[Downunder Dan]

The history of the Phantom Ranger has been rewritten over the course of the comic's run. In issue 2 (the earliest we have here), there's no mention of the boy being rescued from a wagon train - he was just 'rescued'. But the simplest truth is that the Phantom Ranger is a knock-off of the Phantom (in this case, with elements of the Lone Ranger added in). Frew published both the Phantom and the Phantom Ranger, so there was no risk of legal action about the similarities. The company obviously was looking to have another title to sell to the same audience.

Link to the comment: The Phantom Ranger 87

[The Australian Panther]

The history of the Phantom Ranger has been rewritten over the course of the comic's run. In issue 2 (the earliest we have here), there's no mention of the boy being rescued from a wagon train - he was just 'rescued'. But the simplest truth is that the Phantom Ranger is a knock-off of the Phantom (in this case, with elements of the Lone Ranger added in). Frew published both the Phantom and the Phantom Ranger, so there was no risk of legal action about the similarities. The company obviously was looking to have another title to sell to the same audience.

1/ Whereas, in the US the template was Superman, and thus you got superheroes in costumes, Frew and Australian publishers used the template of the masked mystery man, (yes, definitely the Phantom) so Frew had Phantom Ranger, Sir Falcon and the Shadow and there was also the Panther and the Raven. Then there was Catman and the Crimson Comet.
2/ The most recent origin of the Phantom Ranger, within the last 5 years, believe it or not, involved aliens!
3/

  Much of what is now the Southern United States was claimed by Spain, some of it at least explored by the Spanish starting in the early 1500s, and some permanent settlements established. Spanish explorers claimed land for the crown in the modern-day states of Alabama, Arizona, the Carolinas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, and California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas#United_States
Wagon Trains from the east were post-civil war, but it was certainly possible for a 'white boy' to be raised by Indians in the 1680s. Just sayin!

4/ The Phantom has an Eyrie base in the US - on top of a Butte. If memory serves, Frew have done a team-up with Phantom Ranger and one of the earlier Phantoms.     

[Downunder Dan]

1/ Whereas, in the US the template was Superman, and thus you got superheroes in costumes, Frew and Australian publishers used the template of the masked mystery man, (yes, definitely the Phantom) so Frew had Phantom Ranger, Sir Falcon and the Shadow and there was also the Panther and the Raven. Then there was Catman and the Crimson Comet.

My point about the same company is that DC/National Publications were very litigious. Their early success with Fox's Wonder Man (only one story published before legal action) lead to an avalanche of legal threats and law suits against the publishers of Steel Sterling, Master Man and, most importantly, Captain Marvel. Interestingly, Will Eisner, who created Wonder Man, agreed he'd been asked to create a Superman-like character but said he'd drawn more on the Phantom than Superman for inspiration.

Catman has some Phantom aspects to him. He's based at Cat Rock (similar to the Skull Cave), and he's assisted by a boy called Kit (which is both the given name of the current (21st) Phantom and of his son).

During some research into the Phantom Ranger, I found the following comment by John Ryan on the Shadow and the Phantom Ranger:

Following the success of The Phantom Ranger Frew Publications introduced The Shadow in May 1950 and continued to publish the title until the middle ’sixties. In portraying Jimmy Gray as a seemingly bored millionaire who is really The Shadow, the comic vied with The Phantom Ranger for its lack of originality.

(p.200, Panel by Panel) I find this a bit harsh, but Frew were certainly playing things safe in creating new characters. History shows us that the lack of originality in a character concept doesn't preclude good and entertaining reading!

[The Australian Panther]

  (p.200, Panel by Panel) I find this a bit harsh, 

agreed. Ok, Frew had the license for the Phantom (and I think for a short while, Mandrake.) but why didn't KING threaten Frew over their characters?
interesting. .   

[Downunder Dan]

Perhaps King assumed the Frew characters wouldn't amount to much? More fool they, if they did - for a while Frew was providing material to the British and Brazilian markets and, to this day, Frew Phantom stories are sometimes printed in international markets. Maybe it's the fact that Frew is a member of the international Phantom publication environment?

I haven't seen a Frew Mandrake, but I do get surprised by some titles they did reprint - earlier this week I saw 5 or 6 Frew issues of Popeye (looking like they are collected reprints of Popeye newspaper strips). Frew has a bigger back catalogue than generally known, although potentially copyrighted material if the companies that syndicated them have kept up-to-date.