bettie page blog

Bettie Page in 3-D...



...and the 2-D inspiration...



First AVATAR, then ALICE IN WONDERLAND... and now BETTIE PAGE... everyone's going 3-D!

Best of all, to see Bettie in 3-D, you don't have to shell out for a movie ticket, wear smudgy glasses or struggle to find a seat. Popcorn is also optional. That's because Bettie's conversion to 3-D can be found coming soon at your local comic book shop in August of 2010.

Conventioneers at the Toy Fair got a sneak preview of the new 3-D Bettie Page... in the form of a statue, sculpted by fan-favorite Kent Melton, inspired by an iconic pin-up by the late, great Dave Stevens and produced by DARK HORSE.

For the uninitiated, Dave Stevens was a highly celebrated comic book and pin-up artist who became obsessed with drawing Bettie Page, a woman who he felt represented the paragon of bewitching feminine beauty. He even held "Bettie Parties" in the lunchroom at Hanna Barbera early in his career, screening any "loops" of Bettie he could find. When he was given the opportunity to create his own comic character, to star in a back-up feature of Mike Grell's STARSLAYER, published by FIRST COMICS in 1982, he created a melange of his personal obsessions... ROCKETEER. The pulp-infused adventure also featured, as the female lead, a "character" named Bettie. Bettie's "appearance" in the comic introduced a younger generation to the queen of pin-ups and helped lead to Bettie's real-life re-emergence. More fascinating, still, when Dave learned Bettie was alive and well... and in his Southern California backyard, he not only led the charge to ensure that all Bettie Page merchandise was authorized and financially benefited Bettie, he also helped her personally, taking her to appointments, the grocery store and the like. For more on Dave Stevens, read our tribute to him on the occasion of his passing, here.

Now, one of those beautifully rendered images is being brought to life in the form of a LIMITED EDITION STATUE OF BETTIE PAGE, AS ENVISIONED BY DAVE STEVENS by the trusted team at DARK HORSE, who have already offered over 150 other officially licensed, high-quality Bettie Page products and were one of the original publishers of Dave Stevens ROCKETEER comic. Sadly, neither Bettie Page or Dave Stevens are here to participate, but those who knew both are doing their best to uphold their desire for quality.

“Dave was a tough critic, especially when it came to his own work. We knew we had to satisfy him, so we were meticulous in every detail. I think we might have succeeded,” said friend-of-the-blog, David Scroggy, DARK HORSE’s vice president of product development. He went on to explain that DARK HORSE approached Kent Melton not only because of his skill, but also because he was a close friend and previous collaborator of Dave Stevens. “We have enormous respect for both Dave and Bettie, and we felt an obligation to make this piece a home run.”

Melton studied all of Dave's key portrayals of Bettie to pick his favorite and ensure an overall fidelity to Dave Stevens' interpretation of Bettie. Kent Melton observed, “Dave and I talked frequently about how female anatomy should work in sculpture. When I started to sculpt, it felt almost as if Dave were there guiding me. The piece came together quickly, almost as if we’d rehearsed it over the years.”

The thirteen-inch "Bettie Page by way of Dave Stevens" statue (including the base) will come in "deluxe packaging" and include a "certificate of authenticity" in the form of a large print of Dave Stevens pin-up artwork that inspired Melton's sculpture. DARK HORSE is still in the process of determining how many statues will be made. Fans can start saving now, so they can pay the $150 for one of these limited edition beauties when they hit comic book store shelves this August.

If you scroll back to the humble beginnings of this blog, you'll see it started near the time Dave Stevens died. For those who don't know, Dave was one of a handful of talented Bettie fans who helped engineer a personal and professional renaissance for Bettie. Creator of THE ROCKETEER, Dave uses Bettie as the model for his hero's girlfriend, and, as such, exposed a generation of fans to Bettie's appeal. More than any artist except Olivia, he had a clear understanding of the ingredients of Bettie's appeal... and had the skill to translate this appeal to paper.

Striken with leukemia (which affected his output) and taken from us far too soon, Dave doesn't have a voluminous legacy, but one of unparalleled quality.

