Caught this in a mailing list (newsarama has it too). It has been a long time coming for Buck - the first
project to attempt to collect any strip completely was Ed Aprill's first issue of Great Classic Newspaper
Comic Strips in 1964. That was the precursor to all the great collections that started in the mid 1980s
(and picked up steam again 5-6 years ago). Buck isn't my favorite strip, but I'm still excited to see it
being collected, as obtaining the whole strip required dipping into many very hard to locate projects.
Hermes does pretty good work - we'll have to see how they tackle this one. The only comparable project
they've done was Star Hawks. Excellent reprint quality/clarity, but the strips were reprinted MUCH too
small. Hopefully they've learned from that.
**********
Hermes Press proudly announces the first volume in its complete
series of reprints of Buck Rogers!
BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY: Hardcover with deluxe dustjacket and
endpapers; 100 pound matte finish coated stock paper; 336 pages;
special 16 page color section with an introduction by cultural
historian and sci-fi writer Ron Goulart and documentary materials;
first book in a series to present the complete Buck Rogers daily and
Sunday strips, 9" x 12" landscape format; 2 years of the strip
presented in Volume One, starting with the first strip dated January
7, 1929; ISBN #1-932563-19-9; $39.99; available September 15, 2008.
BUCK ROGERS IS BACK!
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the first, best, and original
science-fiction newspaper strip is back for fall, 2008! Starting in
September 2008, Hermes Press will begin a complete reprint of the
ground-breaking newspaper strip that got America hooked on Science-
Fiction. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century has it all: space ships,
anti-gravity belts, space pirates, damsels in distress, invaders from
other worlds, nefarious villains, and, of course, heroes. Comic strip
historian Maurice Horn notes that Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century, "Introduced most of the staples of science-fiction plotting"
to the American public, as well as to everyone else in the world who
read it.
After the publication of Volume One, Hermes Press will issue a volume
of dailies every five months and one volume of Sundays every year,
completely documenting this historically important science-
fiction/adventure saga over a period of five years. Each volume will
feature an essay on the strip by a leading science-fiction author to
place the series in historical perspective along with documentary
materials and production artwork.
Award winning Sci-Fi writer and popular culture historian Ron Goulart
says, "In the annals of sci-fi there is no more important series than
Buck Rogers, it set the standards for action, humor, and suspense
that have rarely been equaled since the strip premiered in 1929."
Hermes Press is using the original engraver's proofs as the source
for these reprints so the strip will look better than when it was
originally printed. For the Sunday version of the strip, which will
be released next year, "Hermes Press will digitally recolor all of
the Sundays so our complete version of Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century will be the definitive version of the most important sci-fi
strip ever," observes Publisher Daniel Herman.
Science Fiction legend Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian
Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451, credits Buck
Rogers with sparking his imagination and interest in the future and
so have generations of youngsters and their parents; see and
experience the thrill and awe of the precursor of Star Trek, Star
Wars, and every other science fiction story to come after it, Buck
Rogers in the 25th Century, available everywhere in September.
