Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror #3 & 4, by Roger Langridge (writer), J Bone (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Tom B. Long (letterer) - Simonson gave Betty a lot more clothes there on the cover than she gets inside. It's a good cover. I like how the fingers of Rune's shadow start to resemble the brick squares in places.Cliff lost the rocket, which is gonna make it tough to help Betty, who's not being quite careful enough snooping around Rune. The Charles' clue her in that Rune used to a hypnotist, and that the professor is a mechanical engineering genius gone missing. Which doesn't do Betty much good once she's in Rune's clutches. Cliff, meanwhile, is trying to use a rocket pack Peevy built to save the day, with mixed results. At least he got his wallet back, from Groucho Marx no less.
For a moment, that seems to have exhausted Cliff's run of good luck, because he fails utterly at a stealthy approach. Fortunately, Doc Savage's goons bring back the real rocket, allowing Cliff to use Peevy's a battering ram or blunt instrument, duties for which it is much better suited. Betty is rescued, at least partially by Cliff's moving speech about how much she means to him. Hey, it grossed out Rune and distracted him so the Professor could shoot him. Cliff comes to an arrangement with Savage about the rocket, and he and Betty enjoy a good five seconds of peace and harmony. After which they resume arguing about the things they usually do.
J Bone's pretty outstanding at drawing things. The look on Cliff's face when Rune meets his end, with the lines under the eyes, and the dismayed look. I thought Cliff might throw up in the next panel. Also, when Savage is making his proposal, you can just see the outline of Cliff's foot and fingers under the tarp in the background. Jordie Bellaire adds something to it all. Sho'Zzoth is given this incredibly dark black and green combo, giving an eerie, ominous presence compared to everything around it. Plus, there's a nice gag where all the happy couples are hugging and showing affection, so Bellaire goes with a pink background. But when Nick tries the same with Nora, she blows him off, and the background is plain white. Don't feel bad Nick, the gin still loves ya.
Langridge writes a lot of funny stuff into this. I laughed hardest at Rune's goons when the one said, 'What the hell?! Let's just shoot him!' 'You had a gun? Why didn't you say?' J Bone adds to it by having the other goon look as though he's about to smack the first fellow. I can't decide if I like the use of Groucho and the Charles' To be fair, I didn't know it was supposed to be Groucho until we were told, though I had been curious how this narrator knew all this stuff. Nick and Nora felt too ancillary to the story, given Langridge went to the trouble of using them. I guess the idea is that because this is a Rocketeer comic, we follow the regular cast, but while we do, Nick and Nora are out doing their own investigating and their story just happens to dovetail with Betty or Cliff every so often. On the whole, I still preferred Cargo of Doom, though I prefer how Langridge writes Cliff and Betty's relationship to how Waid handled it (still don't like how Betty got painted as the bad guy in that one).
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