The Lone Ranger #14
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 3, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Lone Ranger #14 is the very definition of the word “payoff.” Not only is it a great issue, it’s one that rewards long time readers for sticking with the series. Not that we needed a reward. An awesome comic every month is pretty much reward itself.

THIS has got to be writer Ande Parks‘ finest issue yet, and I mean that sincerely. Sure, I say that all the time, but after reading this issue, I don’t know how he’s going to top himself after this. Now, you won’t get any spoilers, but this issue deals with something that happened years ago (in the book, not in real time) and it’s not even something that we knew was coming. Now THAT’S storytelling! Did I mention that this is a “one & done” issue? Yes, it’s ALL those things! Great dialogue and a great story, this issue from Parks. He could write this book forever and I’d be happy.

The Lone Ranger #13
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 27, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Lone Ranger #13 starts out REALLY different. For about two panels, I thought that I was reading the wrong review copy. Then, everything started to fall into place and it fell into place VERY well.

Ande Parks uses a great storytelling method to tell this issue’s very heroic tale of The Lone Ranger. I don’t want to give it away, but it’s unique and, to my knowledge, it’s never been done in this book before. Very groundbreaking in the western genre. As for the meat of the story, it’s a fantastic tale of The Lone Ranger and Tonto being their normal heroic selves, and rescuing a group of Asian girls who are being sold by a VERY crooked criminal. What I loved about this issue, and all Park’s issues, is that it’s not ever a “normal” Cowboys & Indians tale. There’s always a twist, or a moral, or both. And THAT’S what makes this book fantastic month after month.

The Lone Ranger #12
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 23, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Lone Ranger #12 is nothing short of excellence. We’ve had a full year of great stories by the same creative team. That is VERY rare in today’s comic industry.

In this issue, writer Ande Parks brings a great story line to an end. I’ve really enjoyed this arc, because of Parks ability to tell different kinds of stories within an ongoing title. In this story, we’ve had some vastly different pieces. Issues ranging from solo Lone Ranger tales, Tonto’s origin, the origin of the Indian tribe that Tonto is from, and finally, a good , old fashioned Lone Ranger climax. What I was most impressed by in this issue was Parks ability to show just HOW different the characters are, yet how these characters get along so well, despite their differences. Very powerful issue.

The Long Ranger #10
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 3, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

For the most part, The Lone Ranger #10 ends the absolutely brilliant Tonto origin story. This has been a really solid story, and what it DOESN’T do is make ticked off that the main character hasn’t really been in the spotlight of the book at all. It’s like a Tonto mini-series withing the pages of the title, but the story is so good, you don’t mind at all.

What praise can I heap on writer Ande Parks that I already haven’t? The story in this issue is great. He gives recaps of the last few issues in totally natural dialogue. This issue we get to see Tonto at odds with his own people and how he became the lone warrior that he was when he first met John Reid. It’s not a feelgood story, but at the end, you’ll be totally satisfied having read this great comic, and the ending promises some big time action in the near future. It’s nice to see that, while separately, Tonto and The Lone Ranger work together like a well-oiled machine, when they’re away from each other and on their own, they are somewhat different people, which just goes to prove that they NEED each other as partners to function as the premiere heroes of the old west. some great characterization from Parks in this issue.

The Lone Ranger #9
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 5, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

The Lone Ranger #9 continues the dual tale of the present day Lone Ranger trying to get Tonto back to his tribe while three years earlier, we continue to learn the origin of Tonto and how he came to be the warrior that his is today.

Writer Ande Parks does it again! JUST when you think he’s not going to be able to top the last issue, he easily does. This issue is probably one of my favorites. About 98 percent of it continues the Tonto origin story, and man, is it a story. While I don’t want to go into spoiler territory, the whole issue is framed by a heartbreaking Native American folk tale that is almost perfectly paralleled by the events going on in Tonto’s own story here. There’s a pretty generous amount of violence and bloodshed, but it’s very tastefully done (more on that later) and if you’re on the squeamish side, I wouldn’t worry at all. What we have here is another solid, entertaining comic of the western genre. Parks knows how to turn out a very entertaining story without talking down to his audience and without falling into the standard “Cowboys & Indians” trap that most authors of today’s western comics do.