Rocket To The Afterlife

Illustrator Dave Stevens, best known for his "good girl" art and The Rocketeer, died at 52 from leukemia.

The Rocketeer which appeared in small installments throughout 1982 to 1995, was turned into a film in 1991. The comic book version, also helped usher in the re-popularization of Bettie Page.

Stevens got his first professional assignment working on a Tarzan project overseas but soon after, he worked on a few projects for Marvel, including the Star Wars comic book. In 1977, he went to work for Hanna-Barbera where he drew storyboards and layouts, many of them for the Super Friends and Godzilla cartoon shows. Veteran artist Doug Wildey and Stevens became close friends, and in 1982 when Stevens created The Rocketeer, he modelled the character's sidekick, Peevy, on photos of Doug. Stevens himself was Cliff Secord, who donned the mask of The Rocketeer, and other friends appeared in other guises. The Rocketeer made Dave's reputation and also spawned a resurgence of interest in fifties' figure model Bettie Page, whose likeness Dave used for the strip's heroine.

Eventually, he sold most of the rights to Disney for a Rocketeer movie. Dave served as a co-producer of the film and did a brief cameo.

Most of what Stevens did after that fell into the general category of "glamour art," including portfolios and private commissions. Many of these were illustrations of Bettie Page who, though once thought deceased, turned out to be alive and living not all that far from him. They met and Stevens became her friend and, though he was not wealthy, benefactor. Deciding that too many others had callously exploited her likeness, he voluntarily aided Ms. Page financially and even took to helping her in neighborly ways. "It's amazing. After years of fantasizing about this woman, I'm now driving her to cash her Social Security checks."