Halloween on the Prairie "WereWolf Goes West"...in B/W AND Color!

Two years ago, we presented "Vampire Goes West"...

...so, this time, it's a lycanthrope in the Weird West during the Halloween season...with a surprise guest-star tossed-in!

Appearing in the HTF tabloid Monster Times #24 in 1973 (where it was printed at full original art size), this tale featuring a cameo by the Masked Rider of the Plains and his Faithful Indian Companion was penned by Nicola Cuti and rendered by Frank Brunner.

Then, we discovered it had been reprinted in Eclipse's Unknown Worlds of Frank Brunner #2 (1985)...

...in full, bloody cool, color!

It's a Halloween season treat (no trick) to you, faithful readers!

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Wicked West

Volume 1

Asians Out West LONE RANGER "Chinese Gold"

Though infrequent, there were Old West comic book tales involving Chinese who had come to America...

...such as this never-reprinted one from Dell's Lone Ranger #70 (1954).

"If you don't fight to preserve the rights of all Americans, someday you may find your race or your religion the object of some mob's prejudice!"

As John Wayne would say..."Words to live by, pilgrim!"

You'll note the Chinese miners are supporting characters and told to not bear arms in their own defense.
Yet, if they were Irish, Italian, or any White ethnicity, they'd be side by side with the Ranger and the townspeople!
If the story seems a bit "talky"/dialogue heavy, that's because it was adapted from a script for the May 31, 1952 episode of the Lone Ranger radio show which you'll be able to find HERE, at our "brother" RetroBlog Secret Sanctum of Captain Video tomorrow!

The writer who adapted the script to comics is unknown, but the illustrator (pencils and inks) is longtime Ranger renderer Tom Gill.

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Lone Ranger on Radio

CD Set

Halloween Horror VANGUARD ILLUSTRATED "Ballad of Hardcase Bradley"

 This story is similar in concept to another tale we ran HERE and HERE....

...but this sinister short from Pacific's Vanguard Illustrated #7 (1984) was never reprinted!

Artist George Evans was a major contributor to EC Comics in the 1950s, including their horror comics and MAD,

The influences of both can be seen in this story.

Trivia: this issue also featured the first appearance of Michael T Gilbert's Mr Monster, who continues to this day!

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Wicked West

Volume 1

Clayton Moore IS the Lone Ranger...

...just as Sean Connery IS James Bond, and Basil Rathbone IS Sherlock Holmes.

Like Connery and Rathbone, Clayton Moore wasn't the first to play the character, but he was the best.

Hi-Yo Silver...Away!

Harry J Smith: the Man Who Would be Tonto!

Since technical difficulties with Google+ Photos are keeping me from posting the usual comic tale, I thought I'd link to a story from Sunday's New York Times about 1950's TV's Tonto, Jay Siverheels, and his pre-Lone Ranger athletic career in Canada!

Here's the LINK to the site.

LONE RANGER "and the Hooded Horsemen" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Cover art by Morris Gollub

Finding a young woman held captive by masked cowboys, the Lone Ranger and Tonto fake being shot to find the location of the woman's sister, also held captive.

Overcoming and replacing two of the hooded owlhoots, the duo are led the headquarters, but are then unmasked.

Though the Ranger and Tonto have the leader, the criminals hold the two women, and will kill them if the two (admittedly unofficial) lawmen don't surrender...

This tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #167 (1947) was written by Lone Ranger co-creator Fran Striker and illustrated by Charles Flanders.

It was originally-published in 1941 as part of the Lone Ranger syndicated newspaper strip.

Though probably adapted from a radio script, it's been retitled, so I haven't yet figureed out which 1941 (or earlier) episode it's from.
Related note: the Complete Lone Ranger Collector's Edition DVD set I mentioned HERE has been discontinued at Costco.
If you didn't get it for $79.99, the cheapest you'll find it for on-line is $119.99 HERE.

LONE RANGER "and the Hooded Horsemen" Part 1

Our final entry for Lone Ranger Month is a two-parter...

...reprinting a story from the newspaper strip!

