DIARY - Dave Stevens. 29th July 1955 - 10th March 2008
Date: 2008-03-15 14:52:21
Author: Pat Kent
I'm 52 in a couple of weeks and many might think what an odd way of spending your time at that age trying to draw women in various states of undress or just trying to put the beauty that is the female form on paper. Well it is I suppose, but it spills out from a love of comics and comic art from the days when I was a kid.
I used to collect Thor, Iron man, and The X-men comics when I was a growing up and like many of things in those, less materialistic, days you passed them on for others to read and enjoy, so I never had them around as as I got older. But, over the years I dabbled in the occasional comic graphic novel to while away the odd hour but never could get back into it.
Then one day I wandered into a comic shop to pass away 5 minutes before a meeting and I stumbled upon a comic called "The Rocketeer". I bought it, read it and spent the rest of the day searching out anything to do with it's creator Dave Stevens.
"The Rocketeer"
The only thing I could find was “Just Teasing” a collection of his “pin-up” comic covers. When I received my copy I was blown away, here was a guy who took comic art and melded it seamlessly with pin-up and humour.
"Stevens' book of Pin-up covers - Just Teasing"
Dave’s illustration style was simple [well it was to him anyway] and brought to mind the “good-girl” art and pulp book covers of the 30s and 40s. Add to this style his love of 50’s model Bettie Page, and the run-away result was “The Rocketeer”, a comic book series which was published in various incarnations by several comic publishers which Stevens modelled the hero, Cliff Secord, on himself and his girlfriend on Bettie Page. Around the early 1990's it was turned into a Disney film starring a young Jennifer Connelly in the “Bettie Page” role.
"Dave Steven's Betty"
Dave Stevens discovered that the aging Bettie was living close to him in Florida and so he took it on himself to act as a benefactor to her, paying her for the use of her likeness and securing for her payment from other artists and publishers who used her distinctive image. His friendship with Bettie Page continued to his death and he assisited her elevation into pin-up icon.
Dave Stevens was the same age as me, I still think of that as relatively young and certainly no age at which to die, bit Dave died last week after battling leukaemia for the last ten years or so. I never saw mention of it anywhere, I hadn’t seen any new work of his for a while but presumed that was because he was never considered a prolific artist concentrating mainly on quality rather than quantity.
There are many obituaries for Dave out there in cyber-space now, but as way of a thank you from a bloke who never met him but will always admire and respect his work I’d like to say for myself; Dave, your work was and is brilliant, you rekindled my love of comics, you took this English boy back to drawing again, you introduced me to a new world of American comics inhabited by beautiful women like Bettie Page and Jewel Shepherd; most of all you made me smile as I enjoyed your skill, your storytelling and most of all your art.
Dave, thanks again, may you rest in peace and may your family, loved ones and fans remember everything you did with fondness and continued admiration.
Pat Kent
UPDATE - My tribute drawing added in "My Work" 19 March 20o8
© Pat Kent 2008 – All rights reserved. Pat Kent exercises his right to be identified as the author.