Ainsworth H. "Doc" Rankin (November 27, 1896 – January 1954) was an

American army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

officer and freelance

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

. He was an editorial page cartoonist for the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' for a number of years and is best known for producing the touring show ''

This is the Army ''This Is the Army'' is a 1943 American wartime musical film, musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from This Is the Army (musical), the wartime stage musical of the same name, d ...

'' with

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

, which toured military camps during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He is also widely believed by comic collectors to be the anonymous artist who produced nearly 200 "

Tijuana bibles Tijuana bibles (also known as eight-pagers, Tillie-and-Mac books, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, Jo-Jo books, bluesies, blue-bibles, gray-backs, and two-by-fours) were palm-sized erotic comics produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early ...

" for New York printers during a two-year period around 1935, based on an identification by sexologist, folklorist and bibliographer

Gershon Legman Gershon Legman (November 2, 1917 – February 23, 1999) was an American cultural critic, folklorist, and author of '' The Rationale of the Dirty Joke'' (1968) and ''The Horn Book: Studies in Erotic Folklore and Bibliography'' (1964). Early life ...

. Legman claimed to have met Doc Rankin in a Scranton, Pennsylvania novelty shop and learned from him that he was one of the artists behind the popular, ribald 8-page cartoon booklets which were some of the earliest

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

, drawn in a style resembling the later work of

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...

. The son of Dr. James B. Rankin, a Scottish physician, and his wife Louise, a daughter of the controversial Belfast preacher Rev.

Hugh Hanna Hugh Hanna (21 February 1821 – 3 February 1892), nicknamed Roaring Hanna, was a Presbyterian minister in Belfast known for his anti-Catholicism. Biography Born in Dromara, County Down, Hanna studied at Bullick's Academy in Belfast before ...

, Doc Rankin was born in Buffalo, New York and lived for six years in England as a boy before returning to New York City, where he graduated from Manual Training High School in Brooklyn in 1915. He enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1916 and served on the Mexican border with the 27th Division for ten months. He returned to active duty for the First World War in the Army's

Chemical Warfare Service The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against and using chemical weapon, chemical, biological agent, biological, radiological weapon, radiological, and nuclear weapon, nuclear (Chemical, biological, r ...

, serving in the same unit as

Martin Branner Martin Michael Branner (December 28, 1888 – May 19, 1970), known to his friends as Mike Branner, was a cartoonist who created the comic strip ''Winnie Winkle''. Early life Branner was born in Manhattan, New York City on December 28, 1888. ...

, who would later go on to create the popular comic strip

Winnie Winkle ''Winnie Winkle'' is an American comic strip published during a 76-year span (1920–1996). Ten film adaptations were also made. Its premise was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were by Martin Branner, who wrote t ...

. He arrived in France in the final months of the war. After the armistice was signed Rankin remained with the Army of Occupation where he drew cartoons for the service newspapers and was a member of the 2nd Army Corps revue, a troupe of 26 performers that toured Europe entertaining the troops."Loew Cartoonist is Buffalo Boy. Ainsworth H. Rankin Rises to Fame", ''Buffalo Courier'', Oct. 15, 1921, p. 70. Returning to the US he was a reserve cavalry officer between the wars, while maintaining a freelance cartooning studio in Manhattan where he produced commercial art and cartoons, including the artwork for Tin Pan Alley sheet music. For many years he supplied editorial page cartoons for the daily ''Brooklyn Eagle'', drawn in a dramatic

conté Conté (; ), also called the Conté stick or Conté crayon, is a drawing medium composed of compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a clay base, square in cross-section. It was invented in 1795 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté, who crea ...

crayon style similar to the work of

Robert Minor Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor (15 July 1884 – 26 January 1952), alternatively known as "Fighting Bob", was a Editorial cartoon, political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and, beginning in 1920, a leading member of the Communist Party USA. Ba ...

, and unlike his humorous pen and ink gag cartoons. Never widely known as a cartoonist, he retired from cartooning after his military call-up in 1940. He served during the Second World War as a Special Services officer with responsibilities for entertainment and camp morale, first at

Camp Upton Camp Upton was a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. During World War II, it was used as an Army induction center, an internment camp for enemy aliens, and a hospital. It was located in Yaphank, New York, in Suffo ...

on Long Island, where he launched a camp newspaper before helping to put together the touring ''This is the Army'' show, followed by a stint at Camp Kilmer, and then overseas in Europe. He remained in the military after the war, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel, and died of heart failure at

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

in 1954. He is buried in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin, Doc United States Army colonels 1896 births 1954 deaths Brooklyn Eagle people American editorial cartoonists American erotic artists American advertising artists and illustrators American humorists American parodists American comics artists American comics writers