Stevens' meticulous drawing style, perfectionism and careful research gave the various Rocketeer adventures a notoriously slow publishing schedule.

[1][2][3] Following Stevens' death in 2008, his estate licensed the Rocketeer to IDW Publishing, who have since produced numerous titles starring the character.

[2] The two short stories drew huge positive responses from readers, and the Schanes brothers wanted to commission Stevens to produce a monthly Rocketeer title.

[7][8] Stevens also had to deal with a lawsuit brought about by Marvel Comics, who had featured a gang of super-criminals called 'The Rocketeers' in a 1975 issue of Daredevil.

[2] In a 1987 interview with Gary Groth of The Comics Journal, Stevens revealed Marvel's argument revolved entirely around trademarks, the suit claiming that the use of the name was causing confusion between the characters, something he felt was spurious.

[9] Some years later, a fan sent Stevens a copy of Blast-Off #1, a 1965 Harvey Comics title featuring a Jack Kirby story called The 3 Rocketeers, which he felt only underlined the absurdity of Marvel's legal action.

Stevens also felt Marvel's actions were influenced by his decision to turn down an offer to take the series to Epic Comics following Pacific's demise.

[5] The issue was a sales success for Eclipse, and was the 51st bestselling title from a range of stores polled by Amazing Heroes, the second-highest position on the chart for a non-Marvel/DC comic.

[5] The album features an introduction from fantasist Harlan Ellison, a fan of the series who had also attempted to intercede in Stevens' dispute with Marvel Comics.

[5] While Stevens was pleased with the collected edition, he did not enjoy working for Eclipse[2] and searched for a new publisher to produce a sequel story, which he initially envisioned as a six-issue limited series.

[7] In August 1986 a deal was announced with Comico, which would see Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta's Galactic Girl Guides (continued from the Epic Comics title Starstruck) as a back-up, as well as non-fiction articles on aviation pioneers.

[18] Despite being planned for the summer of 1987, the first issue of the title did not appear until July 1988 due to Stevens' detailed approach and the concluding stages of the Marvel lawsuit.

[4] In discussion with Heidi MacDonald of Amazing Heroes, Stevens defended the series' schedule, noting that while he was more than capable of producing a page a day the result "would look like anyone did it.

"[1] It met with positive reviews and was nominated for 'Best Story or Single Issue' at the second annual Harvey Awards, but lost out to Batman: The Killing Joke.

Production was beset by shifting creative teams and Disney's desire to turn the property into a marketable family franchise, and Stevens would later consider the film to be The Rocketeer "in name only".

Dean awarded The Rocketeer: The Official Movie Adaptation four stars out of five in a review for Amazing Heroes, praising the pace and David's dialogue.

He grew tired of switching publishers, while finding new avenues for his approach dwindling after the collapse of the direct market after the early 1990s speculator boom period.

[4] Dark Horse also had reservations about the comic's high production values allowing the book to be profitable,[5] though the company did produce a collected Rocketeer edition compiling all three issues of the "Cliff's New York Adventure" storyline.

[2] Stevens would later pitch a crossover Rocketeer miniseries to DC Comics featuring the Golden Age Superman meeting Cliff in 1938.

Cliff and his captor are run off the road; he discovers the dead driver was a G-man, and their attackers are Nazi agents hoping to capture the rocket pack for the Fatherland.

Cliff gives chase in the Bulldog, and is able to harry them into crashing; Betty is saved, but the hoods escape and identify Secord as having the rocket pack.

[29] Without a job and with Betty spending more time trying to launch her modelling career with photographer Marco of Hollywood, Cliff becomes downcast until Peevy shows talks him through the instructions for the rocket engine, which Secord hadn't bothered reading, leading to a more successful test.

A bitter Cliff refuses Betty's attempts at reconciliation and sulks, unaware that she has decided against sailing to Europe with Marcus and is instead heading back to Los Angeles.

The first was anthology limited series The Rocketeer Adventurers in 2011, featuring story contributions from creators Mike Allred, John Arcudi, Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday, Darwyn Cooke, Tommy Lee Edwards, Lowell Francis, Dave Gibbons, Gene Ha, Scott Hampton, Mike Kaluta, Joe R. Lansdale, Brendan McCarthy, Ryan Sook, Bruce Timm, Mark Waid and Chris Weston, as well as Jonathan Ross.

Collins praised the character's design, calling the costume "evocative of Doc Savage, Captain Future and Buck Rogers just with one glance".