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ROCKET RANGER

Real Name: Roger Cory

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-1136) normal human

Occupation: Adventurer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Donna (last name unrevealed), Ferret (loose), Man of War (Clay Carter), President Brian O'Brien

Enemies: Killinger, Zeppelin, Zeppelin's thugs

Known Relatives: Tom Cory (grandfather)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington, DC, USA (Earth-1136)

First Appearance: Man of War#6/1 (September, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: When fitted out as Rocket Ranger, Roger Cory carries a unique rocket pack developed in a displaced future timeline (see comments, as it appears it was modified from its original design). The rocket pack harness includes an emergency quick-release and in-built parachute. It could originally carry the weight of two additional people. The easy-to-use rocket pack is linked to a computerized wrist monitor that has many predesignated international destinations and can travel at tremendously fast speeds once warmed up. Rocket Ranger's gear initially included a futuristic radium pistol that could fire destructive energy blasts with thousands of rounds. The Rocket Ranger uniform is thermally insulated and incorporates a reinforced helmet with visor. Roger Cory is also moderately skilled in self-defense.

Height: 5'9" (by approximation)
Weight: 145 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:

(Man of War#6/1 (fb) - BTS) - Tom Cory was a hero in WWII using a futuristic rocket pack and radium pistol as Rocket Ranger. But over the years, Rocket Ranger became the stuff of legend. Decades passed and Tom eventually became a grandfather to Roger Cory, and hid his rocket pack in his basement.

   As teenagers, Roger and friend Donna took self-defense classes in high school. Roger considered his grandfather to be the only family he had left.

(Man of War#6/1) - Roger visited his grandfather at the nursing home. Tom Cory had received a threatening letter from a WWII Nazi foe, Zeppelin, who had gone missing decades before. Roger initially laughed off the idea of a rocket pack and superheroics, but followed his grandfather's wishes to inspect his grandfather's basement. Together with Donna, Roger was confronted by armed thugs at his grandfather's house. Roger quickly donned the Rocket Ranger gear and knocked them out. Tom blasted off to think and try out the rocket pack while Donna alerted the police.

(Man of War#7/1) - Exhilarated with rocketing, Roger misjudged the landing and crashed. By this time, the police had arrived, but a difficult police detective wanted to take Roger in for questioning. Roger instead blasted off to seek help from super-hero group the Protectors. On the way, he saw prominent super-hero Man of War being choked by mystery vigilante Killinger and so helped out the Protectors member, but fumbled trying to grab Killinger, who escaped. Roger explained the situation to Man of War and they took a taxi to Tom Cory's nursing home. Once there, they watched in horror as Zeppelin threw Tom Cory from the rooftop, killing him.

(Man of War#8) - Angered, Roger rocketed up at the murderous Nazi, but was swatted away, his body aflame from Zeppelin's powers. Despite Man of War's help, Zeppelin teleported away.

(Man of War#8 (fb) - BTS) - Zeppelin joined his armed agents and stormed the White House, taking President Brian O'Brien hostage. Protectors members Arc and Ferret arrived to help in the rescue. Meanwhile, Roger secretly came up with a plan for Man of War to wear the Rocket Ranger suit to help him get close to the Nazi villain.

(Man of War#8) - Ferret eliminated all of Zeppelin's agents inside the White House, but was not strong enough to take down Zeppelin. Man of War, disguised as Rocket Ranger, rocketed in. Fooled, Zeppelin blasted "Rocket Ranger", destroying the suit, but the resilient Man of War survived and punched out the weakened Nazi foe. Roger arrived later as Zeppelin was being taken away and spoke with Man of War. Nearby, the injured Ferret rebuffed Man of War's helpful hand and Roger chided him. Roger stood proudly next to Man of War and the American flag as the sun set.

(Protectors#20) - Planet Earth (i.e., Earth-1136) exploded, most likely killing Roger Cory as well.

Comments: Original Rocket Ranger developed by Cinemaware. Contemporary Earth-1136 version developed by Tom Mason & Dan Danko (writers), Glenn Brown (pencils), Bobby Rae (inks).

The cover to Man of War#8 promised "Man of War vs. Rocket Ranger", but it was not the case inside.

Donna was presumably his girlfriend, but at this point, the Protectors titles' storylines were being quickly wrapped up as Malibu focused on the Ultraverse.

Interestingly, the rocket pack used by the original Rocket Ranger in WWII had one central rocket exhaust vent (as published by Malibu in 1991), but this latest version has two. The original rocket pack from the future ran off dangerous "Lunarium" for fuel, so maybe this latest version was a modified and relatively safer version meant to keep the name of the Rocket Ranger alive. Also, Roger (as Rocket Ranger) was armed with the radium pistol only in the advert (main image).

If he looks familiar, it might be due to the overt homage to jet-packed adventurers like the Rocketeer, but he's actually an extension of a character developed for a 1988 computer game, initially for Amiga (and serialized into a Malibu comic). The rocket pack's stats come from the game manual. There was a failed 2014 Kickstarter campaign to revive the game.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Rocket Ranger of Earth-1136 has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Gravestone#5, house advert (main image)
Man of War#8, p24, pan3 (headshot)
Man of War#8, cover, rocketing forward

Appearances:
Man of War#6/1 (September, 1993) - Tom Mason & Dan Danko (writers), Glenn Brown (pencils), Bobby Rae (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Man of War#7/1 (October, 1993) - Dan Danko & Tom Mason (writers), Glenn Brown (pencils), Thomas Florimonte, Jr. (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
Man of War#8 (February, 1994) - Dan Danko (writer), Glenn Brown (pencils), Scott Reed (inks), Roland Mann (editor)

First posted: 09/19/2018
Last updated: 09/19/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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