Zorro #1

Posted by Max on February 26, 2008

(Dynamite Entertainment)

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks! As you may have noticed, we here at Rack Raids have recently taken to openly whoring ourselves out to advertisers, in order to maintain the decadent life-style to which your average comic book review crew is accustomed. Unfortunately, I may have let our new-found success go to my head, as after a multi-week bender of drugs, alcohol and Limited-Edition, Foil-Variant Spawn comics, I was left in such an enfeebled state that I could barely lambaste the daily funnies, much less provide the quality reviews expected by our fan(s). Fortunately for you, the loyal readers, inspiration struck in the form of one Mr. Graig Kent, writer extraordinaire and general literary stud, who politely informed me that if my lazy ass didn’t start posting again, I’d soon be reviewing vacuum cleaners on YouTube. Since both me and my muse respond well to direct threats, here’s the first in what I hope to be a continuous string of reviews, Zorro #1.

First created in 1919 by writer Johnston McCulley, Zorro is one of the world’s best known heroes, having appeared in numerous TV shows, books, video games and movies over the years. Famous for his Johnny Cash color scheme and fancy hat, Zorro is a man of the people, fighting corrupt government officials and wooing senoritas with a panache that puts most American heroes to shame. How can you not like a guy with both a sword and a bull-whip? Essentially Batman for grown-ups, Zorro has a fan following that transcends traditional comic book nerddom, giving him a wide-spread appeal many masked heroes lack. Though there’s undoubtedly pressure on any creative team saddled with such a well-known figure, it seems hard to imagine how someone could screw-up such an inherently entertaining character. To be fair, I can’t actually say that the newest Zorro writer Matt Wagner (of Grendel fame) has made such an error. Rather, Wagner’s taken the rather unique step of side-stepping the issue entirely and simply removing Zorro from the comic altogether. Instead, we get a whole lot of Zorro as a child, which ranks up their with Clark Kent Does His Taxes in terms of super-hero stuff we don’t care about. Look, everyone has at least a rudimentary idea of Zorro’s back story; is it too much too ask for a little excitement in our premier issue?

Apparently yes, as Wagner has wisely opted to replace any and all potential action with words. Lots and lots of words. I recently gave props to Wagner for the stripped-down charm of Grendel: Behold the Devil, a charm completely lacking from Zorro’s clunky narration. The writing ranges from boring to laughably bad (my favorite being a soldier’s reply of “What the hell–!?” after getting a rifle to the face in the issue’s sole fight). None of the character’s stand out in any way, and the whole thing comes across as incredibly dull. I don’t expect every character to be a wise-cracking anti-hero with nothing to lose, but it would be nice if someone, anyone in this book were entertaining. Instead were left with a series of cardboard caricatures, spouting dialogue so wooden it makes the recent Star Wars prequels seem positively Shakespearean. I’d have more respect for Wagner if he’d tried something fresh with the character and failed, rather than playing it safe and depriving such an iconic character of any sort of personality. It’s hard to tell whether Wagner simply has too much respect for the character and is afraid to experiment, or if he’s just phoning it in for a pay-check, but either way the result is incredibly disappointing.

As for the artwork, while it may be a bit muddied in places, Francesco Francavilla’s work is overall quite impressive. Though there is the occasional misshapen feature or lazy eye, the majority of the book is vibrant and powerful, with a rough-hewn style and color scheme that really shines in the issue’s nature scenes. Francesco at least seems to have the chops to bring Zorro to life, as the few brief glimpses of the character are quite compelling (or in the case of his shadowed face, downright spooky). Hopefully Wagner can resist blabbing for a few pages in the future and late Francesco do his thing. Right now however, I’m giving this one a pass. Only die-hard fans need apply.

2 out of 5 Vikings.