Review of ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The Western Publishing Years’ Volume One

Cover and book design: Daniel Herman

Publisher: Hermes Press

Printed in China

Buck Rogers is a fictional hero whose adventures happen in the the XXV^th century, after accidentally falling into suspended animation for five centuries. Once reanimated, Rogers finds that Earth was devastated and radioactively polluted by an atomic war. There is a single city, over the ruins of Chicago – the rest are wastelands called Anarchia, populated by dangerous mutants. The city, domed for its air to be safe from radioactivity, is unimaginatively named Inner City. Rogers teams up with pilot Wilma Deering and scientist Doctor Huer. Buck Rogers was created in 1928 for comic strips, and its success led into adaptations for radio series since 1932, for comic-books since 1933, for cinema since 1939 and for television since 1950.

Buck Rogers’ success lasted for many years, but inevitably started to decay. While the comic strip held on, all adaptations got discontinued one by one. In 1964 an attempt was made to re-launch the comic-book adaptation, but only the first issue was published. Finally, in 1967 the comic strip disappeared, putting an end to the First Era of Buck Rogers after 28 years and a half.

But the success of the Star Wars series was to set up a revival, creating a Second Era of Buck Rogers. Producer Glen A. Larson, who launched in 1978 the TV series Battlestar Galactica with an unusual theatrical release of the the first episodes, repeated the formula in 1979 for Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century. The new TV adaptation caused the re-launch of the comic strip and the comic-book series until 1982. For the comic-book, rather than re-starting the series, an unusual choice was made – to continue the discontinued comic-book, thus launching issue #2 fifteen years after issue #1. This volume contains comic-books #1 to #7.

About the art: Both the 1964 art (#1) by Ray Bailey and the 1979 art (#2 to #7) by Frank Bolle, Alden “Al” McWilliam and Jose Delbo are fine, with the 1964 art having more elaborated characters and the 1979 art having more elaborated spaceships. But the 1964 art is brilliant at portraying dynamic motions such as fights where the 1979 art is flat at that – there is a wink we wouldn’t notice if it wasn’t for the dialogue, and a dialogue that doesn’t make sense until we guess that one of the characters is turning to leave.

• Introduction. The Art of Western Publishing’s Buck Rogers. A four-page illustrated introduction by Daniel Herman, with short biographies for artists Frank Bolle, Alden ‘Al’ McWilliams and Ray Bailey.

• Movie Adaptation (#2-#4). A three-issue adaptation from the 1979 film, supressing the sexual subtext that the film had. The Inner City is trying to seal a pact with planet Draconium’s ruler, Draco, who sends the spaceship Draconia to Earth with her daughter princess Ardala as a Trade Delegation – and secret orders to attack Earth by surprise. By far, the worst story on the volume. The problem is that the story has got no tension. We see the enemies plotting attacks against Earth, but the protagonists are never under pressure – they just happen to take initiatives that uncover the enemy’s plans before they unfold.

• The Missing Element (#5). Scarcity of Arzone-12 endangers the production of fresh air in the Inner City. The scientist Doctor Huer researches a possible solution that ultimately leads to Titan, where the encounter the Garans that covet the Arzone too. The script by Paul S. Newman is interesting but disappointingly innocent – the reader expects more intrigue.

• The Hostage (#6). Script by Paul S. Newman. A routine patrol outside the Inner City is attacked by a mutant wearing a purifier that colonel Deering recognizes – something odd is going on in the wasteland and sets up Deering for a trial.

• The Trial (#7). Continuation of the previous issue with script by Michael Teitelbaum. The trial of Deering begins as Rogers desperately travels through space in search for Kane in order to clear Deering of the charges. Kane and Ardala themselves are hiding from Draco, as they are afraid that their failure to conquest Earth will earn them punishment. The issue isn’t conclusive, and the reader is left on a cliffhanger until the next volume.

• The Space Slavers (#1). Issue from 1964 – curiously, a first issue without any origin story or introduction of the characters, with a brilliant script by Paul S. Newman. Contact is mysteriously lost with mining stations in Pluto. Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering and Doctor Huer crew an spaceship in an investigation mission. Tiny green aliens from planet Mortane are involved, and so are three enemies of Buck – the pirate Black Barney, Killer Kane and Ardala.

• Buck Rogers Memorabilia. Stills from the 1979 film.

• Buck Rogers Classic Memorabilia. Images from posters, cards, books toy guns and games from the First Era.

All in all, an interesting volume of swashbuckling adventures in space.