The Lone Ranger Rides Again!

I didn't have to get up that early, but as a child I set my alarm for 6:30 weekday mornings because that's when the Lone Ranger re-runs aired on television. I loved that show, but I could only watch it when one of our cable channels chose to run it in syndication.

The Lone Ranger began as a radio program in 1933 and it was a TV series from 1949-1957. Although the Lone Ranger was canceled before I was born, the series ran in syndication, and the character became one of my childhood heroes.

The Lone Ranger comics I read as a child were obviously based on the TV series since the comic characters bore striking resemblances to the actors on TV. It was also obvious that in whatever medium the Lone Ranger appeared, it was intended for a juvenile audience. The radio program was not exactly Orson Welles in its sophistication and the TV series wasn't exactly Gunsmoke. The Lone Ranger plots were deliberately aimed at children (But were nevertheless sophisticated on that level, certainly more so than Roy Rogers or Gene Autry).The stars of the Lone Ranger took their jobs as role models for children seriously.

Well, the Lone Ranger is riding again, and again through the pages of comics books. But this time the intended audience is not children. Not only did I grow up with the Lone Ranger, but now the Lone Ranger has grown up with me. The stories in Dynamite Entertainment's new comic series are far more sophisticated than what we've seen with any previous treatments of the character. I always knew the Ranger had this potential.

I've just finished reading the first ten issues and my reflections on the series overall will be the topic of my next post (and I do intend to start posting more frequently).   

Comments

[Tim]

I loved the Lone Ranger when I was kid. My dad bought me a bunch of episodes of the radio show on vinyl. I wish I still had those.

I'm really liking the new Dynamite series too.

[Dr. Retro]

Tim,

Radio episodes on vinyl! That would be a double collector's item! I got some on audio cassette.
Anyway, thanks so much for reading. Perhaps you may have something to add once I post my review of the Dynamite series.

[mike hynes]

i remember when i was still a kid under twelve seeing a movie on tv one saturday morning about how the lone ranger met tonto. if i rember correctly,the lone ranger and his brother were both texas rangers riding with a posse that was ambushed. everyone was killed,including the lone ranger's brother. the lone ranger was left for dead,too,but tonto found him and nursed him back to health.that is how the lone ranger got his name and started wearing the mask so that no one knew he survived the ambush.

[Dr. Retro]

Mike,

Thanks for the comment. Sorry it took so long for me to reply. Your memory serves you very well. I think the movie to which you refer was originally a three-parter on the TV series.