Lone Ranger – A Man with a .45 – Brian Manton

1.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride into the small town of San Miguel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fistful_of_Dollars).
The remains of the burnt-down Baxter home still smoulder at the end of the street.

CAP:  San Miguel.

2.
The Ranger stares as he rides past the coffin builder, working on the most recent of a series of coffins lined up outside his shop.

NO TEXT

3.
OTS of the Ranger and Tonto. Silvanito stands outside his inn, hands on hips.

Silvanito:  You're late.

The Lone Ranger - The Gallows Tree - R.A. Wonsowski

Layout:
1111
2345
6666
7777

Panel 1 - Wide two-shot in a grassy patch in the hot, flat savannah.  On the left side of the panel, a gallows tree, somewhat like this:
 .  Silhouetted against the rosy dawn sky, we see that a man stands underneath it's lowest branch, his wrists bound above his head and lashed to the branch with thick rope.  A noose hangs on a nearby limb.  On the right side of the panel, the LONE RANGER stands next to his horse, one hand on his hip, the other hand holds a Bowie knife.

NO COPY

Panels 2 to 5 are staged the same:  foreground is the stubbled and sweaty profile of the HORSE THIEF, background is the LONE RANGER standing close by.

Panel 2 - The LONE RANGER adjusts his hat with the knife as he addresses the THIEF.

LONE RANGER:  You know, out here in the Great Plains of Texas, stealing a horse is a hanging offense.

Panel 3 - The LONE RANGER examines the knife as the THIEF watches nervously.

LONE RANGER:  A man out here, on the frontier, can lose his livelihood, a man could his LIFE, without his horse.  

Panel 4 - The LONE RANGER points the knife at the THIEF's nose.

LONE RANGER:  So I don't reckon you as a thief.  I see you as just another killer.

Panel 5 - The LONE RANGER puts the knife between the THIEF's clenched teeth.

LONE RANGER:  You try and steal MY horse, though...well, things go a bit differently.

Panel 6 - Same two-shot as Panel 1.  The LONE RANGER mounts his horse.  The horse thief still stands bound with the knife between his teeth.

LONE RANGER:  El Paso is a ten-mile hike from here.  If you have the guts to cut yourself down.

Panel 7 - Same as Panel 6, but the sun rises and the LONE RANGER rides into it.

LONE RANGER:  And if you make it, tell them all - 

LONE RANGER:  God gave us firewood, but you still have to gather your own and light it yourself.

The Lone Ranger - Metro City Confidential - Niel Jacoby

This story takes place in 1911, near the end of the Lone Ranger's adventuring days and late in his life.

Panel 1: The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride into Metro City, a large-ish California city not unlike Los Angeles.

Caption: 1911, Metro City

Caption(Lone Ranger): THE WEST MAY HAVE GROWN LESS WILD OVER THE YEARS, BUT IN EVERY TOWN THERE EXIST BANDITS, CROOKS AND SCOUNDRELS...

Panel 2: Lone Ranger and Tonto stop at the offices of the Metro City Planet, with a logo that echoes the logo of Metropolis' Daily Planet.

Caption(Lone Ranger): ...AS WELL AS THE HONEST HEARTS FOR WHOM DEDICATION, LOYALTY, AND RESPECT ARE A STEADFAST CODE.

Panel 3: As the Ranger and Tonto walk into the offices, they're greeted by Jeremiah Olsen, a lanky, young, red-haired reporter.

Olsen: LONE RANGER! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! METRO CITY IS IN INCREDIBLE DANGER!

Panel 4: We see "Lancelot" Luthor, the town's mayor, standing at a podium in the town hall. He's got a sort of huckster sheen to him, like a more sinister Harold Hill.

Caption(Olsen): IT'S THE MAYOR, "LANCELOT" LUTHOR. HE'S BEEN SUCKING THE TOWN DRY BY LETTING THE GRAHAM GANG RANSACK ALL OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES IN EXCHANGE FOR A CUT OF THE PROFITS!

Caption(Olsen): I'VE SENT A TELEGRAM TO THE GOVERNOR, BUT EVEN IF IT DOES GET TO HIM, IT'S THE WORD OF THE MAYOR AGAINST THE WORD OF ONE LITTLE REPORTER.

