Buck Rogers

Few characters in comics can claim a journey quite like Buck Rogers — a science-fiction icon whose four-color adventures stretch an astonishing 88 years, from a 1937 debut in Famous Funnies during the Platinum Age all the way to the present day. That first appearance, credited to Ham Fisher, launched a figure who would go on to grace the pages of Famous Funnies, Cosmic Heroes, and Look-In, accumulating 139 catalog appearances and at least one collector-recognized key issue along the way. The company Buck keeps is wonderfully eclectic — sharing pages with Wilma Deering, and even such unlikely contemporaries as Elvis Presley and Worzel Gummidge — which speaks to the wild, cross-genre spirit that has always surrounded this character. For any fan tracing the deep roots of science fiction in comics, Buck Rogers is simply essential.