Reader discussion: The mark of Zorro

Public reader discussion about The mark of Zorro in the WeRead Catalog by Johnston McCulley.

The Mark of Zorro

By Epilogue-Crow

I know a lot of us have seen Zorro in some form on TV or in movies, but has anyone actually read the original stuff by Johnston McCulley? Zorro first showed up in the pulps back in 1919, and it seems like he caught on fast—people were really hooked on his whole daring, swashbuckling vibe. I just reread the serialized debut that’s collected in *The Mark of Zorro* (it was originally called “The Curse of Capistrano”), and it still hit. The characters don’t get much depth, but the writing is really good when it comes to the action. The scenes are short and punchy, and the setting helps set the mood. It also feels kind of “screen-ready,” like the action is already filmed in your head or something. I’d say it’s worth starting with the first collected novel, and then going after the other serialized collections too—though finding them all can be a pain. If you’ve read *The Mark of Zorro*, did you enjoy it?

Zorro (Isabel Allende) is such an incredible hero

By ShadowVerse1974

Please be kind, my English isn’t great. I read Isabel Allende’s Zorro when I was younger, and it really blew me away. It feels like an awesome origin story, and it gives so much more weight to the characters, even Bernardo. I also thought it was really cool how the book includes Native American culture, and the whole historical background about Spain is described so clearly. I might be reading too much into it, but knowing the author is Isabel Allende, Salvador Allende’s niece, who was killed during the Pinochet coup in Chile, and with the USA involved… that part hits me hard. It makes me wonder if she was trying to imagine there could’ve been a Zorro in Chile back then. Either way, the novel is great—kind of a mix between romance and comic-book vibes. Edit: I messed up some words, sorry.

The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley -the book that created the zorro

By quillwrites

Honestly, I went into The Curse of Capistrano mostly curious where Zorro really came from. It’s a 1919 novel by Johnston McCulley and apparently it’s the first one with Diego Vega, the masked guy people know as Zorro (which is just Spanish for “fox”). It started out as a five-part magazine thing, then got turned into the silent movie The Mark of Zorro in 1920. Later it showed up in book form in 1924, and that edition also used the title The Mark of Zorro. What I wasn’t expecting is that even though McCulley made the character, Douglas Fairbanks is the one who helped it get to the version we recognize now. And yeah, the book feels different from later versions—there aren’t any secret passages, and Zorro’s uniform is different too. The whole “Z” part on the outfit sounds like it was Fairbanks’ idea and got added later by the author. Anyway, reading it feels like you’re piecing together the real starting point of Zorro—the kind of hero/cape/sword/mask that basically shaped a lot of childhoods, even if it’s not exactly the same as what you remember.

First image for Batman Azteca: Choque de imperios (translation: Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires) The film follows a young Aztec boy who uses the temple of Tzinacan, the bat god, as a lair to confront the Spaniard invasion and avenge his father’s death.

By Lone_Summer1979

I’m not sure what to make of this Batman movie, but that first official image is pretty intriguing. The Aztec clash setup sounds like a lot, though, so I’m curious how it’ll all come together.

Anyone knows if Zorro is public domain?

By Lake_Frog

I’ve been thinking about writing a script using the whole Zorro legacy, but I wanted to check if it’s public domain first since I kind of assumed it was. I went down the rabbit hole with a few articles and now I’m honestly not sure at all. I’m hoping someone else knows more about the actual legal/public-domain status and can point me in the right direction.