American Mythology Productions 2019
Written by Mike Wolfer
Illustrated by Mauricio Melo
Coloured by Emmanuel Ordaz Torres
Lettered by Natalie Jane
On a business trip for his father, Don Diego de la Vega visits San Leticia Asistencia, a new mission far from the beaten track of El Camino Real in Alta California. Here, he hopes to spend a few leisurely days touring the grounds of the mission, whose construction was funded by his father, and perhaps he can also soothe his shattered heart, broking after the unfortunate parting with his fiancé, Lolita. But this vacation is far from relaxing. An accident in the lucrative tin mine on the Asistencia grounds kills several Native American workers, then, an Asistenia servant girl named Muat reveals that she is forced to the bidding of the monks, for fear that her brother will be tortured, or worse. It would seem that all in the Asistencia, save the white-skinned Spaniards, fear for their lives. And in the darkened interior of the Asistencia’s chapel, a terrifying and sacrilegious manifestation attacks a monk, while Muat’s brother Lanu is whipped mercilessly outside the Asistencia walls….
While I am digging the fact that these folks have been taking Zorro and placing him in situations that are far from what we normally saw him in. I love it too because this era in time was rife with superstitions and local gods not to mention all that the Spanish brought with them, enslavement and such. So yeah this direction that we see the stories taking for me is utterly magnificent! Here Mike manages to weave the local lore, Spanish lore and the traditional way we see Zorro together beautifully and naturally. I love the way that this is structured as we see story & plot development create this great ebb & flow.
There are multiple story arcs here that are layered throughout and they will converge in some way, shape or form as with the exception of the recently arrived Don Diego everyone else seems have their own personal secret agenda’s. If there is one thing I know it is that people are devious, self-centred pieces of coyote doo doo so everything we see here has this ring of truth that surrounds it in ways that are completely believable. Mike has always been impressive and I miss his artwork but I'll be damned if his skills haven’t grown exponentially.
The interior artwork here is bloody marvellous! I love seeing how the varying weights of the linework are utilised to create this attention to detail that appears on the page. When Zorro appears from the dark and he blends into that that’s a stunning moment. The way we see those possessed and the one go bye bye yeah that was freakin impressive as well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really solid, strong eye for storytelling. Though I have say, Mauricio you need to utilise more backgrounds here! You are missing an opportunity to really shine and make this series one of the best on stands. I do like the colour work here as well. The way that we see shading and colour blocking not to mention some highlights are very well utilised here.
The strength of the story & plot development we see alongside this amazing pacing keep things moving forward extremely well. The character development or characterisation, keeps us on our toes as we are never quite sure who’s to blame for what, though they are all guilty. Add into all this the interiors and you’ve got one of the hottest series, franchises, in comics today. I mean this is his 100th anniversary and the legend only continues to grow. American Mythology does him more than simple justice as they continue to carry on his legacy.