On June 21, 1991, the movie version of The Rocketeer was released in theaters. Distributed by Disney and directed by Joe Johnston, who many years later would direct Captain America: The First Avenger, it only grossed $9.6 million in its first weekend and was considered to be a failure. But for ten, almost eleven, year old me, it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Over the course of the next 35 years, I have lost track of how many times I have rewatched it. It is one of my personal favorite movies, bar none.
Why am I telling you this? Are we not here to talk about comics?
Well, The Rocketeer was originally a comic created, written, and drawn by Dave Stevens in 1982. Set in the 1930s, the books told the story of pilot Cliff Secord, who discovers a jetpack and uses it to become the high-flying hero known as the Rocketeer. Stevens died in 2008, but his creation has lived on. IDW Publishing has released multiple miniseries featuring a Who Is Who of talent telling original stories about the Rocketeer.
Which brings us to today. The Rocketeer: The Island #1 is the first issue of the latest miniseries from IDW, but this one has a twist. It is based on an unfinished outline from Dave Stevens himself.
Tales of Derring Do
In 1933, Cliff Secord and Goose Gander are putting on a little bit of an air show at the Sedgewick County Fair. Cliff might be showing off a bit too much when they nearly have a mid-air collision with another plane that came out of nowhere! On the ground, Cliff heads to confront the other pilot, only to find that it is none other than Amelia Earhart herself. Cliff finds himself a bit star-struck and tongue-tied, two things he normally is not.
Five years later, Cliff and Goose arrive at an airfield in New York, where they are meeting to hear about a possible job. The client is technically not the U.S. government, and they claim they do not know that Cliff is really the Rocketeer. The job is to find Amelia Earhart herself. They, of course, accept.
Arriving at the Port of Los Angeles, they find a ship of questionable repair waiting to take them, their plane, and a support team on the journey to start hunting for Amelia Earhart. The Captain, whose surname is Segar, tells them to call him Popeye. Yes, he is that Popeye. Their researcher is a young man by the name of Justin Martin, or Tintin for short, who has his dog Snowy with him. For the archaeologist of the expedition, that position is filled by a young woman named Professor Alexandra Payne. Also, do not forget the mechanic friend Peevy. Also coincidentally along for the ride are Cliff's ex-girlfriend, Betty, and her current beau, Marco. This trip will not be awkward at all. Why would you think that?
Over the next 16 days, they travel the seas, bond, and conduct their research to determine where the best place to start looking for Ms. Earhart is. Then, in the midst of a storm, Professor Payne is knocked overboard by some sort of flying creature and is out of the reach of the life preservers. Good thing the Rocketeer is on board! Cliff is able to rescue her and get her back to the ship safely. Once the storm has passed, the team assesses the damage to the ship and determines that they are going to be stationary for a few days. Cliff once again suits up as the Rocketeer and heads out to do a little recon. He finds an island with a little bit of a skull motif.
You Look Like A Hood Ornament
This was a lot of fun. As the prologue and first chapter of a larger story, it is a lot of setup and not much action, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The prologue establishes the relationship of Cliff with Amelia Earhart, if you can call bumping into each other a relationship, and establishes why the government would come to him for help after she goes missing. Chapter 1 is all about establishing our cast and setting the stakes, then raising them, which it does with aplomb.
We get a good feel for our main characters quickly. Cliff is brash, cocky, and impulsive, and Goose practically lives to instigate him. Our cameo characters, Popeye and Tintin, do not get a lot to do, but they are more here for the fun references than any major role in the plot, at least so far. Betty and Marco are there because he is taking her on an island-hopping trip, but he supposedly had to cut costs on the travel. That is how they ended up on the same ship as the expedition. He is clearly not telling the whole truth there. Professor Payne, although an accomplished archaeologist, seems to be largely here as a bit of a foil to any intended reconciliation between Cliff and Betty. In all, it is an eclectic little cast, and the characters all play off each other well.
In terms of action, not much happens in this issue. Once Cliff and Goose take the job, some time is spent gathering the team, and then the expedition itself goes for some time before the storm and the overboard incident. The daring rescue of Professor Payne by Cliff is the one major action beat for this issue, and it is a fun one. The Rocketeer is literally trying to outrun nature itself to rescue her. The tease of a flying creature, along with the island revealed at the end, probably means that we have some kind of lost world situation on our hands. Future issues will likely up the action quotient significantly.
First Mates
As I said before, the actual outline for this miniseries comes from a lost work of Dave Stevens himself. Actually plotting it out and scripting the dialogue, we have John Layman, whose list of credits is far too long to list here. Suffice it to say that he is the creator of Chew and is currently writing Titans for DC Comics. Here, he does a great job maintaining the pulp feel of the original Rocketeer stories, even though there is not much action in this issue at all. He keeps the pace moving along and sprinkles in a solid cliffhanger.
That is another necessity for a good pulp story. The characters for this book all have distinctive voices. The cameos are fun, but do not step on the toes of the main cast, which I am glad for.
Art is brought to us by Jacob Edgar, who has worked on everything from Batman to Darkwing Duck, and from James Bond to Red Sonja. The art for this book had an almost animated quality to it, largely in the way he handles facial expressions. The faces for everyone are incredibly expressive. This is true to the point that portions of the book have little to no dialogue, yet it is still easy to tell what is going on in the panel.
Rounding out our creative team is K.J. Diaz, who uses a bright palette, both in terms of the actual colors and the lighting used. This has the effect of once again giving the book an animation feel. Everything is bright, colorful, and inviting throughout the book. This is a light, heroic pulp tale, after all. It is not a grim and gritty affair, so the colors should reflect that.
Path of History
The Rocketeer: The Island #1 is a very good first issue that sets the players and the stage, spends a little time with the characters, and still has room for a little bit of action, all while maintaining that pulp feel. That is a lot of tasks to juggle at once, and Layman and Edgar handle it quite well here. Again, this is mostly a setup issue, but now that the players have been established and we got a glimpse at what I assume is the stage, things can kick into high gear.
Given the penchant of Stevens for using other characters for cameo appearances in his work, I half expect the island the Rocketeer finds at the end of this issue to be Skull Island, the home of King Kong. He is public domain, so it could happen.
It is too soon to tell if this miniseries will hold the same place in my heart that the 1991 movie does, but The Rocketeer: The Island is off to a good start here, and I cannot wait to see where it goes next.