Yes, I made this photograph. Yes, these are my comic books. Yes, I am a nerd.
I have loved The Rocketeer ever since I saw Joe Johnston’s underrated film adaptation for the first time at the Commack Multiplex. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was based on a comic book and there was so much more for me to read. So, about ten years ago when IDW began publishing Rocketeer Adventures - new Rocketeer stories! - my poor nerdy little heart squealed with joy.
The collections of short comics in each issue perfectly captured Dan Stevens’ original vision while breathing new life into the character with some new voices. I wanted very badly to be one of those voices. I wrote a short comic script and asked a few writers I knew/know to read it. (If you’ve ever read/proofread one of my stories, I am incredibly grateful for you kind people). It was met with some decent feedback and I tried with all my might to get it read, noticed, perused, skimmed - anything.
But, I am not here in 2022 to tell you how my first comic was published. I am here to tell you that after years of collecting metaphorical dust in the depths of my hard drive, I’ve dusted this script off…to publish it on my blog. I know, I’m sorry, another old story I published here because it never went anywhere. (Also, let’s not talk just yet about how it’s another WWII story - more on that later.)
So, here it is. My attempt at a Rocketeer story.
The Rocketeer: WHY WE FLY
By Sean Arena
Hi! So, all of the dialogue has no tails until Page 7, Panel 4 when we finally see CLIFF SECORD and ANTHONY. I was thinking the background of Anthony’s text could be RED and the background of Cliff’s text could be GOLD, but that’s just an idea. Okay, time to clear the skies…
PAGE ONE (four panels)
Panel 1. An OPEN FIELD; nothing but the grey clouds and the wind-blown grass and…A FLYING MACHINE! Well, really it’s just a bi-wing plane.
1 CAPTION: California, 1915
2 ANTHONY: Hey Cliff, why do you fly?
3 CLIFF: Heh that’s easy, Anthony.
Panel 2. The plane flies right by a YOUNG BOY. To be exact, it's a YOUNG CLIFF SECORD. Young Cliff stands in the middle of a cornfield. Not far off there is a barn and a farmhouse. Next to Cliff is his FATHER, who braces himself as the wind kicks up in his face, but not Cliff. His mouth agape, Cliff watches in amazement as the bi-wing plane whips through the air.
4 CLIFF: Ever since I saw that courier plane pass over my pop’s farm, I just knew that was for me.
5 CLIFF (connected): There’s no feeling in the world like the wind in your face.
Panel 3. We're close on young Cliff's face. We can see the reflection of the bi-wing plane in his eyes.
6 ANTHONY: No, I mean why do you do what you do?
Panel 4. FLASH FORWARD. We're close on the face of OLDER CLIFF SECORD inside the Rocketeer helmet. A single drop of sweat slips down his forehead and his face is clenched.
7 CLIFF (quiet): Oh...
PAGE TWO (one panel)
SPLASH PANEL. THE ROCKETEER is in the middle of a dogfight; he dives toward the ground. A single GERMAN ME-109 fighter plane is right on his tail. Tracer bullets whiz past his head. Above The Rocketeer, TUSKEGEE P-51 MUSTANGS take out German fighters as they protect squadrons of B-17 bombers. Bullets and planes zoom through the air.
1 CAPTION: 1944, France.
2 CLIFF: Well that’s something a little different.
PAGE THREE (five panels)
Panel 1. Extreme wide shot. Out of the clouds comes...THE ROCKETEER; he shoots down to the Earth. Right behind him is the same GERMAN FIGHTER who will just not let up. Beneath them, grass covered hills. Atop one of the hills in the distance is a farm.
1 CLIFF: Sometimes you don’t have a choice, you have to do what has to be done.
2 CLIFF (connected): You do it because you know in your heart it’s the right thing to do.
Panel 2. Tiny overlapping panel. Close on The Rocketeer's HAND. He grasps the throttle button to the rocket pack; he MASHES down the button with his thumb.
Panel 3. THE ROCKETEER is only a few hundred feet away from the ground and he cuts power to the rocket pack. The flame goes out and he free falls, feet first.
3 CLIFF: You’re going to find there are people out there who are…
4 CLIFF (connected): I’d say “bad”, but that’s too nice.
Panel 4. Just as he is about to hit the ground, THE ROCKETEER jams on the throttle. The rocket pack SPITS out fire and the Rocketeer jettisons up into the sky.
The GERMAN FIGTHER tries to pull up, but it's too late…
5 SFX (jet pack): PFFFFFF!
6 CLIFF: They think they’re above the rest of the world and they will stop at nothing to take everything they want.
7 CLIFF (connected): Tell people what to do, what to feel, what to think, tell them they’re worth nothing…
Panel 5. The Rocketeer flies right at us, practically OUT OF THE PAGE! Behind him, the German fighter CRASHES and disappears into a fiery explosion.
8 CLIFF: And if you don’t fall in line with their every word, they find a way to take care of you.
PAGE FOUR (five panels)
Panel 1. Another GERMAN FIGHTER flies right for the side of a B-17 BOMBER. The GERMAN PILOT takes aim and catches the bomber right in its cross hairs.
Panel 2. Inside the bomber, one of the waist gunners, SGT. BARRY opens fire. Fire spouts from the end of his machine gun and .50 caliber bullet shells hit the ground like raindrops.
1 CLIFF: When those people come along you have to stand up together and say-
2 CLIFF (connected): I’m free, I am who I am and there’s nothing you can do about it.
3 CLIFF (connected): You want to take it away from me, go ahead and try.
Panel 3. Machine gun fire pelts the side of the bomber and the whole plane lurches. SGT. BARRY tumbles out the window...
