American Mythology Productions has been reissuing a lot of classic Zorro material over the past couple of years along with new stuff and this 2022 holiday special is no different.
The opening original story has Zorro coming to play Santa to a village whose Christmas presents were stolen by Spanish soldiers. In a rare tale that makes use of a Christmas tree as a weapon by both the villain and Zorro, it's got action sequences unexpected this side of a Tarantino picture.
Then readers are delighted with 2 classic Dell/Gold Key era stories. Or are they from Mexico? The inside cover says that those back-ups were translated. Was Zorro comics published in Mexico or Spain?
Anyways, one of those adventures is a Feliz Navidad themed story. I usually decry holiday comics when they are not comprised 100% of the material related to the holiday or season in which the special is set. But I figure that whatever publisher probably only ever did the one Christmas story ever in their history. So I overlooked it here.
The holiday tale has kind-hearted Sergeant Garcia in a bit of a predicament. It's nearly Christmas Eve and Garcia is forced to make his men work the holiday unless he can get one of his 4 prisoners to admit to the attack of a wealthy villager. Don Diego, Zorro in his secret identity, offers to help Garcia in order for it to be a merry Christmas for all. But time is running out for Garcia, who isn't known for his detective skills to find the culprit or everyone is earning holiday pay. It's a fun story that doesn't rely on the use of Zorro.
The non-holiday story involves Zorro, a monastery and a set of rosaries. The Spanish army is once again on Zorro's tail. Our hero takes refuge in an area of San Francisco Valley that only houses a set of monks. This leads the soldiers to believe one of the monks is the vigilante swordsmen. Now Zorro must find a way to convince the troops that the friars are not secretly Zorro or the whole mission will be slaughtered.
All three tales were good reads. But I had to read that last story twice as it involved a little trickery that was quite confusing. Of course, I would have loved all 3 stories to be Christmas themed. I would have really liked 2 all-new stories about the holiday instead of a reprint that wasn't seasonal. But I also understand that new material costs money and American Mythology is a small operation. Not always feasible, I understand. At least the beautiful artwork of story #3 made up for the lack of cheer.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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