Bud's Art Books, a real mecca for pin-up, fantasy art and thinking comics fans, has a limited-edition print, SIGNED AND NUMBERED by Dave Stevens on sale for just shy of $60.00.

This is one of those columns I dread writing. Dave Stevens, one of our industry's brightest stars, died in March. Dave was a very special talent, but what's more important, he was a very special person. As an illustrator and writer, he created one of comics' great characters, The Rocketeer, a series that spawned a movie as well as renewed interest in '50s pinup queen Bettie Page. Dave was a private person who chose not to share his illness with the public, and, as a result, his death came as a shock to many. Sadly, this meant that he did not get a chance to see the degree to which he was loved by his friends and fans. Blessed with movie-star looks, Dave was a perfectionist in both his appearance and his work. Professionally, he refused to compromise his art, taking painstaking care in the creation of each painting or comics page. This was an approach that certainly cost him a fortune in potential fees and commissions, considerations which, to Dave, were secondary to the work itself.

Dave went to Madison High School here in Portland. It was during this time that I first stumbled into him at a local comics shop, Old Weird Herald's. He had been commissioned to re-create a Bernie Wrightson Swamp Thing cover. Though based on an existing work, that one painting made it clear that Dave was going to be a major talent. As the years passed, I was lucky enough to become one of his publishers, as well as one of his friends. All of us who knew him will miss him dearly. Our only consolation is that he will live on in the work he left behind.

Goodbye, Dave. You are truly one of the greats.

Mike Richardson
Publisher
Dark Horse Comics

Lea Heranadez is an acclaimed comic creator with a long, distinguished career. Besides tackling every aspect of the business, including pioneering work in the emerging technology of web comics, she is the creator of "Texas Steampunk" graphic novels Cathedral Child, Clockwork Angels and Ironclad Petal, the author of Manga Secrets and the creator of the groundbreaking American manga, Rumble Girls. Lea was also a friend of Dave Stevens. In seeking to honor his family's wishes for donations to be sent to The Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation, she has discovered a way to use her talents to possibly help save others.

If you email Lea a receipt for a donation to The Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation, in the amout of $10 or more, she will draw you in as an "extra" in her new work, Rumble Girls RLO.

Unfamiliar with Rumble Girls? Here's a review of the first collection, Rumble Girls: Silky Warrior Tansie:

"Lea Hernandez has mixed a prep school soap opera with fighting girl manga and forward-looking science fiction to skewer popular culture and media manipulation. There are more ideas here than most comics, and they're incorporated into the story, even tossed away. Other concept-driven books make a big deal out of their 'mad ideas', trotting them out and asking us to admire their display. This one uses them to build a world to support the story."
-www.comicsworthreading.com

Finally, here are Lea's rememberences of Dave Stevens:

Part One

Part Two

Two uncompromising artists. Two masters in their respective fields. Both began humbly but rose to great heights, earning the respect and admiration (and, at times, the envy) of their peers and the undying loyalty of millions of fans. Olivia and Dave Stevens have many things in common, but the most obvious is that both visionaries found a muse in an all-but-forgotten pin-up model. It is certain that Bettie's contemporary popularity would not be as great without their inspired interpretations of her. It's arguable that Bettie would barely be remembered were it not for Olivia and Dave Stevens.

It is with extreme gratitude to Olivia De Berardinis that the official Bettie Page blog shares:

I've had a real block writing this, I think I'm in the sea of denial still thinking Dave is not answering my emails as usual, it's so much easier thinking he's still kicking around ignoring me.

Dave was a shy, secretive man, I never really became close to him. We were together, our con booths, our art, our subjects, all that and so many years knowing him made me feel connected to him, we shared friends and dinners together. I remember trying to contact Dave to see how he was doing, emailing, calling, finally I sent him a really over the top cute picture of my boy pugs, and only then within the hour he called.

Dave's Comicon booth was one of the few places where I could actually see the elusive Mr. Stevens for any length of time. Sitting, sketching away, a line of idolizing fans watching, I would always slip in to smooch with him and admire his beautiful work. Afterward, I would see him with his pretty women, take off into the night, wearing a leather bomber jacket with a white scarf. He was such a handsome, gentle guy.

