In Review: The Rocketeer (The Rocketeer: The Great Race) One Shot

Synopsis: It’s a wall-to-wall adventure in a trio of Rocketeer stories in this terrific all-new special! First, the writers of the Rocketeer film, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, and illustrator Adam Hughes bring us a tale featuring pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. Second, Robert Windom (Seven Sons) and Jae Lee craft a story of the Rocketeer fighting a Japanese Zero in the South Pacific. And the third entry is by Kelvin Mao (director of the Dave Stevens documentary Drawn To Perfection, and co-writer of Seven Sons) and artist extraordinaire Craig Cermak. While on a date with Betty, our man Cliff encounters a vaguely familiar adventurer/archeologist. What kind of trouble will this spell for our hero?

The Stories

The three stories in this one-shot offer up a fun selection of adventures that see Cliff Seacord in a few different situations. The first sees Cliff getting into trouble with his girlfriend Bettie who finds an old postcard that was sent to him by famous female aviator Amelia Earhart. Written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo who wrote the 1991 movie adaptation. This story really shows the story potential that a Rocketeer TV series could have if Disney ever decided to take a chance on it beyond the current animated show. Basically, it sees Cliff telling Bettie about how he met Amelia Earhart and actually tried to find her after she had disappeared.

The second story by Robert Windom (Seven Sons)  sees Cliff rushing to talk with his dog to meet Bettie who has arranged for them to see a very important archeological professor, who has a striking resemblance to Indiana Jones. Obviously Cliff is not impressed as he finds academic stuff to be stuffy and square. But when some thugs try to steal one of the artifacts that the speaker has brought with him. Cliff finds himself fighting alongside the professor to retrieve the relic.

The final story by Jae Lee sees Rocketeer in a dog fight with a Japanese Zero. But while he is in the thick of the fight. He is asking some really philosophical questions about the meaning of life.

The Artwork

The artwork throughout the three stories works well. I really liked how close all three artists tried to make their work reflect all of the best aspects of the art that the late Dave Stevens did in his original Rocketeer strips. I really enjoyed the artwork from the third story as we saw a little bit more of a scratchy art style that made the action seem a little more visceral.

Overall

If like myself. You are a fan of The Rocketeer and the various spin-offs to it. Then you will likely really enjoy this one shot. I particularly enjoyed the Amelia Earhart story as well as the story that featured what might well have been Indiana Jones. Of course, he was not referenced as such in the story. As I am pretty sure that would have been somewhat awkward given that IDW at present does not have the license for that character. At least as far as we know. I wish someone would bring us an Indiana Jones comic though.

If you like The Rocketeer. You got to get this.

Check out our past reviews of Rocketeer comics here.