The following is an interview with Green Archer Comics’ Allan and Benn Liska regarding their return to Kickstarter for the oversized comic book one-shot, Buck Rogers and the Cyber Lords. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with the Liskas about their shared creative process for bringing the story and characters to life on the page, the incredible backer rewards available through the campaign, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on your return to Kickstarter for the oversized comic book one-shot, Buck Rogers and the Cyber Lords! What can you share with us about the story’s premise?
Allan Liska: Thank you! This story is based on the original Philip Nowlan novellas, Armageddon 2419 A.D. and The Airlords of Han. So, many of the story beats will be familiar to those who know Buck Rogers lore: Buck is a World War I veteran who comes home to western Pennsylvania to work as a mining engineer. He gets trapped in a mine pocket that has a mysterious gas which keeps him in suspended animation for 500 years, waking up in the 25th century. From that basic premise, we made some changes that are more in line with today. He still meets up with a group of rebels who are fighting against oppressive rulers, but our bad guys are hacker groups that have taken over the world.
BD: You have an incredible creative team attached to this project. How would you describe the shared creative process of bringing this story and its characters to life on the page?
AL: Even though he won’t like me saying this, it really all starts with the collaboration between my brother Benn and me. We go back and forth on the story idea, structure, and design. Once we have the story mapped out in our head, we reach out to the people we’d like to work with on the project. In this case, that started with Chris Field, whose writing we love, and we thought he could bring a unique perspective to the Buck Rogers story.
Benn Liska: As with all of our comic projects, we also really appreciate the hard work our artists put into the book and value their perspective on everything, from character design to page layout and panel composition, and how it can help deliver the best story possible.
BD: What are you most excited for readers to experience with this thrilling time-travel adventure?
AL: To a lot of people reading this story, much of the technology will seem mundane. Whether it’s the video screens, drones, or fast air travel. But all of that draws from the original 1928 novellas, and much of this was new or speculative at the time. Many of the tropes that are common in sci-fi today were introduced in Buck Rogers. I hope people can appreciate how revolutionary, in some ways, the original stories were.
BD: In light of the Kickstarter campaign, are there any specific backer rewards that you are most excited to feature?
AL: This is our first time offering metal covers, but the Sarah Myer and Megan Huang covers were so bold and beautiful, we knew we needed to offer something special.
BL: I have it on good authority that if we can get our funding up to $2,000, we will add stickers as a stretch goal and another stretch goal if we can hit $3,000.
BD: Are there any other Green Archer projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for readers?
AL: I am always fascinated by what gets lost to time and what doesn’t. Despite its continuing cultural impact, Buck Rogers is one of those stories that feels like it is verging on being lost to time. Another comic we did, The Green Archer, feels like it has already been lost to time, and I hope we can correct that. This was a best-selling book in 1923. A book so popular that they made three movies out of it, one of those movies inspired the creation of the Green Arrow. I love that we are slowly reintroducing The Green Archer to the world, one comic convention at a time, and hope we can do our part to keep Buck Rogers’ legacy alive.
BL: I had an absolute blast working with Allan on Cryptid Hacker Force, and we’ve been stockpiling jokes and story ideas for a potential future issue.
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell readers who want to learn more about the Kickstarter campaign for Buck Rogers and the Cyber Lords?
AL: A lot of the information is on our Kickstarter page, but we also have a couple of live streams planned and would love people to join us and ask questions!
BL: The livestream where we watched the Buster Crabbe Buck Rogers Serial was a lot of fun. Chris and I had the opportunity to discuss some of our comic and literary influences, and I dropped some hints about future projects from Green Archer Comics.
