Space Ranger

Space Ranger
Cover of Showcase #15 (July 1958) Art by Bob Brown
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Showcase #15 (July 1958)
Created by	Edmond Hamilton (writer) Gardner Fox (writer) Bob Brown (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Rick Starr
Species	Human
Place of origin	Earth
Abilities	Expert pilot, marksman, scientist and detective armed with vast variety of futuristic weapons and gadgets. Sidekick is an extraterrestrial shapeshifter.

Space Ranger is a science fiction hero who was published by DC Comics in several of their 1950s and 1960s anthology titles. He first appeared in Showcase #15 (July 1958) and was created by writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox and artist Bob Brown. The character has notable similarities to a preceding character named David "Lucky" Starr, created by novelist Isaac Asimov in his 1952 novel David Starr, Space Ranger. After appearing in Showcase #15 and 16, the Space Ranger was given a cover-starring series in Tales of the Unexpected, starting with issue #40 and lasting until #82 (1959–64). Afterwards, he moved to Mystery in Space for issues #92–99, 101, 103 (1964–65).

In 1957, DC Comics editorial director Irwin Donenfeld held a meeting with editors Jack Schiff and Julius Schwartz in his office, asking them each to create a new science fiction hero: one from the present, and one from the future. Given first choice, Schiff chose to create one from the future.

After a successful tryout in Showcase #15 and 16, the Space Ranger was given a slot in Tales of the Unexpected, starting with issue #40 (August 1959).

Set in the 22nd century, Space Ranger is really Rick Starr, a seemingly shiftless executive at his gruff, cigar-chomping father Thaddeus Starr's Allied Solar Enterprises. He took on the role of the superheroic interplanetary troubleshooter to battle space pirates, alien invaders, evil scientists and other futuristic threats both cosmic and criminal, hiding his true identity beneath a transparent blue helmet and operating out of a hidden asteroid base via his sleek super-swift scarlet spaceship the Solar King.