No bucks, no Buck Rogers

 

The Buck Rogers comic that ran in American newspapers from 1929 to 1965 is probably responsible for creating, or at least popularizing, many ideas that are taken for granted in today's science-fiction. Things like rocket ships, anti-gravity technology, traveling to other planets, and dealing with their non-human inhabitants that find human women irresistible. I was recently reading a collection of these classic comics when I noticed another element of advanced technology that appeared in the Buck Rogers comics, and that's paying by credit.

In comic number 694 from 1931, Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering have made it to the legendary undersea world of Atlantis. When they're shown the technological marvels that make it such an advanced place, universal payment by credit is one of these. Apparently, in 1931, paying by credit was one of those things that seemed an advanced idea that might become true at some point in the future, and had enough of a "wow factor" to justify its mention in the comic.

I don't know if people in 1931 read Buck Rogers and marveled at what it would be like if you could buy anything that you need using credit, but it seems that that's one of the few things from Buck Rogers that has actually come to be. We don't have flying belts or rocket ships, and we haven't met any aliens who have an unexplained attraction to Earth women, but we certainly have credit cards that are accepted more places than they're not. Maybe we'll have the others some day, too.