The Rocketeer and Iron Man (The Movie!)

 

What if Iron Man survived using the Infinity Gauntlet, and it was he who chose to return the stones throughout history?  Perhaps we could have seen an adventure like this!  The Rocketeer and Iron Man faced off against Godzilla in STF #538...

The Rocketeer meets Batman and Robin

 

The Rocketeer and Batman first shared an adventure on one of my earliest B&B covers, back in 2010. A crude effort, to be sure, so I thought that it was time to feature them together again.  Throwing Robin into the mix would be a welcome addition.  He might give Cliff Secord someone to relate to. 

The Rocket Pack in: "The Fuse is Lit!"

 

The Rocket Pack first appeared in STF #3760, and as soon as I made the cover I realized there was antoher hero that I wanted to add.  I liked Kurt Busiek's Power Company comic for DC back in the day, though it did not last very long.  My favorite character in that series was Skyrocket.  It's too bad she has only made a couple of small cameo appearances since that series ended.  I felt like she had a lot of potential, and I liked that she was not just a female version of a previously existing male character.

Sub-Mariner and The Rocketeer

 

Hey, I'm not sure how a jet pack is supposed to operate underwater either.  That's just the kind of hook that would have had me picking this issue up off the stands. At least to flip through the pages, anyway!

Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer in: "100 Ways to Whack a Witness!"

 

Presenting yet another chapter in the Rats McTattler Saga!  Tracy and The Rocketeer were last seen dealing with him in STF #3551, and first encountered him and each other in STF #2805... Let's hope the third time is the charm and they finally get the necessary information out of him!

The Rocketeer and Hawkman

 

There's been talk of sequels or reboots of The Rocketeer for years now, but nothing has seemed to really come of them.  Maybe it's for the  best - the original film is a classic and would be pretty hard to improve upon, in my opinion.  I'd prefer to see that version get a polish though - a nice high quality transfer with maybe some tweaks to the few flying sequences that don't quite hold up to today's visual effects standards.

The Rocket Pack

 

It wasn't released publicly, but the descriptions of a teaser trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 that was shown at Comicon have been making the rounds.  It sounds like Rocket Raccoon's origins will be a central focus of the film.  As this will be James Gunn's final outing as director and the last appearance of this team of Guardians, there's no telling where the story will go, or who will still be around once it's done. I do hope that Rocket survives to be featured in future Marvel projects.

Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer in: "The Case of the Dormant Informant!"

Regular visitors to this blog will know that this cover serves as a direct sequel to STF #2805, in which these two heroes first pursued Rats McTattler.  It looks like they weren't the only ones in hot pursuit!  I felt that the tale was worthy of a follow-up as these two pulp heroes really do seem to go well together.

The Rocketeer and The Phantom

 

It looks like The Rocketeer is finally getting a sequel, in the form of a Disney+ movie.  David Oyelowo will produce and star as the next person to pick up the jetpack.  The Return of the Rocketeer sounds to be a continuation of the story and not a remake, so it would be nice to see Billy Campbell make an appearance, if only to pass the torch.  I look forward to see the new Rocketeer in high flying action with today's special effects capabilities.

Captain America and The Rocketeer in: "Taking Doom!"

 

The Rocketeer seems like a good candidate to get a Disney+ series.  The movie may not have been an initial financial success, but it gained quite a following  on home video in the years since and is very well regarded - I've always been surprised they never revisited the property in live action.  Does Disney still have the rights to the character?

Cap previously met The Rocketeer in STF #3082, and also with The Invaders in STF #2206...

Coming tomorrow: STF #3400!

The Rocketeer and Captain America

 

The Rocketeer remains for me to be one of the most re-watchable superhero movies ever made.  One big reason is the absolutely beautiful score by composer James Horner.  Horner created many great soundtracks (Titanic, Braveheart, Avatar, Aliens, Legends of the Fall and on and on), but The Rocketeer's is my favorite.  You can tell how well regarded it is by the fact that it is often used as a temp track for trailers of movies that do not have their own scores completed yet.

