The Lone Ranger & Me
For years the Lone Ranger has been viewed, by those few who even knew who he was, as old and corny. The Lone Ranger was a goody-two-shoes cowboy on a silly old black & white TV show. Well, that guy was once a hero to millions, and he’s always been one of mine.
The Lone Ranger is one of the earliest TV shows I can remember watching. I can remember being 3 or 4 watching at my house with my mom and dad. If we were at Grandma’s house, we would watch it with Grandma and Grandpa. Everyone enjoyed the Lone Ranger.
One of my earliest Christmas memories is circling the Lone Ranger and Tonto action figures in a Sears catalog. When Christmas came, I got the Lone Ranger and Silver, and my brother got Tonto and Scout. We set them up and made Mom take pictures so we wouldn’t forget.
Sometime after the movie ‘Legend of the Lone Ranger’ I drifted away from the character, but would still get excited when I would see or hear something new with him. Now, grown up with kids of my own, I got excited when I found some old Lone Ranger episodes on one of those $1 DVDs at Wal-Mart. Now, I can sit and watch my old hero with my kids just like I used to with my dad and my grandpa. (OK, my 14 year-old isn’t really into it, but my 5 year-old loves it.)
The Lone Ranger is a hero for all ages, and it is due to the character’s core values that have always remained intact. The silver bullets he uses to remind him of the value of life, which is why he never shoots to kill. His belief that all men are equal, displayed in his partnership with an indian at a time in our history when they were treated very unfairly. The Lone Ranger Creed states all that the character stands for:
“I believe…
That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world.
That God put the firewood there but that every man must gather and light it himself.
In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right.
That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That ‘This government, of the people, by the people and for the people’ shall live always.
That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.
That sooner or later … somewhere … somehow … we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.
That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man.”
Currently Dynamite Entertainment has a Lone Ranger comic series that is awesome. This one series is what brought me back to comics in 2006, after more than 12 years out of the hobby. It seems a lot of older fans think the series is a betrayal of the character. They see none of their hero in this current interpretation. I disagree. While the series is too violent to share with my 5 year-old, such actions are carried out by the villains, not our hero. To date (issue #11) the Lone Ranger himself has stayed remarkably true to these values his creators placed such strong emphasis on 75 years ago. The world around him may have changed, but the man himself is essentially the same as he has been since his earliest radio beginnings. What more could you ask from a hero?