ZORRO: MATANZAS! Splash page (Issue #2) Tornado & Zorro! (click on the pictures for a larger view) Here is the exquisitely rendered splash page from the 2nd issue of ZORRO: MATANZAS! I wanted the occurences on this fateful day to occur against a beautiful backdrop, a day so acheingly gorgeous set against slaughterings that splinter the soul and mind. For Zorro lovers, could there be a better opening than Zorro and Bernardo together, set against the stark chapter title? Mike Mayhew captures both in temperment and look. And here's a full-pager of Zorro and Tornado in motion. This is all part of MATANZAS! You've seen some of the double-page spreads in past weeks. You'll see more in the weeks to come. And if you've missed any art, we'll be repeating some as time goes along. So come back and check us out. And it can't hurt anything to let Zorro Productions know you'd love to see MATANZAS! become a reality. Just check them out at www.zorro.com. It doesn't get any easier than that, does it?

Dear Ben,
     Thanks for sending me the advance copy of MATANZAS, and of course, I'm more than happy to offer my comments.
     It's somewhat fitting that your package arrived today, July 23, 1999, the day of the "private" memorial service for John F. Kennedy Jr. For years the media has been telling us that there are no more heroes, yet I've been listening to that very same media tell me for the last week what a fine, decent, handsome, caring, compassionate, humorous, adventurous, and smart man JFK Jr. was. It seems the only type of hero the media recognizes is a dead one. How else would we have learned what remarkable men the sons of Bill Cosby and Gerald Levin were? In a few days the media will be back to telling us all what a horrible world we live in, and trying to convince us that our High Schools are armed battlegrounds, that society is out of control, and that we're all just plain no good. Fortunately, and thanks to Zorro Productions, Inc., Don McGregor, Mike Mayhew, Sam Parsons, and John Costanza are around to make sure we all still know what heroes are all about.
     MATANZAS! (complete with exclamation point) is the type of heroic fiction that got me into comics in the first place. Let me be clear here, I've never been fully comfortable with comics, or TV or films, being called "escapist." Especially work such as Don's, which may incorporate fantastic elements, it is still dealing with very real ideas and themes. A central theme of Don's, running through most of his comics work, has been and remains, that of heroism. Not the hollow, two-dimensional portrayals that everyone loves to parody these days, nor the so-called "flawed" heroes that have become more flaws and less hero, but fully developed characters that struggle against all odds to simply do the right thing.
     Which brings me back to JFK Jr. So many of the traits that are being ascribed to this man's life could equally apply to McGregor's version of Zorro. And I'm sure Don would point out those traits have been a vital part of Zorro all along.
     Let me go back here, and tell a little bit about Don, Zorro, and me. It was the early 90's and comics were on the upswing. After twenty years at Marvel Comics, where I edited everything from the X-MEN to THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, I left to help start Topps Comics. It was at a San Diego Comics Convention that I met John Gertz, president of Zorro Productions, Inc., the company which owns Zorro. John saw how successful we were with our very first title, an adaptation of the film by Francis Ford Copolla, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and wanted me to assure him that we would work just as hard to promote a ZORRO comic.
     No sooner had we bought the rights to create ZORRO comics, I was offering the writing assignment to Don McGregor. Thankfully he agreed to do it, not just because I knew he would do a great job, and, I don't believe I ever told Don this, he was not only my first choice -- he was my only choice! I've known Don since I was 15 years old, working as what would now be called an "intern" at Marvel Comics. I knew of Don's work even before then, as he had done simply outstanding material for such Warren magazines as CREEPY and EERIE -- one story I still remember was so well-told, that as soon I finished reading it, I simply had to run, not walk, across the street to my best friend's house, to share it with fellow comics fan, Stefan Petrucha.
     Back to Don and Zorro. As great a job I imagined Don would do, creating new Zorro adventures, he outdid my every expectation. While keeping all the classic elements and characters that made Zorro the enduring legend that it is, Don introduced new colorful characters that opened up all sorts of exciting new possibilities. Don explained to me that he wanted these characters to have as strong a presence as Zorro himself. True to the traditions of heroic fiction that had given us such femmes fatales as the Dragon Lady and the Catwoman, Don introduced Lady Rawhide. And to give the Joker, Dr. Doom, and Lex Luthor competition, Don gave us Lucien Machete. Don knew that the more powerful and deadly the villain, the more impressive the hero would become. Don didn't realize that his very thinking would inspire me to suggest that he pit Zorro against Dracula, the Lord of Vampires. That story was drawn beautifully by Thomas Yeates and moodily colored by Sam Parson. And the ZORRO comic itself was penciled by an incredibly talented newcomer, Mike Mayhew.
