Howard Chaykin is Reviving Buck Rogers

By Todd Allen

OK, here’s another one you weren’t expecting.  Howard Chaykin is going to be writing and drawing a Buck Rogers series.  From Hermes Press.

Hermes doesn’t do a lot of original material.  Their website only lists two original works: Tails, a hardcover, and the third volume of Lions, Tigers and Bears, a trade paperback.  Hermes is being a big tease about this, preferring to give out their information at their Comicon panel, but if this is a monthly comic, that would be a departure for Hermes.  Their track record suggests graphic novels.

As for Chaykin, well… it’s Howard Chaykin.  He’s done a couple licensed books before. Star Wars seemed to turn out alright.  The Shadow just got reprinted.  Buck Rogers would harken back to Chaykin’s earlier days of Ironwolf and, perhaps, Cody Starbuck.  Buck Rogers ought to be in his wheelhouse.  (Especially Black Barney the space pirate.)

Hermes says this will be along the lines of the classical Buck Rogers and Chaykin sounds like he’s geeked out to working on a childhood favorite.  Call this one developing…

Official PR:

BUCK ROGERS the first, best, original Sci-Fi hero is back in an all-new comic book series from Hermes Press with art and stories by Howard Chaykin.

For the past five years Hermes Press has been producing critically acclaimed, best selling archival reprints of the original Buck Rogers daily and Sunday comic strips; now the company will be offering an all new take on this classic series helmed by renowned comic book artist and writer Howard Chaykin.

To celebrate his new Buck Rogers series Chaykin will premiere this new version of the feature with a poster designed especially for Comic-Con which will be given away only at the panel, “Buck Rogers, Past, Present, and Future” on Friday, July 13, from 6:00-7:00 PM in room 4. The full color poster, featuring Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering is a Comic-Con panel exclusive.

Chaykin’s new series will take the feature back to its origins and have the look and feel of the “classic” Buck Rogers. Hermes Press publisher Dan Herman believes that the strength of the original newspaper strip is “its great sci-fi tales, characters, and its vision of the future — it’s a great tradition to draw on and this new series will pay homage to the classic version of the newspaper strip.”

Chaykin feels that Buck Rogers is one of the great science-fiction features and is completely revved up about creating a new version of the feature. “When Dan casually asked me whether I had any interest in reviving BUCK ROGERS, my reaction was first physical—genuine goose bumps—followed by complete delight at the thought of paying back a concept that was so utterly seminal in my thinking about our medium and our field.”

Chaykin will also be at Hermes Press’ booth on Friday July 12, from 2-4 to talk about the new series. So, if you want the inside scoop on the new Buck Rogers come to the panel on “lucky” Friday the 13th!