The current run on Detective Comics was my first exposure to artist Francesco Francavilla. After being completely blown away by his work on the Gordon-centric issues, I was determined to find more of the man’s output, and eventually stumbled across a series by him and industry legend Matt Wagner called Zorro from Dynamite about – you guessed it – Zorro! I picked up the first arc from my LCBS, and quickly headed back to get the rest upon finishing it. If you love pulpy goodness, you want this. Follow the cut and I’ll educate you on the why.
Let’s talk about Zorro as a character first. Now, a controversial way to start this would be to say that Zorro is Batman, but better. But that would be too easy.
No, Batman is Zorro, but not as awesome.
Anyone who knows anything about Batman knows that Bob Kane and Bill Finger were very much inspired by a variety of pulp heroes, including the Shadow and the Phantom. The character’s most obvious inspiration, though, is the swashbuckling hero Zorro. Don’t believe me? Well, let’s ignore the fact that both creators have acknowledged this in the past and go through a little bit of the character’s back-story. After his family is beset by tragedy, a young Diego de la Vega travels Europe and trains himself in the ways of swordplay and other, more subtle arts. Returning to the New World, Diego goes out as night garbed in black as the dashing rogue Zorro, defending the defenseless. By day, though, he uses his position as a nobleman as a disguise, over-exaggerating his “delicateness,” as it were, so no one may catch on the Diego de la Vega and Zorro are one in the same.
Sound familiar?
I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with deriving one character from another. Zorro is a mix of a variety of folkloric figures himself. It’s just that where Zorro and Batman differ, I find myself leaning more to the Zorro side of the scale – and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Zorro, for example, is an inherently more political figure. He doesn’t merely go looking for crimes to solve; rather, his main goal is to bring down those that have corrupted their positions of power. Now, I can see why that wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking, but if you know me, you know that’s right up my alley. Nor does he sulk as much as Bruce seems to do. Zorro is more like what would have happened if Dick became Batman from the get-go: even in combat, he’s more jovial than he is grim. Granted, this may be because only one of his parents is dead, but that’s besides the point.
So, let’s talk the comic at hand. If you’ve read much Matt Wagner, then I probably only need to tell you is that Matt Wagner wrote a Zorro ongoing to get your interest. When you’re talking pulp-inspired comics, no one does them like Wagner does. Just look at Sandman Mystery Theater, or his more recent work on Green Hornet: Year One. His run on Zorro is no exception. Pretty much everything is done right: the tone is perfect, the characters are incredibly fleshed out, and good lord is the action excellent. Where Wagner’s true talent as a creator shines through, though, is his role as “artistic director.” One major thing that I harp on in my reviews is how well a comic flows from panel to panel, and Wagner is a master of that. Not only is he great at general readability, he will also often make use of one of comics’ most underused techniques by “telling” the reader one thing and “showing” them another. Captions that explain the historical events of a particular era while attached to panels that show that same thing are, quite simply, redundant. Captions that tell you history while the panels set up an oncoming scene? That’s clever and useful. Believe me when I say that this book reads so smoothly that you may accidentally drop it. Read it on a table, just in case.
Continued belowA great artistic director needs a great artist, and Francavilla is just that. Just as well as Wagner fits this title as a writer, Francavilla is the ideal artist for almost anything good and pulpy. I’ve written and rewritten a few sentences trying to explain why, but in the end, I think it’s more effective to just show you.
I know, right?
I am not lying when I say that almost every single page of this series is absolutely gorgeous. Francavilla is one of the few artists I know that can draw incredibly dark scenes (lighting-wise) that still seem as alive as a scene in broad daylight – a good trait to have when your main character battles the evils of man by moonlight. His figures are spot on, his use of body language is ideal, and every bit of motion seems more lifelike than real life. Is it any wonder that DC snatched him up for Detective and Swamp Thing? There was a brief period where Francavilla was replaced by artist Caesar Razek, but Razek was able to meet the high expectations that Francavilla set until the original artist made his return. With Francavilla and Rezak’s fantastic line work partnered with Wagner’s incredible artistic directing (he’s a bit of an artist, too, don’t you know?), this is one of the best-looking titles to be released in the past five or so years.
There’s a bit of a problem, though. The title was canceled and ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving many plot threads unresolved. That’s fine, though. With a comic like this, you’re not just reading to see where the story goes. You’re watching fine craftsmen doing what they do best. I believe Wagner will be finishing his story in an upcoming mini, and while I’m sure it will be great, it will be sad to see it end without Francavilla. So far two trades have been released, and the third is currently available for pre-ordering. What are you waiting for? Get to it!
