Vernon Grant

In March 2007, Betsy Grant curated a month-long exhibition of his artwork for the Cambridge Public Library's Central Square branch. When she was invited back to stage another show on April 1, 2008 at the Cambridge Library, she made The Love Rangers the central focus of the exhibition. On Cambridge Community Television, Vernon Grant was the subject of Lynette Laveau Saxe's Callalloo Express on April 14, 2008, with Saxe presenting both artwork and an extended interview with Betsy Grant.

As a marathon runner, Grant was a familiar figure in the annual Boston Marathon. He completed a total of 33 marathons, and his wife ran with him in races for years. Interviewed by Pulp, he recalled, "When we came back to America, we did a lot of running. In fact, we were running something in the neighborhood of over 3,500 miles a year for over 25 years. When I'm out running, a lot of the ideas pop into my head, and when I get a chance to sit down, I put them on paper." It was during one of his daily runs that he suffered a heart attack on July 7, 2006, injuring his head when he fell. He went into a coma and died two weeks later on July 23.

In 1972, Grant met Betsy Reese, who was also a student at Sophia University. The following year, the couple moved to Cambridge, and they married April 28, 1978. A great-granddaughter of the pioneer Wisconsin landscape photographer H. H. Bennett, Betsy Reese Grant is the author of The Bennett Story: The Life and Work of Henry Hamilton Bennett, published by the H.H. Bennett Studio Foundation, Inc. in 1991.

When he returned to Cambridge, he drew his line of 15 Computer Cartoons postcards, sold in the gift shop of Boston's Computer Museum. He also created The Love Rangers, his science-fiction comic book series about a racially mixed space crew traveling the universe. Between 1977 and 1988, Grant published seven issues of The Love Rangers in a 36-page, 5½"x8½" format. Betsy Grant detailed the premise and plotline of The Love Rangers:

During the years he lived in Japan, Grant wrote and drew several graphic novels, including the two-volume military satire, Point-Man Palmer and A Monster is Loose in Tokyo (Tuttle, 1972) about the life of a foreigner in Japan.

Training in Europe as a supply sergeant, he studied Japanese and French. He received airborne assault and parachute training at Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia. In June 1966, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in Japan as a deputy information officer and command information officer. In Vietnam, on February 4, 1967, he took command in Saigon of the First Signal Brigade's 400-man security force, providing security for 23 Vietnam communication sites, a duty requiring frequent helicopter flights.

In Tokyo, where Grant was a regular cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, he developed a strong fascination with Japanese comics. He also wrote and drew for Japan's English-language newspapers, including the Mainichi Daily News. His interest in comics was revived in the late 1960s, as he recalled:

As a child, Grant began earning money by drawing cartoons for birthday cards. After graduating from Rindge Technical High School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied for one year in Boston at the Vesper George School of Art and then joined the Army in 1958 at the age of 23. While serving in the Army over a decade, he was an infantry officer, eventually being discharged with Captain's rank after two Vietnam tours.

Vernon Ethelbert Grant (February 14, 1935 – July 23, 2006) was a cartoonist who did graphic novels, and is also known for his digest-sized comic book series, The Love Rangers. Usually referred to as Vern Grant, he is often credited as the person who first introduced the visual approach and concepts of Japanese manga into English-language cartooning.