Philip Francis Nowlan

Biography

Nowlan was born on November 13, 1888. While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Nowlan was a member of The Mask and Wig Club, holding significant roles in the annual productions between 1907 and 1909. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania he worked as a newspaper columnist. Nowlan was married to Theresa Junker. They had ten children: Philip, Mary, Helen, Louise, Theresa, Mike, Larry, Pat, John, and Joe.

He moved to the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd and created and wrote the Buck Rogers comic strip, illustrated by Dick Calkins. He remained a writer on the strip until 1939. The character Buck Rogers first appeared in Nowlan's 1928 novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. as Anthony Rogers. The comic strip ran for over forty years and spun off a radio series, a 1939 movie serial, and two television series.

Nowlan also wrote several other novellas for the science fiction magazines as well as the posthumously published mystery, The Girl from Nowhere.

Works

• Armageddon 2419 A.D. (1928)
• The Girl from Nowhere (1928, ISBN 0-8095-0038-8 (Neuauflage von 2005)
• The Airlords of Han (1929)
• The Airlords of Han by Philip Francis Nowlan at Project Gutenberg on Project Gutenberg
• The Onslaught from Venus (1929)
• The Time Jumpers (1934)
• The Prince of Mars Returns (1940)
• Space Guards (1940)
• Wings Over Tomorrow: The Collected Science Fiction of Philip Francis Nowlan (2005, ISBN 0-8095-1095-2) edited by Lee Weinstein www.MySpace.com/leestein