Dave Stevens

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Idealized image of Bettie Page from the October 1986 back cover of Glamour International

Dave Stevens (born July 29, 1955) in Lynwood, California is an American illustrator and comics artist. He is most famous for creating The Rocketeer and for his pin-up style drawings of women. He was the first to win the Russ Manning Award in 1982.

[edit] Professional work

His first professional comic work was inking Russ Manning's pencils for the daily Tarzan comic strips. Many cherish his Jonny Quest covers he did for Comico.

[edit] The Rocketeer

It was the Rocketeer comic he began in 1982 that really brought him to the forefront. Many loved how he merged classic pulp fiction heroes like Doc Savage and the Shadow into the narration. The first adventure was collected together by Eclipse Comics (ISBN 1-56060-088-8). The fifth chapter ended in a cliffhanger. The story picked up again in the Rocketeer Adventure Magazine. Two issues were published by Comico Comics in 1988 and 1989, but the third did not appear until years later, published by Dark Horse Comics in 1995. All three issues were collected by Dark Horse as The Rocketeer: Cliff's New York Adventure (ISBN 1-56971-092-9).

The soap-opera theme of The Rocketeer is essentially a retelling of Stevens' own mercurial relationship with Charlene Brinkman, later known as Brinke Stevens. They were married for a mere six months. She later modeled for her ex-husband, providing the Bettie Page-esque poses for the character based on her, though the character's face was always Page. Other mutual acquaintances who show up in the comics include real-life glamour & porn photographer Ken Marcus. Dave Stevens portrayed Marcus as the sleazy "Marco of Hollywood," with a dead-on caricature.