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Dave Stevens, Russ Manning Assistant, Passes
Dave Stevens
passed away on March 10, 2008 after a long struggle with cancer. Stevens
was born on July 29, 1955 in Lynwood , California. Later, as Dave put it,
"I grew up in the wilds of Idaho and Oregon." He graduated from high school
in Portland, Oregon, after which he attended San Diego City College for
two years and took miscellaneous art classes. In 1971 he discovered the
art of Reed Crandall, thinking "Man, this guy must be my surrogate father!"
He met Russ Manning in 1974 when he and a few other fans visited Russ
at home. He showed Russ his portfolio, which Russ liked but felt that Dave's
work was more suited for the super-hero field. A year later Russ told an
acquaintance that he needed an assistant and Dave Stevens was recommended.
Russ remembered Dave but still thought he was unsuited for Tarzan. Upon
hearing of his recommendation and Russ’ comments, Dave wrote Russ a letter,
enclosing drawings of Tarzan and an ape. Russ liked the drawings and called
Dave's home to ask him to come to work for him. At twenty years of age
Dave Stevens began working for Russ on
the Sunday Tarzan page. Dave continued to work as Russ Manning's assistant
for about a year and a half: 1975 - 1976, and part of 1977.
According to Dave, he did "inking and partial penciling. Anything that
(Russ) didn’t have time to do. Everything but Tarzan. I didn't really do
Tarzan until he trusted me, because I was not real solid at penciling."
At about the same time, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. decided that they
would create their own comic book studio to produce Tarzan and Korak comic
stories for the European market with David Kaye's Byblos Productions of
London producing England's first weekly Tarzan magazine featuring original
stories rather than American newspaper strips. Russ Manning was hired to
edit, write and draw some of these new comics and he also hired several
young comic book artists to pencil and ink stories. Dave Stevens was among
this group and he inked four of these and, with others, assisted on inking
two.
After working
with Russ Manning, Dave Stevens floated around taking on various projects,
which included drawing storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark,
animation work, and film art. By this time Russ Manning had been drawing
Star
Wars since early 1979. In the summer of 1981, Russ' own struggle with
cancer caused him to leave Star Wars and he called in Rick Hoberg,
another artist who had worked on the ERB, Inc. foreign comic hooks, and
Dave Stevens to work on Star Wars, with Hoberg penciling and Stevens
inking. They drew two weeks of the daily strip from July 14 through July
26. 1980. They also produced one Star Wars Sunday page: August 3,
1980. Russ Manning passed away on December 1, 1981.
By this time Stevens became enamored of the 1930s, as well as the action
movie serials of that decade. Using that era as a springboard, in 1982
Dave Stevens created his only memorable comic book character: The Rocketeer,
which was purchased by Walt Disney as a live action film, released in 1991.
After this, Stevens began making a name for himself producing numerous
pinup comic book covers and illustrations, achieving fame for his fantastically
beautiful illustrations of the feminine form. Stevens single-handedly revived
interest in 1950s erotic model Bettie Page, using her likeness in many
of his illustrations as well as basing his heroine in The Racketeer
on her. In the 1980s, Dave shared a studio with Bill Stout and Richard
Hescox, both Edgar Rice Burroughs enthusiasts: Bill Stout worked as Russ
Manning’s assistant on the Tarzan newspaper strip 1970-1973, as well as
producing numerous Burroughs inspired illustrations for his yearly series
of sketch-books, and Richard Hescox painted the covers for the Venus series
in 1991.
It is a sad coincidence that Dave Stevens and Russ Manning both succumbed
to cancer at the age of 52. I never had the pleasure of meeting Dave Stevens,
but I followed his career and picked up magazines containing his work whenever
I found them. His work will be missed by his fans — although he never worried
about whether or not his fans liked what he produced: it was only important
if he, himself, liked it and was satisfied with it. His many friends will
find that his absence has left a hole in their world, one that will be
hard to fill.
-- Robert R. Barrett
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