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TELL THEM YOU WANT TO SEE ZORRO IN YOUR HOMETOWN! SHOUT IT TO THE INNER SANCTUMS OF THE NEWSPAPER COMIC EDITORS – THE STORY ADVENTURE STRIP IS STILL ALIVE! OKAY, SO WHO ARE THEY GONNA CALL? NOT GHOSTBUSTERS! TELL 'EM TO CALL: CREATORS SYNDICATEAND THEY ARE LOCATED AT: CREATORS SYNDICATE |
Click on button to the right to see script for the above 2 strips |
Until now, just as the Zorro comic strip is about to whip-snap into its second year, with a new story entitled, EASY VICTIM, you haven't seen anything about it on this web-site, though I face it on a daily basis.
That dramatically changes.
There were elements I was uncertain about, in terms of promotion for the strip. There was the complexity of different companies being involved with the project, and who wanted what seen when. They were who and what and when kind of questions I didn't have total answers for.
It always seems it is around the Christmas holidays when important decisions get made in comics. Decisions like whether a story gets told or doesn't. A book continues or gets cancelled. A comic strip like this one gets to ride into a second year.
It isn't unlike the ways a series renewal works on television. Shows start up in September or October, some don't even reach the holidays.
There were some dicey moments where it was not certain there would be a second year of the Zorro newspaper strip.
In fact, if you were to ask me what were the decisive factors that propelled us into the second, I really couldn't tell you.
Oh, yes, a lot of folks liked what we were doing, and by we I mean myself, Tom Yeates, Tod Smith and John Costanza. No one ever argued the quality or merit of the strip.
But we could use more papers to keep Zorro's roguish smile and heroic determination alive!
So, that's where the above screaming headlines come in! If you want story strips to thrive in the papers, you've got to let them know. If you want a western themed strip like Zorro to be a part of that medium, it's important to let them know that, too!
When the strip first started to appear , I was often asked me how I could convert from comic books to comic strips. It was as if those people were surprised that I could write a strip. I look at every project as a story-teller, and what the demands are of that particular medium the story is going to appear in. There are a lot of different considerations from writing a bi-monthly comic book to a monthly comic. The time-span alone, between issues, is a major factor that will have impact on how you approach telling the story, and they are elements you must be aware of. And it is the same with writing a graphic album as opposed, say, to a mini-series, different challenges that must be faced from the inception of the project to the end.
I love the idea of a story that you see every day, a little slice that must have something of its own, and yet lead into next.
I don't always love facing the challenging of putting the Dailies together.
In approaching a newspaper strip, you have to be aware that some people only see the Dailies; others only the Sundays. Therefore, the story needs to be able to track, that the readers can still follow the story, either way. And yet, each day must have its own worth. You can't just throw days away. What if that's the day a potential new reader sees the strip and thinks it's nothing, and they don't come look at you again? Could be.
And I wouldn't to do that as a story-teller.
What you will see on the following pages are unique. The color Sundays, for instance, are from reproductions of Tom Yeates' hand-colored pencil renditions, not the printed version, so you can see all the codes that actually determine what colors will see print in the Sunday papers. If you get Zorro, say, in the DAILY NEWS or the HOUSTON CHRONICLE, you can compare them, and see how they differ! You might get a real kick out of it.
Oh, and as long as we're on the subject of the News and Chronicle, or any of the other papers that carry Zorro, it wouldn't hurt if you folks wrote into the editors telling them you like seeing it there, or if something spoke to you strongly.
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I CAN DO THAT?! NOT ONLY CAN YOU, BUT IT'S YOUR DUTY!! LET THEM KNOW THAT YOUR BOWL OF CEREAL OR YOUR BAGEL WILL BE THAT MUCH LESS MEANINGFUL WITHOUT ZORRO TO LOOK FORWARD TO EACH AND EVERY MORNING!!
HOW DO I CONTACT THEM?
THE CONTACT INFORMATION SHOULD BE RIGHT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE PAPER. CALL THEM & ASK FOR THE COMICS EDITOR. YOU CAN CALL: The DAILY NEWSAND THEY ARE IN CYBERSPACE AT: New York Daily News Online |
I told Alex Simmons, the creator of BLACKJACK, that often in telling stories, folks want to lock you in a cage. I've found it is often my job, if I want to get the story told that I feel is worth telling, I have to find a way to pick the lock and get out of the cage!
I've tried that here, again and again.
You'll see strips with commentary behind the scenes. What caused an uproar, when I didn't expect any, and what didn't, when I thought, oh, boy, here we go, this'll never get through.
You'll also see the ACTUAL SCRIPT PAGES that go to Tod Smith and Tom Yeates, so you can see the collaboration that is essential to creating a strip like this.
I want to thank Tod and Tom for all their skill and work in interpreting the often difficult visuals I'm asking them for. And to John Costanza, one of the greatest letterers ever, in the history of comics! What a great team of people to be working with.
I have once again lucked out to have such talent bringing my words to life!
All of the strips reproduced on this page are from the second story-line entitled DEAD BODY RISING.
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I wanted this Sunday to begin with a wide panel so we could immediately establish to the audience where all the primary players in this lengthy sequence were located before we narrowed the focus on separate individuals. This was one of the first Sundays where we got to play with sunset colors, since many of the strips had taken place during Zorro's best time to ride…NIGHT!
Unexpectedly, this strip caused some concern because of the last panel.
I didn't see it coming.
The close up of the dead Indian woman's face was deemed too disturbing, and for awhile almost didn't see print. This was a major problem for me as a story-teller since Shandalay, the woman's name, would be seen through-out the entire story, and how could I proceed if I couldn't show her.
I wanted Shandalay to be as much a haunting presence through-out the story as the living characters, so Zorro, and the audience were always reminded of her humanity and how violence had stolen her life.
