The Lone Ranger: Snake of Iron #4

The end of the Snake of Iron mini-series makes me wonder why Chuck Dixon was given such a small story to tell.  This four issue series revolves around a tale of Tonto trapped aboard a train surrounded by hostile Kiowa indians while the Ranger tries to find a way to help him.  It is a simple story, but told very well.  Everything from the dialogue to the overall pacing elevate this to a higher level.  Yet, the story itself is so meager.  I don't know if Dixon pitched this himself, but given his past I doubt he would come up with something like this unless he was limited by outside forces.  The art by Esteve Polls continues to be good.  Polls does interiors on the main Lone Ranger series as well, but here he seems to stretch out just a bit more.  Especially in the first few pages, where there are some big panels depicting the snow-covered Texas landscape which make you wish he would do those more often.  All throughout the book though, his work maintains a high quality, to the point where it is even easy to distinguish between the different indian tribes that come into play later in the tale.

Overall, this short mini-series is completely separate from the main Lone Ranger continuity and the story it tells is not particularly compelling.  However, the talents of Dixon and Polls make it more than it could have been.  Give this a miss unless you are a big Lone Ranger fan.