Rangers Comics #2

History

Rangers of Freedom Comics launched in October 1941 under the singular editorial stewardship of DeWitt Shank, a pulp writer and boxing enthusiast who had only recently joined Fiction House and was already enlisting in the New York National Guard. Unlike every other Fiction House title of the period, Rangers was not edited by the company's well-known editor Malcolm Reiss, and it had no direct pulp-magazine counterpart — it was conceived from the start as a war-themed adventure comic aimed squarely at the gathering storm of global conflict. The series drew material from the S. M. 'Jerry' Iger Studio (Will Eisner having departed that studio in 1940), with cover art by Dan Zolnerowich — who entered the industry through the Eisner-Iger shop — and interior story art by Joe Doolin, a veteran pulp illustrator whose work on the Rangers of Freedom strip drew praise even from contemporary commentators. Shank left the title after issue #4 to enlist in the U.S. Army, and it is broadly believed that the entire Rangers of Freedom super-hero concept may have been his own invention, since the feature quietly disappeared from the book once he departed for military service.

Trivia · 11 facts

• The cover date for this issue is December 1941, confirmed via the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 2, Periodicals, 1941 — placing it on newsstands in the weeks immediately surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The issue carries the cover title 'Rangers of Freedom Comics #2'; it was later catalogued as Rangers Comics #2 when the series was renumbered and the title changed beginning with issue #8.
• Cover art is by Dan Zolnerowich (signed on the cover as 'ZOLNE ROWICH'), a Golden Age artist who trained at Pratt Institute and entered comics through the Eisner-Iger Studio.
• Interior story art for the Rangers of Freedom lead feature is by Joe Doolin, a prolific pulp and comic artist whose Fiction House work encompassed 'Auro,' 'Captain Terry Thunder,' and multiple Rangers-related strips.
• The issue marks the first full appearance of WAAC Lieutenant Gloria Travers (Miss America) as a guest star alongside the Rangers of Freedom — the beginning of a three-issue arc that culminates in her becoming Ranger Girl in issue #3.
• The Rangers of Freedom — teen heroes Biff Barkley, Tex Russell, and Percy Cabot — receive their patriotic, bulletproof costumes for the first time in this issue, solidifying their visual and narrative identity.
• The villain Super-Brain returns from issue #1, and Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are explicitly named antagonists in the lead story — one of the earlier direct named-Hitler confrontations in a Golden Age adventure title.
• The issue also introduces Private Elmer Pippin, Colonel Mitt, Hazel Mitt (the Colonel's daughter), and villain Captain Dunner — all making their debut in the 'Private Elmer Pippin and the Colonel's Daughter' back-up strip.
• Additional features include 'The Double-Slango Kids,' 'The Royal Watch,' 'Defense Kids: Jeep Milarkey,' 'Rocky Hall, Jungle Stalker,' and 'Don Stuart of the Far East Rangers,' reflecting Fiction House's anthology format.
• The issue runs 64 pages in full color at a cover price of ten cents, consistent with the standard Fiction House anthology format of the period.
• The entire 65-issue Rangers Comics run — including this early 'Rangers of Freedom' phase — was significant enough that PS Artbooks collected issues #1–3 in a hardcover archive edition (2023).

Key issues in Rangers Comics

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#21 1st appearance — Firehair