Puzzle Wrapper, Buck Rogers

This is the wrapper of a 1952 Buck Rogers Inlaid Puzzle, featuring the popular American space hero Buck Rogers. The image that appeared on this puzzle illustrates several of the iconic space-themed components of the Buck Rogers franchise: rocket ships, a space station, ray guns, and space-suited heroes.

A version of what became the Buck Rogers character first appeared in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories in August 1928 as Anthony Rogers in Philip Francis Nowlan’s story “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” National Newspaper Service president John F. Dille recruited Nowlan to create a comic strip based on the character (illustrated by Dick Calkins), which debuted in 1929, followed by a color Sunday strip in 1930 and a radio program in 1932. Dille revived the franchise in the 1950s in response to the fantastical space enthusiasm of the time.

Collector Michael O'Harro donated this artifact to the Museum in 1992.