Artwork created by  hanazawa

This is Winston Clark, aka The Night Ranger, in his much younger days.

Winston's life changed when he was a teenaged Union soldier during the waning days of the American Civil War. On night patrol somewhere in Texas the young Golden Retriever soldier spotted what looked like a shooting star that fell to Earth rapidly. His curiosity got the better of him as he rode out to investigate. The glowing meteor had made a deep crater and Private Winston Clark slowly approached it. Losing his footing on the edge of the crater, he fell down towards the glowing rock. However, to his surprise, instead of colliding with the huge stone, his body passed right through it and came to a very soft landing on his feet. Before he could figure out what was going on, the glowing stone magically absorbed itself into his canine body. Thinking that he must be dreaming, Private Winston Clark attempted to climb up out of the crater but instead, he FLOATED upward until he landed near his stunned horse. Still believing that all of this must be some kind of strange dream, the confused canine rode back to camp.

Winston dared not tell anyone about his experience, not even his fellow soldiers. He was very afraid to mention it to his superiors, lest they think he'd gone insane and be shipped off to a Union Mental Hospital. After his discharge from the Army, Winston returned to his parents farm in Indiana. It was there that he began to experience more strange dreams, dreams pertaining to the new superpowers he had received from the mysterious meteor. He dreamed of becoming invisible, translucent, able to fly, cast convincing illusions and use his mind in ways he never imagined. In private, he began to experiment with his new abilities, and discovered that all the things his dreams had told him were true. He pondered all of this for many years, unsure if he should ever use these amazing powers in public.

It was one day when he rode into Terra Haute that his life changed forever. Witnessing a daytime bank robbery by a masked gang that took several ladies in town as hostages, the group of marauders rode off. Recognizing one of the women as his cousin Darla, Winston was determined to save the hostages and bring the gang to justice. Making himself invisible, Winston flew off and followed the gang from afar. As the bandits made camp for the night, Winston decided to act. Using his powers to move quietly among the sleeping bandits, the clever canine took back all of the stolen bank money and returned it all to the bank. Then, using scary illusions to wake up every member of the gang, Winston walked up to them. Using illusions to make himself appear larger than normal and masked, he called the entire gang out. The angry gang got frightened when all of their gunshots passed through the strange masked canine. When Winston used illusion to become a towering fire breathing dragon, all of the bandits scattered in fear and into the waiting arms of the sheriff's posse that had just arrived on the scene. When Winston returned to normal, he led the former hostage women back to town. When the sun rose the next day, and the other townsfolks asked the freed ladies how they got away from the bandits, they all claimed that a mysterious Night Ranger had came to their rescue. The name stuck.

The Legend of the Night Ranger grew over time, even at the turn of the century when the Wild West began to be settled and more civilized. Winston Clark continued to be the Night Ranger until his health failed him and he was moved to a nursing home in 1926. On his deathbed in 1927, Winston granted an interview to a young ferret journalist named Thelma Rogers who wanted to know about his exploits during the Civil War. At the end of the interview, the aging Golden Retriever grabbed the ferret jill by the paw. Explaining that none of his family would arrive in time and that he needed to pass on his powers to someone else, Thelma felt a weird surge of energy throughout her body. His last words were to use the gift he'd given her for the betterment of all furkind. This was how young Thelma Rogers became Phantom Ferret with the same identical powers as the former Night Ranger.


Winston Clark/Night Ranger & Thelma Rogers/Phantom Ferret © me

Colmaton Universe ©  train