Adam Hughes panel for Bilson & DeMeo story.jpg
EXCLUSIVE: Adam Hughes panel from the new Rocketeer story

Comics artist Dave Stevens is gone…but his legacy continues. The creator of the Rocketeer – known for his impeccable retro art and rediscovery of model Bettie Page – passed away at the age of 52 in 2008 from a rare form of leukemia.

Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection, a documentary about his life, directed by Kelvin Mao, is set to debut on streaming on Friday, December 2nd, but the filmmakers are also running a Kickstarter to raise funds for a physical release of the film.  We previously interviewed Dave’s sister, Jennifer Bawcum-Stevens, about the movie here.

Mao tells us:

The main reward besides the blu-ray is a 32-page Rocketeer One-shot comic that came together during production with contributions from 8 cast and crew.  The main feature is a cover and 8-page story drawn by Adam Hughes –  who we interviewed.  The story was written years ago by Danny Bilson (also in our film) & Paul De Meo prior to De Meo’s untimely passing in 2018. 

Bilson and De Meo were the Disney Rocketeer movie screenwriters and co-wrote the second Rocketeer story Cliff’s NY Adventure with Dave Stevens.  This story has the distinction of being both the first Adam Rocketeer story and the final one from the writing team of Bilson & De Meo. 

The campaign winds up on the 2nd as well – only a few hours to jump in – but Mao has provided us with some exclusive peeks at the comic and other materials to get you to go to the page and contribute! Artwork includes a Adam Hughes colored panel for the 8-page story,  one Jae Lee colored panel (colored by his wife June Chung) from the 4-pager written by executive producer Robert Windom. And if you read the interview with Jennifer Bawcum-Stevens, there’s an easter egg in the photos!

More information on the documentary is on the Kickstarter page; it includes interviews with Joe Johnston (director of the Rocketeer movie), Brinke Stevens, Thomas Jane, Bill Campbell and many more.

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And here’s a gallery of folks who were interviewed for the documentary.