Hi, Dave.
DJ> Man, whatEVER happened to the rocketeer???
     Y'know, that's a very good question.
DJ> Its now going on 3 1/2 years since issue 3 came out!!! Theres an
DJ> old saying, about striking while the irons hot. Aperently Dave
DJ> Stevens does'nt believe in that saying!!
     The really odd thing is... I can distinctly remember there being
a note to readers in the Rocketeer Adventure Magazine #3 which
reassured fans that they wouldn't have to wait as long for #4 as they
had for #3.  He was supposedly giving up the art chores on the series
to somebody else in hopes of getting the series on some sort of
regular schedule.  I guess it didn't pan out.
DJ> He at one time, both as an artist & his character, became very
DJ> populer, very swiftly!! The dude blew it, as far as im concerned.
DJ> One does'nt build a fan following by being SO damn slow!! Even a
DJ> once a year issue would be fast for him!! I loved  his strip, with
DJ> the authetic 1930s atmosphere it had, but comics are indeed, like
DJ> a drug. If you don't have them, you dry out.
     Another saying comes to mind too... "Out of sight, out of mind"
and I think that applies here in a big way.  Because it's literally
YEARS between issues... Dave Stevens almost has to attract a brand-new
audience everytime he publishes a new Rocketeer comic.  I don't even
know... does anybody have any idea how well #3 sold?
     Like you, I love the series too.  I was lucky to pick them up a
couple of years before the arrival of the movie (something I also
enjoyed) which pushed back-issue prices higher.  What is it with these
guys who sell their comic properties to Hollywood.  Dave Stevens makes
a Rocketeer movie... and other than the movie adaptation, we've seen
only 1 new Rocketeer story.  Ben Edlund heads off to Tinsel-Town to
bring a Tick animated series to television... and we go a while with
no new Tick comics too (of course, compared to "the Rocketeer
Adventure Magazine", the Tick books have almost seemed regular...).
At least now (since the Tick show ended) Tick fans can get a fairly
regular Tick-fix.  But in both cases, not a book was published which
could capitalize on the success of the movie/t.v. series.
     Over the last-past Christmas, I came across a copy of Starslayer
#2 in a bargain bin... which is pretty sad considering the quality of
"the Rocketeer" back-up feature.
DJ> Frankly, I just could care less anymore about any future
DJ> adventures of the character, unless he be brought back for a big
DJ> storyline set in WW2 where he dies at the end, leaving a son with
DJ> his girl to carry on the line or such.The character could have
DJ> realisticly aged, to bring him into the 40s& 50s, then to have had
DJ> some sons, who could have become the new rocketeer for the 60s &
DJ> 70s. A LOT more could have been done with the character, but most
DJ> likly, never will be. It would take a MAJOR reguler effort to get
DJ> fandom into him again. A reguler schedule with a top notch artist.
     And even then, I find myself wondering if a Rocketeer series
(even a regular one) would survive now.  Like you, I find myself not
really caring whether they continue the character's adventures or
not... and perhaps that reason, as much as any other should be the
reason it should NOT be brought back.  I mean, how many former
Rocketeer fans feel the same way we do?  Bringing it back, but
shifting the setting ahead in time a generation might alienate the
older readers... without bringing in enough new ones to keep it viable
as an ongoing series.  This is definitely not a case where "Absence
makes the heart grow fonder".  I doubt even the announcement of a new
Rocketeer comic could revive my interest to where it was before the
film came out.
Talk to you later.
David
.
 
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