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Zorro
 

Zorro, Spanish for fox, is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a fictional nobleman and master swordsman living in Spanish-era California. He defends the California people from the corrupt tyranny of the Spanish governor, proving himself to be much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch. He was created by pulp writer Johnston McCulley, and first made his appearance in The Curse of Capistrano, serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in 1919.

The character's visual motif is typically a black costume with a cape, a small flat-brimmed hat (he wears a wide sombrero in the original) and a black cowl mask that covers the top of the head from eye level up (the mask covered his whole face in the original). In addition, his favored weapon is a rapier which he often uses to leave his distinctive emblem, a large 'Z' made from three quick scratches. He also uses a bullwhip, like the later Indiana Jones. In the original story, Zorro also used a pistol. It has been noted that Zorro was actually one of the original inspirations for the creation of The Phantom and Batman, as well as many other heroes.

Fictional Biography

The 2005 novel A Novel, written by Chilean author Isabel Allende, describes the childhood of Diego de la Vega. According to Allende's story, the future Zorro was a mestizo born in the 1790s in Alta California, son of the Asturian Captain Don Alejandro de la Vega and a native woman warrior, Toypurnia. The young Diego is sent to Barcelona by his father to complete his education, shortly before the French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte invades Spain. In the occupied Barcelona of early 1810s, Diego de la Vega discovers his first love and becomes a fighter against the foreign oppression. After the French defeat, De la Vega returns to California, where he decides to continue the fight against the tyranny of his enemy from Spain, pompous Don Rafael Moncada and the landowning nobility over the people of California. To avoid being recognized, De La Vega assumes the secret identity of Zorro. In his crusade he is helped by his mute servant Bernardo and Tornado, his horse.

The end of Don Diego de la Vega as Zorro is shown in the 1998 movie The Mask of Zorro. In 1821, during the Mexican War of Independence, Governor Don Rafael Montero finally discovers the secret identity of Zorro and lays a trap to catch him. The two enemies fight in De la Vega’s Mansion, accidentally killing De la Vega’s wife, Esperanza. Don Diego is captured and imprisoned, his home burned and his infant daughter, Elena, kidnapped and brought up by Rafael Montero as his own daughter during his exile in Spain. Twenty years later, Montero returns to California and makes a plan to separate the region from the new Republic of Mexico ruled by General Santa Anna, buying California with the gold of a secret mine in the Californian Desert, his relatively noble cause is fueled by slave labor in the mine with clear intent to kill them all after all the gold is taken. In parallel, De la Vega escapes from prison with the intention of taking revenge on Montero and telling Elena her true origins. He also trains a young delinquent, Alejandro Murrieta, as a new Zorro. In the final fight, both Montero and De la Vega die. The new Zorro and Elena get married. Murrieta continues the fight against injustice at least until 1850, when California becomes the 31st US State. Zorro continues his heroic crusade in the American California, with the approval and support of his wife Elena and his son Joaquin.

Inspiration of the character

McCulley had no idea how successful Zorro would become, so at the denouement of the Curse of Capistrano, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all. Zorro soon became a regular character in numerous pulp fiction magazines.

After the success of the silent film The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks, McCulley's novel was re-released by the publisher Grosset and Dunlap under the same title. (Fairbanks also starred in a 1925 sequel titled Don Q, Son of Zorro, playing Don Diego's grown-up son, Don Cesar, as well as reprising his role as Don Diego.)

Zorro is similar to some real bandits in California history. He is often associated with Joaquin Murieta, the "Mexican Robin Hood", whose life was fictionalized in an 1854 book by John Rollin Ridge, and in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, where Murieta's brother succeeds de la Vega as Zorro. Other possible inspirations include Robin himself (though he was English, of course), California bandit Salomon Pico, Tiburcio Vasquez, and William Lamport, an Irish soldier living in Mexico in the 17th century. Lamport's life was fictionalized by Vicente Riva Palacio in the 19th century. While there are many theories about who the 'real' Zorro was, it seems most likely that McCulley drew inspiration from several different sources, not to mention the 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, which features a number of parallels to McCulley's later creation.

There is no historical basis for the Spanish hacienda culture depicted in the books and films. Population of California increased when it was a territory of the Viceroyship of New Spain (later Mexico) for 300 years, but a multi-generational feudal society and peasant class never existed. Most Mexican land grants were less than ten years old when Mexico lost California during the Mexican-American War. However, life in 17th century New Spain was modeled by the class society in Europe, with nobility on the top and peasants on the bottom, and hacienda culture was prevalent in the rural areas. In this regard, some authors tend to believe that Johnston McCulley borrowed heavily from Vicente Riva Palacio's novel Memories of an Impostor: Don Guillen de Lamport, King of Mexico.

