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Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Released on: May 7th, 2014.
Writer: Ande Parks
Artist: Esteve Polls
Cover artist: Francesco Francavilla
Purchase at Amazon
A train carrying a large shipment of guns is put in danger by a gang of robbers, led by a big man with a painted red face. They've got the train under their control, headed for a Chiricahua war party to supply them with the weapons which will aid them in their war against the white man. They understandably want their lands back and will kill for it. Tonto doesn't agree with the leader of the group, but what can Tonto do about it? Well for starters he and the Lone Ranger can jump onto the speeding train and mingle with the guests and the bad guys, and see where that leads.
The Masked Man works the back of the train, busting the heads of some rather dimwitted adversaries, while Tonto works the more dangerous part (of course), which is up in the train's engine. Most of the issue is a battle on the train between fists and a bit of gunfire, with very little by way of set up, so this is most probably the end of an arc, or thereabout. Even so, it's not tough to get what's going on here. It's western action with characters most people, in the U.S. anyway, should be familiar with to some extent.
The creative team behind the book shows they can put out a nice looking comic that reads well and entertains. The time period in which the comic is set is a fascinating one, right between the Civil War and the turn of the 20th Century, and is really what makes the tale as interesting as it is. If you dig cowboy shoot-em-ups, this comic fills the order for certain. It's fast paced but pretty mindless, at least this particular issue is. Nothing earth-shattering or even all too impressive comes out of this installment, story wise or visually, and not even the cover, illustrated by the amazing Francesco Francavilla, can boost the book to a higher level of satisfaction. Despite what was just said, it's solid comic book reading, just not something to raise the roof about.
