In Dave Stevens' excellent comic
The Rocketeer, the inventor of the rocket pack used by Cliff Secord is clearly Doc Savage, though he is never referred to by name and his face is always obscured. Monk and Ham also appear. In the sequel,
Cliff's New York Adventure, Cliff works with a man named Jonas, who is clearly meant to be the Shadow, though he never dons his familiar outfit. One possible non-pulp crossover in this story that isn't often mentioned is that a cab driver named Moe (implicitly Moe "Shrevvy" Shrevnitz, one of the Shadow's agents) drives a taxi with the word "Sunshine" on one of its doors. The New York-based Sunshine Cab Company was featured in the 1978-1982 sitcom
Taxi. This isn't the only reference bringing
Taxi into the CU, but it's still pretty cool.
The Rocketeer is one of Win's favorite comics, and the one that got him thinking of a larger Crossover Universe that had the members of the Wold Newton Family coexisting with other heroes. Dave Stevens died far too young, and he is missed by myself and many other fans of great writing and gorgeous art. He is also to be commended for everything he did for Bettie Page, upon whom Cliff's girlfriend was based and named after. (In the film adaptation of the comic, the inventor of the rocket pack was changed from Doc Savage to Howard Hughes, and Cliff's girlfriend was changed to an actress named Jenny Blake, among other changes.) IDW Publishing has done an admirable job of publishing new adventures of the Rocketeer, several of which have crossovers of their own.
Great job!
ReplyDeleteI love the entire ROCKETEER series done by the late great comic book writer, illustrator, and creator, Dave Stevens.
In particular, because of the subtle crossovers that he included.
Dave Stevens did not have any conception of a wider CU, so IMO that overreaches...
ReplyDeleteSean, thanks for noting The Rocketeer's influence on some of my initial thinking about an expanded Wold Newton Universe. Mr. Stevens certainly had no intent to contribute to a wider crossover continuity, but his influence on me is undeniable. I discuss it at more length my foreword to the new edition of Philip Jose Farmer's biography, DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE (2013; both the Meteor House hardcover and Altus Press trade softcover editions).
ReplyDeleteI've often thought that the reason that in the film version it's Hughes that builds the rocket pack is because, as you say, Doc is never named and Cliff wrongly attributes the pack to Hughes when Monk and Ham show up.
ReplyDeleteWell, that and maybe the fact that Conde Nest would have probably sued if they had used Doc in the movie.
ReplyDelete