The Rocketeer: Infiltrator! #1
Creative Team
writer: GABRIEL HARDMAN
artist: DEAN KOTZ
colorist: K.J. DIAZ
letterer: SHAWN LEE
publisher: IDW PUBLISHING
When Cliff Secord, a stunt-pilot in pre-WWII America, discovers a mysterious jet pack that allows him to fly, he takes on an assortment of criminals, monsters, and lots of Nazi’s. With the help of his friend Peevy, an aviation engineer, and his girlfriend Betty, modeled after famous pin-up model Bettie Page, The Rocketeer is the hero America deserves.
Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer has been soaring into our hearts ever since his first appearance in 1982 as a back up story in issue #2 of Starslayer. Or perhaps you grew up with the 1991 Disney movie adaptation.
The character has been handed off by a bunch of different publishers: Pacific Comics. Eclipse Comics, Comico, and Dark Horse Comics. But IDW Publishing has the character now, and their new, The Rocketeer: Infiltrator, mini-series is starting off with a bang.
After an Allied plane mysteriously blows up, the U.S government sends Cliff and Betty to Germany to investigate rumors of a secret Nazi weapon. Betty is posing as a defecting actress shooting a movie in Germany, and Cliff is her brother/agent. Little do the Nazi’s know that The Rocketeer is about to be a thorn in their side.
The creative team is writer Gabriel Hardman, with art by Dean Kotz, coloring by K.J. Diaz, and lettering by Shawn Lee.
Gabriel Hardman makes the stakes feel high and the consequences dire. The plane explosion is the first thing we see, the pilots talking about their girls waiting for them back home, only to meet their demise. This sets the tone right away, and that this will not be an easy going adventure.
Later on, Cliff's government contact, Gifford, informs him that the rumors of Betty being a defector will spread and seemingly ruin her career. Only to make clear that this is what they signed up for and have to put their personal feelings aside. Tensions rise even more when they arrive in Germany, and a French resistance group known as the Maquis, shoot at their vehicles. They manage to escape unscathed, but it creates a sense of unease, and that anything can happen at any moment. It makes for an engaging plot that really makes you want to see what the Nazi’s are up to.
Cliff Secord is not hard to love. He’s handsome, charming, and charismatic. But in other stories, Cliff is much more intelligent and resourceful. In this story, it feels like he doesn’t have much agency. He doesn’t affect the plot, just being dragged along, until conveniently finding where the Nazi weapon might be. If this is your first Rocketeer story, you might think that Cliff is kind of a boring character. But once he puts on the costume, and the action begins, it’s hard not to be enthralled. His helmet is so iconic and instills a sense of nostalgia for a time most of us never got to experience.
Betty, on the other hand, has much more characterization. Normally, she’s the typical ditzy actress for men to ogle at, which results in her becoming the damsel in distress. But in this story, she is actively part of the plot, infiltrating and gathering information from the Nazi film crew, and risking her life and reputation to help the Allies defeat the Nazi’s.
Art by Dean Kotz is gritty, with harsh shadows, mute coloring, and heavy crosshatching, really helping with the more grounded tone. But sometimes the artwork feels a bit messy. When there's a close up, the characters have nice detailed faces and clothing, but medium and wide shots are less detailed. Buildings, mountains, background characters, and other props look like rough sketches, with lines blotting together into one mass, sometimes making it hard to figure out what you’re looking at. But even then, I did still enjoy the art, and it did not take away from the story at large.
Final Verdict
Times are crazy right now, as they always will be. And sometimes it’s nice to be transported back to a simpler time, where heroes are heroes and villains are villains. The Rocketeer offers a pulp action spy thriller, with a fun story, and a simple surface level hero with not much complexity.
| Criteria | Score |
|---|---|
| Writing | 7 |
| Story/Plot | 8 |
| Art/Line Work | 5 |
| Colors | 6 |
| Final Score | 6.5/10 |
