Buck Rogers
The title of this article is ambiguous. For the television series of the same name, see Buck Rogers (television series).
Buck Rogers is a 20th century science fiction hero.
He first appeared in the form of a science fiction narrative (Armageddon 2419 A.D.) under the name Anthony "Buck" Rogers in the U.S. magazine Amazing Stories in August 1928. In Armageddon 2419 A.D., Buck is put into stasis by an accident involving radioactive gas and wakes up 500 years later to find America controlled by Asian villains. He joins a resistance group where he meets Wilma Deering, who now becomes his constant companion. They liberate America from the occupiers and immediately set off on a police patrol into space for danger prevention. Along for the ride are scientist Dr. Huer, Martian Innaldo, and Tallan from Jupiter. Their opponents are space pirates, tiger-men from Mars and always the arch-villain Killer Kane and his ally Ardala Valmar, who strives with him for world domination. In the colorful Sunday strips, Wilma's little brother Bud and his girlfriend, the Martian princess Alura, experience separate adventures.
The story was written by Philip Francis Nowlan, who also wrote the manuscript for the comic Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D.. This comic strip appeared as a daily strip in newspapers beginning January 7, 1929, and is considered the world's first science fiction comic strip. The strip was illustrated by Richard Calkins until 1947 and then by other artists until 1967. Although not particularly well drawn, the comic was very popular in the United States, as it seemed extremely futuristic for its time. The fast-paced space opera features antigravity belts, ray guns, space gliders (scooters), robots, and other technical ingredients that until then had only existed in the written SF literature of pulp magazines. The newspaper strips also reached a much larger audience than the magazines. Occasionally, in America, the SF genre as a whole was referred to as "the crazy Buck Rogers stuff."
Rogers is also cited as a quoter in the management field - for example, "Reject mediocrity like a plague, banish it from your life." Historical successors are the comic strips Brick Bradford (1933), Flash Gordon (1934) and Dan Dare (1950), the novel characters Captain Future (1940) and Perry Rhodan (1961), and the motion picture Star Wars (1977).
Buck Rogers controls a floating sphere by remote control (March 1929)
Buck Rogers first appeared in this issue of Amazing Stories, August 1928. The cover features The Skylark of Space by Edward E. Smith, not Buck Rogers. The illustrator was Frank R. Paul.
Computer games
There are three computer games for Buck Rogers: Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom (1982) by Sega, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (1990) and its companion second installment Buck Rogers - Matrix Cubed (1992), both by SSI.
Music
The album Echo Park by the British rock band Feeder featured a track called Buck Rogers, which was also the first single for the album in 2001.
