Rocketeer Adventures Volume 1 (The Rocketeer) Hardcover – December 27, 2011

A Book of short stories told by various writers and artistsIs a Great collection of the Rocketeer character just fun adventure

As a huge fan of both Dave Stevens and The Rocketeer, I earnestly ordered this because until IDW decided to publish it there were no Rocketeer comics except those by Stevens himself. I had hopes that it would continue his legacy well, and that maybe I'd finally find out what happens after Betty walked into the Bulldog Cafe. The truth is that while Rocketeer Adventures does have some well-written and well-illustrated stories, it has some damn awful ones as well. Also, bad news for people hoping to see a continuation of Stevens' storyline, Rocketeer Adventures is an anthology series, and the only vignette that attemps to further the original story ("Home Again" by Michael Allred) is perhaps the worst story in there, and Allred obviously knows nothing about these characters. I mean, did he even read The Rocketeer? Nevertheless, as a die hard Rocketeer fan I still enjoyed reading through it, and as I said there are some gems in here. Although personally, if I had to do it over again, I'd have just leafed through it at my local comic book store instead of buying it.

My first exposure to The Rocketeer came when I was a wee lad and saw the vastly underrated film. I didn't know at the time that it was based on a comic book series, but I discovered it through the Complete Rocketeer released a couple of years ago. This is a perfect companion to the original two adventures that Dave Stevens wrote and illustrated. Each short story in this anthology is a great throwback to the retro 30's and 40's and the high flying adventure stories that inspired The Rocketeer in the first place.I loved every story, every artist, the Alex Ross covers I drooled over, the wonderful hardcover design, and the bonus pinups in the back.Highly recommend to any fan of The Rocketeer or 30's retro flavored adventure stories.

Interesting story and great art. Nice to see the story continued. I hope they carry on the work into future issues. Fans of The Rocketeer should get this.

GREAT art and writing!

The Rocketeer adventures is a collection of a four individually released issues of the same title that has been released by IDW, the company that has taken over the property ever since creator Dave Stevens left us. It features short stories by various artists and writers who deliver us their own take on this beloved character and his pre-World War II adventures. It's pretty neat at times, but overall a bit hit and miss. Some of these guys really did a great job with their stories, while some I feel don't quite get The Rocketeer. Here is a breakdown of each story, who contributed, and what I thought worked or did not work:"The Rocketeer" - John Cassaday wrote and illustrated this short and did an excellent job. He really captured Dave Stevens style, and the character likenesses were beautiful. The story that featured a kidnapped Betty tied to a missile was a tad overkill, but overall fun and satisfying and definitely in keeping with the stories which inspired it."Home Again" - Michael Allred brings his own style to the proceedings with some decent if cartoony looking art, but the story was terrible and badly attempted to tie directly into Stevens' three part final story for The Rocketeer, "Cliff's New York Adventure", offering a vague story that went nowhere and made no real sense at all."Dear Betty" - Kurt Busiek brings us a tale from Betty's point of view as WWII rages and she waits on postcards from Cliff. The story is endearing, but I am not a fan of Michael Kaluta's artwork. I think my biggest problem, though, are those terrible post cards that he drew, featuring very silly nonsense such as The Rocketeer fighting a giant iron Japanese Octopus, or the giant ape dressed like a Samurai that Cliff is having a sword fight with. Sillyness like that is not The Rocketeer and actually serves to undermine an otherwise nice story."It ain't the Fall That Kills Ya..." - Mark Waid wrote this story about an actor Cliff clashes with who does a stunt as a new superhero to advertise one of the latest funny books. Waid's story is a bit silly, to be quite honest, though his little ironic joke about the comic book medium is enjoyable. Chris Weston offered up some good artwork that captures the originals pretty well. Waid also is writing the upcoming 4 part miniseries, The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom."Betty Saves the Day!" - Silly nonsense from Darwyn Cooke, though I give him credit for trying to capture the old Republic Pictures serial feel."TKO" - The best story out of the collection, in my opinion, brought to us by Lowell Francis and drawn by Gene Ha. The story has ties to the past and appearances by Doc Savage and his two pals. The Rocketeer battles an aerial opponent in another stolen gizmo that allows him to fly. The story's battle reflects a real boxing match that was airing over radios at the same time. Pretty nifty. I appreciated the links to Doc Savage in this one, showing that Cliff hasn't been forgotten by him. Gene's art looks nice too!"A Rocketeer Story" - Ryan Sook writes and illustrates a story that captures the world of The Rocketeer rather effectively. Betty's big on screen premiere gets robbed and Cliff is late for the show!"Heaven's Devils" - Plotted and drawn by Bruce Timm, but actually written by Joe R. Lansdale, this was sort of a disappointment for me. It is actually a short story rather than a comic book, with a few illustrations along the way. The story was great, but the writing style left a bit to be desired. I am sorry, but things like, "catching her lingerie on the edge of the plane, ripping the fragile garment and exposing a lot of smooth, creamy flesh," makes this sound like a generic smut novel. It's hard to take seriously when I have to endure such amateurish sounding writing by Lansdale. Timm's overly stylized Batman: The Animated Series artwork wasn't that impressive either. I was looking forward to this one, but ended up disappointed in it's overall execution. Still, an overall good plot. The devil is in the detail!"Junior Rocketeers" - Not very interesting story by Jonathan Ross, featuring some kids who are on to The Rocketeer. Naturally, we get the trite story of the annoying kids saving the day. Meh. I am not impressed by Tommy Lee Edwards particular art style either. He commits the cardinal sin of making Betty look like a clown rather than the sexy lady she is."A Day at the Beach" - This silly story by Dave Gibbons about surfing somehow manages to be rather entertaining when all is said and done. Pretty good art by Scott Hampton helps it along."Waterlogged" - Joe Pruett's story about a Japanese submarine off the coast that interrupts Cliff's day at the park is rather far fetched and silly. Adding to the problem is Tony Harris' artwork which is too exaggerated and weird for me to enjoy. Add this guy to the list of folks who don't need to be drawing Betty!"The Flight of the Aeronaut" - John Acrudi's story falls into what could be a potential pit fall for this new series...the need to keep dreaming up aerial opponents for The Rocketeer to battle, who all happen to be equipped with flying packs of some sort. The Rocketeer is a hero, yes, but not a superhero. He doesn't need super-villains. With that said, the story isn't bad at all. Brendan McCarthy brings an interesting style to the illustrations that don't look anything like Steven's work, yet somehow captures the flavor of the story quite well. For artwork that is a departure from what we are used to in The Rocketeer, his is the most welcome.Overall, this book is an enjoyable collection with only a handful of things that caused me to wince or that stood out as something that didn't need to rear its head in a Rocketeer story. That is to be expected, though, as the material branches out and is explored by many different artists and story tellers. Alex Ross supplies some beautiful artwork here and there throughout the book, as well as the cover itself. An added benefit is seeing a few older works from Dave Stevens himself pop up in between stories. Rocketeer Adventures is a somewhat hit or miss affair, but overall a welcome new collection that should have something for every Rocketeer fan!

