GIFTED COMIC BOOK ARTIST DAVE STEVENS DID THAT?

Dave Stevens worked on a lot of comics books that you may, or may not, know about. 

 

 
Dave is best remembered, rightly so, for the fantastic Rocketeer! And who could forget all of those gorgeous covers he produced over the years. You never knew where he was going to turn up doing a cover for, at least that was my thought. 

Stevens' first professional career work was inking Russ Manning on the Tarzan comic strip. Man, he learned from the best there. You can see where he got his clean style. 

 

Dave also worked in animation with Doug Wildey (Super Friends) and William Stout for Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Michael Jackson (Thriller.) However, he was know to have turned down a monthly pin-up assignment replacing Vargas in Playboy, by Hugh Hefner!

However, there are a lot of other comic books Stevens worked on that I don't believe are as widely known.  

 

Dave worked on Quack #1, 3-D Zone #16 and Alien Worlds #2 (both with Aurora), Star Wars #6 (yes the original series!), TV Stars #3 (Herculoids!), What If? #11 (the Bullpen as the FF!) and #16 (Shang-Chi.)

 

I was amazed going back on all of this, some I remembered, some I didn't. I will always remember him doing the Herculoids, since it was a favorite cartoon of mine growing up. Gotta get it on DVD one of these days, along with Space Ghost. 

"Well, I do expect a lot of myself. I'm a harsh critic because I know what I'm capable of. I have hit those occasional peaks amongst the valleys, but the peaks are so few-things like genuine flashes of virtuoso brush inking, like I've never executed before or since-I can count on one hand the number of jobs where I've been able to hit that mark. The same with penciling. Sometimes it just flows, but more often than not, it's pure physical and spiritual torment just to get something decent on paper. I often get very discouraged with the whole creative process." – from Dave Stevens interview from Comic Book Artist Magazine #15. 

It's sad we lost this deeply gifted artist with so much more to share. We were lucky to have him while we did.


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