The Rocketeer met Cap along with the res of The Invaders back in STF #2206...

Batgirl and The Rocketeer

Lots of rumors are swirling as to what it will mean if Michael Keaton does indeed return to the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman for a The Flash and more DC movies.  Reports that he will be taking on a mentor role has folks (myself included) hoping to see a Batman Beyond film.  Then there's the rumor that he will be a guiding hand in a Batgirl movie.  I think that could kind of work, it will be interesting to see what kind of direction is taken with it.

The Rocketeer and Dick Tracy

Way before collected editions and trade paperbacks became commonplace, I remember one of my older brothers making a point to cut out the Dick Tracy strips from the newspaper each day and assembling them together in a notebook.  I thought that it was great that I was able to read  a  comic strip like a regular story rather than just a few panels a day.  That and the Super Friends cartoons helped to cement my love for comics and larger than life heroes and villains at a very early age.

Thanks to Brad Brandt for suggesting this pairing - one that I was surprised I hadn't gotten to before!

Bulletman and the Rocketeer

When I was a kid I was under the impression that Bulletman was a much bigger comics star than he was.  This was mainly due the the fact that he had his own action figure well before many heroes from DC or Marvel could make the same claim - I can still remember the "Bulletman the Human Bullet!" theme song in my head.  Sure, he was a G.I. Joe version of the character, but he seemed like the same guy to me.  Alas, the real deal could only be found in rare guest star appearances with the Justice League or Shazam Family.

Calvin & The Rocketeer (and Space Ghost!)

My father is 34 years older than me, and while that doesn't seem like much to me these days, as a kid and second youngest of seven, I felt like we had very little in the way of common interests.  He loved reading, but certainly not comic books, he has into car racing while I preferred to watch basketball or baseball, and so on.  So, it really made an impact on me when I saw how much he enjoyed reading Calvin & Hobbes in the paper.  I loved that he had the same appreciation for the humor, heart, imagination and artistic skill that went into Bill Watterson's classic cartoons.  I even wound up buying him some collected editions.  Now that I am approaching 50, I feel like I have a lot in common with my Dad, and our mutual love for that strip was the when I began to understand that.

The Rocketeer and The Invaders

Captain America's war years were covered quickly in a few scenes and montages in his first movie.  Now that Marvel is on the verge of acquiring most of its characters, a flashback Invaders movie could actually happen - and be very cool.  Of course, the one sticking point would be Namor, who's rights are still tangled up with Universal Pictures, but perhaps a deal like was done with Spider-Man could make it work.

Boba Fett and the Rocketeer in "Secord... In Space!"

One character that I haven't heard a lot about in connection to the Han Solo movie that is about to begin filming is Boba Fett.  He never got the big action scene that he deserved in the original trilogy, and it would be great to see him get one more shot.  I can't remember if it was ever established whether he and Han had met prior to the events of The Empire Strikes Back, though.

These two met once before in STF #1464...

The Rocketeer and Superman

Everyone talks about how great John Williams' Superman score is, and with good reason.  Another one of my favorite superhero scores has to be James Horner's Rocketeer soundtrack.  You know it is great music because a bunch of other films have used it as a temp track in early commercials and trailers.

Superman and the Rocketeer first met back in STF #1627...

Hellboy and The Rocketeer

To make an effective face concealing helmet, you want an interesting design that looks interesting from every angle, and The Rocketeer is one of the best examples.  Doctor Fate has another great design - it is much simpler, but its reflective quality keeps it an interesting visual.  Darth Vader has another great design... I'd have to say that Kylo Ren missed the mark, though.

Superman and The Rocketeer

Much has been speculated about how Superman will appear once he returns from the dead in Justice League.  Will he have the all black costume from the comics, Will he have a beard?  A mullet?  At any rate, once he ultimately re-dons his classic duds, I hope we see a few changes to reflect the DCEU's proposed less somber tone - brighter colors, an "S" on the cape and a spit curl would be great to see.