I have been in a "Lone Ranger" mood for a while now and have been meaning to read the Dynamite series for some time. John Cassaday provided the cover art, and with his recent passing, this seems like the perfect opportunity to pay him tribute by spotlighting it. The series is written by Brett Matthews, with art by Sergio Carriello. Carriello's style has a very "Kubert" look to it, not necessarily Joe, but certainly Andy or Adam. The story is set 1869, with flashbacks to 1856, 1860 and 1868. In the first issue, six Texas Rangers trail a small-time crook named Collins into an ambush. That's a change; in the original legend, the Rangers were trailing the Butch Cavendish gang and Collins was acting as their guide. Beyond that, the story plays out pretty much as one would expect.
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ISSUE #19:
Loring is not arresting him for murder; he's just informing him of the charge. (Sheriff Loring even looks a bit like Comissioner Gordon now that I think about it.) The dead sheriff is one of at least six men killed with silver bullets that they know of. Suddenly, Winston Marle enters unexpectedly. The Lone Ranger punches Loring in the jaw, then they leap through the window, but Tonto cuts his shoulder. Meanwhile, Cavendish completes his transaction with the "arms dealer," contemplates killing him, then decides to simply leave him tied up. Later at the hotel, Cavendish spots Loring and orders him followed. Back at the homestead, Dan is having another nightmare, but is awakened by the Lone Ranger returning home. He asks Linda how long Dan has been having these nightmares, then seems ready to break off their relationship before its even begun. tonto is fine with that, but Linda says she won't let them leave until she shows them exactly how she feels. Then she rushes up and kisses Tonto!
ISSUE #20:
The Lone Ranger (or John Reid, I should say), is somewhat taken aback, but he comes to terms with it fairly quickly. He and Linda finally do have that talk he's been putting off for so long. Just then, Sheriff Loring comes riding up, but one of Cavendish's men has followed him. Cavendish is taking communion (and stealing from the collection plate) where word of the Long Ranger's location comes to him. "If you'll excuse me," he says, "that I might commune with the Almighty as to what to do with that information." (A beat.) "Hallelujah." Meanwhile, Marle threatens the man who runs the local newspaper not to run ant more stories about the Lone Ranger without his personal consent.
ISSUE #21:
After the Lone ranger, tonto and Sheriff Loring leave, Cavendish and his two men ride to the homestead. The Ranger rides to Winthrop's sprawling estate while Loring returns to the boarding house where he lives to find Marle waiting for him. Dan awakens from a nightmare only to find himself in the midst of a real one. One of his men sneaks up behind Linda, but she sees him in time and fatally wounds him with a butcher knife. She puts up a good fight after that, but is eventually overcome by the two men. Cavendish then orders his remaining man to, "Make the boy watch," and leaves the house as someone screams, "No. Don't--NO!" I'm not sure what's going on here (rape or murder), but there's only one guy in the room at this point.
ISSUE #22:
Cavendish has discovered the silver mine. He loads up a cart with ore, then sets off a load of dynamite. Meanwhile, his man has disregarded Cavendish's last order and sends the boy away. His intention is clearly to both rape and murder the boy's mother. Meanwhile, the Lone ranger has words with Winthrop. He says that he is aware that Cavendish has undoubtedly contact him by now, and leaves him with a choice: "His way you end up dead. Mine, I look you in the eye the day I come for you." Winthtrop warns the Cavendish always goes for the family first. Back at the ranch, Linda maneuvers herself to where she has a gun hidden. Outside, a green hornet lands on Dan's shoulder. At the boarding house, Marle convinces Loring that he is after the Lone Ranger, not to arrest him, but to protect him.
Back at the ranch, the man knocks the gun from Linda's hand before she can fire. Suddenly, unexpectedly, he is stung on the neck by a hornet. Dan is standing there with a hornets' nest behind his back. He smashes it into the man's face, and the hornets emerge mad as hell. He and his mother manage to flee the house without getting stung themselves. At the boarding house, a knock comes on Loring's door. He opens it to find his landlady, dead, and Butch Cavendish standing behind her with a bloody saber in his hand. He reaches for his gun on the table, and it certainly looks as if he's going to be missing a hand in another second. The Lone Ranger and Tonto arrive at the homestead to find two dead men inside, and Dan and Linda safe out back. At his estate, winthrop wrestles on the horns of a dilemma. He puts his seal on a letter and has it dispatched by courier.
ISSUE #23:
Loring awakens to find himself handcuffed to a hot stove in the kitchen of his boardin house. Butch Cavendish is making stew. "I so appreciate your giving me a hand," hes says. (Yes.) Cavendish threatens to pour the hot stew on Loring if he doesn't help him find the Lone Ranger, but Loring refuses and Cavendish pours the stew all over him. Meanwhile, Linda has come to the conclusion that she and Dan should be there because their presence is keeping him from becoming the man he was meant to be. She has a scar on her cheek from her ordeal, but she doesn't mind so much about that. "Anyone that would trat me different because [my face] is a little less pretty is not someone I need in my life."
Later, the Ranger tries and fails to dig his way into the sealed mine. Tonto says it not impossible, just something he can't do alone. the Lone Ranger insists that he take Linda and the boy away and become the father to Dan that he never could. Meanwhile, Cavendish, still covered in blood, is "celebrating" in a bar. (He explains that he is "a simple pig farmer.") By this time, the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Linda and Dan have arrived at the sheriff's boarding house. The Ranger finds the sheriff inside, still alive but badly scalded. He takes off his mask (saying "Call me John") in an attempt to cover the sheriff's burns but they cover his entire face. The sheriff was a friend of the Lone Ranger's father when they were both Texas Rangers together. He says he has always admired the Ranger's pearl-handled revolvers and asks to take a closer look at one. "won't take but a minute," he adds. Moments later, a shot rings out. Winthrop's messenger arrives at the bar with the letter for Cavendish: "It's done."
