The Lone Ranger Magazine - The Masked Rider's Justice - May 1937

The Lone Ranger Magazine & Romantic Western #3

by Fran Striker, H.J. Ward (Cover Design)

The Masked Rider's Justice Justice meant more to the Lone Ranger and his companions than merely saving an innocent boy from a blood-lusting lynch mob-It meant following the job through until the youth's name was cleared and the real murderer brought to trial. Dust Devils by Claude Rister The 3-in-1 Lawman by Lawrence A. Keating The Marshal of Frozen Cat by Frank Kavanaugh

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Fran Striker (born Francis Hamilton Striker) (August 19, 1903 – September 4, 1962) was an American writer for radio and comics, best known for creating The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon

Series:
* The Lone Ranger Magazine & Romantic Western
* The Lone Ranger
* Tom Quest

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reprint of the May, 1937 issue of The Lone Ranger Magazine. The magazine lasted for eight monthly issues, all of which appeared in 1937, and was aimed at the young audience of the famous radio program. The lead story features the Lone Ranger, and is listed as "A Complete Novel" but is actually rather short and only fills about the magazine. In it, The Lone Ranger saves an innocent young man from a lynch party, goes undercover to find the real criminals and bring them to justice, and reunites the young man with his estranged family. I was surprised that in the story Tonto's horse is named White Fellah rather than Scout. It's not a bad story, what I think of as a fairly typical western, but Tonto's dialog is fairly cringe-worthy. ("Me think-um bad man go...") I also thought it was strange that there is no author listed on the cover or table of contents or the story's title page. It's pretty well accepted that Fran Striker wrote all of the adventures, but there is no name on the issue. The issue also contains a special features section with non-fiction articles on John Wesley Hardin and famous frontier fights as well as a comic strip called Doodlebug Jones, and a number of departments with a life-on-the-ranch column, a letter column called "Chuck Wagon Chats," a contest page promoting a fan club to join, and, most curiously, a column about stamp collecting. The philatelic column didn't have anything much to do with the Lone Ranger, but I'm sure it was fun and educational for the kids. Finally, there were also "3 Rip-Roarin' Short Stories" that were typical pulp fillers; I liked an O'Henry-esque one by Frank Kavanaugh the best, The Marshal of Frozen Cat. Some of the dialog was a bit hard to follow at times in the others because of an over-aggressive attempt to capture the accent and dialog of The Old West for the young readers. Another fun thing is the advertisements for cool stuff like an air pistol for $7.50, an arc welder for $3.75, or a "Bob Burns Bazooka: A New Thrilling Musical Instrument Anyone Can Play!" for only a dollar. I wonder if Adventure House chose this issue to reprint as a random example, or for some particular reason. In any event, it's a fun and interesting pulp magazine, and I'm sure the kids of 1937 all felt like they got their ten cents' worth!

[Eric Troup · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this magazine. The best part was the Lone Ranger story. It’s fascinating to read a Lone Ranger story that was written even before the radio shows were recorded. There are some slight contradictions to things later revealed in the Lone Ranger mythology, but they’re very slight, and easily overlooked—especially because it’s just a matter of much of the Lone Ranger myths not having been created yet. This magazine only ran for 7 or 8 issues. I wish the Lone Ranger novels had continued. They’re fun to read, and can have slightly edgier content than the squeaky-clean radio and TV shows could. Nothing earth-shattering; mainly I’m thinking of the occasional “hell” thrown in as a swear word. Still, were someone to resurrect the Lone Ranger novel, it would be interesting to showcase the character within the darker elements of the west that are more commonplace in current western fiction. But I digress. These are vintage, and while we only got 7 or 8 issues, they certainly make for interesting reading. Hi-yo, Silver! Away!!!