Panel 4. THE ROCKETEER catches the unconscious waist gunner. He zooms up through the clouds to the bomber plane without missing a beat.
4 SFX: THUD!
Panel 5. THE ROCKETEER carries an injured SGT. BARRY to safety inside the bomber. The other WAIST GUNNER on the bomber carefully takes Sgt. Barry from the Rocketeer. The Rocketeer looks over his shoulder at the dogfight. A German ME-109 chases a Tuskegee P-51 Mustang.
5 CLIFF: Freedom isn’t a privilege; it’s a right every person is born with,
6 CLIFF (connected): Never forget that.
7 ANTHONY: I won’t, Cliff. I promise.
8 ANTHONY (connected): You must be really brave, fighting the ratsies like that? I wish I were fearless like you.
PAGE 5 (five panels)
Panel 1. The GERMAN FIGHTER is right on the tail of the U.S. FIGHTER. Tracer bullets stream from the German fighter and blast holes through the wings of the U.S. fighter. Unnoticed, THE ROCKETEER gains on the German fighter.
1 CLIFF: Anthony, being brave isn’t being fearless…
Panel 2. THE ROCKETEER lands on the wing of the German fighter plane. The GERMAN PILOT, frozen in fear, stares up at the masked rocket-man standing on his wing.
2 SFX (landing): KLUNK.
3 CLIFF: Standing up for what’s right even when you’re scared out of your mind and everyone tells you you’re crazy because the chips are stacked against you…
4 CLIFF (connected): That’s bravery. That’s the mark of a true hero.
Panel 3. Tiny overlapping panel. CLOSE ON: The Rocketeer reaches for his PISTOL.
Panel 4. Tiny overlapping panel. CLOSE ON: The Rocketeer shoots the ENGINE of the German plane.
Panel 5. The Rocketeer SALUTES to the pilot he just rescued; the pilot gives him a THUMBS UP. The Rocketeer and the U.S. squadrons are victorious. They all fly home to safety. The German pilots bail out of their flaming planes and parachute to the ground.
5 ANTHONY: Wow. Are you a hero, Cliff?
6 CLIFF: No, I’m not. But I get to see heroes at work every day.
PAGE 6 (three panels)
Panel 1. The plane squadrons from the previous page disappear into the distance. Calming blue skies and fluffy white clouds surround them.
1 ANTHONY: But I don’t get it. Why? What’s the point?
PANEL 2. We're on Normandy Beach during the D-Day invasion. SOLDIERS take cover behind IRON HEDGEHOGS and on the DUNES. Muzzle fire comes from pillboxes towering over the beach. Tracer bullets whiz by them and kick up sand. Explosions all around, smoke screens everywhere.
2 CLIFF: You’re right, kid.
3 CLIFF: What’s the point in fighting if you don’t know who you’re doing it for?
Panel 3. Now we're at the classic image of Iwo Jima. The American flag blows in the wind as SIX MARINES hoist the flagpole at the top of Mount Suribachi. We can see the sweat and the dirt on their faces and the volcanic rocks under their feet.
3 CLIFF: Everyone fights for someone or something.
PAGE 7 (five panels)
Panel 1. Full width panel. A US SOLDIER in dress uniform is greeted by his family at a train station: MOM, DAD, BROTHER, SISTER and GIRLFRIEND. Big smiles and hugs all around. They are not the only family at the train station being reunited with a soldier. OTHER SOLDIERS step off the train and are greeted by their FAMILIES.
1 CLIFF: Family…
Panel 2. Full width panel. A squad of SOLDIERS sits around a small fire. It's the dead of WINTER; snow covers everything, even the soldiers. Yet they still seem to be laughing it up with each other. They all have their canteen-cups filled with coffee. One of the soldiers dishes out coffee from a helmet turned into a coffee pot.
2 CLIFF: …Friends…
Panel 3. Full width panel. Wide landscape shot. THE ROCKETEER flies over a farm; he leaves a smoke trail in the sky. A TRACTOR pulls a PLOW through an empty field of nothing. Nothing but dirt. A fresh start.
3 CLIFF: …A dream…
Panel 4. Full width panel. We are inside a diner. CLIFF SECORD sits in a booth across from ANTHONY, 9, a boy with messy, jet-black hair. Anthony fixes a TIN TOY of a ROBOT. Cliff has a cup of coffee, Anthony a milk shake. Two girls, JANET and VIRGINIA, both 7 and with red hair, sit in the next booth. They peek over the top of the booth at Anthony.
4 CLIFF: Everyone has something, Anthony.
Panel 5. Full width panel. A delicate HAND with red-painted fingernails taps Cliff on the shoulder. CLIFF looks over his shoulder with a smirk. Anthony sits across from Cliff. With a shy smile and blushing cheeks, Anthony looks at whoever it is behind Cliff. Virginia and Janet are frozen with excitement.
5 CLIFF: Me…
PAGE 8 (one panel)
Splash Panel. CLIFF and BETTY stand in the middle of the diner. Cliff pulls her in close. It's the perfect Hollywood guy-gets-the-girl moment. They both have giant smiles on their faces. Betty stares up at her boyfriend with dreamy eyes, she knows she's found a catch with Cliff – but he’s the lucky one. Anthony has a RED POT on his head and pretends to fly around the diner. Janet and Virginia roll their eyes.
1 CLIFF: …I know exactly why I fly.
2 CAPTION: The End.