Sunday 24 March 2013

Rocketeer! Dave Stevens

Hey hey hey Barbarians!

lastish we checked out Marvel's awesome offering of Conan,so today it is right that we give equal time to some independent publishers and their awesome work.
The gentleman's name is Dave Stevens,Dave who?

Came across this book Pacific presents #2 Rocketeer which yours truly recollected had seen a movie of the same name way back in the 90's.I dug up and learned about "the book came first and movie followed syndrome", and more about the artist of the series Dave Stevens.

The Rocketeer is an adventure story set in a pulp-fiction-styled 1930s, in the pre WWII setup about a down-on-his-luck pilot named Cliff Secord who finds a mysterious rocket pack.First he uses the rocket pack to woo his Hollywood aspiring model girlfriend(characterized on the lines of Betty page) but soon uncovers a massive Nazi conspiracy in which he gets entangled unknowingly.
It also has some high flying thrills when Secord's jet pack tanks off and he goes in a free fall dramatically saved by hanging on another plane's wing!
Page after page panels depicting Steven's vintage setup and fabulous splashes creates a believable script which is far from superhero genre being fed to the readers.

Steven's art and originality gives this title and the era a much needed freshness which was absent in the early 80's.
Worth noting is the research that he had done in depicting planes ,1930's N.Y he had actually gone to aerodromes scouting for planes which were well preserved and successfully captured the essence!
Uploading some panels from the book -






 Rocketeer was released in 1982. Those first stories appeared as a second feature in issues #2 and #3 of  Pacific Comics' Starslayer series. For its next two installments, Steven's feature moved to Pacific Presents #1 and #2. The fourth chapter ended in a cliffhanger that was later concluded in a lone Rocketeer comic released by Eclipse.
Despite its erratic publishing history,Rocketeer leaves a lasting impression on the minds of the reader's and proved to be one of the first successful features to emerge from the burgeoning independent comics movement.

By Crom!




Tuesday 5 March 2013

Sword Vs Sorcery - Savage Sword Of Conan

Hey hey hey Barbarians!

Ever wondered if at all there was a time in which all the collective minds came together to build something Hyperborious?
Well back in time between conan the barbarian comic books being a success and Arnold became a superstar Roy thomas was convinced that to adopt the story lines of REH and to do justice to the collective band of fantabulous artists like Boris ,John,Giordano ,Neal Adams to name a few, something radical was required.
Out came the magazine Savage Sword of Conan under Curtis imprint. Debuing in August 1974 this didn't need to confirm to comic code authority and yet preserving the true essence of workmanship and freedom.

Black and white in comic format and with art from the who's who of comic world these contents were meant for matured readers and adopted some of the most talked about novels of REH like "black colossus" , "A witch shall be borned" etc. giving conan more pages more space and yes more readership!
 The painted covers, the portfolios the ads makes these a cult classic.
Uploading the covers of SSOC from my own collection judge for yourself by crom!










  Collecting issues #1,3,4,5,10,32,38,54,64,89,175 - Conan saga #73(80's reprints of SSOC)


 These books also had REH's other adaptation of Solomon Kane coming soon under a new post under Sword vs Sorcery!