Spanish culture’s No. 1 superhero returns in TALES OF ZORRO, the first anthology of short fiction ever published of Johnston McCulley’s creation. Published by Moonstone — primarily a purveyor of comics — the collection pays tribute to the character’s roots with the 17 stories remaining true to its pulpy roots and adhering to continuity, under the watchful eye of editor Richard Dean Starr.
Jeff Mariotte gets things moving in the right spirit with “Mission Gold,” in which Zorro is accused of stealing the church’s precious metals, yet innocents are tortured to determine his whereabouts. And where injustice is committed, you can bet Zorro will turn up to right wrongs. He does.
Zorro does more derring-do in Robert Greenberger’s “Flood of Tears,” saving villagers from torrential rains, and then, rescues a 14-year-old girl with whom he has forged a friendship in Peter David’s nice “Colors Seen by Candlelight,” complete with a poignant twist ending. For a change of pace, Zorro confronts the supposed supernatural in “The Weeping Woman” by Greg Cox.
Max Allan Collins delivers a straight, episodic adventure piece in “Zorro and the Fate Worse Than Death,” in which he fights against a swindle against taxpayers. We can all relate to that. And Collins’ last line — a wicked double entendre — is sure to garner a sly laugh.
But, unlike Zorro in his exploits, you can’t win them all. So many of the other stories unfortunately feel the same, like a recap of an earlier serial chapter. None are bad, per se, but a good number fall under the category of uninspiring. I wanted more of them to “sing” from the page, rather than settle for being a loose carbon copy.
This isn’t likely to get new readers aboard the Zorro train, as it seems geared toward those already faithful to the character, with narratives that purposely do not introduce its regular characters, assuming familarity. If you harbor fond memories of the Disney TV series starring Guy Williams — whose son provides the intro — or have fresh on your mind the recent literary origin novel by Isabel Allende — who pens the afterword — it’s fair to say you’ll be ahead of the curve.
Other authors include Elizabeth Massie, Ed Gorman, Loren D. Estleman. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ZORRO:
• THE MARK OF ZORRO by Johnston McCulley
• ZORRO by Isabel Allende
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm, I hope no one adheres too closely to the Allende book though. Personally, there was a lot I didn’t like about it, and some of the changes that screamed “I’M MAKING THIS CHANGE SO THAT IT’S MORE MODERN AND POLITICALLY CORRECT” are things that I would prefer don’t stick around as part of the mythos.
Zorro being half Indian and closer with Bernardo is perfectly fine, but things about the ending…
The Allende novel (which I loved) was there for background if we needed it, but most of the stories just have Zorro being Zorro, so there was no needed to get deeply into his backstory. The Zorro in my story could be Allende’s Zorro, Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Guy Williams, Duncan Regehr, or Anthony Hopkins, depending on your tastes.
I’m reading the stories now, and so far I’m enjoying them. There was one a little lame so far, but I don’t remember the title. I just couldn’t get into it, so skipped to the next story. I’ve long been a fan of Zorro, and Johnston McCulley’s writing, but I don’t mind seeing new writers involved – as long as they keep to the original character. I’ve never read the Allende book, nor do I intend to.
Don’t discount the Allende book; it’s quite good. I enjoyed McCulley’s original, I enjoyed Allende’s origin.
I liked the Allende book (although there were long stretches that were a tad too…languid, but that’s what skimming is for) but thought the McCulley original was just downright tedious and endless. It always seemed to be just about on the verge of getting started and then sputtering out before it finally caught hold of a story. Guess I was ruined by a childhood of Guy Williams and Alex Toth’s comic book interpretation.