Panel 5: Back in the Planet offices, with a worried Olsen begging the Ranger for help.

Olsen: I'M BEGGING YOU, RANGER! SAVE OUR CITY!

Ranger: DON'T WORRY, MISTER OLSEN. A RANGER'S DUTY TO THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN THE LOWLIEST CATTLE THIEF AND THE MOST POWERFUL OFFICIAL WHO HAS TAKEN TO ABUSING HIS POWER.

Panel 6: Olsen and the Ranger seal their deal with a handshake.

Ranger: IF YOU HAVE DEDICATED YOUR LIFE TO PROVIDING A VOICE TO THE DOWNTRODDEN AND ABUSED IN SOCIETY, I PROMISE THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE RANGER AT YOUR SIDE, WHETHER IN THE FLESH OR SIMPLY IN SPIRIT.

The Lone Ranger – The Last Star Ranger – Shaun Richens.

PAGE ONE – 4 PANELS.

1.1

The vast burning desert landscape of an uncharted planet, two suns shimmer on the horizon, The LAST STAR RANGER (Our future pulp version of The Lone Ranger) whips across the barren wasteland on his trusty mount SILVER.

Silver is a hover bike. A huge jet engine like machine with a seat attached to it. It has sleek silver-plating, and large tubing connecting canisters to power units. The more pulp the better.

STAR RANGER is dressed in a well-fitted slim and slick white space suit, a long grey trench coat over the top that blows in the strong winds. His outfit is finished off with cowboy boots, the ranger’s signature domino mask and a shining silver rangers badge on his chest.

STAR RANGER:

Hi-yo, silver. Away.

1.2

Star ranger crests a ridge on silver. The ridge looks down into a valley below. A large space vessel sits nestled in the valley. A group of men are loading up large sealed containers into the cargo hold of the vessel.

NO COPY.

1.3

A large, brute of a man with a scared face and greying hair points up the ramp onto the space vessel. This is BUTCH CAVENDISH.

CAVENDISH:

Load up faster you bunch of worthless sand weasels.

1.4

Mid shot of the star ranger, he is lowering a pair of high tech binoculars from his eyes.

STAR RANGER:

Finally found you Butch.

The Lone Ranger – The William Tell – MK Stangeland Jr.

(8 Panels)

Panel 1: A BANDIT lights a batch of three sticks of dynamite tied together.

Panel 2: The BANDIT throws the stick of dynamite.

Panel 3: The LONE RANGER aims at the flying stick of dynamite.

Panel 4: Close up on the barrel of the LONE RANGER’s gun, looking down it at the LONE RANGER takes aim.

Panel 5: The LONE RANGER fires his gun.

SFX: BANG!

Panel 6: The bullet flies through the dynamite’s fuse, effectively disarming it.

Panel 7: The BANDIT looks at the falling dynamite with a wide-eyed look of shock.

Panel 8: TONTO slugs the BANDIT across the face with a hook.

SFX: WAK!

(END PAGE)

The Lone Ranger- The Missing Link -Dan Hill

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

Wide panel; an establishing shot of New York City, circa 1904. The city looks familiar to us, but it’s not quite there yet. Unfinished, half way between civilized and lawlessness.

We’re looking out over the East River. It’s late morning, around 11:00AM. A speck or bright orange flame burns brightly inexplicably out on the water.

CAPTION:            Everything’s changed so much, John.

CAPTION:            This is the frontier now.

Panel 2

Wide; Closer in on the river. We can see the orange speck is a passenger steamer, the PS General Slocum. It’s ablaze, and begun to list, black smoke churning into the clear June sky. Passengers and crew scramble to save themselves.

CAPTION:            I’m 43 years old.

CAPTION:            I can’t do this forever.

Panel 3

Wide; CU on RUSS FREEMAN, a burly, mountain-like piece of work. He’s dressed in the clothes of a dockworker wiping away blood from his mouth with the back of his fist.

He’s somewhere on deck of the Slocum smoke billowing around him.

CAPTION:            I worry about Brit.

FREEMAN:            You’re old hat, Ranger.

FREEMAN/linked:        Ain’t no room for you here no more.

