The Rocketeer flies back into comics with an one-off issue featuring work by Adam Hughes, Jae Lee, and more

It’s been close to a decade, but Dave Stevens’ classic hero the Rocketeer is coming back to comics, with an all-star line-up guaranteed to thrill longtime fans of the character.

As part of the promotional efforts behind the upcoming Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection movie — a documentary about the late creator, featuring interviews with Geof Darrow, Jaime Hernandez, Adam Hughes, William Kaluta, Laura Martin, Billy Campbell, and many many more — the Rocketeer will be returning to comics for a special one shot issue, edited by Scott Dunbier.

The issue will feature three new stories: one by Drawn to Perfection director Kelvin Mao, drawn by Craig Cermak with colors from Laura Martin, another by the movie’s executive producer Robert Windom, featuring art by Jae Lee and colors by June Chung, and a piece of Rocketeer history brought to life for the final installment — a 12-page short co-written by Rocketeer movie screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, with art by Adam Hughes.

The origins behind that last story are tied to the Drawn to Perfection documentary itself-- during interviews for the doc, Bilson revealed that he and the late De Meo had written a never-illustrated comic book story featuring the character. When Hughes, during his own interview for the movie, learned about this story, he volunteered to draw it. Soon, the result will be available for the world to see.

Phil Noto and Maria Laura Sanapo also contribute pin-ups to the one shot, which will feature behind-the-scenes material from the production of the documentary.

The issue will only be available to backers of the current Kickstarter campaign to fund a physical release of the documentary. The campaign runs through December 2.

Lae and Windom have also collaborated on Image Comics’ Seven Sons; they talked about their collaboration earlier this year.