Buck Rogers originally took a page from Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter: Buck was a stranger in a strange land who adapted so well that he became integral to the period. The Buster Crabbe serial simply copied the comic strip. The television series made Buck's dubious machismo vital, but in Beatty's story, Buck's inventive mind will save the future. I never thought I would write that about Buck Rogers.

We learn about Buck's intelligence through a subplot involving Dr. Huer and the fetchingly outfitted Earth Protectorate Force. Among the EPF, a name from the serial pops up. The presence of the character will harmlessly pass over the heads of most readers, but others will appreciate how Scott Beatty is trying to incorporate elements of all the Buck Rogers treatments. Although, I do hope that damn robot stays in pieces.

Beatty centers the story on a fight for survival on the dead planet Mars. Buck and Wilma must contend against a genetically modified hunter with a chip on his high shoulder. Killing Buck and Wilma isn't just about the hunt or the protein. It's about pride. The animal fails, of course, because it strays from its feral nature. Buck's experience serves him well. He introduces the beast to the gravity of the situation. Wilma could have done more in these scenes, but Buck unwittingly providing the means for their rescue from Mars is still a clever twist and makes up for Wilma's relative inactivity.

Beatty also entertains the reader with the con Kane and Ardala perpetrate on the robotic would-be invaders of earth. With this issue, Beatty removes all pretenses. Kane refers to Ardala as "princess" and designates their shenanigans as a game, a shell game perhaps. I like this new facade for the classic Buck Rogers foes. It eschews what usually passes for updating. I can easily see a lesser writer turning Kane and Ardala into two-dimensional slaughterers, or transforming them into space zombies. Opting for the role of tricksters is much more enjoyable and creates a greater potential for story generation.

No matter the situation, Carlos Rafael and Carlos Lopez make Buck Rogers a feast for the eyes. They create odd yet feasible anatomy for the hunter, and he looks eerily beautiful against a red Martian sky. They produce some humor with a quickly timed moment in which Wilma fears an outbreak. They have fun with Ardala biting her lip as she realizes she may have bitten off more than she can chew, and the battle between Buck and Beast is an exciting, imaginative one.

I cannot get over how much I enjoy Buck Rogers, and I hope this feeling never goes away. The art and the writing preserve the coolness of the concept, while bringing Buck to the twenty-first century and beyond.

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