Philip Francis Nowlan
Philip Francis Nowlan was an American journalist and science fiction writer born in Philadelphia in 1888, best known for creating the character Anthony "Buck" Rogers. He was married to Teresa Marie Junker and had ten children. Nowlan's literary career included contributions to various periodicals such as the Public Ledger and the North American. His most notable work, the novella "Armageddon 2419 A.D.," introduced Buck Rogers as a hero who awakens in the twenty-fifth century to battle a tyrannical regime. This story, published in the 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, played a pivotal role in the emergence of space opera in American science fiction, showcasing a mix of action, adventure, and archetypal characters, including a capable hero, a female sidekick, and a resourceful scientist. The popularity of Rogers led to a successful comic strip and radio serial, influencing subsequent works in the genre, including Alex Raymond’s "Flash Gordon." While some of Nowlan's writing reflected the racial attitudes of his time, he also presented stronger female characters compared to many contemporaries. Nowlan passed away in 1940, but his creation remains a significant and influential part of science fiction history.
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Philip Francis Nowlan
Writer
- Born: 1888
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: February 1, 1944
Biography
Philip Francis Nowlan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1888. He married Teresa Marie Junker, and they had ten children: six sons and four daughters. He worked as a journalist for most of his life for periodicals such as the Public Ledger, the North American, and the Retail Ledger. His one claim to fame—and it is an immense one—is his invention of one of the important heroes of early American space opera, Anthony “Buck” Rogers. Rogers made his debut, probably not coincidentally, in same 1928 issue of Hugo Gernsback’s Amazing Stories that saw the beginning of E. E. “Doc” Smith’s space opera, the Skylark series.
American science fiction was ready for the over-the-top heroism and constant inventiveness of space opera, but while Smith’s plots raced around galaxies, Nowlan’s concentrated on the Earth and its future history. In the novella Armageddon 2419 a.d., which was also Nowlan’s first published science-fiction story, Rogers travels to the twenty-fifth century via that suspended animation brought about by a natural disaster (in this case, a mine cave- in). Upon awakening, Rogers finds America ruled by an incarnation of the pulps’ “yellow menace”: the Hans, a central Asian people who are revealed to have a background of alien descent. Rogers leads a revolt against them in this work
Nowlan also introduced the by-now formulaic trio of main characters: the physically capable hero (Rogers), who also provides a needed infusion of archaic strength and leadership; a female sidekick (Wilma Deering), who assists the hero and provides plenty of opportunities for rescue; and the always- protean scientist (Dr. Huer), who comes up with new weaponry at apt moments. Some critics, however, have claimed that Wilma Deering was not as much of a female caricature of the damsel-in - distress as other women depicted in the science fiction of the time.
The novellas proved so successful that they quickly gave rise to a comic strip, illustrated by Dick Calkins, which was the first science-fiction comic strip; a radio serial followed in 1932. Nowlan’s archetypal characters were soon replicated in Alex Raymond’s comic strip Flash Gordon, with a hero whose first name is a nickname, a female companion, and a doughty scientist, all fighting an alien whose name recalls a Chinese dynasty. By the time Larry “Buster” Crabbe played Rogers in the 1939 Universal serial, the racism had been removed; Rogers’s foe was a tyrannical criminal, Killer Kane.
Nowlan’s other science-fiction writings continued some of the racism of his most famous creation, with human-looking aliens whose only physical difference was their skin color and world organizations like the Caucasian League, as well as stronger female depictions than those current in the genre. Nowlan died in 1940. Nowlan’s creation, now dated and therefore campy (as witness its television version), is nonetheless a crucial development in American science fiction, particularly in its media incarnations: Star Wars would have been vastly different had there been no Buck Rogers.