In the 1920s Buck Rogers, a space explorer and swashbuckler, was a syndicated comic strip. Rogers came to radio in the 1930s, television in the 1950s, and was present in novel form throughout these eras. Other popular space-travelling characters added to the public fascination with science fiction and adventures in space. Around midcentury, a cardboard ray gun made the perfect advertising accessory. Why? Just about every child wanted one. A clever advertising company made cardboard guns with space for any retailer to print a business name.