Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

A real shame. Though his output was not vast , it was always quality and certainly cherished and admired by myself and a lot of my fellow artists/illustrators.

Damn. I had the pleasure of getting to know Dave during the early San Diego Comic-Con days in the 1970s. He was as modest as he was talented (that is to say, immensely so) as well as a heck of a nice guy. He will indeed be missed.

whoa! that sucks. i totally always wanted to draw like that guy.

I was a big Dave Steven's fan as well--I remember the Eclipse Rocketeer graphic novel and the Aurora story from Alien Worlds, and all those great covers. Every time he did a cover for Eclipse it was a great treat, and I remember studying those covers over and over trying to figure out how he did it.

When Rocketeer resumed at Comico it seemed to die with the company (or was the last issue done for Dark Horse?), and I always wondered whether that story would ever be resolved (was it?). Every page was amazingly crafted and he had this very soft edged method of feathering and hatching, a smooth modelled look, as if everything was cast in detailed porcelain.

I remember a particular splash page, I think it was the last page of the last issue of Rocketeer Adventure Magazine---it was a crowd scene, every single face lovingly rendered, some likenesses of old time celebrities. It was an amazingly crafted page, as was every page. The book came out seldom and sporadically, and there was no mystery why. There was nothing else in mainstream comics made with such care.

As for his relatively sparse output: there was nothing Steven's did in half measure from what I saw. Quality over quantity.

Someone should really put out a coffee table book on the guy.

I'm an old friend (William R. Lund) of Dave's, going back to the days of the San Diego Comic Con. Unfortunately, after I moved away from San Diego and other things took up my time, I did not frequent the convention as often and, as a result, lost touch with so many old friends. When I attended last summer, in hopes of meeting up with Dave (he was one of their Special Guests) and others, I heard first from Scott Shaw! and then from Mark Evanier and Jackie Estrada about Dave's battle with leukemia and that there were still hopes he'd be in attendance...IF he felt up to it. I then had hoped to meet up with him in Los Angeles, but work (I'm an actor) took me to Washington State, instead.
Although Dave's amount of work will never equal that of Jack Kirby or Russ Manning or others he had admired and become friends with, his losing battle with leukemia is still a tremendous loss to anyone, whether or not one knew him personally.
I will never forget the first day I'd seen the art for a cover he did for the fanzine, DESTINY, edited by Bob Sourk (another one of Comic-Con's founding members), and how he thought of this then-unnamed character as someone he wanted to develop someday into a series. Well, that day came when Bill and Steve Schanes gave him a chance to debut THE ROCKETEER to the rest of comicdom.
And watching him working with coloring pages as we sat behind the Pacific Comics tables...and so many other memories I have. The memories that others have of Dave and, especially, the work he left behind for others to enjoy...all of these are the legacies left behind by Dave Stevens.
And, here on this blog, DRAWN!, others will have the opportunity to write of their memories or discuss what Dave's work meant to them. Yes...a great and sad loss for so many...but he certainly will not be forgotten.

Dave was a great fiend, are few reminisces and photos on my blog

http://williamwray.blogspot.com/

Rest in Peace.