tephens' Rocketeer, written by a talented group of artists. There's not really a bad story in here, although these are pretty standard 7-10 page pulp stories. However, Kurt Busiek's Dear Betty actual does have an emotional journey and an interesting focus on Betty that makes for compelling reading.There's so many interesting stories, nods, and pastiches to the Golden Age of Comics and Stevens original work that if you love comics and stories of this era or enjoyed the original Rocketeer book, this is worth checking out. There's no ongoing story but a really fun anthology.

I got hooked on The Rocketeer with the movie. This is quite different. The art is great. A few of the stories left me wondering what just happened, but most were very good.

Overall ok. Only some stories/art are decent, as you can expect when variety of writers/artists have worked together on different & unrelated stories.Still worth buying if you want to see your friends like Cliff(Rocketeer), Betti, Peevy etc are doing "outside" of their immortal adventures as told(and created) by late legend Dave Stevens!One last word : DS may be gone but like most of his creations, Rocketeer will forever remain alive at the heart of the fans.

Steven's Rocketeer is one of my favorite characters.I really enjoy seeing other peoples interpretations.Some stories are stronger than other, but the good out-weigh the bad.

Cet ouvrage est un hommage rendu au dessinateur trop tôt disparu Dave Stevens (' The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures ', ' Dave Stevens: Complete Sketches & Studies '), avec de courtes nouvelles aventures de son principal héros Rocketeer proposées par de vraies stars de la BD américaine : les époux Allred, les scénaristes Busiek et Waid, les dessinateurs Darwyn Cooke, Ryan Sook (Long time no see!), le coloriste Dave Stewart etc. Aucun tâcheron !Toute l'équipe rassemblée propose le meilleur de ce qu'elle sait faire et, s'il n'y a pas d'énorme surprise, c'est un témoignage d'admiration uniformément de grande qualité qui nous est proposé.Rocketeer est un jeune américain fanatique d'aviation qui vit des aventures de super-héros grâce à un petit moteur à réaction fixé sur son dos, un peu avant la seconde guerre mondiale. Sa petite amie a les traits de la légendaire pin-up Bettie Page (une amie de Dave Stevens) et c'est bien évidemment un des attraits de ce comics.Il s'agit d'un "volume 1": puisse le volume 2 ne pas tarder et présenter la même qualité ! The Rocketeer: The Complete AdventuresDave Stevens: Complete Sketches & Studies

Overall, the art is nice, and features a number of popular artists, like Mike Allred. However, it seems hard for most writers to pull off 7 page stories. None of the stories stand out for me. Forgettable.