Last Issue Special # 5: Zorro

SERIES: Zorro

DATE: 1991

THOSE RESPONSIBLE: Philip John Taylor (story) & Ian Rimmer (script)

CATEGORY: SILENCE (mostly)

A lot of companies have had the license for Zorro comics over the years, and in 1990 Marvel got its chance, producing 12 issues before cancellation. I think the comic was based on the concurrently-running syndicated tv-show that I used to watch with my Dad on Sunday afternoons--it was pretty generic stuff, but entertaining nonetheless. As for the Zorro comic, the last issue cover blurbs that it's the "Grand Finale" issue, which would have to suffice as notice to readers since there's no text or letters page inside. It's not easy to tell whether the story was written specifically to be a final issue or not--it's a sort of It's a Wonderful Life, where Zorro ponders whether his career has been worthwhile and then a ghost or delusion named Fernando shows up to present an alternate reality in which everything's gone wrong because Zorro never existed (there's a surprising degree of continuity, with frequent footnotes to earlier issues). Seeing this, Zorro of course decides to take up his sword and get back to work--I especially like what he says to the evil Alcalde (the ruler of the town) after punching the crap out of him:

"I'm here to hammer home a message. I've had enough of your injustice, your tyranny . . from now on, I own your evil heart! Fear your own shadow, in case it hides my blade because I'll be watching your every step. Put one foot out of place . . . and I'll swoop down on you like God's Thunder and crush you out of existence!"