Dave Stevens’ Covers & Stories - The best work from one of the greatest comic book artists of all time
Dave Stevens’ Covers & Stories
by Scott Dunbier (editor)
IDW Publishing
2012, 272 pages, 12.1 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
$39 Buy a copy on Amazon
Hold a gun to my head and ask me to name my 10 favorite cartoonists and Dave Stevens would be on the list. I first encountered Stevens’ work in 1982: he had written and drawn a short story that took place in 1938 Los Angeles, featuring a character of his own creation called The Rocketeer (and his love interest, a barely-disguised — and barely clothed — Bettie Page). Stevens’ art was superb, matching the comic book work of Frank Frazetta. Stevens was clearly drawing The Rocketeer out of a love for Golden Age comic books, the mid-20th century, Buck Rogers serials, and great pinup art. My friends and I made weekly visits to the local comic book store in Boulder, Colorado, asking the owner if anything with Dave Stevens art has arrived. Sometimes Stevens’ work appeared on the cover but not the interior. Less frequently, he drew stories for the insides of the comics, too. It didn’t matter. We bought everything he drew.
Dave Stevens Covers & Stories has all of the Stevens comic book covers I loved from the 1980s, along with pencil studies and photos of the original art (so you can see the Wite-Out and blue pencil lines, which is always interesting to me). It also has lots of pin-ups and a even a few stories I hadn’t seen before (If you want the complete run of The Rocketeer stories, you can buy a copy on Amazon).
Born in 1955, Stevens’ life was cut short in 2008 when he died from leukemia. He had much more to give. — Mark Frauenfelder