Dave Stevens, 1955-2008
Dave Stevens, the illustrator and comics artist responsible for creating The Rocketeer, died the day before yesterday following a long battle with leukemia.
Stevens, whose highly idealized images of women made him heir apparent to Frank Frazetta's throne, was also singlehandedly responsible for spawning the revival that propelled pin-up model Bettie Page back to the forefront of popular culture. Just as his talent enabled him to make modern that which was not (his Rocketeer looked at once retro and futuristic), he managed to make Page, the fetish and bondage queen of the Fifties, respectable.
He was 52.
Stevens, whose highly idealized images of women made him heir apparent to Frank Frazetta's throne, was also singlehandedly responsible for spawning the revival that propelled pin-up model Bettie Page back to the forefront of popular culture. Just as his talent enabled him to make modern that which was not (his Rocketeer looked at once retro and futuristic), he managed to make Page, the fetish and bondage queen of the Fifties, respectable.
He was 52.