Comic strip Buck Rogers

the story of anthony rogers in amazing stories caught attention of john f. dille, president of national newspaper service syndicate, , arranged nowlan turn strip syndication. character given nickname buck, , have suggested dille coined name based on 1920s cowboy actor, buck jones.

on january 7, 1929, buck rogers in 25th century a.d. comic strip debuted. coincidentally, date tarzan comic strip began. first 3 frames of series set scene buck s leap 500 years earth s future:

i 20 years old when stopped world war , mustered me out of air service. got job surveying lower levels of abandoned mine near pittsburgh, in atmosphere had peculiar pungent tang , crumbling rock glowed strangely. examining when roof behind me caved in and...

buck rendered unconscious, , strange gas preserves him in suspended animation or coma state. awakens , emerges mine in 2429 a.d., in midst of war.

after rescuing wilma, proves identity showing american legion button. explains how mongol reds emerged gobi desert conquer asia , europe , attacked america starting big idol holding torch . using disintegrator beams, defeated army , navy , wiped out washington, d.c. in 3 hours. people fled cities, mongols built new cities on ruins of major cities. mongols left americans fend advanced technology prevented need slave labor. scattered americans formed loosely bound organizations or orgs begin fight back.

wilma takes buck alleghany org in once philadelphia. leaders don t believe story @ first after undergoing electro-hypnotic tests, believe him , admit him group.

on march 30, 1930, sunday strip joined buck rogers daily strip. there was, yet, no established convention same character having different adventures in sunday strip , daily strip (many newspapers carried 1 not other), sunday strip @ first followed adventures of buck s young friend buddy deering, wilma deering s younger brother, , buddy s girlfriend alura, later joined black barney. time before buck made first appearance in sunday strip. other prominent characters in strip included buck s friend dr. huer, punctuated speech exclamation, heh! ; villainous killer kane , paramour ardala; , black barney, began space pirate later became buck s friend , ally. in addition, buck , friends encountered various alien races. hostile species buck met included tiger men of mars, dwarf-like asterites of asteroid belt, , giant robots called mekkanos.

like many popular comic strips of day, buck rogers reprinted in big little books; illustrated text adaptations of daily strip stories; , in buck rogers pop-up book.

buck rogers operating controls of remotely piloted air ball . amazing stories (march 1929).

nowlan credited idea of serializing buck rogers, based on novel armageddon 2419 , amazing stories sequels. nowlan approached john dille, saw opportunity serialize stories newspaper comic strip. dick calkins, advertising artist, drew earliest daily strips, , russell keaton drew earliest sunday strips. author of buck rogers told inventor r. buckminster fuller in 1930 used [fuller s] concepts cartoons .

keaton wanted switch drawing strip written calkins, skyroads, syndicate advertised assistant , hired rick yager in 1932. yager had formal art training @ chicago academy of fine arts , talented watercolor artist; strips done in ink , watercolor. yager had connections chicago newspaper industry, since father, charles montross yager, publisher of modern miller; rick yager @ 1 time employed write auntie s advice column father s newspaper. yager moved inker , writer of buck rogers sub-strip (early sunday strips had small sub-strip running below) writer , artist of sunday strip , daily strips.

authorship of strips extremely difficult ascertain. signatures @ bottoms of strips not accurate indicators of authorship; calkins signature appears long after involvement ended, , few of other artists signed artwork, while many pages unsigned. yager had complete control of buck rogers sunday strips 1940 on, len dworkins joining later assistant. dick locher assistant in 1950s. of reference modern technology, strip produced in old-fashioned manner—all strips began india ink drawings on strathmore paper, , smaller duplicate (sometimes redrawn hand) hand-colored watercolors. miami university in oxford, ohio, has extensive collection of original artwork. strip s artists worked on variety of tie-in promotions such comic books, toys , model rockets.

the relations between artists of strip (yager et al.) , owners of strip (the syndicate) became acrimonious, , in mid-1958, artists quit. murphy anderson temporary replacement, did not stay long. george tuska began drawing strip in 1959 , remained until final installment of original comic strip, published on july 8, 1967.

revived in 1979 gray morrow , jim lawrence, strip retitled buck rogers in 25th century in 1980. long-time comic book writer cary bates signed on in 1981, continuing until strip s 1983 finale.

buck rogers popular enough inspire other newspaper syndicates launch own science fiction strips. famous of these imitators flash gordon (1934-2003); others included jack swift (1930-1937), brick bradford (1933-1987), don dixon , hidden empire (1935-1941), speed spaulding (1940-1941), , john carter of mars (1941-1943).