Armageddon 2419 A. D.

Armageddon 2419 A.D. was a science fiction novella by Philip Francis Nowlan which introduced the popular adventure character Buck Rogers. It first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1928, in the same issue as the first installment of the serialization of E. E. Smith's The Skylark of Space. The cover of that issue featured Dr. Richard Seaton of Skylark testing a Rocket Pack. Painted by Frank R. Paul it is sometimes mistaken for a Buck Rogers illustration and certainly influenced many of them. It was followed by a sequel, The Airlords of Han and subsequently by many successful Buck Rogers comic strips, movie serials and TV series. In the 1960s, Nowlan's two novellas were combined by editor Donald A. Wollheim into one paperback novel, which was titled Armageddon 2419 A.D. The original 40 cent edition featured a cover by Ed Emshwiller.

Buck Rogers' origin has been retold in novels by a number of authors including M.S. Murdock , Martin Caidin and Addison E. Steele . See the article on Buck Rogers for more information about the character and its many variations over the years.

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Review and picture of the Emshwiller cover.