THE LONE RANGER/GREEN HORNET: CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE - Michael Uslan & Giovanni Timpano

Though never a huge fan of "The Lone Ranger" on TV, growing up, I was ga-ga over "The Green Hornet" series with Van Williams and Bruce Lee - and the idea of a mash-up of these two such different and diverse "champions of justice" in a graphic novel was intriguing.  Combining the first several issues of the comic book series, we learn here that the Lone Ranger is actually the great uncle of the Green Hornet!  Known as "Uncle Joe" to Britt Reid, the storyline here - set mostly in late-1930's America on the eve of WWII, but with so many flashbacks and flash-forwards things become a bit jumbled (even annoying) - really kicks off when Elliot Ness (yes, that Elliot Ness) comes to Chicago to ask for the help of the Ranger, Reid and the Daily Sentinel to dismantle Hitler sympathizers and their plot to build the atom bomb already in place in the U.S., even as Uncle Joe pushes Britt to pick up the mantle of justice by becoming a modern-day Lone Ranger.  The book is packed with historical events of the various time periods covered, some of it fairly fascinating (I had no idea about the Jesse Owens/Olympics/Hitler story) and perfectly furthering the plot, though I admit the book also feels almost overstuffed with a bevy of cameo appearances by what feels like more historical figures (on both sides of the law) than your average middle school social studies class covers in a year.  I also found Giovanni Timpano's artwork, while extremely good overall, sometimes distracting - when some faces in a crowded scene, for example, were indiscernible from each other.  The negatives of this book are actually minor, however, when compared to its forward-moving storyline that - though a bit slow-going early on - more than makes up for things with a rousing finale.  And in these days, when the U.S. has put an orange devil into power who seems to think of himself more as fuhrer than world leader, this Lone Ranger/Green Hornet crossover is at heart a rousing example of how hate, bigotry, and evil against humanity itself can be squashed in the name of truth, justice and the truly American way.  3.5/5 stars

Note: I received a free ARC of this title via NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.