The Rocketeer Creator Dies

files/pictures/picture-35.jpgTHE ROCKETEER creator Dave Stevens passed away on March 10, 2008, from complications due to leukemia. He was 52 years old. The comic book illustrator's style captured the good girl quality of 1950s pin-ups.

Stevens began his career working on newspaper comic strips, including TARZAN OF THE APES and STAR WARS. For Hanna-Barbera, Stevens storyboarded such series as JANA OF THE JUNGLE and SUPER FRIENDS.

After his stint at H-B, Stevens worked freelance out of an office with illustrator and film designer William Stout and sci-fi paperback cover illustrator Richard Hescox. Stout landed the artist a job boarding for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Stevens first launched THE ROCKETEER in 1982 at Eclipse Comics. The 1930s pulp fiction-inspired comic was later published by Comico and then Dark Horse. Walt Disney Pictures adapted a live-action film version of the comic in 1991.

His mother and a sister survive him.