I loved his work, his Rocketeer.

There were a few of us painting Bettie back then, but Dave brought her back into the limelight. Then when she appeared in the 90's, he sought her out, and got to know and take care of Bettie, becoming her best friend until he became too sick to see her.

It's been pretty sad to see Dave spend so many years fighting so hard to stay alive and work in such a weak state. He will always be a part of pin up history.

Dave Stevens' obituaries...


Los Angeles Times

...and a great tribute by his longtime friend William Stout.

In lieu of flowers, Dave's family would like people to make donations in his name to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation. There is a PAYPAL button on the site to accept donations of any amount in a convenient, secure manner.

The Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation is a non-profit, all volunteer, patient run organization whose primary goal is to provide support and information. Research is supported with funds received from patients, their families and their friends.

You can pay your last respect to Dave Stevens on the Memorial page of the Authorized Dave Stevens Website, which has been and will continue to be maintained by his friend Tom K Ranheim.

David Scroggy is Vice President of Product Development for Dark Horse. He is currently overseeing Dark Horse's product lines for the high profile properties DILBERT, HELLBOY and Frank Miller's feature adaptation of WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT.

David has gratefully allowed us to publish what began as a private journal/email reflection of Dave Stevens, originally intended for his private circle.

It is with tremendous gratitude that we present:

Going to Denny’s across from the El Cortez at the 1975 San Diego Comic-Con late one night with magician/actor Patrick Culliton. We encounter our friend Dave Stevens, who obviously has decided for the first (and only, in my experience) time to get drunk. Very drunk indeed, as he was half in the gutter sort of half-hanging and half-leaning on a lamp post. We tried to cajole him inside with us so we could pour some coffee into him. He absolutely would not budge; mortified by the situation. He was still there when we left, but wouldn’t let us give him a hand.

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Bringing in Dave to Pacific Comics, with the blessing and support of Bill and Steve Schanes. Dave wanted to do a strip about Rocket Man from the Commando Cody serials, who he had just done a nice illustration of. We were so young and clueless about licensing and intellectual property ownership - we thought the character might be in public domain, but weren’t really sure how to find out.

So Dave said he would play around with it and change it enough so that we wouldn’t get sued someday. He came back with The Rocketeer.

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Going with Dave to Las Vegas when The Rocketeer was new to do a book signing at Lyn Pederson’s Page After Page store. Lyn’s dad Pete picked us up at the airport and took us around town, ensconcing us in a lavish two-story suite with a spiral staircase at one of the hotels. Lyn had arranged for a 1930’s vintage car to deliver Dave to the signing. Dave dressed up as close to Cliff Secord as he could - jodhpurs, boots, vintage pilot helmet. He stood on the running board as the pristine old car slowly approached the store. Quite a sight.

We also had a Bettie lookalike contest at the store, and to everyone’s surprise, some fan’s mom won. She had no idea who Bettie or The Rocketeer were, but she was a hottie and a good sport about the whole thing.

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Discovering Thai iced tea at Dave’s suggestion at a little restaurant across from the Farmer’s Market in L.A.

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Being given a “karma test” by my higher power one afternoon in the late seventies when, while waiting for my friend to get done with his ceramics class at San Diego City College, I wandered into an empty classroom where a drawing class must have just taken place. Leaning on the blackboard was what was obviously a successful completed assignment by a former student that was being used as an example. It was a big sheet of detailed pen & ink renderings of an M.C. Escher-like treatment of some ants moving through an elaborate spiral construction. The student had his grade (A+) scrawled on it in red by the teacher, and it was signed Dave Stevens. I was sorely tempted to lift it, but in an uncharacteristic burst of ethics left it behind.

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Hiring Dave for what I believe was his first commercial assignment, which was an illustration for my then-girlfriend and now-wife Rosemary’s dress shop in Ocean Beach.

She sold a lot of the then-popular t-shirt dresses, so had Dave do a pen and ink drawing of a pretty girl wearing one, which was used in a print ad in the San Diego Reader newspaper. The price was $35.00 and we got to keep the original. I think Dave raised his prices after that.

