Show Us Your Buck Rogers 1 1

[Theagenes]

It's great to see another Buck Rogers collector - they are few and far between nowadays. The Buck Rogers newspaper strip was far more influential than many collectors today realize. Not only does it tie with Tarzan as the first non-funny adventure strip (January 1929), but it was also the first time the general public was exposed to the new genre of Gernsback-style science fiction. For many years a synonym for "science fiction" was "that Buck Rogers stuff."

 

Jeff

 

Jeff,

 

I have the over-sized reprint book of the Buck Rogers strips and can't say that I particularly appreciate the Calkins art in it ...

 

Hermes Press is soliciting in the new Previews their own reprint line of the complete (well, we'll see if the project is a success ...) strip. My question to you: is this worth picking up?

 

All I have is the same oversized reprint book you have, which does have a lot of the early strips in order, but it does skip around a little bit. It has strips 1-278 then skips to 327-429, then 583-730, etc. Basically it reprints the major story arcs, but I'd love to read the filler strips in between - I have no idea what's in them.

 

As for Calkins' art - I'd call it charmingly quaint (but that's probably being charitible).

[Theagenes]

Steve, did you ever find a high grade Kelloggs premium?

 

I did - it's a low grade copy (split cover), but I got it dirt cheap. It's a fun little book.

 

 

 

 

There were reprints made of that premium weren't there. Is there a map too?

bb

 

Ektek put out the reprint in the early 90's. As Steve said, it does not have the kelloggs ad in the back. You can usually find them them for around $5 on ebay.

 

If you're talking about the Solar System map, I'm not sure if that has been reprinted or not, but I think maybe it has. I'd love to pick up one those, but they don't show up very often.

 

[Scrooge]

Thanks. It confirms my initial gut feeling that I will pass on that collection. Too many to keep up with these days as it is

[Theagenes]

Buck Rogers second appearance was in the March 1929 issue of Amazing Stories in the story "Air Lords of Han." This time he made the cover. This would have been on the stands just before the daily strip started in late January of that year.

 

 

 

 

[BB-Gun]

I appreciate posting of the second Buck Rogers story. Now I have to find a copy. These scans were posted before on another thread.

bb

[aardvark88]

I sold this to a forumite who I believe wanted it for Frazetta Signature Series:

 

 

An underrated Frazetta sci-fi cover:

 

[BB-Gun]

Beautiful covers Aardvark. I have this Famous Funnies but it isn't as clean as this scan. We are still missing a couple.

bb

[BB-Gun]

[Theagenes]

My only Frazetta Buck Rogers:

 

 

 

Unless you count this:

 

 

 

[BB-Gun]

My only Frazetta Buck Rogers:

 

 

 

Unless you count this:

 

 

 

It should be counted. Maybe you paste the helmut back on Buck.

bb

 

[Straw-Man]

thanks bb, here's the lot of them. the 212 cosmic aeroplane in the picture has moved up north to minnesota.

 

 

 

 

[BB-Gun]

I think it probably is significant that FF217 had a CCA sticker on the top corner. Is this where the Frazetta Cavemen cover was supposed to be printed?

bb

[Theagenes]

I think it probably is significant that FF217 had a CCA sticker on the top corner. Is this where the Frazetta Cavemen cover was supposed to be printed?

bb

 

That's exactly right. They turned down arguably one of the greatest covers of all time and replaced it with this less violent, less offensive snoozer:

 

 

 

 

[Theagenes]

thanks bb, here's the lot of them. the 212 cosmic aeroplane in the picture has moved up north to minnesota.

 

 

 

 

That is a sweet run! I'm thinking about making these my next project after I finish the Tip Tops.

[Straw-Man]

i had a ball putting it together--can't wait to see you post 'em as you go.

[kimik]

thanks bb, here's the lot of them. the 212 cosmic aeroplane in the picture has moved up north to minnesota.

 

 

 

 

 

That's what I was hoping for!

 

This is a run that I will definitely put together in the next couple of years. They look so purdy in the slabs (thumbs u

 

[Theagenes]

So just for fun, here are the first few Buck Rogers daily strips, which debuted in January 1929. John F. Dille, the president of the National Newspaper Service, supposedly read "Armageddon 2419 AD" and approached Philip Nowlan about serializing. Other sources say it was Nowlan that went to Dille with the idea. These early strips were still written by Nowlan and one of Dille's staff artists, Calkins was assigned to illustrate it.

 

 

[Theagenes]

 

[Sardo Numspar]

 

 

great stuff

[adamstrange]

Buck Rogers first appeared in the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories in a short story, "Armageddon 2419" by Philip Nowlan. Here he does not have the nickname "Buck" yet - he is just Anthony (or Tony) Rogers. Although the story does feature antigravity "jumping belts" the cover does not depict the Buck Rogers story, but Doc Smith's "Skylark of Space" another very important early sf work.

 

 

 

Here are some interior shots, with some illustrations by Frank R. Paul.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting these! I know it's wrong but I still like to think the guy on the cover is Buck because he looks cool!