There's no denying that Dave Stevens was a super-talented artist who rocked the comic book world with his amazing line-work and inking technique. A fan of retro-era subjects, he appropriated the tropes of the adventure pulps and made something altogether new with them. His creation of THE ROCKETEER is the best example. When his character hit the pages of Eclipse Comics, fans went crazy and demanded more. Unfortunately for them, Stevens was a meticulous craftsman and was known to have spent uncountable hours on a single panel until he thought what he got "what was right". As a result, his output suffered (along with his editors!).
Stevens sadly passed away from leukemia at the age 52. What we have left is a legacy of a professional who had the advantage of working for an independent comics publisher that knew who they had and allowed his eccentricities.
The following interview is from the COMICS & COMIX retail store chain giveaway newsletter THE TELEGRAPH WIRE (#10, 1983). Conducted by Diana Schutz, Stevens talks about his first comics job working on Russ Manning's TARZAN strip, his animation work and his accidental re-discovering of the most popular pinup gal in history, Betty Page.
Included here are two strips he did for Pacific Comics' ALIEN WORLDS, the first being, "Aurora", an early piece he did for the Japanese company Sanrio that they ended up not publishing, They eventually gave him the rights back and Eclipse gladly used the story in their science-fiction anthology book.
ALIEN WORLDS #2 (Pacific Comics, May 1983):
ALIEN WORLDS #4 (Pacific Comics, September 1983):
Those are some luscious pages. I used to own these comics, but they left many years ago. Thanks for taking me down memory lane. Yum!
ReplyDeleteHe was a very special talent. No telling where his career would have gone had he lived longer.
ReplyDelete