Broken Frontier

Dark forces from within and without swirl around the last Ranger with many lives on the line. Can Tonto lead Reid to the right path?

Seeing the cover, most people know what is coming but fans of the Lone Ranger know that silver plays a role in the legend in more ways than one. Writer Brett Matthews works a few more aspects of the familiar legend into this issue and gives them a new weight of meaning.

John Reid has bought his wild white horse but he is smart enough to realize that he has not yet earned this noble steed’s respect enough to ride him. This fact alone raises Tonto’s respect for the youth another notch. Returning to his family’s home, John takes only a few items – one of which is a deed to land... land that proves to contain a silver mine. With enough to live on, enough to even make himself rich enough to buy a new life, John Reid must now begin to face his demons and decide on a path he will take. Tonto, however, sees a growing threat; can this bitter warrior point Reid onto the path of light?

Matthews attempts to give a more logical basis for some of the aspects of the Lone Ranger legend this issue but the results feel a bit forced. Additionally, some of the attempts at deeper, philosophical ponderings and metaphorical weight and meaning in the story come across as pretentious. While the series has been good overall this issue seems the weakest so far. There is also a sequence with the mysterious, politically motivated villain that adds very little that readers did not already know.

The art by Sergio Cariello, however, remains as lush and evocative as ever. There is a sense of epic scope and grandeur in the landscape as can truly be found in the Western United States, proving that Cariello has done his homework. He also continues to do amazingly good work with facial expressions and the eyes of his characters.

While this issue is not as strong as some that have gone before, it is merely one spoke in the larger wheel. This is a story of becoming, of the creation of a legend, and as such it is not complete until the legend emerges. A few more links in the chain are forged with this issue as a familiar pattern emerges. You know you’re dying to say it.... Hi-yo, Silver...Away!