Sam Glanzman (1924–2017)

Joe Lansdale spins a bizarre Western tale that is a tribute to the Lone Ranger, with masked hero the Red Mask, an African American man with a tragic past, wandering the South protecting Black people from the KKK and other racists. It starts out as a precursor to Quentin Tarantino's Django with many uses of the N-word and bucketloads of gory violence. Half of the book is basically a running gun battle and then comes a gonzo twist as the good guys and bad guys fall into a Skartaris/Land of the show more Lost type world filled with dinosaurs and a dangerous tribe made up of previous castaways who are racist BIPOC. It's a throwback mishmash with a sloppy, ham-fisted, over-the-top script that leaves a lot of stuff unfinished.

Originally released in 1999, I read the new 2017 edition that adds an introduction and afterword that try to rationalize a White creative team putting forth a Blaxploitation story that many might find inappropriate or offensive for a variety of reasons. Apparently, Lansdale's son Keith started a sequel series last year, but I don't imagine I'll ever seek that out. show less

I give the story itself 4 stars! Good western revenge tale with a decent amount of social commentary (lots of Trump supporters at the beginning of story...)! Caleb (a.k.a Red Range) is my kind of frontier hero! And Batiste (a.k.a. Trump Supporter) is an evil bad guy that makes it easy to root against. Again, good story, good artwork, good to read. Left me wondering if we'll ever see "The Pirates of Fireworld" hinted at on the last page. I sure hope so!