Rangers Comics

(1941 Series) December 1942 to Winter 1953 COMPLETE SERIES! (minus some pgs) Issues published: 69 (1-69) Rangers Comics was the last of Fiction House's much-advertised "Big Six of the Comics." Rangers was never monthly and was the first of the "Big Six" to be cancelled, with #69. The title was filled with war-themed stories through 1945, then became an intriguing anthology title. The title came full-circle when the last four issues featured a Korean War version of Commando Rangers. Rangers #1�5 covers featured a kid costume hero group, the Rangers of Freedom, although the strip became a Marine hero story with #5 (the cover to #5 was a mistaken carryover of the kid group). One of the first attempts at a horror theme, Werewolf Hunter, began in #8. A quasi-costume hero, Commando Ranger, appeared in #13�20. Rangers is best known for featuring one of the finest of the Western heroines�Firehair, Queen of the Sagebrush Frontier. She debuted in #21 (1945) and ran through #65 (1952) while serving as the cover feature for #40�65 with many of the best Fiction House covers of the 1948�52 period. A good horror strip, The Secret Files of Dr. Drew, ran in #47�60, with art by Jerry Grandenetti. His work in #47�56 strongly shows the influence of Will Eisner and has long been a favorite with collectors. Like Planet, the post-war issues of Rangers often offer attractive artists' work, including work by John Celardo, Matt Baker, Bob Lubbers, Ruben Moreira and Maurice Whitman. Again though, it's important to leaf through each issue. Fiction House comics tended to be produced in an assembly line manner and the result was anything but consistent. Tracking- Numbering continues from Rangers of Freedom Comics (Fiction House, 1941 series); numbering continues in Rangers (Fiction House, 1952 series).