The Comic Strip
"I was twenty years old when they stopped the World War and mustered me out
of the air service. I got a job surveying the lower levels of an abandoned
mine near Pittsburgh, in which the atmosphere had a peculiar, pungent tang,
and the crumbling rock glowed strangely. I was examining it when suddenly
the roof behind me caved in!
But I didn't die. The peculiar gas which had defied chemical analysis
preserved me in suspended animation. Finally another shifting of the
strata admitted fresh air and I revived. I staggered out of the mine,
eager to reassure my parents and friends, but... I had slept for
five hundred years!"
Buck's origin lies in the character Anthony Rogers from
the serialised novel "Armageddon 2419 AD"
by Philip Francis Nowlan.
He first appeared in Amazing Stories, August 1928.
A syndicated comic strip adaptation soon followed. John Flint Dille, head of
the National Newspaper Service, was keen to adapt Nowlan's story, with
the one proviso that the character should be known as Buck, which sounded
more heroic.
Initially, Nowlan wrote the scripts and the strip was illustrated
by Dick Calkins. It ran daily from 1929 until June 1967.
A Sunday comic strip appears as a spin-off from the daily strip.
Big Little Books produce 13 thick (about 1.5"), small-page (3.5 X 4.25") books
reprinting daily
Buck Rogers strips, but with about every second panel replaced with printed
text. One of them was a "prize" from Cocomalt.
A pop-up book about the same page size as the Big Little Books (4 X 5"), but thin
(.5"). It has the start of the daily comic strip, then jumps to the episode
of the capture of the Mongol Emperor. It is back in print, available from
Bud Plant Comic Art, Post Office Box 1689, Grass Valley, CA 95945, U.S.A.
Eastern Color Printing publish 'Famous Funnies', an anthology
title reprinting comic strips in comic book format. Issues 3 - 190 and
209 - 218 include reprints of the Buck Rogers Sunday comic strip
amongst others.
Eastern Color Printing publish 6 issues of a Buck Rogers comic.
Toby Press publish a Buck Rogers comic book from January to May.
Gold Key publish issue one of a Buck Rogers comic book featuring
a complete, new story.
1967 Aprill Reprints
Five reprints of early daily strips, titled "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century".
In comic book format, but with stiffer covers. Put out by Edwin Aprill Jr. as
part of a series "Great Classic Newspaper Comic Strips". Nos. 3-5 were
published in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
Chelsea House Publishers printed a book called "The Collected Works
of Buck Rogers In the 25th Century" (1969). It has about 1400 strips in it
with a few in colour.
It is a large-page thick hardcover book, about 10.5 X 13.5 X 1.5 inches. It
reprints a long sequence of the start of the daily comic strip, and also
shorter sequences of daily and Sunday pages through the years. It had a
second printing in 1970.
1970 Newspaper Article
A two-page article in the Tucson Daily Citizen, Tucson, Arizona, for Nov. 21,
1970, about the discovery of a few of Calkins' original drawings.
A 1974 softcover volume of "Feature Showcase" includes strips 1164-1578
followed by 1-59 of the next numbering series (begun 1/22/34 according to
the "UNKNOWN" Buck Rogers). These are of reportedly poor quality.
1977 The Collected Works of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, New Revised
Edition
A revision of the book by a different publisher, A & W Visual Library, with
smaller page size, 9 X 12 inches. The early part of the strip is still there,
but there are some changes in the choices of other segments reprinted. There
is some interesting additional information, the most useful being a chronology
of all the daily and Sunday episodes.
1978 Mediascene Article
An article about plans to produce the Buck Rogers television show, in some
1978 issue of the magazine "Mediascene".
A Sunday newspaper comic based on the 1979 television series
Gold Key publish issues 2 to 9 and 11 to 16 of a Buck Rogers comic book,
this time based on the characters in the Glen A. Larsen TV series.
The first (and apparently last) issue, dated Spring 1980, published by
Comicade Enterprises, reprinted the first magazine story and a sequence of
Sunday pages (in the episode of the attempt to move Mars to Beta Lyra), and
has other Buck Rogers information, including a discussion of the first movie
serial.
Italian reprints (in English) of the first 576 Sunday pages, large size.
Produced by
Club Anni Trenta, Sede via Francisco Pozzo, 23/1 - 16145, Genova, Italy
The Buck Rogers reprints are full size, and of excellent quality both in
line and color reproduction. The colours are however more intense than
those available in the original newsprint. There are 52 volumes, of about 10
double-sided pages each. They cost $10 (in January 1998) each volume,
and are available from
Tony Raiola of Pacific Comics,
California, USA.
1980 Comic Book
Whitman Comic No. 9, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", based on the 1978
Television series.
"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", by James Lawrence and Gray Morrow
A reprint of Sunday pages based on the 1979-81 television series. It covered
9 Sept. 1979 to 26 Oct. 1980 - perhaps all of the newspaper pages.
Reprint, by Dragon Lady Press, of dailies 29 Dec.'47 to 30 Oct.'48,
episode of Dr. Modar of Saturn.
Series of comic books of reprints of dailies, starting with the episode of
the doom comet, and ending in the episode of the asteroid pirates.
Eternity Comics printed a continuous stretch of Buck Rogers
dailies in their series, "Cosmic Heroes". Inside the front covers of
the magazines is "Eternity Comics, a Division of Malibu Graphics"
They are 11 volumes in comic-book format.
The reproduction quality is reportedly poor. These comic books are out of print,
but they can be found at comic-book stores.
A set or two may still be available from the San Francisco Academy
of Comic Art.
1988 Buck Rogers: the First 60 Years in the 25th Century
Another revision of "The Collected Works", this one published by TSR, but
re-titled. This one is back to a larger size, 10 X 13 inches. It too has
the early part of the strip, with a new set of later segments.
It lacks the chronology of the strips that is in the 1977 edition.
1995 "The Aviation Art of Russell Keaton"
A trade paperback book, mostly about airplane strips Flyin' Jenny, etc.
but parts are about his work on Buck Rogers. Three Sunday pages and some
promotional pictures are reprinted.
1995 Disintegrator Model
A display model of the toy disintegrator in a case is advertised by Ektek for
$695.
A small publisher out of Denver prints the "Lost Episodes"
series, which, at the whim of the publisher, reprints classic
daily strips. A reprint of daily Buck Rogers is said to be upcoming.