Buck Rogers is a fictional character who first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis
Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories as
Anthony Rogers. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue.
Philip Nowlan and the syndicate John F.
Dille Company, later known as the National Newspaper Syndicate, contracted to adapt the story into a comic strip. After Nowlan and Dille enlisted editorial cartoonist Dick
Calkins as the illustrator, Nowlan adapted the first episode from Armageddon 2419, A.D. and changed the hero's name from Anthony Rogers to Buck Rogers. The strip made its first newspaper appearance on January 7, 1929. Later adaptations included a serial film, a television series (where his first name was changed from Anthony to William), and other formats.