I have to tell you when things like this arise, I'm perplexed. This comic appears in newspapers, where most front page headlines are calculated to disturb, and which covers stories that often should disturb. In the New York Daily News, Zorro is printed on the same page as Ann Landers' column, which deals with adultery, incest, domestic violence, among other disturbing subjects, and so it perplexes me that the comics are often subjected to a different standard, and one of the things apparently comics should NOT do is disturb anybody.
Go figure.
These Dailies are from September 20, 1999 to September 23, 1999.
Click on button to the right to see script for these strips |
These four daily strips set the historical background for the major thrust of the story, as well as defining the relationship between Don Diego and Capitan Monasterio. And while historically accurate in its account of chicken pox and venereal disease epidemics that swept through the California Indian tribes in the early 1800s, I have to tell you, this is where I thought we might have a problem, that this is where I wouldn't be able to get material through.
Come and went, without a word.
It was Shandalay's face (showing it) that became a debate, and how to show her as the weeks progressed was something I had to continually grapple with.
So, what we need here, is a concerted effort to demand that at least one California newspaper lets Zorro ride out of the night into your mornings, knowing, as you sip your coffee, that there is someone who cares about disturbing events and is out to do something about them!
It's a comforting feeling, almost as comforting as that morning brew.
So, listen, call the California papers up. Give them that CREATORS SYNDICATE phone number and tell them it's real easy to have Zorro be a part of their comics section.
Zorro is in New York City, but not L.A.
What's up with that?
Zorro should be Coast to Coast!
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I kept playing with the lay-outs of the Sundays. I wanted to keep them visually striking, and not be restricted to one format. I think this one is an effective example of that. A nice, large opening panel allows us to show Zorro in action, and have him be boldly visible, showcasing his superb athletic ability. Tod and Tom combine here to perfectly capture the relationship between Zorro and Eulalia Bandini in the horizontal panels. I love that last panel. It is the romantic essence of the Fox caught beautifully. Thanks, guys! Exactly what I was hoping for when I wrote it. I treasure it.
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I love the interaction between Zorro and Eulalia here. I thought she brought such vitality to the strip that I kept finding ways to keep her in the story-line, which lengthened many of the sequences, but also made them stronger. Not bad, for a character who was originally introduced to be in only an early cantina sequence.
And I never intended for Eulalia to be on the wild ride that was about to ensue.
As I came nearer to the big pursuit sequence, I knew it would run rough-shod over a long period of time, and I just couldn't bear to part company with her.
Once again, the characters dictated how the story would go.
Here you have the LAST STRIP of 1999!
If Eulalia weren't along, well, a strip like this could never exist.
And here is the FIRST STRIP of JANUARY 2000!
Click on button to the right to see script for the above 2 strips |
What a way to start out 2000 if you're a Zorro fan, huh?
You just have to have a Tod Smith and Tom Yeates to help you pull it off!
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I like the use of wide shots on a Sunday, where applicable, to be offset by smaller panels. With a opener like this we can see all the action, be drawn right into it without confusion, and then draw the audience into the individual action. The trick was keeping track of where everybody was, and making sure to let Tod know. I had to also keep note of how many days had passed since any one of the characters had been seen. You'd be surprised how easy it is to forget one and not realize it until much later.
As well as keeping those things in mind, it was my intent to have each Sunday (and often Dailies, as well) end with a different cliff-hanger serial type last panel! We have it here!
Dailies (Monday - Wednesday) – January 3, 2000 – January 5, 2000
In doing this wagon and horse chase, I wanted to play off every stunt (and more) I'd ever seen in B-Westerns and 1930 and 1940 Republic serials, not to mention in a few silent films, and then throw in even a little Ben Hur.
For me, this was an exercise in story-telling momentum, to see if I could grip the audience day to day, one cliff-hanger after another, hurtling the characters through a series of furious events, without losing track of who the characters are, and keeping their personalities intact.
At the same time, you'll note a difference here between film and comics.
I can capture and stop the motion anywhere I want, and subjectively show at the same time, the character's reaction to what they are going through.
And even if all these shots could be done, without maiming or killing anybody, imagine what it would COST to film it!
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I've included a few more Sundays of the carriage/hearse chase.
You've probably noted how the action keeps flowing through the Dailies that are leading up to this Sunday. And yet, I often wonder what the readers who only see the Sundays think happened during the week.
I made sure on the first panel here to show Capitan Monasterio so there is a direct link to the last panel of the Sunday before.
This time around, I went for a large last panel to showcase the next cliff-hanger, with the commandeered coach actually near going over a cliff! Unless it crushes down on Zorro's legs first!
I don't believe such a situation has ever been discussed in Ann Landers. I wonder what advice she would give for something like this!
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
I just had to show you folks this Sunday!
I love that middle panel, of Zorro hacking through the last wheel of the hearse-coach!
You have to see the Dailies to learn how his legs didn't get crushed!
As for the last panel, with Quickblade now riding hell-bent for leather down on our hero, his Serpent Lance thrust forward, ready to impale Zorro, I don't believe I'd even had that cliff-hanger in mind before I started the Sunday.
Sometimes it comes to you, it zings in there, and you know it will work on many levels, not the least of which keeping the thrill ride going while bringing Quickblade back into unique play.
Click on button to the right to see script for this strip |
A FULL PAGE SUNDAY. I want to keep the Sundays and Dailies as diverse as Possible, so I can use them in way that I feel best serve what is happening in the story.
It's another way of getting out of the cage. Or at least making the cage bigger.
Okay, that's it! I hope you enjoyed the newspaper strip tour.
Help keep us alive out there!
Get Zorro into your local newspaper.
And help keep heroes and westerns alive in the comics!
Hang in there!
