“The Werewolf Hunter” was an occult detective strip that ran in Rangers Comics #8-41 (December 1942-June 1948). The thirty-four episodes were given a house name of “Armand Weygand” but the character’s name would change to “Armand Broussard” when the author of the strip changed in Issue #17. Art was done by Gustaf Schrotter, George Tuska, Saul Rosen, Jim Mooney, and with issue #14, Lily Renee, who became the strip’s true artist. She went to issue #40 with the last issue done by an unknown artist.
Lily Renee (born 1921) really makes this strip, with her gorgeous style of Eisner-ish art. As one of the women artists who replaced the male ones drafted into the war, she drew for Fiction House until 1948. Renee should get writing credit on some of these comics as well. She was hired to change the direction of the comic away from just werewolves. Renee would go onto Abbott & Costello Comics at St. John.
The writer of the series was never acknowledged. It was probably a string of people over the seven year period. The inspiration for the strip is easy to spot: Jules de Grandin. Combining occult detective with his older, bald Watson you get Dr. Paul Broussard. If you aren’t convinced, one of the episodes is named “The Devil’s Bride” (Weird Tales, February-July 1932), the only de Grandin novel. By December 1942, de Grandin was on his last legs in Weird Tales. He would make only 14 more appearances, out of a phenomenal 93.
I have used the titles of from the strip. In many cases there are no titles so I have made up my own, using story elements to create a logical one. All these comics are available free of charge at DCM.
“The Werewolf Hunter” (Ranger Comics #8, December 1942) is the first of four stories about different werewolves. With the fifth story, the strip moved onto other forms of evil.
“The Werewolf Hunter” (Part 2) ((Ranger Comics #9, February 1943)
“The Werewolf Hunter” (Part 3) (Ranger Comics #10, April 1943)
“The Werewolf Hunter” (Part 4) (Ranger Comics #11, June 1943)
“The Dungeon Dweller of Horror House” (Ranger Comics #12, August 1943) was first strip not about werewolves. The title is so Seabury Quinn. The villains will now become predominantly beautiful women.
“The Tentacle Terror From Beezlebub’s Void” (Ranger Comics #13, October 1943) features a typical lurking brute who could have stepped off a cover of Terror Tales.
“Madam Speszi’s Marionettes” (Ranger Comics #14, December 1943)
“Priestess of the Spider Death” (Ranger Comics #15, February 1944)
“The Cats of Senor Shaitan” (Ranger Comics #16, April 1944)
“The Soul Slaver” (Ranger Comics #17, June 1944)
“The Devil’s Bride” (Ranger Comics #18, August 1944).
“The Diary of Paul Broussard” (Ranger Comics #19, October 1944)
“The Gypsy Cat-Woman” (Ranger Comics #20, December 1944)
“The Mistress of the Moonblood” (Ranger Comics #21, February 1945)
“Living Mermaids” (Ranger Comics #22, April 1945)
“A Summons to Paris” (Ranger Comics #23, June 1945)
“The Moth People” (Ranger Comics #24, August 1945)
“The Most Dangerous Girl in Paris” (Ranger Comics #25, October 1945)
“The Godolphin Powder” (Ranger Comics #26, December 1945)
“The Bewitched Glass” (Ranger Comics #27, February 1946)
“Enter Ibid” (Ranger Comics #28, April 1946)
“Take Care! Take Care!” (Ranger Comics #29, June 1946)
“The Ruby Eye” (Ranger Comics #30, August 1946)
“The Bamboo Lady” (Ranger Comics #31, October 1946)
“A Journey to Diamas” (Ranger Comics #32, December 1946)
“The Giant Serum” (Ranger Comics #33, February 1947)
“The Youth Serum” (Ranger Comics #34, April 1947)
“The Hands of the Safebreaker” (Ranger Comics #35, June 1947)
“Sir Cedric’s Castle” (Ranger Comics #36, August 1947)
“The Fortune-Teller’s Rug” (Ranger Comics #37, October 1947)
“Madame Dante” (Ranger Comics #38, December 1947)
“The Ship in the Bottle” (Ranger Comics #39, February 1948)
“Aunt Heddy’s Adventure” (Ranger Comics #40, April 1948)
“The Mannikins” (Ranger Comics #41, June 1948) was a failed reboot. The editors dropped Broussard, making it a generic horror comic. The experiment didn’t work because with Issue #47 Broussard got replaced by another occult detective, “The Secret Files of Dr. Drew”. (But that a different post.)
Paul/Armand Broussard was an interesting episode in the history of the Ghostbreakers. He helped end the era of the Van Helsing style erudite scholar-ghost busters. In comics the trend would be dominated by weird figure types after the Dr. Occult of Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster that would end with Doctor Strange at Marvel, The Phantom Stranger at DC and Dr. Spektor at Gold Key.
