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| -Obits- |
| Dave Stevens, 52; artist created 'Rocketeer' comic |
| 2008-03-13 |
| Dave Stevens, an artist best known for creating "The Rocketeer" comic book, which reflected a fascination with Bettie Page that brought the 1950s pin-up queen renewed attention, has died. He was 52. Stevens, whose home was in North Hollywood, died Monday at Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, Calif., from complications related to treatment for leukemia. In 1981, Stevens was working as a commercial illustrator when a friend asked him to contribute a story to another comic book. His "throwaway idea," as he called it, was a succinct ode to 1930s-style, pulp-fiction adventures and movie serials. The comic -- in which a stunt pilot battles evil after finding a rocket-powered backpack -- became a cult success. A decade later it was made into the live-action Disney movie "The Rocketeer" with Billy Campbell as the title character. . . . The comic's square-jawed hero, Cliff Secord, bore more than a passing resemblance to the soft-spoken Stevens. The female love interest, a lingerie model, was drawn as a tribute to pin-up Page. "Bettie was a look, a standard of beauty that I spotted as an adolescent," Stevens told the Post-Intelligencer. The attention the retired Page received because of the comic helped revive interest in her. Stevens paid Page to use her likeness and helped her get paid by publishers who used her image, friends said. Artist and subject became friends, which led Stevens to marvel: "After years of fantasizing about this woman, I'm now driving her to cash her Social Security checks." . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #1 A sad loss. He was a tremendous talent, and by all accounts a genuinely decent human being. |
| Posted by: Angomoper Bourbon1763 2008-03-13 15:50 |