I thought I would take a brief break from writing about Ghost Rider to mention the brilliant Lone Ranger series from Dynamite Entertainment. I am somewhat surprised to see how successful the re-emergence of the western genre has been in the comic book world. Loveless, The Man with No Name, and the Lone Ranger have all been drawing in their fans to their well written and critically acclaimed stories. (No, I haven’t forgotten about Jonah Hex but his books are new on the scene) Mercifully, readers today understand that great writing transcends genres. In the past, no matter how excellent a book was written, if it was part of the “wrong” genre the book was probably doomed not to sell. (This is the fate that befell many great books in the 1970’s and 1980’s) The Lone Ranger would have been a book that would have been cancelled within 10 issues a decade ago. Mainly this is because readers would have viewed it as a relic from the past and opted out of investing time in it. However, the internet can spread a lot of buzz about a book in a manner that could not have been done decades ago. Therefore, quality books can build up an audience even though they may not be cut from the same mold as other books that are selling.

There are, however, a few criticisms leveled at The Lone Ranger. Mainly, the criticism centers on the fact that the books are violent and this makes them far removed from their original source material. While I understand this criticism, a little modern perspective needs to be placed into the mix. In the 1940;s, The Lone Ranger was aimed at little kids. He provided fanciful entertainment that inspired young readers of the comics and audiences of the radio show to understand that a moral person can survive in an very immoral world. To a great extent, this made the character seem a little “corny” by today’s standards but he was effective for his time. In today’s world, a more mature approach to the stories is needed since the audience is older and more demanding.

I also give the book a pass for its violence mainly because the Lone Ranger is not violent. He doesn’t believe in killing. He doesn’t believe in frontier justice. He believes in law and order to the point he risks his own life to go out of his way not to inflict unnecessary harm on the villains. Now, the villains ARE cold hearted and vicious. That makes the Lone Ranger’s actions even more commendable. He never loses his focus of law and order no matter how dark and grim a situation can be. This adds a true level of maturity to the character that would not be present if he simply acted like yet another crazed vigilante.

Really, Dynamite Entertainment deserves enormous credit for rebooting the character in such a brilliant manner. My (White Hat) is off to them…..


The Lone Ranger is published monthly by Dynamite Entertainment and it brought to you by the creative team of Brett Matthews, Sergio Carriello, Dean White, John Cassaday, and Simon Bowland.