Much of her appeal came from a self-possession rare to the era, and even now. In the early 1950s, Page began modeling for “camera clubs,” gatherings of camera enthusiasts that doubled as opportunities to create nude photography. Page, at the time, was a sex symbol with a cult following and a mysterious past. And nowhere was that more obvious than with Cliff Secord’s girlfriend Betty, who was clearly based on none other than Bettie Page. The Rocketeer was a mash-up of Golden Age Hollywood glamour and the era’s fondly remembered pulp fiction. In 1982, he delivered The Rocketeer, an independently published comic book like nothing comics fans had seen before. Stevens, who worked extensively as a storyboard artist, was exacting and uncompromising, known for his attention to detail. The Rocketeer was the creation of Dave Stevens, an artist in love with the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the “good girl” art of the 1940s and 1950s. But one element lost in the move from page to screen was the pinup queen and ’50s icon who’d been integral to the comic, Bettie Page. Released in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman, it was a different kind of comic book movie, an unabashed period piece from Joe Johnston, an effects artist-turned-director who’d enjoyed a hit two summers before with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and who, years later, would go on to bring Captain America to the screen in a film that hearkened back to The Rocketeer. Twenty-five years ago, The Rocketeer hit theaters.
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