CSBG Archive
Scott’s Classic Comics Corner: The Lone Ranger Was Not Alone
I’m a big fan of Dell’s Lone Ranger series. Apparently so were a lot of people during the late 40s and into the 50s. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery – the Lone Ranger was flattered greatly. The rash of Lone Ranger imitators forces one to rephrase the question as “Who were those masked men”?.
In 1951, Ajax-Farrell introduced the Lone Rider. I’m not sure if there is a technical difference between a Ranger and a Rider, but at least his overall look was quite different. He wore head to toe blueish-black, or is that blackish-blue and a full face mask reminiscent of the Golden Age hero, the Clock. He had a decent run, lasting 17 issues until 1954. Swift Arrow, who ran as a back-up here.
The Masked Ranger was Premier Magazines’ addition to the Lone Ranger rip-off parade. He looks astonishingly similar to the earlier pre-TV red-shirt version of the Lone Ranger. As if one carbon copy wasn’t enough, this series also featured a character named the Crimson Avenger. It ran for a mere 9 issues, as Premier was a 3rd tier publisher. It did feature some nice covers, though.
If you take the Lone Rider and add the Masked Ranger and remove any originality, you get the Masked Raider. Actually, that’s not totally fair as the Masked Raider was accompanied by a giant eagle named Talon. Other than that, it is a pure Lone Ranger rip-off, right down to using the mask as background for the title logo. This series was fairly successful (in its three iterations), and it lasted 40+ issues well into the 60s. Some of the stories were reprinted in the Charlton series Gunfighters in the early 80s. I have to wonder if this was initially either a Fawcett or Ziff-Davis creation, as the first issue featured a nice painted cover – not something normally associated with Charlton.
One of the very earliest Lone Ranger clone was also one of the shortest-lived. As superheroes waned in the late 40s, Standard-Nedor introduced a variety of jungle and western themed characters, including Rick Howard, the Mystery Rider in Exciting Comics. Yes, that is perhaps the lamest cowboy name ever. He also wears a red shirt like the Lone Ranger but at least his hat and scarf are different colors. He is really nothing more than the Black Terror on a horse.
Like many Atlas-Marvel western characters, the Black Rider churned through several costumes and series. He started out with the scarf look (a la Vigilante), but he went with the full face mask (much like Lone Rider). Just before the Atlas Implosion, a new Black Rider series was launched with him wearing a small domino mask, much more like the Lone Ranger. This series lasted a single issue, so we’ll never know if he planned on keeping this look for a long time.
There were other masked cowboys over the years, including the hilariously retconned Two-Gun Kid, but that’s story for another day.
If you want to waste more time on comic book chatter, check out my blog: Seduction of the Indifferent
18 Comments
Scott Harris
November 17, 2009 at 9:10 am
John Severin is a genius.
Jeremy A. Patterson
November 17, 2009 at 9:48 am
AC Comics reprinted The Masked Ranger & The Masked Raider in their reprint books!
J.A.P.
Dan Bailey
November 17, 2009 at 11:08 am
Scott Harris is correct.
azjohnson5
November 17, 2009 at 11:51 am
Scott are you going to be involved at all with “The Top 75 Most Iconic Covers in DC History” ?
jazzbo
November 17, 2009 at 12:04 pm
The Lone Rider actually looks pretty cool. I like that look better than the Lone Ranger.
Kirbydotter
November 17, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Both Scott Harris and Dan Bailey are correct!
Heh!
About the BLACK RIDER RIDES AGAIN!, is this the cover of the single issue 1957 relaunch?
When Jack Kirby came back at Marvel in the late 50′s, he drew most of the interior (3 stories) of that single issue.
They were reprinted in the 70′s reprint series WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS # 10, 11, 12, with #10 being the (new?) origin of the Black Rider.
Too bad there wasn’t more of Kirby’s Black Rider because it was at least as good as his Two-Gun Kid (but his Rawhide Kid is still the best!)
(Speaking of which, Scott, I’m the lucky winner of your Ebay auction for RAWHIDE KID # 42. Can’t wait to read this baby!)
Scott
November 17, 2009 at 12:58 pm
John Severin is indeed very awesome.
asjohnson5 – I have only been casually following that top 75 covers series. I should really try to get involved and vote.
jazz – it is a pretty cool look. The Black Rider had a similar mask for some time.
k-dot – That is indeed the single issue relaunch. I agree that it was a good series. I had a few originals a while back, but it was mostly pre-Kirby stuff. Not to talk too much business on here – but I shipped your book yesterday. Hope you like it!
Mary Warner
November 17, 2009 at 2:44 pm
So what’s the story of the hilariously-retconned Two-Gun Kid?
Monica Dickey
November 17, 2009 at 3:59 pm
That second cover is gold. Looks like someone has a case of gigantism haha.
Sijo
November 17, 2009 at 6:52 pm
The Lone Ranger was *never* alone. Tonto was his almost-equal partner. (Intercultural trivia: in Spanish, Tonto was renamed “Toro” (Bull) because Tonto means “fool” in that language. I did quite a double take when I found out what his name was in English.
)
Gavin
November 17, 2009 at 9:18 pm
And the Black Rider isn’t black. =D
Dalarsco
November 17, 2009 at 11:38 pm
So, since there is so much Severin praise, I presume that the answer to the question I was going to ask (Who drew that amazing cover to The Masked Ranger) is Severin? That cover is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
DIOS die autentisen
November 18, 2009 at 4:49 am
And the Clone Ranger?
Roquefort Raider
November 18, 2009 at 6:22 am
All dressed in blue and wearing a mask? I really like that Masked Raider fellow!!!
Matthew Johnson
November 18, 2009 at 7:33 am
Lightnin’ Hero Horse!
Dan Bailey
November 18, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Dalarsco –
Severin (who happens to be my favorite artist, period; his fortes are war & westerns) drew the Black Rider cover. According to the Grand Comics Database, the Masked Raider cover artist is Harry Harrison — I presume the same Harry Harrison who later became a very well-known sf author, since I know he was indeed drawing comics during the EC era. (Wish I’d thought to ask him about his comics days when I was able to interview him about 20 1/2 years ago when he was Guest of Honor at an sf convention in the New Orleans-area town I was living in back then …)
onion3000
November 19, 2009 at 11:43 am
Harry Harrison apparently drew the ‘Masked Ranger’ cover – though it’s all very confusing. “Lone” this, “Masked” that…
Mike Newton
May 30, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Hi Scott: Just stumbled upon your website on masked cowboy heroes (the Lone Ranger was not alone) and thought you might be interested in learning about a another LR imitator called “The Masked Rider” who appeared in a pulp magazine of the Forties and early Fifties. His name was Wade Morgan and he wore a domino eye mask like the Ranger and if memory serves, he also had an Indian companion. I ran across som e of the magazines years ago in my grandmother’s house. She had bought it from some guy who obviously liked western stories. Wish I had kept them as they are collectible. But I found one whole magazines printed in its entireity on TennesseeBobsotr.com. This guy has a large collection of old radio shows and historic recordings, but for some reason, included this Masked Rider western from 1950. You even get to see the ads that promised you a new career in radio electronics or improve your muscular physic. I’m sure you also know that Bob Livingston, the cowboy actor who played the Lone Ranger in the second serial also did some stints as a masked rider in his Three Mesquiteer films at Republic and replaced George Houston as the Lone Rider in PRC westerns by adding a black eye mask and a white horse. Hope all of this trivia adds someting of value to your website. Best wishes, Mike.