Not having grown up reading any western strips on a reg'lar basis it ain't like I have a great affinity for any of 'em, y'know? But the few I have had whatcha'd call surpassed my admittedly limited expectations. Case in point CASEY RUGGLES, not to mention the on/off western situation comedy/drama that could be found intermittently in the twenties-to-forties OUT OUR WAY. As far as THE LONE RANGER went though, I must admit that I had my druthers about it...after all the masked stroon had been front and center in a whole passel of media for years awlready, and whether or not he could do as well in the comics as he did in the moom pitchers, radio and of course tee-vee was open to debate in the vast chasms of my mind. But get this (free!) I did a long time ago, and having discovered it in a pile of bookage in my room I figured that the subject of a LONE RANGER reprint collection as a mid-week musing would do this blog up rather fine, and maybe for once I am right!
The artwork ain't anything to rah rah over. In fact original RANGER sketcher Ed Kressy ain't what you'd call an able hand at this, showing all of the stiffness and by-the-pattern foibles of bad thirties/forties comic art that NATIONAL LAMPOON used to mimic to a good "T" back in the seventies. Replacement Charles Flanders was a marked improvement though (again) his stick to the rules style makes his renditions look like wannabe imitations of comic bignames such as Roy Crane and Alex Raymond. Well at least he gets a huzzah for striving...
Sagas are pretty hotcha though. As good as the tee-vee version that you've all hangovered through during the seventies and eighties, with the pair of the Lone Ranger and faithful Indian companion Tonto being in the right place at the right time beating the bad boys against all odds complete with the standard cliff-hanging that used to get kiddoids like me all inna bundle to the point of involuntary bladder drainage. Mighty exciting stuff, and if I were to gander a guess this sorta downright intensity has been banished from the comic pages for good because hey---it ain't like kids are supposed to experience tension and drama unless it works towards that common goal of brotherly whatziz I keep hearing about! And you know that's too bad...
Might be worth a remaindered book scouring to find if you're that interested. As for me I will say it beat TANK McNAMARA and FUNKY WINKERBEAN all hollow, but then again you can say that about a good episode of FESTER AND CARBUNKLE!
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