Planet, Fight, Wings & Rangers Comics gallery

OTHER FICTION HOUSE COMICS GALLERY -
Planet Comics, Fight Comics, Wings Comics & Rangers Comics

The popularity of Sheena made Jumbo Comics the breadwinner of the Fiction House publishing stable. However, Jerry iger was always keen to exploit new business opportunities and was happy to provide new titles to Thurman T Scott, the editor-in-chief at Fiction House. The galleries below are not meant to be exhaustive and are only an attempt to give readers an idea of what the other Fiction House titles looked like by providing a sample of 21 covers of the other "Big Six" titles. A very brief history of each title accompanies each section. Lastly, at the end is a selection of the lesser known Fiction House titles.

The identification of the cover artists on this page is based on several sources - The Iger Comics Kingdom (1985) by Jay Edward Disbrow, which provides details of Fight Comics, Wings Comics and Rangers Comics; Book of Planet Comics - The Photo Cover Guide to Planet Comics, published by A List Comics in July 1998, which has information about that publication; and The Grand Comics Database Project (GCD) website, which I have used to cross-reference the information provided in the other two publications. Each entry gives the publication date and the name of the artist..

COVERS GALLERIES INTRO

FICTION HOUSE INTRO

Use the links below to access the different sections of this page:

1. PLANET COMICS	2. FIGHT COMICS

3. WINGS COMICS	4. RANGERS COMICS

5. MISCELLANEOUS OTHER COMICS

Click on the thumbnails below to see a large size image of each cover:

1. PLANET COMICS

Between January 1940 and the winter of 1953 73 issues of Planet Comics, a spin off of one of the earlier Fiction House pulp magazines, Planet Stories, were published . Planet Stories appeared between 1939 and 1955, meaning the pulp predated the comic by one year and outlasted it by two. Planet Comics is now considered the leading purveyor of Good Girl Art during the Golden Age of Comics, and featured the work of many fine artists, some of them female - Murphy Anderson, Matt Baker, Nick Cardy, Lily Renée, Fran Hopper and Marcia Snyder. Mysta of the Moon by Fran Hopper is considered an exemplary example of the comic's work..

Planet Comics # 1
Jan 40
Will Eisner-Lou Fine

Planet Comics # 17
Mar 42
Dan Zolerowich

Planet Comics # 26
Sep 43
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 36
May 45
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 40
Jan 46
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 56
Sep 48
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 62
Sep 49
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 65
1951
Joe Doolin

Planet Comics # 73
Winter 53
Maurice Whitman

TO BE CONTINUED

2. FIGHT COMICS

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Fight Stories, the pulp that inspired Fight Comics, appeared as early as June 1928 and lasted until 1952. The comic appeared in January 1940 and 86 issues were published sporadically, the last appearing in the summer of 1954. The covers originally featured brawling ultra-masculine men and during the war years these were briefly replaced by soldiers and marines in combat. Senorita Rio, a voluptuous American spy dominated the covers during the war years, but from Fight Comics No. 49 (Apr 47), Tiger Girl, a Sheena-inspired character, graced every cover until issue number 81. Artie Saaf and Nick Cardy were amongst the artists to contribute art.

Fight Comics # 1
Jan 40
Will Eisner

Fight Comics # 18
Apr 42
Dan Zolnerowich

Fight Comics # 21
Oct 42
Dan Zolnerowich

Fight Comics # 35
Dec 44
Joe Doolin

Fight Comics # 43
Apr 46
Joe Doolin

Fight Comics # 55
Apr 48
Joe Doolin

Fight Comics # 60
Feb 49
Joe Doolin

Fight Comics # 76
Sep 50
Maurice Whitman

Fight Comics # 86
Summer 54
Unknown

TO BE CONTINUED

3. WINGS COMICS

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Wings Comics was another title that was inspired by a Fiction House pulp magazine, called simply Wings. 124 issues were published between September 1940 and the summer of 1954. From the very first issue, which was published before the attack on Pearl Harbour, the comic featured action-packed covers of technically correct fighting aircraft, often with dynamic aerial perspective. Good Girl Art was largely eschewed until after the war, and by issue number 69 ( May 1946) leggy woman began to appear regularly on the cover. Memorable artists on the title were Ruth Atkinson, George Tuska, Lee Elias and Rafael Astarita.

Wings Comics # 1
Sep 40
Gene Fawcette?

Wings Comics # 19
Mar 42
Gene Fawcette

Wings Comics # 28
Dec 42
Gene Fawcette

Wings Comics # 35
Jul 43
Art Saaf

Wings Comics # 57
May 45
Art Saaf

Wings Comics # 62
Oct 45
Lee Elias

Wings Comics # 88
Dec 47
Bob Lubbers

Wings Comics # 109
Sep 49
Bob Lubbers

Wings Comics # 124
Summer 54
Maurice Whitman

TO BE CONTINUED

4. RANGERS COMICS

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Rangers Comics was the last of the Fiction House "Big Six" titles to appear, and was the first to be cancelled. It was never published monthly and only 69 issues appeared between October 1941 and the winter of 1952. The first seven issues were named Rangers of Freedom, after a group of costumed juvenile heroes. The title is best known for Firehair, Queen of he Sagebrush Frontier who first appeared in issue number 21 (Feb 45). Like the other titles Fiction House titles, the postwar artwork is the most attractive and some of the featured artists were John Celardo, Bob Lubbers, Matt Baker, Ruben Moreira and Maurice Whitman.

Rangers Comics # 1
Oct 41
Dan Zolnerowich

Rangers Comics # 17
Jun 44
Art Saaf

Rangers Comics # 22
Apr 45
Joe Doolin

Rangers Comics # 35
Jun 47
Joe Doolin

Rangers Comics # 41
Jun 48
Bob Lubbers

Rangers Comics # 54
Aug 50
Donald Shaw or Ed Waldman

Rangers Comics # 60
Aug 51
Maurice Whitman

Rangers Comics # 63
Feb 52
Maurice Whitman

Rangers Comics # 69
Winter 52
Maurice Whitman

TO BE CONTINUED

5. MISCELLANEOUS OTHER COMICS

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The 21 covers below are an assortment of the lesser-known, and frequently short-lived, Fiction House comic titles - Apache (one issue); Cowgirl Romances (12 issues); Firehair Comics (two issues), Firehair (five issues); Ghost Comics (eight issues); Indians (17 issues); Long Bow (nine issues); Man O' Mars (one issue); Monster (two issues); Movie Comics ( four issues); Wambi the Jungle Boy (18 issues); and War Birds (three issues). As stated on the Covers Galleries Intro page, Fiction House would sometimes add one or two of these titles to their "Big 6" promotional advertisements to make a "Big 7" or "Big 8", but they did not endure.