The Lone Rider

Real Name: Jim Larrimore

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: rancher

Group Membership:

Affiliations: Lightnin' (his horse), Diego (sidekick), Pepito (Diego's son), Sheriff Hank Fletcher, Ma Hawkins

Enemies: Doctor Chuda, Hutch Kurger, the Panther, Caleb Stone

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Sheriff Hank Fletcher

Base of Operations: American west, c.1880's

First Appearance: Lightnin' and the Lone Rider #1 (Newspaper strip, January 1939)

Powers/Abilities: Gunfighter. Master of disguise

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Blond

Summary: When danger or outlaws threatened his home, rancher Jim Larrimore would put on a black hood and become the Lone Rider. Among his enemies were the 50,000 year old immortal telepath, Doctor Chuda, and the whip-cracking female bandit, the Panther.

History:

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby, under the pen name Lance Kirby.

   There's a lot of similarity between this character and Ajax-Farrell's Lone Rider - same codename, horses both called Lightnin' (complete with the missing g at the end), very similar masks, blond under said mask. And though the Lightnin' horse he rides doesn't look like the one the AF Lone Rider rides, even that seeming discrepancy can be explained away because the AF Lone Rider lost both his original mount and his memory of what it looked like in the second story in Lone Rider#1, and he chooses to call his new mount Lightnin' not because of its distinctive facial marking but because the name sounds familiar to him. So it's not impossible that the AF comics version might have been intended to be an unauthorized continuation of this Kirby character, though of course that's only my speculation.

   Many online sites, mine included in the past, have unwittingly mixed the details of the two together, and even those that list them as separate individuals often get the details of one mixed in with those of the other. Having now read as many of the issues each appear in as possible, I can confirm that the details on this site at least are correct (now).

Appearance checklist (not including reprints): Famous Funnies#61-80 (reprinted newspaper strips from unspecified dates)

CLARIFICATIONS: Lone Rider should not be confused with

First Posted: Circa 14/09/2004
 Last updated: 27/05/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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