Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Lone Ranger & Tonto #2
Dynamite Comics
Matthews, Turnitz, Mavlian & Fajardo Jr.

Whether you want to call this is an annual or a one shot it manages to capture the spirit of what this series has been about. There is some detective work to be done when a crime is discovered. The Ranger and Tonto have their own small strides in growth, both in their own character development as well as their interaction with one another. The artwork is departure from the style we normally find in this series, but it suits this story very well.

The story opens with a man visiting a town called Reston where he seems to find a deserted place that eventually just swallows him up. The Ranger and Tonto wander into a different town and pick up some troubling information regarding Reston. They investigate, obviously.

First, they question the man in the biggest house. This is a little strange because the assumption is made that the town is crooked and that the richest dude is the guy behind. This is a bit of a stretch but I like a good interrogation so I was okay buying into this. When they don’t get any satisfactory information they head into Reston.

Once in Reston they begin to see things in a new light. Stuff happens to them and around them. Basically they start tripping out. With some detective skills and a little bit of pressing they get to the bottom of the mystery and drive things home to a satisfactory conclusion.

The comic provides all the staples of a Lone Ranger comic, but the artwork is the deviation worth discussing deeper. The style here is much less detailed and has more elongated feature in the anatomy. It almost appears that the characters are ghosts or are out of a dream sequence. In a lot of cases this would be a bad move because the Lone Ranger art to this point has been ultra detailed with heavily painted background, not just clouded up images. However, in this comic the art works because the story relies heavily on illusion. Without giving away too much of the plot, this comic deals very much in myth and lore and the gray areas are enhanced with the art style. I thought it was a good choice.

The plot had some quirks in it. For example, the Ranger and Tonto only investigate Reston because they hear a little girl singing a song about Reston. It felt to be forced to get them to go to Reston. In some ways I would have rather the girl just walk up to them and beg them to go to the town to kill the monsters.

I liked the story and the art. I’m not sure what comes next for the Lone Ranger as there was no mention of a future issue, but this one was still a good one to check out despite it costing five bucks with 32 pages of story. If you have an interest in the genre you might like this one.

4 out of 5 geek goggles