{ { Infobox comic book title
|title = Ranger
|image = RangerMagazineIssue1.jpg
|caption = The cover of Rangers first issue from 18 September 1965. Art by Ferdinando Tacconi. |schedule = Weekly |ongoing = Y |publisher = Fleetway Publications |date = |startmo = 18 September |startyr = 1965 |endmo = 18 June |endyr = 1966 |issues = 40 |main_char_team = |writers = Mike ButterworthGeoff DukeBobby MooreGraham Tomlinson |artists = Jesús BlascoGeoff CampionRoland FiddyDon LawrenceEric Parker |pencillers = |inkers = |letterers = |colorists = |editors = John Sanders |creative_team_month = |creative_team_year = |creators = Leonard Matthews |TPB = |ISBN = |TPB# = |ISBN# = |subcat = |altcat = |sort = Ranger |addpubcat# = }}Ranger was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications from 18 September 1965 to 18 June 1966. Intended as an educational publication, the cover described it as "The National Boys' Magazine" and the content mixed comic strips with a much larger quotient of factual articles than most other Fleetway children's titles of the time. Ranger lasted 40 issues before being merged with Fleetway's fellow educational title Look and Learn in 1966.
Despite its mainly factual remit, Ranger is best remembered for debuting Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence's fantasy epic comic strip "The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire".
Creation
Fleetway veteran director of publications Leonard Matthews had devised the educational Look and Learn weekly magazine in 1962, and assigned his prodigy John Sanders to edit the magazine after becoming unhappy with the direction taken with original editor David Stone. The result was judged a success, and by 1965 Sanders was looking for a fresh challenge. Matthews assigned him to the newly conceived Ranger, which was another of Fleetway's attempts to match the success of Eagle by blending exciting adventure serials with the respectability of factual content and higher production values. Despite feeling the dummy was "a poor man's Eagle", Sanders took the assignment to gain experience of working with picture strips.
Printed on high quality photogravure 10" x 13" paper, the first issue of Ranger was 40 pages, around half of which were in colour, and priced at 1/-. Throughout the title's life the cover featured specially commissioned painted artwork, based on a factual subject that was covered inside. Regular educational features included "Your World Today", a collection of spectacular or interesting photographs from recent events around the world; "Bobby Moore's World of Sport", an illustrated column purportedly by the West Ham and England captain; military history strand "The Story of the Soldier"; eyewitness historical account series "At First Hand"; aviation thoughts from test pilot Neville Duke; a car feature from Formula Three racing driver Graham Tomlinson; annotated machinery in "Looking into Things"; a succession of real life tales penned by Biggles creator W. E. Johns (taken from The Biggles Book of Treasure Hunting); and historical picture quiz "What Why Where Who When?".
Picture stories also had an educational undercurrent. "The Adventures of Macbeth" retold the William Shakespeare tragedy, while classic literature was represented by an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Elsewhere, "Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!" attempted to repurpose René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's Asterix series into a comic history of ancient Britons, with Asterix the Gaul renamed 'Beric the Bold' and Obelix referred to as 'the son of Boadicea'. The British weekly perennial of a school serial was provided by "Rob Riley". Fantasy was delved into by two other stories; "Space Cadet" followed Jason January of the Royal Space Force Academy, and was peppered with occasional facts about space and history, while "The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire" was initially an ersatz retelling of legends of Ancient Rome through the filter of the Earth-like Trigan people of Elekton. Most of the strips were devised by Matthews and Sanders but written by Mike Butterworth, and featured art from many of the company's most talented artists including Don Lawrence, Jesús Blasco and Geoff Campion, while Frank Hampson (albeit via unused previous work), Ron Embleton, Ferdinando Tacconi and Eric Parker would contribute to covers and factual pieces.