In the coming days, many an article will be written about the disappointing performance of Disney's "The Lone Ranger."
The $225 million western bowed to less than $50 million over the Fourth of July weekend, a rare misstep for star Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
While writers will wear out their keyboards chastising the pair, the only one who might never recover could be the Ranger himself.
If audiences don't make this current flick profitable -- a Herculean task given its budget -- Lone Ranger will join the list of old-time radio and pulp heroes who had their shot at movie stardom and stumbled badly.
The list already includes The Green Hornet, Brenda Starr, The Shadow, The Phantom and The Spirit.
You could also throw in Flash Gordon, whose 1980 adventure performed poorly at the box office, although it has developed a cult following and boasts a rocking Queen soundtrack.
In the Ranger's case, he's 0-for-2, following 1981's "Legend of the Lone Ranger," a film sunk by pre-release controversy and a star whose lines were overdubbed by another actor.
Lone Ranger and his brethren come from an era few Americans remember. These were heroes created pre-World War II, who were starring in their own radio programs and daily comic strips before Hollywood came calling.
When it did, many of those characters -- Lone Ranger among them -- found their way into the movie serials of the day, and they stayed popular for years, even as Superman, Batman and Spider-Man came to dominate the comics landscape.
While many of these old-time characters are still appearing in comic books today, attempts to bring them to the big screen have famously fizzled, with "Ranger" being the latest casualty.
