American Mythology Productions 2020
Written by Mike Wolfer
Illustrated by Alessandro Miracolo
Coloured by Periya Pillai
Lettered by Natalie Jane
The most shocking, mind-bending Zorro tale yet in American Mythology's line of all-new supernatural adventures of the world-renowned, swashbuckling hero! Cueva del Mar is haunted by a curse that prowls the fog-shrouded coast of the seaside fishing village; whose residents have no choice but to offer human sacrifices to the unknown evil that appears on nights of the full moon aboard the Galleon of the Dead! But one man is determined to end the reign of terror, even if it costs him his own soul, and Zorro will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, even facing his most incredible foe yet- El Hijo del Muerte! Old-fashioned, haunted house terror meets lucha libre action and sword-swinging thrills in a Zorro tale you will never forget!
I have been a fan of Zorro for a large portion of my life thanks to my folks. So I have followed his adventures through many incarnations throughout the publishing houses and I can say with 100% complete honesty that this is the best run I have had the pleasure to read. While he was something of a highwayman and defender of the poor and the weak it only makes sense that we see him fighting supernatural elements here. The natives of this land and the Spanish themselves have a long history of gods, creatures of myth and legend and witchcraft so to incorporate that into his adventures not only creates new avenues to explore but damn if it isn't fun too!
I love the way that this is being told! The opening is sensational as it brings us the legend that surrounds the story. This blends the hand me down story with events that may or may not have happened to create what we see happening here. There is power in words and for those who believe, writers know this and so do readers though it’s not often acknowledged, and here we see the power that the legend has and it’s very, very frightening. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid perfectly. The character development is marvellous and to see two familiar faces and one whom I can only suspect alongside this rather large variety of new characters all of whom are being fleshed out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story it is easy to see how everything here works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
The interiors here are bloody spectacular! The linework is impeccable and how we see the varying weight being utilised to showcase the attention to detail that we see throughout is just plain mindbogglingly good. Yes it has a traditional comic book vibe and feel to what we see but then to see the work in Don Diego’s clothing, which I now want to own, or how the buildings are shown, it just elevates everything we see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling. There is a creativity and imagination plus research into what the era was like that I appreciate so much, I mean that hillside with the homes built upwards sigh I wish I could live there. The colour work is utterly fabulous! There are different techniques utilised side by side so the gradation, the splatter or weathering look and the colour blocking make this look gorgeous. The way we see the hues and tones within the colours utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a magnificent understanding of how colour works.
Folks let me stress to you how good this is! The writing with it’s layering of subplots and the strength of the story alone make for some damn good reading. This is what you need in your life right now, it’s a good solid escape from reality and this craziness we see in the world.