Unbreakable Iron Ranger is a Weird West Urban Fantasy Webcomic created by Zac T. Garmon (also known as DeputyRust
). It first rode out onto Webtoon on January 24th, 2018.
Unbreakable Iron Ranger follows the story of Ben Young, a young man of 24 who seeks to protect the underworld of monsters and cryptids at the behest of his late grandfather, Dr. Fleetwood. An intended product of destruction for his undying body, Ben heads off into the world to make sure that no one follows in the path of Dr. Styx who tried to use crypts like him for world domination.
However, as he begins his journey he discovers what dangers await in the world, and that the mad doctor that Fleetwood took care of may not be dead after all...
You can read the webcomic here. If the Canvas format isn't to your liking, you can buy a volume of the first 5 issues on Gumroad in a more traditional layout, with touched-up art, concept art, and author commentary.
In 2023, a sequel series named Crypts and Cowboys was launched. Taking place a year after UIR, it follows Ben and his companions as they go deeper into the WeirdNew Old West. You can read it here on Medibang.
Unbreakable Iron Ranger provides examples of:
- All-Loving Hero: Ben Young. He's willing to help/save anyone he meets. Regular civilians, mutated killers, even an older model of Ironworks.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Nightmare Fuel, a black, viscous substance that can blend DNA from different species together, power robots like Ironworks, and many other purposes. It can be directly injected, but that can be a little hazardous to health and sanity.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Cherry Bomb. Good heavens, Cherry Bomb. The girl gets a wee bit excited when she gets hit in combat. It may have something to do with the fact that her explosion powers are fueled by pain.
- Cyborg: Our hero, Ben Young. Oh, and Frankie. While Ben's cybernetics are mostly on his arms and legs, Frankie is implied to be far, far more augmented.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: It's heavily implied that Ben's birth parents have died, and he was raised by his grandpa Dr. Fleetwood. At least, the people Ben thought were his parents.
- Defeat Means Friendship: How Ben makes more than a couple allies.
- Defense Mechanism Superpower: Ben can't control when his aura activates, it only happens whenever he gets injured. He takes advantage of this during his first fight with Highway Jack, by shooting himself in the cheek.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Let's see, we got *deep breath* cyborgs, mutants, yokai, sentient robots, vampires, undead, cryptids, aliens, mad scientists, werewolves, various classic movie monsters, and at least one Angel.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Frankie, at least visually, bears a great resemblance to the Bride of Frankenstein, with a stripe of white hair, stitch marks, the works. In Episode 14: Atom Heart Mother, Ben is revealed to be much closer to Frankenstein's Monster in origin.
- The Interlude after this episode goes into further detail: Like the classic tale, Ben is cobbled together from various other body parts to make a new lifeform. Unfortunately, the Suprisingly Realistic Outcome is that his body is barely holding together, and it takes the insertion of a holy object (A revolver chamber labelled Phenomenon) to keep him from dying.
- Gentle Giant: Frankie Winters is a 6'9" cyborg Wrench Wench, is able to rip off a car hood like its a piece of paper... and is the kindest character in the cast.
- Holy Hand Grenade: Ben has a holy aura that heals practically any wound he receives, can banish the undead, as well as giving him a power boost in general. Unfortunately, it isn't able to repair his cybernetics. Its origin may have something to do with his guardian angel being stuck to him.
- Idiot Hero: Played With regarding Ben Young. On on hand, he's shown to be very skilled at blacksmithing and engineering on several occasions. On the other hand, he's particularly naive about the supernatural world, and the fact that some of its occupants aren't very friendly.
- Killer Robot: Ironworks, a machine powered by a substance literally called Nightmare Fuel, designed to track down, capture or kill any wayward crypts. Ben Young included.
- Knight of Cerebus: "Thin" Rondo Hoss. A mountain of a man(?) who not only gruesomely kills a minor villain that appeared earlier, but if he's ever involved in an episode, you can expect the tone to darken real quick.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Styx, local Dr. Wily Expy that turned a guy with a Healing Factor into a cyborg, made a robot that runs on Toxic Phlebotinum, regularly creates mutants using said phlebotinum; need we say more? There was a time where he wasn't like this. He used to be a well meaning doctor named Edward Drizzel. Then he started experimenting on himself with Nightmare Fuel and, well, you see how he is now. Don't worry, he regains his senses after some time off the stuff.
- Magical Native American: Uriah Daughtry, current avatar of Thunderbird. Unusually for this trope, he's a Dumb Muscle Boisterous Bruiser.
- Musical Theme Naming: Practically everywhere.
- Every episode is named a song, from The Chain, Highway To Hell, etc.
- Most character names are similarly a reference to a song or music artist. Have fun guessing them all!
- Our Angels Are Different: Phenomenon, Ben's Guardian Angel, refers to himself as "Principality of Restoration". He looks like a white, black and blue robot cowboy. Its currently unknown if all angels have a mechanical appearance or if it's exclusive to Phenomenon. Eitherway, he's the source of Ben's Healing Factor and can give him a Super Mode.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: In the world of UIR, Crypt (short for cryptid) is a blanket term for just about any supernatural being. It's pretty wide too, encompassing not just the usual Fearsome Critters of American Folklore or Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Vampires, mutants, robots, humans with powers, even cyborgs are considered Crypts.
- Punny Name: Paradox Schrodinger (real name: Eliza Ferdinand). She's a catgirl named after Schrodinger's Cat. Do the math.
- Sensual Slav: Cherry Bomb. Low cut, buxom, impressive legs, and has the hots for Ben Young. Being in a relationship with Frankie already he isn't really amused, and neither is Frankie.
- Shout-Out:
- As stated above, there are many references to songs of all kinds. In particular...
- Ben wears a shirt labeled dc Talk, and later a belt with the same label.
- Especially in early episodes, a Written Sound Effect will often have Katakana appear with it, similar to manga like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
- Super Modes are referred to as Installs.
- As stated above, there are many references to songs of all kinds. In particular...
- Stingy Jack: Episode 9, Highway To Hell, pits Ben against Highway Jack, an undead highwayman with a nasty hook on a chain and a soul-filled pumpkin for a head. And he's looking to add Ben's to his collection.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Ben Young and his love Frankie Winters. It's not that Ben's short, he's 5'11". It's just that Frankie is 6'09".
- World of Badass: If you have a name in UIR, there is something about you that is unquestionably cool. Cybernetics, bio-enhancement, magical powers, being just plain strong, etc.
