American Mythology Helps Zorro Begins A New Century Of Adventure

ZORRO: SACRILEGE #1 of 4  (American Mythology, May 29 release date)  Writer: Mike Wolfer.  Art: Maurico Melo.  Color: Bruna Costa & Emmanuel Ordaz Torres.  Letters: Natalie Jane.

 

Could 2019 be the year when Zorro finally gets his due? 

 

     He’s no stranger to me.  I was first introduced to Zorro via black-and-white television during my elementary years via the Sunday evening Wonderful World Of Disney, about the same time I discovered the Lone Ranger on Saturday morning childrens’ programming. I also read some Dell Comics featuring both of these characters along with Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck comics, long before I was introduced to super-heroes (my first superhero title was a DC Showcase featuring Hawkman, followed by Worlds’ Finest with Superman and Batman.) 

 

     To my way of thinking, Zorro is an under-appreciated character deserving of more recognition from this generation of the pop culture audience. As a wealthy nobleman who devotes some of his money as well as his skills to championing the oppressed, he’s a character that’s had a large influence on superheroes in comics, especially Batman.  (Zorro had a secret armory beneath his castle to go along with his secret/dual identity as influential Don Diego de la Vega.) 

 

     Now, the 1919 creation of pulp writer Johnston McCulley is about to mark a milestone. Zorro, the Spanish-American masked man in the all-black costume, cape and sombrero celebrates his 100th birthday in 2019 and will enjoy a bigger spotlight thanks to the efforts of comics publisher American Mythology.

 

   Earlier this week a successful fundraising Kickstarter campaign wrapped up, which will result in a colorful hardcover history of the character, The Mark Of Zorro: 100 Years Of The Masked Avenger, written by American Mythology contributor James Kuhoric and scheduled to be published later this year. 

 

  Zorro was first introduced to comics readers in Dell Comic’s Four Color in 1949 and frequently featured in that title until the final issue in 1959. Gold Key Comics kept things going with a Zorro title that ran from the early 1960’s through 1968. The decade of the 1970’s was noticeably missing the presence of Zorro (as well as many Western-themed heroes), a trend that continued into the 1980’s until Eclipse Comics launched a new Zorro book in 1986, followed by reprints from Eclipse, Hermes, and Image.  Even Marvel gave Zorro a try-out with a 12-issue series in 1990-1991. Topps, in their short-lived venture into the comics business, published a Zorro series in 1993. Then came another absence of Zorro from comics.

 

    Beginning in 1998, new adventures of Zorro have been infrequently released from several publishers, including Moonstone, AC Comics, Image and Dynamite. 

 

   Since 2018, American Mythology has been carrying the Zorro banner beginning with Zorro Legendary Adventures Volume 1 in 2018 and Volume 2 in 2019, a four issue Zorro: Swords of Hell series in 2018, the Mark Of Zorro reprint of a 1949 Dell Comic (Four Color #228), and now this brand new mini-series. 

 

  Only one issue in, Zorro:Sacrilege is step forward in the Zorro mythos and a nice improvement over the predecessor Zorro:Swords of Hell limited series.  While Swords of Hell was a fast-paced story with captivating art it focused more on the battle  with an army of zombie-like warriors on horses and less on the elements that make Zorro who he is. At least, that was my impression. I only read Issue #1 and decided I wasn’t going to continue. It didn’t feel like a Zorro story to me. To be fair, I did not read the full mini-series.  However, Sacrilege starts out right, succeeds in bringing out my nostalgic remembrances of Zorro, and has me engaged in the story and waiting for more. 

 

     In a fast-paced two-page prologue, the masked avenger Zorro foils a stagecoach robbery on a coastal California highway. The image of Zorro jumping down from a tree with his cape billowing behind him reminds me of a famed Batman panel, and lets readers old and new know exactly what kind of hero he is. Just like Batman — a bit mysterious and someone who causes criminals to feel threatened and tremble with fear. 

 

  From that point forward, writer Mike Wolfer slows it down a bit and takes his time setting the scenery and providing enough background detail for readers to become familiar with the main character. I appreciate that he doesn’t assume everyone reading this will be entirely familiar with Zorro, and I think the brief introduction should create the same nostalgic feelings in those who already know of Zorro that it did for me. 

 

   During the course of Don Diego’s reflection, he gives a perfect concise explanation of who he really he is and what he stands for: goodness, civility, morality, fairness. He speaks as if he is really Zorro at heart, and Don Diego was the creation to draw suspicion away from any connections to Zorro, with Diego being “a weak, ineffectual intellectual.” 

 

     The art by Maurico Melo enhances the atmosphere created by the story, and reminds me of the best illustrations from those old Dell comics. Melo puts extra effort into accuracy and his detailed depictions of the mission house, the chapel, and the tin mine are rendered with flair. 

 

  In Issue #1, Don Diego has been dispatched by his father in Los Angeles to check on the status of one of the many missions established in Spanish-occupied California by the Francisan order.  Their primary objective is to enlighten and educate the local natives, and thereby bring them to Christianity. 

 

   However, what Don Diego finds is that while the monks have indeed lured the natives in with promises of food and protection in exchange for their service to the monks, that service can be cruel and mean-spirited. The presence of a gallows in the mission square creates an uneasy feeling. When the monks treat a mining accident with indifference and a lack of empathy for the killed and injured, he realizes that all is not right at this mission.

 

   That in itself presents a compelling story, a mystery for Don Diego that will most likely lead to situations that Zorro must step in to correct.  I was completely engaged by this point in the story, and since I had not read any of the promotional blurbs about this issue, the ending took me by surprise when it took a supernatural twist.   There’s a very creepy scene inside the chapel that ends the first issue that I don’t want to spoil any further. It’s very effective and leads me to wonder if the monks are fully complicit in these situations or unaware of the danger.  Stay tuned. 

 

   I later read on the American Mythology web page that the introduction of supernatural and horror themes into the Zorro mythos was an attempt to draw new readers in. If Wolfer manages to maintain the balance between the nostalgic Zorro of old and a new creepy beginning this series should please both sets of readers, old and new.