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Going with Dave to a stripper bar in San Diego one evening. He was quite enamored (obsessed was more like it) with an exotic dancer who went by the handle Jackie Brooks. Dave was coming down to San Diego to work on the coloring of The Rocketeer with fellow artist Joe Chiodo, and they would work late and Dave slept on the couch there. He would drag along anyone he could to see the estimable Ms. Brooks as often as possible.

After one of the preliminary dancers had finished, Dave, in the spirit of appreciation, said to the young lady that she had “a hypnotic bottom”. Unfortunately for Dave, she heard it as “hippo bottom” and nearly clocked him one. His flustered attempts to correct this impression had the rest of us in stitches.

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Asking Dave and writer/artist Bruce Jones to come with me to Roz Kirby’s house one night in the early 1990’s. After Jack died, I kept in touch with Roz, and, with Mike Richardson’s support, created a portfolio of some of Jack’s unpublished original art that hung in their living room, which was signed by Roz and published by Dark Horse. We wanted to do an interview with Roz that would be excerpted for publicity purposes. The four of us sat around her kitchen table with a tape recorder going. One question led into another, growing increasingly loopy as Dave and Bruce tried to outdo each other with snappy patter. Once they were really warmed up, they had to remind each other that they were in fact supposed to be interviewing Roz instead of rehearsing a bit for the next Friar’s Club roast. I am not sure if the transcript of this session survives, but it was hilarious and touching at the same time.

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Dave was one of Jack’s best inkers ever, as evidenced by his annual inking of Kirby’s contribution to the San Diego Comic-Con souvenir program book.

Once, when I was working at the Pacific Comics retail store, a collector named Mike Price came in. he had just received a Kirby pencil drawing he had commissioned from Jack re-creating the panel where Doctor Doom stands over the fallen Silver Surfer, with the Surfer’s cosmic power arcing between his iron-gloved hands. Mike wanted to see if I could locate Joe Sinnot for him and have him ink it. I persuaded him to instead have it inked by young Dave Stevens. Mike was very skeptical, but I talked him into it. I think Dave charged him fifty bucks, and not only that, did it on a vellum overlay on a light box so the collector could display both the original pencil and the inked version side-by-side. He did this, and had it framed. Magnificent! Now why didn’t I get one like that for me?

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Watching Dave sketch in Kate Crabb’s book one night at a party at the Athens Market restaurant in downtown San Diego during Comic-Con. Dave seldom drew for fans other than a standard head shot of The Rocketeer, but this time Kate caught him at just the right time, and as a group chatted and had drinks, he slowly but steadily penciled a simply gorgeous glamour rendering of a pretty girl. It was fascinating to watch it take shape, and it is a companion in the file cabinet referenced above - why didn’t I get one like that for me?

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There were innumerable conversations trying to wrest Rocketeer pages out of Dave. Like many editorial folks after me, I got pretty much nowhere. I tried everything. I cursed, pleaded, cajoled, threatened, appealed to his sense of logic and fair play, threatened suicide, advised, commandeered, pulled rank, rationalized, implored, tried bribery and exhausted my verbal and mental bag of tricks to no avail. Perhaps the most telling response was Dave is his whiniest mocking voice saying “Waaaaah…. I’m not on some fanboy’s feeding schedule…. I’m not their big tit.” It was interesting to arrive at Dark Horse ten or twelve years later and observe then-editor Bob Shreck going through the same routine trying to wrangle in the final few pages. That was one graphic novel that came at its own speed for sure.

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Being a fly on the wall at the various stages of Dave’s Bettie Page relationship- discovery, pursuit, obsession and his eventual discovery and recognition of a muse, kindred soul and lifelong friend. Hearing of her small doings and large achievements. Deconstructing a wide variety of artists and sculptors attempts at depicting her, and hearing in detail how and why they all failed. Working with Dave on the Bettie Page dress-up magnet set, an elaborate and deceptively difficult illustration assignment that succeeded admirably and thankfully provided Dave with a small but steady royalty stream for several years. Getting a phone call from the great lady herself. She was concerned because Dave wasn’t returning her calls, and was worried about his health (he was sick for a long time). She called Dark Horse to see if we knew how he was. After a delightful 45 minute chat, I called Dave and discovered that he had indeed been returning her calls, but that she had turned the ringer off on her phone and wasn’t answering because she couldn’t hear him.

