In 2012, Disney announced that they were considering rebooting The Rocketeer. Released back in the 90s, the film was considered a box office flop, but has found a huge cult following since then. Joe Johnston’s film was truly one-of-a-kind, and honestly, looking past the CGI effects, it still olds up pretty well if you watch it today. In fact, you can say that this film helped inspire the Captain America: The First Avenger‘s tones, as both films were period pieces with our protagonists who defended America against the Nazis.

The then-new Disney chief Alan Horn was reportedly more focused on reviving older properties like The Muppets, making The Rocketeer the perfect movie to reboot. And now we are getting word that the studio is finally making progress on the reboot as they have hired Max Winkler and Matt Spicer to pen a “sequel reboot” – they’ll just come up with anything these days – entitled The Rockeeters. In addition to being a “sequel reboot,” the film will also have a “modern-day” twist. According to the same report, the film will be lead by a black female. More on the story below.

Film composer James Horner, best known for creating the original music scores to some of the biggest motion pictures of all time, died on Monday after a small aircraft he had been piloting crashed about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, CA. He was 61.

The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures
By Dave Stevens
Coloring by Laura Martin
Lettering by Carrie Spiegle
Volume 1 art assist by Jaimie Hernandez
Co-writers of Volume 2, chapters 2 & 3: Danny Bilson & Paul Demeo
Volume 2 art assist by: Art Adams, Geof Darrow, Gary Gianni, Mike Kaluta, Stan Manoukian, Sandy Plunkett, and Vince Roucher
Volume 2, chapters 2 & 3 covers by: Dave Stevens and painted by Dave Dorman and Paul Chadwick
Edited by Scott Dunbier
Collected Edition by: Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon
Cover by Dave Stevens
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 18, 2015
Cover Price: $19.99

The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures is essential to your comic book collection. Reviewing a book like this is super hard. It’s all classic material, every bit of it. But, I’ll do my best.

Dave Stevens is a talented writer. He was a HUGE fan of this era of history, and it shows. Even though this material was written decades ago, it still applies and connects with the reader today. In this age where people watch movies and television shows and basically live their lives on their phones, it’s nice to visit a simpler time. One where the world was a lot bigger. People actually used their mouths to talk to other people, having conversations that lasted an afternoon, and were not limited to 140 characters. These adventures of Cliff Secord and the mysterious jetpack that he found will make take you from the edge of your seat, put you through the full gambit of emotions and give you the greatest gift that a story can give you: Hope.

The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror #1
Written by Roger Langridge
Art by J Bone
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Letters by Tom B. Long
Edited by Scott Dunbier
The Rocketeer created by Dave Stevens
Covers by Walter Simonson & Jordie Bellaire, Roger Langridge & J Bone, and James White
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 27, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror #1 is just about as close to a perfect comic book as you can get. Whether you’re a fan of this character or not, you WILL enjoy this great first issue and look forward to the rest of this miniseries.

First off, it’s nice to have a Rocketeer series that is NOT an anthology. Sure, those were GREAT, but it’s nice to dive into a deeper, flushed-out story, and believe me, there is PLENTY of story in this first issue. Writer Roger Langridge takes us back into the world of Los Angeles in the late 1930s, a simpler time if you will, but one that is NOT boring. In fact, there’s more going on 75 years ago than I bet there is in most people’s lives right now. Cliff has to deal with a couple of mad scientists, some gangsters, and of course, his very adventurous girlfriend, Betty. From first page to last, this book is pure fun and excitement!

Rocketeer Adventures, Vol. 2
Written by Marc Guggenheim, Peter David, Stan Sakai, Tom Taylor, Paul Dini, Walter Simonson, Dave Lapham, Kyle Baker, Matt Wagner, Louise Simonson, David Mandel, John Byrne

Art by Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stan Sakai, Colin Wilson, Bill Morrison, John Paul Leon, Chris Sprouse, Kyle Baker. Eric Canete, Walter Simonson, J. Bone, John Byrne
Inks by Karl Story, Bob Wiacek

Colors by Sandy Plunkett, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Stewart, Serban Cristescu, Jordie Bellaire, Eric Canete, Cassandra Poulson, J. Bone

Letters by Robbie Robbins, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stan Sakai, Colin Wilson, Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee. Kyle Baker, John Workman, Neil Uyetake

Cover by Darwyn Cooke
Design by Randall Dahlk
Edited by Scott Dunbier
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 2013
Hardcover | Kindle

Somewhere, Dave Stevens is reading his copy of The Rocketeer Volume 2 and smiling, as you will be when you pick this book up. To say it brings honor and respect to the late Steven’s work would be an understatement. This is comic storytelling at its finest.