Zorro Rides Again #2
Written by Matt Wagner
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Oscar Manuel Martin
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Matt Wagner
Dynamite Entertainment
Release date: August 31, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

I’ve always found Zorro interesting, although I sometimes confuse him with the Lone Ranger. (Even though the Ranger has a sidekick and Zorro doesn’t, figure that out.) Zorro Rides Again is the kind of comic book that shows why comic books get to keep the word book in their name. This book takes place in a Spanish colony, where corruption runs rampant, and the weak need to be defended, by none other than Zorro!

Several perspectives are used to tell this tale, and it works seamlessly! In Zorro Rides Again #2 we see a woman telling Zorro how her father is being pressured by goons to do something, we aren’t sure of yet. We see from Zorro’s father’s perspective how he blamed Zorro, at least a little, for the death of his wife and how he is so proud of Zorro but he mistrusts him. We also see from the perspective of another woman who Zorro has saved, not sure yet of the role that she will play. Lastly, we see from the perspective of those bullying those in the colony into doing what they want. This all fits together perfectly and builds such a believable and deep environment for the story to take place. We call this “world building” and writer Matt Wagner is doing a great job of this. Not too much happens story wise in this issue, but that’s OK, because we can feel that it is building for something.

We do, however, get a short sword fight between Zorro and the main villain, who, to be fair, is coming out of a bar to go to the bathroom. Now he already has two signature Zs on his eyes. I would think he wouldn’t be drinking, but traveling with a bunch of bodyguards, but what fun would that be? Zorro is happy to give him another Z on the neck while trying to find out just what he is up to.

As for art, it’s done in a kind of Prince Valiant style. Not really my cup of tea, but you can tell that’s what artist Esteve Polls is going for, and he does it well.

In all, this book has great potential to tell a very captivating story in a way that is more reminiscent of Game of Thrones than most other comic books. Half a point off for personal preference with the art and I give this book a 4.5 out of 5.