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Early in Dave’s fascination with Bettie, he was kind of like a broken record with it. One afternoon he and me and Rosemary were eating at the legendary San Diego culinary institution The Chicken Pie Shop. Dave kept saying that our waitress kind of looked like Bettie. We didn’t quite see the resemblance the way he did, but he kept mentioning it. When she came over to see if we wanted dessert (you got dessert with your chicken pie dinner- what a good deal that place was), he asked her what they had. She looked at him and said “why don’t you try the ‘apple brown bettie’. Dave’s eyes widened as though it were some kind of cosmic convergence. We teased him for being silly.

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Attending the Playboy Expo in LA with Dave, Jim Silke and Olivia. Standing there chatting with those three was like some kind of pinup art heaven.

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Being the chauffeur in Portland for a group of artists in town for the now-defunct Dark Horse sponsored local comics convention. Dubbing themselves “The Lizard Men”, the group prowled our local old book stores with me at the wheel. It was Dave, Al Williamson, Mark Schultz, William Stout and Cam Kennedy. Such talk! And some of these guys were old enough to be your father.

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Speaking of “such talk”, there was no stopping Dave and former Comic-Con President Richard Butner when they got going. For two reasonably erudite guys, their immature and incredibly crude rapid-fire banter was unbelievable. And it never stopped - they cracked each other up. Oh Yaaz. This style of repartee continued when Dave was in William Stout’s art studio on La Brea in LA. Only this time the willing foil was painter and studio mate Richard Hescox. They were a couple of sick puppies once they got started.

Dave did a hilarious strip of himself and Butner at the Comic-Con masquerade, which was published in the 1979 Comic-Con program book. It reflects the tone described above pretty accurately. I posted it on my office door this week.

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Dave was very patient. One of the finest pieces he ever did for Pacific was a lushly-rendered cover of Sheena. It was really one of his best jobs ever. Imagine our consternation, not to mention Dave’s, when it turned up missing. We tore the place apart but couldn’t find it. Dave was not only convinced that it was stolen, but positive he knew who had done it - a freelance colorist who was around at the time. Dave tried to convince me that we should burgle this guy’s house and find it. He wasn’t kidding. Imagining us getting shot or arrested, I was able to defer this scheme, but it always gnawed at Dave.

He kept his eyes open and twenty or more years later it finally showed up on ebay. Dave got the right kind of legal help this time, and to his immense satisfaction regained the original, which he sold for a very handsome sum. And he was right all along - the thief was just who he suspected.

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Going for a sumptuous dinner with Dave, Rosemary and our niece Kristin to Plainfield Mayur, a posh Indian restaurant in Portland situated in an old Victorian house.

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Dave never bragged, and although he met lots of famous people, he didn’t talk about it very much. But you could kind of pry it out of him if you were persistent. I recall him telling about working on the Raiders of the Lost Ark storyboards, working out of a bungalow somewhere in Hollywood. They were auditioning actresses for the Karen Allen role, and Dave’s drawing board was situated where he could look out of a window and see the candidates, a parade of gorgeous ingénues, approach the place for their meetings. He had a favorite, who didn’t get the part, but certainly enjoyed observing the process.

He also described working with Michael Jackson, doing storyboards for him for his star turn in the Jackson’s “Victory” tour. He would drive out to Neverland every day, and Michael and him would work on the project - just the two of them. Michael would demonstrate his dance moves and Dave would draw. At the time, Michael was probably the biggest star in the world, but to Dave it was just another job.

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Listening, in more recent years, to Dave explain why he had gone back to art school because “he couldn’t paint”. While this sounds kind of ridiculous, he was quite serious and worked hard to learn figurative oil painting. He emailed me some of his oil painting head studies, because he said he “didn’t have the skills to do bodies”. They are stunning, in my opinion, but Dave was hypercritical about his own work and savage about most everybody else’s. His dedication to his craft was inspirational, and when I encounter some hot shot “flavor of the month” practitioner who is enjoying a little popularity and has his art skills in an arrested state while his ego hypertrophies, I think of Dave’s refusal to rest on his laurels and just shake my head. I hope these oil pieces are in the big Stevens art book that is coming together, because they deserve to be seen.

