Philip Francis Nowlan

Philip Francis Nowlan (1888–1940) introduced Anthony ‘Buck’ Rogers in the 1928 novella ‘Armageddon 2419 A.D.’, then adapted the character into the hugely popular Buck Rogers newspaper comic strip. Through the strip, radio serials and film, Buck Rogers fixed the very image of ‘space adventure’, rocket ships, ray guns, the 25th century, in the popular mind, making Nowlan a foundational figure of the genre’s public face.