If It Ain't the Injun, It's The Horse!

Cover painting by Hank Hartman

Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe it's just the The Ranger never sets foot in town until he's ready to round up the bad guy, or less'n he's disguised as an old prospector, but whatever the reason, it seems like none of the Masked Man's faithful companions can get anywhere near a town without one of 'em is gettin' lynched.

This time, it's the horse. From Lone Ranger #19,











This story originally appeared in Dell's Lone Ranger #111 September, 1957 (where it was 2 pages longer!)


Cover painting by Hank Hartman


Cover painting by Hank Hartman as it originally appeared on Dell's Lone Ranger #110

Seriously? Y'all Know He's a Horse, Right?

When the Lone Ranger's origin story was told on TV, it included a segment wherein the Ranger, whose horse was killed in the Cavendish gang's ambush of his ranger company, obtained his "Fiery horse with the speed of light". The Lone Ranger and Tonto come across a beautiful, white, mustang stallion locked in deadly combat with a buffalo. The horse defeats the buffalo, but is injured. LR and Tonto nurse the horse back to health. The horse is grateful, but still wild. The Ranger catches and mounts the horse, then sets it free, only to have it return.

It's a nifty piece of folklore and shows the union of man and horse as a partnership, not an owner and his property.

For whatever reason, Dell decided that the horse should get his own comic. The series' main focus is on Silver's adventures before he met The Lone Ranger and Tonto. There are recurring characters within the series, an Indian named Keenay (Who wants to capture Silver). And a cougar (who wants to eat silver). Silver is constantly depicted doing battle with bears, wolves and cougars on the covers, or rescuing other animals.

And now... Silver in "Strange Companions"

Who Was That Masked Man's Injun Companion?- Tonto #19

Yep, that's right. Tonto had his own series. And really, out of all the partners and sidekicks of western heroes, who is more deserving? Red Ryder's kid sidekick Little Beaver? Well, okay, Dell gave him a comic, too. Of course Beav's comic only lasted 6 issues. Tonto's lasted 33. Which is pretty good for a spin-off. Sadly, Dell's comic about "The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse, Hi-Yo Silver!" lasted 34 issues. Sorry Tonto.

Here we have the cover story (although the cover art has nothing to do with it) from The Lone Ranger's Companion TONTO #19 from May-July 1955. Oh! and when you get to page 16, no need to adjust your sets, that page IS black and white. Dell made use of the inside and outside back cover to finish the story.

Silver Age Gold: Hangin' Tough. Tonto -Everyone's First Suspect.

Publish Post

Since it's more or less Lone Ranger week here at OUATITW-IC, I thought I'd fill in my Tuesday gap with a link to a previous post I did at one of my other comics blogs:

Silver Age Gold: Hangin' Tough. Tonto -Everyone's First Suspect.

THE Masked Rider of the Plains- Accept No Substitutes!

The Lone Ranger debuted on the radio in January of 1933. He would gain a syndicated comic strip in 1938 and make his first appearance in a comic book in 1939. Most of his early comic book adventures were simply color reprints of the daily comic strip. In 1948, Dell comic began publishing a regular Lone Ranger comics series (again, mostly reprints at first) which would come and go as the company became first Gold Key and then Whitman.

Today's offering is Gold Key's Lone Ranger #23 from 1975. Notice that by this time the appearance of the Lone Ranger and Tonto are very deliberately modeled on Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels from the Lone Ranger TV show, still in syndicated re-runs at the time.














Update! I just found out that Pappy, over ta Pappy's Golden-Age Comics Blog, just posted a far cooler Dell Lone Ranger by Tom Gill. Be sure to check it out :



http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2010/06/number-754-tom-gills-lone-ranger.html