LEGENDARY HEROES #5

BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY

Buck Rogers was America's first popular science fiction hero.  Created by Philip Francis Nowlan (1888-1940) in the novella "Armageddon 2419 A.D.", it appeared in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories.  Nowlan followed up with a second installment titled "The Airlords of Han" that was published in March 1929.  The two novellas told the story of Buck Rogers, a veteran of WWI who, in 1927, is working for the gas company and investigating abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania.  Buck is trapped in a cave-in and exposed to radioactive gas that puts him into a state of suspended animation.  When he awakens 492 years later he discovers a far different world than the one he remembered.  His first encounter is coming to the aid of a woman, Wilma Deering, who is fighting off a gang of attackers known as the Bad Bloods.  Wilma is part of a rebel uprising, along with Dr. Huer, that is involved in guerilla warfare with the Hans.  The Hans are Mongols who have emerged from the Gobi desert to conquer Asia and Europe, and now America.  The Hans have seized control of 15 major cities across the country and Buck joins Wilma and the rebels to engage the enemy in a war of advanced technology.

Creator Nowlan had the idea of turning Buck Rogers into a comic strip and approached John F. Dille of the National Newspaper Syndicate.  Cartoonist Dick Calkins was hired to do the illustration and the strip debuted on January 7, 1929.  Calkins (1894-1962) was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attended the Chicago Art Institute.  The strip started as a daily feature in 47 newspapers and a Sunday page, drawn by Russell Keaton, was added on March 30, 1930.  Once the origin story as scripted by Nowlan in Amazing Stories was completed, Buck & Wilma and Dr. Huer blasted off for outer space to fight the Tiger Men from Mars, and do battle with their nemesis Killer Kane and Kane's paramour, the slinky Ardala.  Another recurring character was Black Barney, a space pirate who befriends Buck and becomes his ally.

Nowlan wrote the strip until 1939, but also created another strip titled "Skyroads", an aviation adventure story to compete with "Tailspin Tommy".  Calkins and Keaton jumped ship to illustrate the new feature and in 1932 the syndicate hired Rick Yager to do "Buck Rogers".  Yager (1909-1995) was born in Alton, Illinois and moved as a young boy to Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, where he was neighbors of Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Yager had trained at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and was a talented watercolorist.  At its' peak in 1934 "Buck Rogers" appeared in 287 American newspapers, was translated into 18 languages, and carried in an additional 160 papers around the world.  When Nowlan quit writing the strip Yager took over the duties, now having complete creative control.  But through some strange contractual agreement, Nowlan & Calkins' names would continue appearing in the strip until 1947 when Yager finally received credit.

In 1932 "Buck Rogers" hit the airwaves in a radio show that ran 15 minutes daily on CBS until 1936.  The Mutual Broadcasting Company brought it back to radio in 1939 as a half hour Saturday program that aired through July 1940.  In 1933 a ten-minute Buck Rogers film premiered at the Chicago World's Fair and later the film was shown in department stores to promote merchandise.  The Buck Rogers line of toys is believed to be the beginning of character-based licensed merchandise.  Daisy, maker of air rifles, was the first to manufacture a Buck Rogers disintegrator gun with holster that retailed for 50 cents, not cheap during the Depression.  And yet when Macy's department store announced that they were selling the toy gun, the next morning they found a line of 20,000 people, a third of a mile long, waiting for the store to open.  Marx produced tin lithograph rocket ships, and Tootsie Toy came out with a 6-piece lead die cast set of characters.  A dozen Big Little Books were published and Buck Rogers appeared in the first American comic book Famous Funnies in 1934.  Buck was a mainstay of Famous Funnies until issue #190 wherein he took a short hiatus, returning in 1955 for an 8 issue run with amazing covers created by Frank Frazetta.

In 1939 Universal released a 12-chapter movie serial starring Buster Crabbe as Buck Rogers.  And ABC launched a TV series from April 1950 to January 1951, for a total of 36 episodes that were broadcast live from WENR-TV in Chicago.  Only one episode still survives today.  Three different actors portrayed Buck, but more notable was the actress who played Wilma Deering - future Oscar winner Eva Marie Saint.  In mid-1958 the relationship between cartoonist Rick Yager and the syndicate became acrimonious and Yager quit after 26 years.  Murphy Anderson of DC comics became a temporary replacement until George Tuska was hired in 1959.  Tuska drew the strip until it ceased publication on July 8, 1967 at which point it only appeared in 28 papers.

But Buck Rogers saw a revival in 1979, probably due in part to the popularity of "Star Wars".  A TV pilot that was also released to movie houses premiered on March 30, 1979 and was well received, prompting NBC to launch a primetime series in September 1979.  Gil Gerard was Buck, Erin Gray was Wilma, Michael Ansara played Killer Kane, and Pamela Hensley was Ardala.  The success of the show prompted the New York Times Syndicate to do a new comic strip (interesting, because the NY Times is one of the few papers in America to have never carried a comic strip in their entire publication history) with Gray Morrow and Jim Lawrence, both seasoned and respected cartoonists, as the creative team.  The TV show was canceled at the end of the 1981 season and the comic strip ended in 1983.  Still, Buck Rogers lives on.  As recently as 2012 he was a graphic novel produced by Howard Chaykin, and will probably be celebrating his 100th birthday in 2028.  And not looking a day over 30.