Hangin' Tough. Tonto -Everyone's First Suspect.

These days, there's a lot of talk about the dubious practice of "Racial Profiling", the idea that an individual is a more likely suspect based on their ethnicity.


Well, this idea is certainly nothing new, as The Lone Ranger's pal, Tonto can attest:



Yep, it seems that just about everywhere he goes, somebody wants to see Tonto hanged:


In fact, I've lost track of how many episodes of the old TV show feature an angry mob trying to give Tonto a new necktie, just for coming to town. And Tonto goes to town a lot. In fact, The Ranger usually stays at their campsite and sends Tonto to get information. (I'm sure many of you have heard the old Bill Cosby bit about this).

What's funny to me, is why The Lone Ranger can't just go to town himself? It's not like anyone out there knows who John Reid is or what he looks like. There's nothing to stop the Ranger from taking off his mask and moseyin' into town to get some supplies or information.

You'd think after the first time some bunch of angry rednecks tried to hang his best friend, The Ranger would reconsider the division of labor on his team.

Sadly, no matter how many people Tonto saves, The Ranger always gets the credit. And what does Tonto get? A rope.

Tonto- Upstaged by a Horse!

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of The Lone Ranger and of Tonto. I enjoy the TV series, the Radio shows, and especially the Dell/Gold Key/Whitman comics. I even liked Joe Lansdale's L.R. miniseries over at Topps. And, honestly, one of the best things about the Lone Ranger IS Tonto. Tonto is by far the more dynamic of the two characters. While the Ranger looks cool and solves mystery after mystery, Tonto lays the beat down on bad guy after bad guy.

Not that the Ranger is a wuss or anything, but Tonto is a serious Man Of Action.

Which brings me to today's topic. In 1951 the good folks at Dell Comics decided to give the Lone Ranger's Faithful Indian Companion his own comic book. And man, does it rock. Out of all the Lone Ranger comics I've scraped up over the years, my copy of The Lone Ranger's Companion Tonto #19 is my prized possession.


No, that's not The Shadow!
In his own comic, Tonto has lots of adventures as a young man, living with his own tribe (where they all-including Tonto- speak normal, flawless English; clearly because they are all speaking their native tongue) and as an Army scout (where he speaks the broken English associated with Tonto). The Tonto comics or at least issue #19 are very exciting and good, sturdy Western comics with rather nice art and beautiful painted covers.

But here's the crazy thing. Tonto wasn't the only Lone Ranger character to get his own series. Dell also published "The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver".

First of all, I would like to state that the horse's name is Silver, not Hi-Yo Silver. I have yet to read an issue of Silver's comic, as I have never been able to AFFORD one. Silver has a much higher resale value than Tonto. Apparently, Silver spends a LOT of time fighting other animals



and actually has arch-nemeses of sorts in the recurring characters of an angry puma


and an Indian named Keenay who wants to capture Silver.

The saddest thing, in my opinion, is not that Silver got his own comic, nor is it that Silver's comic is more valuable. No, the saddest part of all is that Silver's comic lasted for 34 issues. Tonto's only lasted for 33.