Influence on fiction

Although not completely original in its concept and recognizing influences from previous publications like the Spring Heeled Jack adventures, this character is one of the earliest precursors of the superhero of American comic books, being an independently wealthy person who has a secret identity (as with The Scarlet Pimpernel) which he defends by wearing a mask, and who accomplishes good for the people with his superior fighting abilities and resourcefulness. The ultimate source is probably Alexandre Dumas, the Count of Monte Cristo, where the wronged hero returns as an independently wealthy man, and under an assumed elegant persona wreaks vengeance on those who betrayed him, and does secret good for those who tried to help him in earlier days.

Zorro even has an animal symbol, though English speakers might not recognize it, his name being Spanish for "fox". The animal is never depicted as an emblem, but as a metaphor for the character's wiliness ("Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free...") - as with the American historical figure Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox", who was also the subject of a Disney television series in the 1950s. A more literal interpretation of Zorro as fox may be Swiper the Fox from the children's television program Dora the Explorer, a larcenous villain who wears a Zorro-like mask. In a similar vein, in horror fiction, Kim Newman's short story "Out In The Night, When The Full Moon Is Bright..." reinterprets Zorro as a near-immortal Mexican werewolf fighting against evil, injustice and oppression from colonial Mexico to the ghettos of a near-future Los Angeles.

Zorro has also been adapted for comic books and comic strips. The most notable character whose creation was highly influenced by Zorro is Batman, created by Bob Kane in the 1930s; within the Batman storyline itself, Bruce Wayne and his parents actually watch The Mark of Zorro at the cinema the night they are murdered, and the future Batman takes some inspiration from the masked hero. Zorro keeps his horse in the basement of his house, and Batman keeps his Batmobile in a similar hideout, the Batcave. Zorro was also the inspiration of the remarkably similar characters El Coyote and El Águila.

Don Diego de la Vega, the mild-mannered caballero who at night donned the black cape and hood and made his mark against evildoers as Zorro, first made his appearance in print in the All Story Weekly in McCulley's five-part series entitled "The Curse of Capistrano," beginning August 19, 1919. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected "Curse" to become the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, thus beginning the cinematic tradition. McCulley wrote at least 65 more Zorro stories, which in addition to feature films inspired a Republic serial and even, in 1995, a London stage production.

McCulley didn't live to see Zorro reach the peak of his fame, though. He died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming successful.

At the movies

The character has been adapted for many movies. They include:

On television

Books

  • Johnston McCulley's Zorro short stories were reprinted by Pulp Adventures Inc. in a series of trade paperback editions. They were:

Zorro The Master's Edition Volume One February 2000 ISBN 1-891729-20-9

Zorro The Master's Edition Volume Two January 2002 ISBN 1-891729-1-7

Zorro: 1947

Zorro and the Jaguar Warriors by Jerome Preisler September 1998 ISBN 0-812-56767-6

Zorro and The Dragon Riders by David Bergantino March 1999 ISBN 0-812-56768-4

Zorro and the Witch's Curse by John Whitman April 2000 ISBN 0-812-56769-2

  • Minstrel Books published A series of young reader novels based on the motion pictureThe Mask of Zorro. They Were:

The Treasure of Don Diego by William McCay 1998 ISBN 0-671-51968-9

Skull and Crossbones by Frank Lauria 1999 ISBN 0-671-51970-0

The Secret Swordsman by William McCay 1999 ISBN 0-671-51969-7

The Lost Temple by Frank Lauria 1999

  • Zorro filmographic books have also been published:

The Legend of Zorro By Bill Yenne 1991 Mallard Press ISBN 0-7924-5547-9

Zorro Unmasked The Official History by Sandra Curtis 1998 Hyperion ISBN 0-7868-8285-9

  • Gerard Ronan - The Irish Zorro: The Extraordinary Adventures of William Lamport (1615-1659)

Comic Books

Zorro has appeared in many different comic book series over the decades. The most revered version was rendered by Alex Toth for Dell comics in the 1950s. The character also appeared in European comics. Later, to tie-in with the Duncan Regehr series, Marvel published a short lived run in the early 1990s. Many of these comics had Alex Toth covers. Topps Comics then took over the licence to publish the character in the mid 1990s. A newspaper daily and Sunday strip was also published in the late 1990s. This was written by Don McGregor and rendered by Tom Yeats. Today, the comic book adventures of Zorro are published by Papercutz. This latest verion is drawn in a manga style.

Over the years, reprint volumns have been published. This include but are not limited to:

  • Zorro In Old California Eclipse Books ISBN 0-913035-12-2

  • Zorro The Complete Classic Adventures By Alex Toth. Volume One Image Comics 1998. ISBN 1-58240-014-8

External links

Series of books | Fictional Californians | Hispanic superheroes | Robin Hood | Pulp heroes and villains | Fictional Mexicans

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Zorro".

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