The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer. Cover of Rocketeer Adventures 1 (May 2011 IDW). Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
Publisher	Pacific Comics Eclipse Comics Comico Comics Dark Horse Comics IDW Publishing
First appearance	Starslayer #1 (cameo) (February 1982) Starslayer #2 (full) (April 1982)
Created by	Dave Stevens
In-story information
Alter ego	Cliff Secord
Notable aliases	The Flying Man
Abilities	Above-average hand to hand combatant Excellent athlete Highly skilled pilot and marksman Flight via rocket backpack

Starslayer #1 (cameo)
(February 1982)

The Rocketeer is a fictional character created by writer-illustrator Dave Stevens. The character first appeared in 1982 and is a homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

The Rocketeer's secret identity is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jetpack that allows him to fly. His adventures are set in Los Angeles and New York in 1938, and Stevens gave them a retro, nostalgic feel influenced by the King of the Rocket Men and Commando Cody movie serials (both from Republic Pictures), and pinup diva Bettie Page.

The Rocketeer was released as a 1991 feature film from Walt Disney Pictures that was directed by Joe Johnston. Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens has a small cameo as the German test pilot who dies when the Nazi version of a rocket backpack explodes during take-off, part of top secret black-and-white film footage stolen, then smuggled to the U. S. that shows Nazi plans for creating an army of flying commandos.

In 1938 Los Angeles, Cliff Secord, a local racing pilot and barnstormer, discovers a mysterious package hidden by two gangsters, who were fleeing the police. In that package, Cliff finds what the police were looking for: a stolen rocket backpack prototype.

The Rocketeer's first adventure appeared in 1982 as a backup feature in issues #2 and #3 of Mike Grell's Starslayer series from Pacific Comics. Two more installments appeared in Pacific's showcase comic Pacific Presents #1 and 2. The fourth chapter ended in a cliffhanger that was later concluded in a special Rocketeer issue released by Eclipse Comics. The complete story was then collected by Eclipse in a single volume titled The Rocketeer (). It was published in three versions: a trade paperback edition, a trade hardcover, and a signed, limited edition hardcover. Noted fantasy author Harlan Ellison, a fan of the Rocketeer and also an acquaintance of Dave Stevens, wrote the introduction to the collection; both Dave Stevens and Harlan Ellison signed the limited edition on a specially bound-in bookplate.