Panel 4

Inset panel on the right of Panel 3; CLOSE UP on a silver star pinned to the lapel of a black duster. It’s scratched, old and covered in smoke.

FREEMAN/off:        This city is gonna chew you up.   

Panel 5

Large panel; we REVEAL Freeman’s antagonist, Dan Reid Jr, AKA THE RANGER, fists at the ready and standing on the tilting deck of the Slocum.  His costume consists of a long black duster, a hat similar to the Lone Ranger’s and a domino mask. The costume looks like a hybrid of the Lone Ranger costume and the Green Hornet’s.

To the right of Reid, his fists also raised, is LOUIS. Louis is black, in his mid twenties and dressed in the garb of a steelworker, a domino mask covering the top half of his face too.

CAPTION:            I worry I’ll be forgotten.

CAPTION:            I’m trying, John.

CAPTION:            I’m trying to make you proud.

The Lone Ranger - Modern Day - Ben Rosenthal

1.   Current day: A SWAT team consisting of 6 agents enter a darkened building.

CAPTION (Ranger)

We got the tip off from an anonymous source.  That should have been the first warning.

2.  The team is ambushed and outnumbered.  They are gunned down. 

CAPTION (Ranger)

Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish is the cities Kingpin. We had a chance to take him down. 

He knew it and struck first.

3.  One of the members wakes up in a house in the slums.  A teenage boy looks down on him, tending to his wounds.

CAPTION (Ranger)

My team – my brothers were gunned down.  I survived only because of a good natured kid.

Turns out I saved him from his crack-head father a few years earlier.

4.  Sometime later the Ranger sits on his bed, cutting up his bullet ridden SWAT shirt into a mask.

CAPTION (Ranger)

He fed me. Patched me up.

I taught him some moves in return.

5.  The Ranger stands in an alley looking up at a tall building on a rainy night.  The child at his side.  He is the modern day Lone Ranger.

CAPTION (Ranger)

Butch Cavendish killed me that night.

The Lone Ranger will return the favour.

LONE RANGER

Hi ho Silver.

The Lone Ranger - A Familiar Tune - J.D. Coughlan

SET-UP: A bunch of bandits have, somehow, captured the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Having heard of the Ranger's skill with a pistol, they give him an usual challenge with just one bullet.

Copying the style from chapter four of V for Vendetta, the horizontal gutters of this page should be filled with notes from sheet music. In this case, the opening of the William Tell Overture.

Panel 1: Wide panel. On the left, the Ranger stands with his gun, the two bandits behind him, aiming their guns at him. On the right, Tonto is tied to a tree with an apple on his head, looking very annoyed.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 2: Close up of Bandit 1's eyes. Despite the situation, there is a hint of nervousness to him. He is also sweating slightly.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 3: Close up of Bandit 2's eyes. He is the same, slightly nervous and sweating.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 4: Close up of the Ranger's masked eyes. He is looking down the barrel of his pistol at Tonto/us. He is perfectly calm.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 5: Close up of Tonto's eyes. Aside from annoyance, he is also calm.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 6: Close up of the Ranger again. This time he is winking.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 7: Close up of Tonto again. He is rolling his eyes.

NO DIALOGUE

END OF PAGE

Why The Lone Ranger?

By John Cassaday

He wears a mask.

He fights crime.

He has a sidekick.

He has an iconic mode of transport.

He has a cave hideout.

He has seemingly unlimited wealth.

He has a strong moral code, including no killing whatsoever.

No, it's not who you're thinking of, it's the Lone Ranger. The legendary western hero created for radio, but who also inspired several TV shows, novels, films and, of course, comic books. A little before capes and cowls, the Ranger stood in the grey area between the law and the lawless, fighting for justice and upholding a belief in a better world during America's dark, formative years.

Well-educated sharpshooter and Texas Ranger John Reid and his posse were ambushed while hunting a criminal gang, and only Reid survived. Nursed back to health by a wandering Native American called Tonto, Reid dons a mask -- symbolising that he stands for all the Rangers killed that day -- and sets out for not vengeance but justice. Along with faithful Tonto, trusty steed Silver, and a silver mine at his disposal, Reid, now the Lone Ranger, sets out to light up the darkness.

Hi-yo, Silver, away!