Next morning, the Ranger is still insisting that Tonto take Linda and Dan away. Just before the three ride off in a caoch Tonto is driving, Dan presses a silver bullet into his uncle's hand. Butch Cavendish arrives at the Church of the Redeemer, highon the crest of a butte. "Heh. How appropriate," he comments. "Let's end this."
ISSUE #24:
Cavendish confesses (in his own unique fashion) and asks absolution for the murder he is about to commit. He realizes he has been betrayed by Winthrop when the Lone Ranger comes bursting through the confessional. He removes his mask, reveals his identity, and they fight. Meanwhile, the coach Tonto was driving at the end of last issue has somehow become a buckboard. In any case, they are accosted by a group of Indians, and it soon becomes clear that they are his tribe. Apparently, tonto's real name is Mwe (not sure how to pronounce that). He is taken before the leader of the tribe, an old woman called Kokoko. Tonto should be leader of the tribe, but he abandoned them years ago and they have fallen on hard time. A man Tonto's age named Beshkno holds a grudge. Kokoko accepts Linda and Dan, and sends Tonto off on some mission.
Meanwhile, the fight at the church is not going well for Cavendish. The Ranger has removed his mask and is about to strangle him with it. Cavendish asks for a moment to "make peace" and the Ranger falls for it. While he is pretending to pray, Cavendish maneuvers his saber in such a way that he is able to stab the Ranger in the gut under his arm. Then he uses it to draw blood from his own hand, refers to him as "blood brother," and orders him to pray.
ISSUE #25:
"I SAID PRAY!"
The Ranger draws his gun, but Cavendish smashes it with the hilt of his sword. Then he gives the Ranger one minute to make his peace, but as he puts his hands together to pray he suddenly puts his finger in his mouth and whistles. Suddenly, in a double-page spread, Silve comes crashing through the stained glass window and breaks the sword with his hoof. Cavendish runs to his weapons cart outside and begins firing the Gatling gun. The Lone Ranger and Silver take cover behind the alter. The gun jams, and as Cavendish is about to throw a stick of dynamite, he finds his wrist impaled by an arrow. Tonto and Cavendish struggle and Cavendish goes over the edge of the butte, but Tonto saves him. Despite being repeatedly stabbed in the shoulder with a small knife from Cavendish's boot, Tonto hauls him to safety. Cavendish turns the tables, and holds a knife to Tonto's throat while holding him by the hair. The Ranger takes careful aim, and severs Tonto's hair. Cavendish loses his balance and falls off the butte.
He has broken nearly every bone in his body and goes into a coma, but he lives. The Ranger pays a man in a cabin to look after him. He says that is he regains consciousness, "We'll know." Now (temporarily) covering his face with a red bandanna instead of a mask, the Lone Ranger next pays a visit to Winston Marle, who explains how he's been covering the Ranger's tracks and who then offers him a position as a sort of unofficial undercover agent. The Ranger accepts, but under his own conditions. His concern lie with the people, not the government. "On occasions the needs of the two square up, you'll find an ally in me."
The Ranger then buries Sheriff Loring's body in his own empty grave, and gives Loring's horse to Dan. Tonto has re-sewn the Ranger's mask so that it looks more like the TV show version. Tonto has become an accepted member of his tribe once again, and Linda heads off to Grandma Frisby's (except they spell it "Frisbee" like the flying disc from Whammo) and Tonto stays behind. The Ranger flips a silver bullet into the air to determine where they go next: whichever way it points when it lands. I said before that I once heard Claton Moore's voice in my mind's ear in once particular scene. That happened once with Jay Silverheel's as well, but only one scene each. In this final scene I hear both their voices in my head loud and clear.
"What do we do now, Kemosabe?"
"We begin. The country is changing, Tonto. Maybe for the better... maybe the worse. I think we might have a hand in deciding which it is. Either way, there's no shortage of people out there who need our help."
Not quite the end...
That is the end... of volume one. A second volume follows, as well as three ancillary series and a Free Comic Book Day one-shot, which the collection includes at the end.
ISSUE #0:
The FCBD special is an illustrated version of The Lone Ranger Creed:
"I believe...
That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That 'This government, of the people, by the people and for the people' shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later ... somewhere ... somehow ... we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man."
That took a good chunk of the day, but not as long as it should have taken to read and respond to 15 comics. It would have taken much less time had I not stopped between chapters to write up summaries, but these comics are quite "decompressed" as I have mentioned. Consequently, they don't make for a good comic book series, however, in collected form, they serve quite well as individual chapters in a graphic novel. Depending on one's personal preferences, the storyline may be another matter. It is not "your father's Lone Ranger" (or even yours, if yours is Clayton Moore), that's for certain. for those of you who read the summaries, I hope you enjoyed them. For those who didn't I hope you at least enjoyed looking at the John Cassaday covers.
I have been in touch with Tracy throughout the day with periodic updates on her progress. She should be home soon, so I'll be signing off for the day.
Hi-Yo, Silver... AWAY!
Outside, a green hornet lands on Dan's shoulder.
When I was commenting, I forgot to call attention to this!
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