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Toward the end of 2007, I worked on my last project with Dave. We made one of our "syroco"-style 1940's-looking statuettes of the Rocketeer. Dave was very involved, at least via phone and email. Some days he wouldn't respond when he was too wiped out, but most of the time he would, and was as fussy as ever.

We'd speak a little bit about his situation, but he wasn't real forthcoming after a point, although we did talk about his treatment (awful) and prognosis (not good). One moment that sticks with me is that he wanted us to photograph the statuette so it could be included in this big art book (as yet unpublished), that he was desperately trying to see to a finish before he croaked. We still hadn't worked out all the details to his satisfaction, and I told him I wanted it to be just right before we took pictures of it. I said: "C'mon, Dave... we're not on a deadline." He said: "Well, I am!".


Thanks to David Scroggy for this wealth of warm memories for us all to enjoy. Thanks as well to Joel Beren of Ozone Productions for making this possible.

If you have any personal memories of Dave Stevens, especially as they pertain to his relationship with Bettie Page, please EMAIL THE BETTIE PAGE BLOG!

Dave Stevens, the profoundly gifted comic book creator and illustrator, passed away on March 10th at the age of 52, after a long (and privately fought) battle with leukemia.

His life and work have have a profound impact on Bettie Page the person and Bettie Page the enduring icon. Falling in love with her photos and film reels, Dave honed his clean-lined style by faithfully bringing the then-"missing" Bettie to life on bristol board.

Eventually, he would incorporate her likeness in his title, THE ROCKETEER, as a character named "Betty", the girlfriend of the title's hero, Cliff Secord. A retro-pulp adventure about a boy who uses a jet pack to fight for justice, began modestly as a back-up in Mike Grell's STARSLAYER in 1982. THE ROCKETEER's fame snowballed, raising the profile of both artist and "model".

Dave's stunning renditions and interpretations of Bettie Page ( in ROCKETEER, scores of pin-ups and in the authorized BETTIE PAGE COMICS) created a legion of fans, priming the pump for Bettie's return to the public eye. Ironically, when THE ROCKETEER was finally translated to the big screen, "Betty" the character was deemed too hot for a Disney title, leaving Jennifer Connelly to play a re-named, toned down girlfriend to Billy Campbell's "Cliff".

If Dave's only contribution to Bettie's life was through the beauty and impact of his art, that would warrant eternal gratitude on the part of Bettie and her fans. However, once Bettie resurfaced, Dave was among the first to seek her out and compensate her for using her image without her (admittedly, impossible to attain) permission. Thereafter, he not only lobbied within the creative community to urge artists to do right by Bettie, he also became one of her few close friends and confidants, driving her to doctors appointments, the grocery store and the like.

Dave Stevens, the friend and the artist, will be missed by all who have been touched by him. Bettie fans, whether familiar with his work or not, should be profoundly grateful for the ways his humanity and genius have help cultivate Bettie's current popularity.

Read an in-depth interview with Dave Stevens in COMIC BOOK ARTIST, in which Dave discusses his entire career and his relationship with Bettie Page.

Hear snippets of an interview Dave Stevens conducted with Bettie Page.

Buy Dave Stevens products from Dark Horse.

Read scores of tributes compiled by Tom Spurgeon at THE COMICS REPORTER.

The following touching tributes discuss Dave on a personal level:

Mark Evanier (a talented writer in many mediums and a particularly erudite blogger on matters that affect comics, animation, film and TV)

Heidi MacDonald of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S BLOG, "THE BEAT"

Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News

Artist Rich Dannys

Mike Richardson, Publisher of Dark Horse Comics, provided a statement to COMIC BOOK RESOURCES

Learn more about Dave Stevens, courtesy of Wikipedia and his own official Dave Stevens site. The official site contains a tremendous amount of artwork and a list of nearly all his published work.