Love Rangers (1977)

Notes

Originally launched in 1977, Vernon Grant’s The Love Rangers followed the adventures of a racially mixed space crew navigating the universe. Grant published seven issues of the title between 1977 and 1988, a feat that cemented his legacy as a pioneer of independent publishing and creator-owned intellectual property.

The historical weight of The Love Rangers is anchored in Grant’s role as an early “Manga Evangelist” and scholar. Having served three army tours in Japan during the 1960s, Grant remained in the country to immerse himself in its creative culture, eventually becoming the primary bridge between Eastern and Western sequential art. In 1972, he authored a three-part analysis of the legendary series Lone Wolf and Cub for the Mainichi Shimbun, which is widely considered the first academic analysis of manga to appear in English. That same year, he published Point-Man Palmer and A Monster is Loose in Tokyo (Tuttle, 1972), works that clearly showcased the emerging influence of Japanese concepts on his cartooning.

By the time The Love Rangers debuted, Grant was frequently credited as the first person to introduce the visual approach and conceptual frameworks of Japanese manga into English-language comics. He utilized the realistic, cinematic Gekiga style to render his diverse cast with a level of anatomical precision and dignified detail—specifically regarding natural hair textures and realistic Black features—that was virtually non-existent in mainstream American media at the time. By moving away from the “Blaxploitation” tropes of the 1970s in favor of a sophisticated Afrofuturist vision, Grant proved that Black-led science fiction could be intellectually rigorous, aesthetically groundbreaking, and entirely self-sustained. You can learn more about Grant and other Black pioneers in Manga and Anime in our Warriors in the Margins feature.