The Lone Ranger #12

The Lone Ranger #12 is a fitting, if uneventful, conclusion to the "Native Ground" arc from Ande Parks and Esteve Polls. The Lone Ranger returns to the Ute tribe with their healer, a Mormon woman who spent many years with the tribe as a slave and eventually a medicine woman, after being betrayed the the Native American warriors.

By the end of the issue the Masked Man will have his faithful companion back at his side and a far better understanding of the loss which still haunts him. Although the arc doesn't give us any more of Tonto's backstory, such as continuing his tale to the fateful day at Bryant's Gap where he came upon a single surviving Ranger in the midst of a slaughter, the arc does conclude with the Ranger growing to know the person who has become his truest friend a little better.

The arc lasted a little too long for my tastes, so I'm glad to hear the comic is following "Native Ground" with a series of one-shot issues featuring the adventures of Lone Ranger and Tonto. For fans.

[Dynamite, $3.99]