Was Lost and Now is Found | The collected works of Buck Rogers in the 25th century (A & W visual library) |...

book: The collected works of Buck Rogers in the 25th century (A & W visual library) | Robert C Dille

books:


	• The collected works of Buck Rogers in the 25th century (A & W visual library) Robert C Dille A & W Publishers, 1977 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews
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Social history through a cartoon strip

When you compare it to modern comics, the design, dialog and story lines of the Buck Rogers cartoon strip are very weak. You read phrases like, " Well - jest watch what I do t' Dual an' Namtac fer pullin' this little surprise trick." Therefore, to enjoy this collection, you must adopt the mindset of the times. They were drawn in the early thirties, so you also see some of the racism so rampant in the United States at that time.
The first section of the collection deals with the threat from the Mongols, a demonstration of the perceived threat from the Asiatic masses. The Mongols are brutal, bloodthirsty, deceitful and cowardly and the American forces are noble. This is a demonstration of what I liked best about the collection, in that it demonstrates some of the collective mindset in the United States at that time. It is easy to see why the Japanese-Americans were interned after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The next section features a Martian attack on Earth. As was the case with the Mongols, the Martians are evil brutes who know only war and conquest. There is nothing about them that is redeeming or appealing. The cartoons are written for the masses, whose thoughts concerning aliens, whatever their point of origin, cannot see them as anything but barbarians.
To most people, Buck Rogers is science fiction, but to most readers of the genre, the cartoon is simplistic pulp and not science fiction. The themes are simple and the technology demonstrated in the strip is rendered without regard to the laws of physics. However, I enjoyed reading them, they were very popular in their time and high technology is still referred to as "Buck Rogers kind of stuff." The book is worth reading, but only if you accept the mindset of the time when they were created.

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Was Lost and Now is Found

I owned a copy of this book when it came out in 1969 and sadly lost it somewhere along the decades since. I am so happy to find it again.
I agree with what the previous review has to say about the book; it certainly does give us insight into the social mindset of the times. Not only does Buck Rogers represent a compendium of social mores, it is worthy for the art and shows us a time line of changing artistic styles and conventions.
If you are a fan of social history, this is a grand addition to any eclectic collection.