Buck Rogers Daily Strip, July 5, 1965
George Tuska closes out Buck Rogers’ run as a comic strip — at least the first time around.
The strip had lasted nearly 40 years, debuting in 1929 and ending in 1967. The earliest strips have been collected, but it seems doubtful that commercial considerations will allow for the entire run to be reprinted. (I’d like to be wrong about that.)
Ironically, Tuska’s depiction of Rogers is 15 years ahead of its time. Gil Gerard, who played Buck in the 1979 -1981 television series pretty much matches the likeness of Rogers that Tuska employed.
Well, they do say science fiction often becomes science fact.
(When the strip returned to newspapers to capitalize on the TV show in 1979, Tuska was already re-established in comic books. Gray Morrow picked up the illustration chores for that run.)
