The Lone Ranger and Tonto

(Topps, 1994-1995)
™ and ©1994 Palladium Limited Partnership

The Lone Ranger and Tonto, possibly the most famous Western heroes in American culture, thanks to their numerous appearances on film, radio, television, books, and comics, are given a new life and a new attitude in Topps’ four-issue mini-series from 1994.

Any contemporary revival of the Lone Ranger has to deal with the problem of Tonto, originally an offensive, racist stereotype of an American Indian. Topps’ creative team—Joe Lansdale, Timothy Truman, and Rick Magyar—actually makes Tonto the central character, expressing thoughts and attitudes that the reader can relate to, while the Lone Ranger appears to be something of an eccentric. The tension between the two, never expressed in the original depictions of the characters, takes center stage in the new series, giving it drama and interest beyond the usual good-guy/bad-guy clichés of the Western genre.

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