Man on a mission: Stephen Mooney on crafting ‘The Rocketeer: The Great Race’

For fans of ’40s pulp, melodrama, and international air races.

April 5, 2022

The Rocketeer is a character that is near and dear to many, especially those who grew up with the beloved ’90s film. In honor of The Rocketeer’s 40th anniversary, IDW is launching Stephen Mooney’s four-issue series The Rocketeer: The Great Race on April 6.

In The Great Race, Golden Age pulp hero Cliff Secord takes on a new challenge in the form of an elite, winner-take-all international air race from California to France. Meanwhile, the war in Europe grows, shaping the larger race and the narrative itself. In a word, it’s all about high-stakes adventure.

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Working in comics for well over a decade, Mooney is known for his work on the excellent Half Past Danger and the Image Comics series The Dead Hand, making him a perfect fit for a series that excels with highly detailed art and heaps of melodrama.

Read below as Mooney details how the project got started, his love of the character, and much, much more. Oh, and do enjoy the exclusive preview of Mooney’s inked pages and cover art.

AIPT: The Rocketeer: The Great Race is a four-issue series, how long has this project been in the works? Did editor Scott Dunbier come to you or did you pitch the idea to IDW?

Stephen Mooney: It’s been in the works since last June, I think (Christ, that’s a long time ago). It had a bit of an unorthodox origin – I was chatting to Dec Shalvey and an (excellent) IDW editor name Chase Marotz about this and that. Somehow the Rocketeer came up and Dec joked about what a good fit I’d be for that series and why hadn’t I worked on it? I responded with something like “sure Dec, ‘cos that’s exactly how these things come about – from Twitter chats”. Chase piped up with “Actually… we still have The Rocketeer license and next year is actually a big anniversary for the character, so…” That planted the seed and once we managed to figure out schedules and the like, I put together an official pitch for Chase to bring to Scott Dunbier, arbiter of all things Rocketeer over at IDW. He liked the pitch; the Stevens estate liked the pitch and we were away.

AIPT: It’s the 40th anniversary of Rocketeer, why do you think this character is so timeless and yet from a very specific time?

SM: That’s a very good question and I’m not sure I really know the answer. I wonder if it’s the whole ‘simpler time’ concept, where people knew exactly who the bad guys and the good guys were and everything seemed much more clearly delineated. There’s always the design factor – everything just *looked* cooler back then. Life, whether for real or through the lens of Hollywood, was about adventure and opportunity. Those concepts never grow old or stale and The Rocketeer embodies much of that. I’m guessing it all comes down to the escapism aspect – certainly that’s what does it for me. The imagination just soars.

Stephen Mooney 'The Rocketeer: The Great Race'

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: When I saw this series was about a race from America’s west coast to Europe I immediately thought of your fantastic series Half Past Danger and its many locales, is there a specific location or monument you’re most excited to be drawing?

SM: Honestly, it’s the nuts and bolts stuff from the original Rocketeer books like the Bigelow Air Circus and The Bulldog café. All of the classic locales from Dave Steven’s stories. I read the Rocketeer so many times growing up, that it’s all baked right into my noodle. Asides from that – I guess Paris is nice!

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: Set before World War II, what makes this era in history so interesting to write about?

SM: Growing up, my Dad was always that somewhat stereotypical father who read tons of WW2 books and watched all of the documentaries. I suppose for his generation, it was a much more real thing and far closer to home. I initially loved the industrial design of all of the cool-looking military vehicles and equipment, long before I realized the sheer gravity of the actual war. On a very base level though, it was all about the adventure movies and serials, for me. The men-on-a-mission capers and heists.

I, like way too many others, completely over-romanticized the war and boiled it down to a series of bombastic action set pieces with cool code names. D-Day! Battle of The Bulge! Operation Overlord! It’s very safe to say that I write extremely escapist war stories, but I’m not sure that there’s a ton wrong with that. We all need to lose ourselves in the big what-ifs. What if a man found a top-secret government rocket pack? What if the Nazis had weaponized dinosaurs?

AIPT: For fans who may not know Rocketeer, what is something about that character that defines him for you?

SM: Two things – firstly, the fact that he’s basically a regular schmo, just trying to figure out a way to game the system and hang onto his gal, all whilst accidentally battling against the nefarious forces somehow arrayed in front of him. Then, there’s his surrounding world and its supporting cast – Bettie is amazing, Peevy might be my favorite character; the list goes on. Dave Steven’s set up such a rich and storied world in so few actual issues of comic books; it’s mind-boggling. His Rocketeer series was such a big influence on my own Half Past Danger Book; I was just so excited to get my hands on those toys, have some fun and then try to leave everything in as good a state as I found it.

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: If given the chance, would you use a rocket pack and how likely would you use it as your main source of travel?

SM: Nope, nope, nope. I’m somewhat scared of heights and hate getting on an airplane. Next question!

AIPT: Given this is a character on your bucket list to write and draw how did you approach this without throwing in the kitchen sink (which I ask knowing Half Past Danger had so much cool stuff in it!)?

SM: Ha — I’m not sure that I *didn’t* throw that sink at it! I honestly was able to treat this project almost like one of my own books, in that I (once we had run everything past the Stevens estate) had a massive amount of creative control. For better or for worse! Scott (Dunbier) gave excellent story notes and reeled me in a bit where required, but at the end of the day, I treated this exactly like I would a series of my own book and put that much time and effort into it. More, in fact. The first issue of Rocketeer took me nine weeks to draw – the longest I’ve ever spent on 22 pages. So, hopefully, any fans of Half Past Danger or my work, in general, will dig this Rocketeer series, as well as the old-school readers. I jumped into this series feet first and hoped I landed on solid ground. I guess we’ll find out on Wednesday the sixth if I nailed it or not!

Courtesy of IDW.

AIPT: If you were to describe this four-issue run in one word what would it be?

SM: Adventure.

AIPT: Your series is up for a film or TV adaptation, who would you want to direct and star?

SM: Oh boy – hmm… Welp; the director has gotta be Joe Johnston, same as the original Rocketeer movie. He’s still producing amazing work – I thought the first Captain America movie was vastly underrated. As for who would star – that’s a lot tougher. I think going with a relatively unknown quantity as the original did with Billy Campbell. Failing that, maybe somebody like Alden Ehrenreich, who I think is a fantastic actor and did a really admirable job in what must have been a hugely difficult role as the young Han Solo. As for Bettie… man, how do you improve on Jennifer Connelly? Eva Green would have been perfect, around ten years ago… I dunno! You tell me!