The Lone Ranger and Tonto Ride into Austin!
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Russell
Art & Colors: Bob Q
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover Artist: John Cassady
What They Say: The adventure continues from multiple Eisner Award nominee Mark Russell (The Flinstones) and Bob Q (James Bond Origin)! Tonto and The Lone Ranger go to Austin to foil a plan to cover the Texas panhandle in barbed wire. They are discovered and have to fight their way out of the city. Tonto devises a new strategy based on trick plays he learned from playing football at the Carlisle Indian School and Silver knocks a man unconscious with a wooden post.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers): Once again, The Lone Ranger surprises and provides one of the most engaging comics of 2018. Picking up where we left off, this issue highlights The Lone Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto, by illuminating readers about his origins, as well as his tactics to try and help the Lone Ranger to fight against the evil ranchers and corrupt Senators that stand in their way. Writer Mark Russell does a masterful job at portraying these characters and making them not only relatable to one another, but also pushes them to be much more fascinating than they have ever been.
There are three major set pieces in this issue, the first being of the Lone Ranger and Tonto getting mixed up at a Texas Records Office, the other being Tonto’s origin told in a flashback, and another key set-up at the Double Goat Ranch, that provides some major information and a nice segway into the next issue. It felt as though there was a lot going on and yet Russell’s writing makes all of this seem so effortless and always utterly engaging. The fact that he treats both of these character’s as equals means a lot in this day and age. Representation is everything and the fact that Russell gives Tonto enough presence and story purpose right along side of The Lone Ranger is extremely gratifying.
Bob Q’s art retains many of the same qualities that he showcased in the first issue. While he may not have the detail of someone like Jim Lee, Bob’s presentation is extremely clean, flows really well and captures your eye in a myriad of ways. From the use of color, dynamic poses and panel construction, Bob’s work also elevates The Lone Ranger into an engaging work that very much compliments the script work from Mark Russell.
In Summary: This new iteration of The Lone Ranger is one of the best things on the comic racks and some of the best work that I’ve encountered this year. It’s well plotted, has really good character work and contains great writing and art. While I’ve never been a fan of The Lone Ranger, Mark Russell and Bob Q are definitely doing their best to make me a convert.
Grade: A+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 14th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
