The Lone Ranger #19 – Review

By Brett Matthews (writer), Sergio Cariello (artist), Marcelo Pinto (colorist), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

Some Thoughts Before the Review: I started reading the Lone Ranger after discovering an interview podcast of the series’ writer Brett Matthews. His enthusiasm on old westerns and on the Lone Ranger specifically convinced me to try it.

The Story: Someone is framing the Lone Ranger by killing people with silver bullets. The feds are coming for the Lone Ranger and they find him with the local sheriff, which gets him in trouble. In the meantime, the Lone Ranger’s life a vigilantism is taking its toll on those who care about him, leading to a surprising ending.

What’s Good: This is not your dad’s Lone Ranger and Tonto. Matthews has reimagined the character and made him grittier and more modern. The mood is grim and the emotions are real. The plot by Butch Cavendish to frame the Lone Ranger is bearing fruit and is tearing apart the Lone Ranger’s allies. What is Cavendish trying to do? I don’t know yet, but his emerging instability is increasing his creepiness and making him scarier. The federal lawman is another obsessive character that is fascinating to watch.

Cariello’s art is moody and effective (apparently when they began the series, Matthews told Cariello to watch the 1969 movie Once Upon a Time in the West to get the feel for the setting Matthews wanted to work with). The action scenes are quick and Cariello has a very effective stacked panel layout that works well to communicate tension in a scene. Cariello has the habit of very sparce panels, focusing on one important piece of the plot.  For example, on the first page, we start with a single twisted silver bullet in the Lone Ranger’s hand. Pages later, when loneliness and abandonment are the dominant moods, Cariello shows a single house on wide prairie. When obsessive tension is on order with the federal lawman, we see repeated panels of framed waiting and clock-checking. It all works very well.

What’s Not So Good: Little to complain about in this issue, except that it was over too quickly.

Conclusion: The Lone Ranger is definitely worth buying. It takes a great heroic idea and does it right.

Grade: B

-DS Arsenault