The Lone Ranger Rides Again!
Russ Heath was one of the great artists who ever graced the comic book page. His war stories offered up a gritty realism unmatched by anyone save perhaps John Severin. But as much as I loved Heath's work, and as much as I'd always seem to snap it up when I chanced upon it in some crossover book or whatnot, there was sometimes a lack energy which did seem to overcome his images toward the end. That is not evident in the Lone Ranger and Tonto image above by any means. I was lucky to meet Heath several years ago and he seemed just what I imagine he was, a weary comics veteran.
The Lone Ranger is one of the key heroic additions to American lore from the 20the Century and the now outdated notion of a noble white man assisted by a noble savage Indian was still and all something to admire. These were two men who always tried to do the right thing, and who stood by one another regardless of circumstances and regardless of prejudice.
The comic strip was ignited by The Legend of the Lone Ranger movie from the 80's which left many folks, myself included, more than a tad disappointed. I waited a long time for another go, but the more recent rendition with Johnny Depp as Tonto was only partially successful. I don't know if I'll see another big screen version ever again, but I hope so and I hope they drop the snark and hearken back to the values, as old fashioned as they might seem, and give us a Ranger for our time.
Dynamite has made some effort to put these comics back into circulation with a few collections some time ago.
The comic strip has been collected a few times. The 1993 Pure Imagination tome is a handsome book indeed featuring a painted cover by publisher Greg Theakston. This is of course a version of the Heath figures from the top image. Good stuff!
On a separate but not really note, I've always kept an image of Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels on my desk at school. It points at me (on the reverse is an image of Orwell's Big Brother) and it's there to remind to be better than I am, to not be quite so selfish with my time and energy. It doesn't always work, but it does sometimes. That's what heroes do, they can make us better if only a little.
Rip Off
The guy was in comics from at least the fifties, so he may indeed have seemed tired (and he did live and draw into his 90's, so there's that), but he was allegedly a party animal who enjoyed life in his younger years; there are stories about him hanging out at the Playboy mansion in the 60's. Hr also maintained an incredibly sharp level of quality that only seemed to increase over the years. I thought the work he did for Atlas/Seaboard and Warren was just amazing. Plus "Cowgirls at War", a true monument to high art.
ReplyDeleteSome of the stuff he did for Warren in the late 70's still curdles my blood. I was reminded of a story called "Yellow Heat" just the other day while reading a bio of James Warren. It's the stark realism that makes that story especially gritty.
Delete