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"Lone Ranger Is A Character I Always Wanted To Tackle" – Justin Gray Talks The Lone Ranger: Vindicated

Justin Gray spent years co-scripting an iconic cowboy with his writing partner Jimmy Palmiotti… now he is going to appropriately go it alone with Dynamite's new series The Lone Ranger: Vindicated. Byron Brewer caught up with the writer to talk about the classic masked man and where the series is going to go.

STK655941BYRON BREWER: Heigh Ho Silver! The Lone Ranger is back in a new mini-series. How did you come to be writing Lone Ranger: Vindicated, Justin?

JUSTIN GRAY: I've known Nick for over a decade and he called me and asked if I would be interested in doing a Lone Ranger story. I was actually very interested and excited to be working with the character and Dynamite. Years ago Jimmy and I collaborated on a Red Sonja story drawn by Liam Sharp, but I hadn't done anything with Dynamite for a while and Lone Ranger is a character I've always wanted to tackle.

BB: There have been many iterations of the Ranger. To what source material are you looking for your take on the hero?

JG: I thought Matthews and Cariello did a spectacular job and that run should have been the blueprint for the film. Parks and Polls came in with another great interpretation that helped me form the direction I wanted to take. I knew as much as I admired the previous work I needed to do something different. Having worked with the grim reality that is Jonah Hex for nearly a decade I truly wanted to embrace the Lone Ranger's morality and attitudes toward violence. I wanted to show a side of Lone Ranger that I wasn't seeing in the previous series.

STK655456BB: Of course, the portrayal of Tonto has definitely changed as times have changed. Tell us about your perception of this Native American.

JG: I see Tonto as aloof, extremely introverted and incredibly loyal, but not the kind of loyalty that reduces him to a sidekick or pet. He's extremely complicated and speaking openly I view this as an opportunity to write Lone Ranger so the story is largely centered on him.

BB: So what is this four-issue limited series about?

JG: It is based on classic western tropes, bank robberies, farmers losing their land, corruption and it is also about the Lone Ranger not wanting to be so "lone" at times and how he has very little experience with male and female relationships.

BB: You often hear of the fighting prowess of the Lone Ranger, but often in his adventures he has like Batman proven to be a fine detective. Does that aspect of his character play any role in this mini?

JG: It does and then it doesn't because some of the story is built around Lone Ranger being exposed to things he isn't familiar with and how young he truly is. He's great at being Lone Ranger so I wanted to see how good he was at being John as well. Thee is a mystery at work but there is also a lot of character being revealed. To me Lone Ranger is about his conduct as much as his actions. His morality seems antiquated in a culture willing to live with the fact that the Expendables is a trilogy and violence for the sake of violence is considered entertainment. Not to get all moral, but the character rides a white horse and doesn't kill so that's an alien concept in 2014.

STK655942BB: Will we be seeing some good ol' stereotypical ridin', rootin'-tootin' action, killer hombres, train wrecks and of course Silver and Scout?

JG: Absolutely! In fact I've had the most fun trying to come up with non-lethal conflicts that are visually interesting and plausible given the era that the story takes place. Having a scene where the gunfighter shoots all the bad guys dead is pretty easy, but doing it with a hero that refuses to kill is an exciting challenge. I wanted to move away from the shooting people in their hands or guns out of their hands staple and try some other things as well.

BB: Why is this a good book for the talents of artist Rey Villegas?

JG: I think Rey is going to hate me. Seriously I always think about that when I work with someone I haven't worked with before, but I also think he's got exactly what is needed for a story like this. There's a sturdiness to his style, it is no nonsense approach where he's not taking shortcuts and calling for style points. There's an emotion to his characters that I think pairs very well with the portrayal of Lone Ranger, Tonto and the other people in the story.

BB: Would you be interested in the return of a Lone Ranger ongoing?

JG: Absolutely. There needs to be stronger representation for comics that feature different genres, we can't lose the western in comics but what we need to do is find ways to make it more interesting and accessible. The same goes for crime, science fiction, biographical, sports, fantasy, all of it. Every time a genre comic book that doesn't involve superheroes goes away I feel like it lessens our culture as comic fans and closes the door to future generations. The ideology of Lone Ranger is one that shouldn't die, it is the code of the west that was once an inspiration to countless kids and adults. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to contribute to it.

For more on The Lone Ranger, click here.


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Dan WicklineAbout Dan Wickline

Has quietly been working at Bleeding Cool for over three years. He has written comics for Image, Top Cow, Shadowline, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite, Moonstone, Humanoids and Zenescope. He is the author of the Lucius Fogg series of novels and a published photographer.
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