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures which was an absolute TREASURE TROVE of greatness. Hardcover, slipcover, and even one of those classy-as-hell attached ribbons so you don’t even have to waste your time looking for a bookmark. I’m talking C-L-A-S-S-Y. Well people went mental over it and I’m no exception so the geniuses over at IDW sat around their thinkin’ table and thought up a truly great idea. How’s about more Rocketeer?
So that brings us to what the hell I’m talking about. Dig it! The Rocketeer Adventures is a four-issue mini-series drawn by the who’s-who of the comic book industry. I’m talking Mike Allred, Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday, Mike Mignola, Alex Ross on the covers, DARWYN GODDAMN COOKE!, Mark Waid, Gene Ha, Geof Darrow, Ryan Sook, Bruce Timm and a whole lot more. This is just…I mean…
HAVE! YOU! EVER! IN! YOUR! LIFE!?
The first issue has been the comic book event of the year so far. Cassaday, Allred and Busiek each turn in stories that are UNCANNY in the way they capture Stevens’ unique voice, but the real fun is in watching Cassaday drop the best art of his career (yes, that includes his epic run on Astonishing X-Men). As always, Michael Allred keeps it wonderfully strange and dynamic and Michael Kaluta rocks an old-school look, which is fitting considering he’s 64 years old. Oh, and the pin-up by Mike Mignola is better than any Hellboy cover he’s ever done. Or maybe I’m just biased? Or maybe Nuv’s just an idiot? Probably the first, but definitely the latter. (See for yourself – it’s the one on the left…)
Well, I can’t get it together. I won’t get it together! Even if you’re one of those types who only saw the Rocketeer movie because you were madly in love with Jennifer Connelly (me, still) or Timothy Dalton (Nuv, while listening to the Everly Brothers), I beseech you to find this first issue and buy it and love it with all your heart. Love it more than I loved it when Nuv’s hair caught fire while he was filming that Pepsi commercial. Haha, good memories last a lifetime, don’t they?
– Ian