Note: the first page is from the inside front cover of the comic, so it's a two-color (red and black) page.

The rest of the story is traditional "four color".

How will the Lone Ranger and Tonto escape?

How will they rescue the two women?

Find out...

TOMORROW!

I always thought that "no kill" gimmick was going to backfire at one point or another...

This tale from Dell's Four Color Comics #167 (1947) was written by Lone Ranger co-creator Fran Striker and illustrated by Charles Flanders.

It was originally-published in 1941 as part of the Lone Ranger syndicated newspaper strip.

Though probably adapted from a radio script, it's been retitled, so I haven't yet figured out which 1941 (or earlier) episode it's from.

THE LONE RANGER Comic Cover Art

One of the rarest Lone Ranger comics wasn't sold on newstands...

Art by Murphy Anderson

...but in connection with the reissue of the 1960s model kits seen above!

Thse kits originally came out at the time of the first Lone Ranger cartoon series, which is why "Taka the Eagle", (who only appeared in the cartoon series) is shown with Tonto!

In the mid-1970s, Aurora re-released many of their comic-themed kits with new cover art plus newly-created comic book inserts under the name Comic Scenes.
Besides the Ranger and Tonto (both of whom featured art by Gil Kane), all the exisiting DC and Marvel kits were re-released with new art by stalwarts like John Romita Sr, Dick Giordano, and Herb Trimpe.
The cover to the Lone Ranger comic is below...

And here's the original art for this kool Gil Kane cover...

The new Lone Ranger: Complete Series DVD Set at an Incredibly-LOW Price...

See this kool Brand-New box set with every episode (even the John Hart ones)?

If you look on the net, the cheapest you'll see it for is $129.99!

Want to get it, still in shrink-wrap, for...hold your breath...

...$79.99?

Yes!

$79.99!

Go to Costco!

It's supposed to be $99.99 (which is still a great deal).
But, apparently due to the collapse of the new movie, they're taking an additional $20 off to move it off the shelves!
(I found this out yesterday, when I went shopping at Costco...)
BTW, it's not available through Costco's website, only at the warehouses!
Who would've thought a movie about one of our favorite heroes doing badly at the box office would work to our benefit?

Dynamic Duos in Classic Films Blogathon "Conclusion" LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER

The last appearance on the silver screen before the current movie was in 1981...

...during a brief flurry of comic-themed big-budget movies including Superman: the Movie, Flash Gordon, and Popeye. as well as the pulp/comic/movie serial-inspired Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back) and Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark) series.

Michael Horse as Tonto and Klinton Spilsbury as John Reid/Lone Ranger.

The film followed the long-established origin seen HERE and HERE fairly well, but expanded Tonto's role to make him more of a teacher and equal partner than previous versions, as well as having Tonto speak colloquial English.

Male model Klinton Spilsbury as Reid/Ranger makes his only film appearance here, looking the part,and moving well in action sequences, but totally-unable to act or even speak clearly. (He was dubbed by James Keach.)

Michael Horse, who went on to ongoing roles in Twin Peaks, Roswell, and most recently, Sons of Tuscon, plays Tonto as the more thoughtful of the duo.

There's no chemistry between the duo, unlike the Clayton Moore/Jay Silverheels relationship which, though unequal, was clearly close friends who trusted each other implicitly.

To give the film a contemporary action-adventure feel, James Bond composer John Barry did the score (incorporating the William Tell Overture, of course).
Like the previous feature film, Lone Ranger and the City of Gold, this film introduced a narrative song (sung by Merle Haggard, who narrated the movie).
Unfortunately, there's no video of it on YouTube...
Trivia: the narrator of the trailer is Fred Foy who introed and narrated most of the the radio/TV Lone Ranger episodes!
We hope you've enjoyed our look at the movie career of The Lone Ranger and Tonto.as part of the Dynamic Duos of Classic Films Blogathon.
Previous entries are...
the two Lone Ranger movie serials in Hero Histories™
the two Lone Ranger feature films shot during the run of the tv series and starring the tv cast at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video™
See many, many other "Dynamic Duos in Classic Film" at this LINK to the blogathon participants!