EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 27 © 2019 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

92 Masked Man’) from 1938 to 1940, consisting of the King Features strips by Charles Flanders, and in the journal Jumbo from 1939 to 1941 as ‘Roi de la Prairie’ (‘King of the Prairie’), again reprising the Flanders material. After the war, ‘King of the Prairie’ would appear in Paris-Jeunes from 1946—and later when the same journal becomes Aventures —until 1949. The Flanders’ drawn strips would appear one last time in 1970 in the ephemeral journal Johnny (dedicated to French pop star Johnny Halliday) for its five-issue run. The Dell material by TomGill appeared in a comic-book format for 20 issues as ‘Le Roi de la Prairie’, published by Sagédition between 1966-1971. Other than that, the Lone Ranger remains an obscure comic book character among French comic book fans who know Zorro quite well but nothing about the masked rider and his Indian companion. Perhaps, to this day, the Lone Ranger is better known in South America than in own country of origin, although with the relative success of the Dynamite books, he might be gaining the popularity he once held. The most recent movie version, however, failed miserably, sending the character back to oblivion. ● ● Special thanks to Heritage Auctions for many of the images featuring the original artwork. Most images, unless indicated, were all used in the Dell and Gold Key comics published by Western Publishing and Lithographing Company, and are used for informational purposes only. The Lone Ranger even made it to Old Blighty from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. These hardback books featured material from the Dell comics inside, with new covers (in this case by Walt Howarth) and some interior drawings by British artists.