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Rating: - "Kemowhuzzah?"
I guess I'll start with a silly:

- Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage?
- To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump...

Sometimes you gotta sample the new stuff. Sometimes you gotta get off Marvel and DC's jocks long enough to give the independents a chance. And Dynamite Entertainment, the little engine that could, is doing big things in the comic book medium. Dynamite Entertainment's main thing seems to be the taking of established characters and then continuing or reinterpreting their adventures. Under its bailiwick, we see new life breathed into iconic figures like Sherlock Holmes, Zorro, Buck Rogers, Red Sonja, Sergio Leone's the Man with No Name, and even to Robert E. Howard's great villain Thulsa Doom. On the superhero front, we get PROJECT SUPERPOWERS and the controversial THE BOYS. All this, as a way of long-windedly getting on topic, which is the Lone Ranger.

"Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear..." Yeah, you'd have to be really oblivious to 75+ years' worth of pop culture to not have heard of the Lone Ranger. There's a certain wholesome image cultivated by this most famous of masked lawmen. The Lone Ranger never shoots to kill, has those silver bullets, fights the good fight with his faithful friend Tonto, and rides his magnificent steed Silver. The impression given is that the Lone Ranger subsists on milk and cookies, is in bed by nine, and is probably saving himself for marriage. Then Dynamite Entertainment comes along and dirties up the image. And, I think, in a good way. He becomes more relatable, less vanilla.

That's not to say that the approach isn't reverent. This interpretation smacks of deep respect and love of the legend, but there's a gritty updating, as well. The action is more brutal, more intense. This man, before he became a legend, is bitterly driven and a bit lost and lacking in that calm resolve. We see how it all went down, and it's both familiar and new. The ambush of the six Texas Rangers, and young John Reid, the newest Ranger and one year removed from a posh education back east, emerging as the sole survivor, and that only because he was saved by an enigmatic savage. We follow John Reid as he gropes his way towards what he'd become. And the way the story unfolds, it feels more visceral and gritty and more believable. It turns out, even the Lone Ranger has a dark side, and, understandably, that's where the uproar from diehard fans is coming from. Me, I dig that the Lone Ranger steps down a bit from his pedestal. I like seeing the smudges and the sweat stains, the flaws, on the man.

Brett Matthews writes, Sergio Cariello illustrates, Dean White provides the colors, John Cassaday oversees the whole thing and churns out the issues' covers. Dynamite Entertainment's THE LONE RANGER Vol. 1 collects the inaugural six issues and it's well worth collecting. Matthews' spare prose allows Cariello to tell much of the story and to evoke mood and atmosphere. The Old West serves as a supporting character, with Cariello's artwork doing justice to the desolate, untamed vistas of the frontier, and in this vivid setting the Lone Ranger cuts a memorable, iconic figure. Worth mentioning is that Cariello's pencils and inks are perfectly complemented by Dean White's color palette. The visuals cannot be better.

The first arc is the origin story, and it pulsates with power and that driving sense of fate and circumstance coming together. The creative team lays the groundwork and hits on all the classic beats, giving us moments which instantly resonate. The mask, the silver bullets, the cry of "Hiyo, Silver!" - they're all here, and we learn how they came about. My favorite moment, though, may have been John Reid's reaction to hearing "Kemosabe" for the first time. And, too, there's a bit more depth to John Reid now, more grist to shore up the tall tales. These first six issues also remake Tonto into an intriguing character, someone with a shady past and someone who definitely is more of a contributing comrade-in-arms than a mere sidekick. And, lest people think this iteration goes too far in tarnishing the Lone Ranger mythos, I point out this one defining moment: John Reid is siting there, head down, wallowing in self-doubt, when Tonto tosses him a silver bullet and approaches with that black eye mask in hand. He tells John Reid, "There is much darkness, Kemosabe. Light it up." That's a pretty good moment.

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