Rocketeer Adventures Volume 2

The Rocketeer #4

by Marc Guggenheim, Peter David, Stan Sakai

The second all-new, all-great Rocketeer Adventures anthology is crammed with great creators doing terrific Rocketeer stories by these high-flying Marc Guggenhein, Sandy Plunkett, Peter David, Paul Dini, Bill Morrison, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walter Simonson, Louise Simonson, John Paul Leon, Tom Taylor, Colin Wilson, Stan Sakai, David Lapham, Chris Sprouse, Matt Wagner, Eric Canete, David Mandel, J Bone, and Michael Golden.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Ebooks, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2012

About the author

Marc Guggenheim grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned his law degree from Boston University. After over four years in practice, he left law to pursue a career in television.

Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.

His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.

Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.

Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.

Reviews

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome collection of stand-alone short stories (10 pages or so) that fit marvelously within the Rocketeer continuity yet still raise the bar on art, story and adventure!

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice stories that really have the feel of the original comics. nice plot and art. Recommended

[Michael Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like volume one this was a fun read. Basically a whole bunch of short Rocketeer adventures written and drawn by some very talented people. I think I enjoyed volume one more but this was still an enjoyable read.

One word of warning - the Rocketeer is a very limited character and the short stories don't give anyone a chance to give him more depth. He's basically always jealous of his beautiful actress girlfriend and assuming she will cheat on him and he has a jet back.

I do wish some writer tried to give him more depth or have a clever take on the character but like a Archie comic they always leave him and his girlfriend how they found them at the end of their story so the next writer doesn't have to worry about a new character development. He's still jealous, she's still mad he is so possessive, they still love each other, he still has a rocket-pack.

But even with all that - they were fun reads.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like this one as much as Volume 1, though overall it was still a fun read. Like the first volume, the stories presented are ultra-short, in no particular chronological order, and not infrequently seem to start in the middle of some action or another. Also like the first installment, the characters are reliable and the stories hew rather well to the "funny books" format of the late 1930s - early 1940s. But quite unlike Volume 1, there is a broad range of writers and illustrators contributing to this collection. While this often times works well in an anthology, here the quality and consistency of both the stories and the artwork made for a disjointed and somewhat unsatisfying feel. At any rate, as I say, it just wasn't as much fun for me as Volume 1.

[Chris Browning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same as before if not worse, with a couple of valiant exceptions. Bill Sienkiewicz is a genius but doesn’t so much phone his pages in as look like he drew them when driving. But Stan Sakai is *perfect* with a really sweet vignette, drawn perfectly. And Louise Simonson gets to write a story and oddly enough Betty doesn’t spend the whole thing looking like the old Jane comic strips, with her clothes falling off every other frame. It’s not a great book but thank god for Sakai who saves this. Still getting rid of it though

[Lucas Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book, with beautiful covers by the late Darwyn Cooke.

A couple of stories with The Rocketeer troughout time and years. Some better than others. Tom Taylor's one is amazing, as well the one by David Laphan.

Sadly, probably we will not see another books like this one for a couple of years, but hopefully, i got other Rocketter's stuff to catch on.

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Adventure

This collection is packed with stories that pay homage to other heroes and stories of the Era
the hilarious
Warlord story and The Ducketeer
a take on the princess of Mars and various pulp characters are hinted at good fun

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wild fluctuations in artistic styles can be jarring, and some of the stories are downright silly, but it's still worth a look if you're into the characters.

[Joseph R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much the same as the first volume, featuring Stan Sakai from Usagi Yojimbo!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rocketeer Adventures Volume 2 features 12 more short stories featuring the late Dave Stevens' creation. While each story is brief, each one demonstrates a great deal of love, admiration, and affection for the original. This volume contains a virtual who's-who of comics creators, including Walter Simonson, Louise Simonson, Peter David, Stan Sakai, John Byrne, Bill Sienkiewicz, and many others, plus pin-ups and all the original covers by Darwyn Cooke.

What truly helps make this collection into a winning volume is that publisher IDW allows the creators to tell the stories in their own artistic voices. If these stories had simply tried to ape what made Dave Stevens' work special, it would have failed. Similarly, asking such individual creators as seen in this volume to shoehorn their own styles into an imitation of someone else would have been just as big a mistake. Instead, we see the world of the Rocketeer through these individual, distinct visions. The characters and tone of the original are all there, and that's what ties all this together.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had originally bought the single issues, but gave them away and bought the Hardcover for myself.
A bunch of "easy" short stories by some of today's top talents.
Stories and art vary from the mundane to the extraordinary.
None of the stories seemed "cannon", and none of the stories interact with one another.
Not a bad book, but not the best we've been given.

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun series of short pieces focused on Stevens's The Rocketeer. I enjoy these brief glimpses and interpretations, but I'd much prefer a more sustained storyline...as in Cargo of Doom or Hollywood Horror.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot of fun. Lots of very short stories with the Rocketeer and Betty. Some are better than others, but all can entertain for a couple of pages. This is the kind of book you can put down and just read little bits of it. A good read.

[Zachary King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most anthologies, there are some great stories and some forgettable ones. Bill Sienkewicz does a funny rendition of Rocketeer as a Daffy Duck cartoon, and there's a great imagining of the Rocketeer landing on a farm suspiciously like one we recognize from Smallville, Kansas.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this volume a bit more than volume 1. I think less stories feel incomplete. Jealous Cliff still makes too many appearances, but it's not as severe as it was in volume one. I think the artist choices were stronger here as well. I'd recommend picking up volume 2 over volume 1.

[Kevin Gentilcore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carries the spirit and fun of Stevens work on.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and very good in parts but also uneven and disjointed a bit. Nice homages for Dave Stevens' untimely passing, but not always up to the quality of his own Rocketeer work.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short length, loose continuity, and revolving roster of authors produce that rarest of beasts: a handful of readable Rocketeer stories!