Dave Stevens

A really fine portrait of the late Dave Stevens, who died last year of leukemia. I still remember my first glimpse of The Rocketeer. Stunned. I was ten again and in a theater watching some wobbly old Blackhawk serial from Republic Pictures. Here's Arnie Fenner, who co-edited Brush With Passion, The Life and Art of Dave Stevens. Read the whole thing. Stevens was a fascinating if sometimes frustrating guy.


"While extremely popular with comics fans and followers of pin-up art, Dave Stevens was hardly a household name and mentioning him in a casual conversation would usually be answered with silence or a blank stare. And yet literally millions have enjoyed Dave’s work in one form or another through the years without ever knowing he was the visionary behind those wonderful entertainments. Perhaps best known as the creator of short-lived Rocketeer comic—which Disney adapted into the film starring Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly—Stevens also was a storyboard artist for Raiders of the Lost Ark, concepted the cryogenics chamber Mel Gibson was awakened from in Forever Young, updated the costume of The Flash for a TV series, and was responsible for the look of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller“ video and Victory concert tour.

"He drew 1950s model Bettie Page as the Rocketeer’s girlfriend in his comic and as a result was largely responsible for the renewed interest in Bettie—which prompted her reemergence after 40 years of seclusion. Dave became her close friend and protector and saw to it that she benefited financially from the plethora of products various entrepreneurs had been producing without her permission for decades.

for the rest go here:

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=10776#more