Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Rocket Science

When I started at IDW in 2004, one of the first things I looked to do
was put together a new collection of Dave Stevens' ROCKETEER comics. The only collection I'd ever been able to find at a con was some pricey old thing. Now, I didn't have any connections at the time, and couldn't properly reach Stevens. But here we were five years later and luckily, I'm surrounded by great people like Scott Dunbier who had those connections. So finally today--or December 16 for the rest of the world--I have that deluxe copy of Steven's ROCKETEER in my hands. In much better shape than I ever envisioned, either.

Scott had the entire book remastered, recolored, and this deluxe oversized slipcased edition further has 130 pages of sketches, fold-outs and behind-the-scenes bits beyond the story itself. It's a thing of beauty. Which just goes to show that it's less important to be good yourself than it is to surround yourself with good people. So here're some pics of what Mr. Dunbier wrought. starting with the cover and slipcase:


A page of Betty...


...and the fold-out underneath:


And another great fold-out:


Some interiors, all fully recolored by Stevens' hand-picked colorist, Laura Martin:


The book's endpapers:


And the back cover:

19 comments:

Steve Bryant said...

Beautiful, Chris. I can't wait.

Thanks for all the effort you guys out into restoring one of the best comics of the 1980s.

GR said...

TOP NOTCH!
Best of the Best...

Congratulations IDW...
Rocketeer Shines!

G-

Josh Jabcuga said...

That's a thing of beauty. Hats off to you and your crew, yet again.

James Sime said...

(standing ovation)

Mike McMahon said...

Wow...that book looks gorgeous, definitely worth the wait.

Thank you so much for making this book possible

onegemini said...

Sold!

nickrunge said...

Really looking forward to this! Looks absolutly amazing.

I'm looking at my Stevens Rocketeer print right now. (The one you guys gave out at the IDW panel at Comic-con) Thanks again for that, and of course for making this book possible.

-N

El Torres said...

I just can say... Whoooa.

Charlie Kirchoff said...

I wants it... I have a beat up copy of that old collection but it doesn't hold a candle to this!

Robogeek said...

That's magnificent, Chris. I can't wait to get mine! (I dutifully pre-ordered it on Amazon months ago.) Thanks for all your hard work on this project.

BTW, can I ask about the new logo design choices? I'm curious as to why you used new type treatments on the covers of both editions, rather than using any of the original ones. It just struck me as a deviation from the project's devotion to faithfulness. (I'm not necessarily complaining, but I must admit it was a bit jarring to see unfamiliar Rocketeer logos.)

Chris Ryall said...

You know, Scott Dunbier could answer the logo question better than me, but I do know nothing was done on the book without it being something either Stevens himself wanted or that his family wanted, if that's any kind of answer. Don't really know the specifics myself beyond that.

Stephen said...

This looks AMAZING!! I have all of the original issues from the various publishers and the oversized GN from the eighties (Comico?) and have wondered about a collected edition. Now I have an obvious answer and look forward to getting my hands on this in the New Year. Thanks again!

Eric S said...

Any word why this is delayed @ Amazon?

Unknown said...

Oh, my. That really is beautiful. I have a trade from some time back in the 90s, but I'll be getting this. Excellent work all around, guys.

William said...

It's not right. It's not right. I'm looking at this gorgeous book and I'm just feeling sad.
I miss Dave even more now.
So getting me a copy.
Beautiful work man. God bless.

Paul Renaud said...

Absolutely gorgeous!
Kudos to the IDW crew so such an excellent job.
Paul

Dan said...

Robogeek ... I agree about the font. It was kind of weird to see in in a different font and kind of bugs me. I brought this up as well and was told they didn't want to get in trouble with Disney for using that Deco font. But I am pretty sure that Disney can't copyright a "truetype" font. This was not a specially designed font. They probably could of used it no problem if someone would of checked into it a little more. It is a minor gripe though, I can't wait to get this book.

jjwspider said...

I ordered the deluxe edition from Amazon a while back and recently received one of the dreaded "This item has been delayed" messages. Any chance that you could share some details or let us know if there were some delays experienced? As a fan of the movie, I'm very much looking forward to reading through this series for the first time.

Dominic Bugatto said...

Looking forward to picking this one up.