The Lone Ranger was created for radio by George W. Trendle and developed by writer Fran Striker in 1933. The Lone Ranger is a masked Texas Ranger in the American Old West who gallops about righting injustices with the aid of his clever, laconic Indian sidekick, Tonto. Departing on his white horse Silver, the Ranger would famously say “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” as the horse galloped toward the setting sun. King Features Syndicate distributed a newspaper strip of the Lone Ranger from September 1938 to December 1971. The original artist was Ed Kressy, but he was replaced in 1939 by Charles Flanders who drew the strip until its conclusion. Kressy was assisted by his studio colleagues Dick Sprang (pencils) and Norman Fallon (inks). Kressy had also done advertising and comic book work, notably drawing the lay-outs for Dick Sprang’s run on ‘Batman and Robin in Detective Comics (1943). Charles Flanders worked on several comics by other artists, varying from ‘Tim Tyler’s Luck’ to ‘Bringing Up Father’. In 1935, he made the only strip he ever created by himself: ‘Robin Hood’, which appeared as a Sunday feature. It ran for only three months. He took over ‘Secret Agent X-9’ from Alex Raymond, which he continued until 1938. In addition, he continued the ‘King of the Royal Mounted’ Sunday page from 1936. He became the sole artist on this strip in 1938. A year later, he was assigned to Fran Striker’s ‘The Lone Ranger’, which he drew until 1971. After his retirement, Charles Flanders settled in Spain, where he died in 1973.
MAIN PAGE