     That was all some time ago in the early 90s. The comics market has been through an incredibly difficult time. Topps Comics is no more. And yet here we are. Don McGregor and Thomas Yeates reaching a larger audience than any comic book published in the United States with their excellent syndicated Zorro newspaper strip. And Don, Mike Mayhew, Sam Parsons, and John Costanza creating perhaps their greatest Zorro adventure yet, MATANZAS!
     Whereas the 90s saw many classic heroes hop on the "darker and grimmer" bandwagon, Zorro remains true to his swashbuckling self. This issue, while primarily focused on setting the stage for the events about to happen, can be considered the quiet before the storm. Yet there's still a lot going on here.
     From the classic image of Zorro, so wonderfully captured by Mike Mayhew, on page one, to the tour through Zorro's underground caves, which follows, we see a Zorro true to the hero we've seen on TV, in movies, and in comics. Don's writing style while novelistic at times, this being a good example, also allows for interesting visuals, and Mike Mayhew does an impressive job, while bringing back memories of pin-up pages of the Bat-Cave and the Baxter Building.
     This particular story was planned to run years ago following the surprise reappearance of the then-assumed dead, Lucien Machete -- so if I have any regret about this issue appearing now, is that some of that impact is lost. Suffice to say, we're dealing with a Darth Vader-class villain here, and I wish Don could've sneaked in a few flashbacks to help establish that this isn't just a guy with a can opener at the end of his arm.
     As for the rest, the relationships with Tornado, Bernado, and Zorro's parents are all well done. Leading to the spectacular next-to-last page, where Mike outdoes his splash page. Just as Zorro is true to his heroic past, the actual production of this comic is very traditional as well. For this is truly a handmade comic story -- reproduced from Mayhew's pencils, lettered by hand by John Costanza (one of the very best letterers in comics!), and hand-painted by Sam Parsons. In this age of computer effects, computer lettering, computer coloring, this is something special.
     All that's left for me to say now is thanks to everyone involved in putting this comic together. Thanks for believing that heroes are not things of the past, that they are not corny, and that they indeed inspire us all to be the best we can be. Thanks for believing in comics and respecting comics fans, and giving us all your very best efforts. Thanks for respecting the creative efforts of those that came before and keeping what made Zorro great, while adding your own unique vision of who Zorro could be. Thanks for never giving up, for believing that these stories are worthwhile. Mike -- thanks for always believing. And Don, you and your wonderful family have been true friends, how you put up with me, I'll never know! While the media continues to tell us how wonderful JFK Jr. was and how yet again it's the "end of an era," I'm blessed to know many special and heroic individuals, and you, sir, are one of them. You've been and continue to be an inspiration to me. And thanks To Zorro Productions, Inc. and John Gertz for letting me play a small part in it all. Let's hope this is the beginning of another era of great Zorro comics!
     Sincerely,
     Jim Salicrup

     Jim, I'd just returned from seeing my mom, Louise, up in Rhode Island, driving back on a Sunday July night, often caught in traffic. The apartment had been closed up, and the temperature was in the 90s. New York City swelter. The heat rising from the cement in the darkness. My flesh was like a sponge. I was tired.
     And I received your e-mail.
     My eyes were watery when I finished.
     Such feelings coming from one of the smartest and best people in this business means a lot to me.
     People have asked me, "What do you think a good editor does, Don?" At the start of a collaboration, there comes the initial phase of the talent that will bring this thing to life. I've always felt it is much like casting a movie, this bringing together of writer and artist, and then the other talents like a colorist and a letterer, all of whom have a vast impact on the final book. You choose your talent, or they choose you, depending on the project; you give them a positive environment to create; you make sure it all comes together, but most, when it counts, when what is being done hasn't been done a thousand times before, a good editor is an advocate for a book in that precarious time when its unique voice might be lost by (to borrow a phrase from screenwriter William Goldman) those who make edicts and don't know anything!
     You, Jim, were an advocate for this book.
     And I haven't and never will forget it.
     Oh, and you know what I didn't know at all, Jim? That I was the one that inspired you to come with the idea for ZORRO VS. DRACULA.