Dynamite Entertainment in cooperation with Classic Media has announced the first crossover comic for two quintessentially American heroes of the Old West, Zorro and The Lone Ranger.  Written by Ande Parks, the first installment of this 5-issue “Masked Men” crossover comic book, The Death of Zorro, will be released in March of 2011.  The debut issue will sport covers by Alex Ross, Francesco Francavilla, Tom Yeates, and wrestler-turned-artist Jerry “The King” Lawler.

 

When the young Lone Ranger discovers that a band of renegade Civil War bushwackers has killed Zorro, it’s up to him to avenge the death of his masked counterpart, and to help the Native American tribe that Zorro was defending when he was ambushed.

 

Details about the interior art and the distribution of the various covers for the first issue in this first ever “Zorro/The Lone Ranger” crossover will be released in the coming weeks. 

 

Zorro, who was created by Johnston McCulley in 1919, has had a long and productive history in various pop culture media, especially in films— (The Legend of Zorro-2005) being the most recent of many screen incarnations.  The Lone Ranger was created for radio in the 1930s by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker.  Like Zorro, The Lone Ranger is a pop culture icon, and the property has spawned a rich tradition of radio and TV shows, movies, comics and merchandise.  A new theatrical movie featuring The Lone Ranger (with Johnny Depp as Tonto, and Pirates of the Caribbean helmer Gore Verbinski directing) is in the works with a 2012 release planned (see “Gore Verbinski to Direct ‘The Lone Ranger’”).