As someone who grew up watching the old serials re-run on local children's TV shows, I have to say it's nice to see Buck Rogers being given a new look and a new turn in the public eye.I had never seen the comic strip (although I had certainly heard of it), but I have fond memories of those black-and-white serials, terrible special effects and all. Each episode ended with the heroes facing certain death in a cliffhanger - great fun!
Of course, modern readers most likely remember the character from the 1979 TV show starring Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I also remember it fondly for Erin Gray as the beautiful Wilma Deering.
Now Buck is back, and here the story starts at the beginning as he pilots an experimental spaceship and finds himself crash landing on Earth some 400 years in the future - and things have changed quite a bit.
It's still a bit early to tell if the update will take, but this issue moves along briskly and sets up future stories. Good work all around by the creative team, including writer Scott Beatty, artist Carlos Rafael and colorist Carlos Lopez.
I like the new design of the uniforms, although the (mostly) solid black seems like cheating somehow - but it is sleek looking, especially with the flying belt activated.
By the way, since Dynamite Entertainment loves alternate covers, I hope they'll talk Murphy Anderson into doing one. He drew the comic strip for a while and has said before that it was his all-time favorite project. It would be nice to see his take on the modern version.
This first issue is a decent effort, and I'll be back for a few more issues at least to see how the story develops.
But please, no Twiki.
Grade: B+
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