The Rocketeer Appreciation

[HsssH]

Maybe there are enough people interested for this guy to have his own thread?

This month we are getting The Rocketeer #1 anthology: https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic...he-rocketeer-1

And in July we are getting new miniseries The Rocketeer: In the Den of Thieves: https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic...n-of-thieves-1
Written by same guy who did Great Race, but now we have Messina on art.

[MajorHoy]

. . . And in July we are getting new miniseries The Rocketeer: In the Den of Thieves: https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic...n-of-thieves-1
Written by same guy who did Great Race, but now we have Messina on art.

I'm so old that when you say "Messina on art" my first thoughts go to the duo Loggins and Messina (Jim Messina), not to David Messina.

Anyway, much as I love the character, I wasn't impressed by the Great Race, so I'll probably pass on this one.

[HsssH]

I think that Great Race had potential, but for me things just didn't come together in the last issue. I'm 50/50 at the moment if I should pick up the next one or not. Upcoming anthology sounds more interesting.

[MajorHoy]

I think that Great Race had potential, but for me things just didn't come together in the last issue. I'm 50/50 at the moment if I should pick up the next one or not. Upcoming anthology sounds more interesting.

That one is out in two weeks?

Not sure if my comic book shop will have ordered any copies, but maybe I'll check whenever I next stop in there. (I tend to go maybe once-a-month or so?)

[SavageJudgeDredd]

How is classic Rocketeer? Any favs? Start at the beginning?

[HsssH]

IDW has released Complete Rockeeter collection by Dave Stevens and I think that this is where everyone should start. IDW also released a good number of new material, but it is mixed bag and in my opinion nothing really is on the same levels as what Stevens did.

[MajorHoy]

IDW has released Complete Rockeeter collection by Dave Stevens and I think that this is where everyone should start. IDW also released a good number of new material, but it is mixed bag and in my opinion nothing really is on the same levels as what Stevens did.

There was some enjoyable stuff written by Mark Waid a little over ten years ago, including a team-up with The Spirit (The Rocketeer / The Spirit: Pulp Friction).

[MajorHoy]

I think that Great Race had potential, but for me things just didn't come together in the last issue. I'm 50/50 at the moment if I should pick up the next one or not. Upcoming anthology sounds more interesting.

That one is out in two weeks?

Not sure if my comic book shop will have ordered any copies, but maybe I'll check whenever I next stop in there. (I tend to go maybe once-a-month or so?)

Stopped at my comic book shop this morning, but they didn't have any copies of The Rocketeer one-shot left?
They said they didn't have anybody order it in advance, so they didn't get too many copies of it for the store.

I did, however, discover on the shelves a copy of the Rocketman & Rocketgirl one-shot from Dynamite that came out back in March, so I picked that one up.

[HsssH]

Close enough I guess.

As with most anthologies it was a mixed bag. I thought that Bilson, Demeo and Hughes delivered and their story to me sits nicely near Stevens work. Second story by Mao and Germark was okay and features Indian Jones, but with different name obviously. Nothing really wrong with it, but to me it felt like majority of stories from Adventures anthologies where you forget about the story 10 minutes later. And last one by Windom and Lee, well, I'm glad that it was only 4 pages long. Seriously, I have no idea what they were thinking there exactly. Maybe it was some rejected script for Iron Man short story?

[BigLbo]

going through the bargain bins i came across this comic called "Rocketman King of the Rocketmen" by Christopher Moeller. i'm a fan of the Rocketeer and thought it looked like a bootleg Rocketeer but since it was unbagged i gave it a browse through and the art was actually pretty cool so i ended up buying 4 issues for $2.

anyone familiar with it??

[HsssH]

First time I hear about it, what is the premise? Same as Rocketeer?

[MajorHoy]

First time I hear about it, what is the premise? Same as Rocketeer?

By the way, King of the Rocket Men was a 1949 movie serial.

[BigLbo]

First time I hear about it, what is the premise? Same as Rocketeer?

i haven't read it myself yet but i found this

Soaring straight from the Golden Age of movie serials right into your heart comes Rocketman! This is a lavious full color comic adaptation of the King of the Rocketmen classic Republican serial chock full of thrills, chills, and excitement. This is a brillantly updated story of Jeff King and his fellow members of the Science Associates, whose secret scientific project experiences sabotage, murder, and treachery at the hands of Doctor Vulcan! A classic for today's audience!

[HsssH]

One of the annoying things about IDW's handling of Rocketeer to me is that each story is basically starting from where Stevens's work ended. So what we have is same plot points repeating again and again and again without characters moving anywhere. Anyone even remembers how many new female characters were introduced that, more or less, fill the same role?

I wasn't a big fan of how Great Race ended, and it introduced another new female pilot, so I wasn't sure about this new Den of Thieves mini by the same writer. And first issue was okay, but I really liked that in the second issue it does feel like he is trying to bring things together.

We got some references to Great Race, which sounds obvious since he wrote it as well. But then, from what I recall Waid didn't really reference Cargo of Doom in Spirit crossover. But speaking about Waid, we got Sally reference in this issue as well who was one of the main characters in Cargo of Doom.
But most importantly we got few pages with not-Doc-Savage. And I really liked how the dialogue was written. It worked both in meta (legal reasons for why Doc Savage can't be used) and in-story for why he won't tell Cliff who he is.

[HsssH]

Unfortunately Den of Thieves, just like Great Race from the same writer, ends with some weird plot twists. I can appreciate that Mooney tried to develop Rocketeer further instead of just playing in the sandbox that Stevens created, but for me he didn't really stick the landing.

Both miniseries ain't bad, it is just a bit frustratijg since it feels like with some small revisions to the plot it could have been great.