Staff Picks (Nov13): Zorro — The Complete Dell Pre-Code Comics HC

Publisher: Hermes Press

I didn’t know who Johnston McCulley was, but his creation Zorro would become one of my favorite action heroes from the moment I saw Mark of Zorro starring Tyrone Powers and the silent films with Douglas Fairbanks. In the pre DVR/DVD/VHS era, comics like Dell Comics were the only way you could revisit your favorite movie or TV show.

While many comic fans are familiar with Alex Toth’s rendition of Zorro, there were many previous adaptations of the original source material and movies. Dell was the publisher of most of those stories and Hermes Press has now made those available in their Zorro: The Complete Pre-Code Comics hardcover collection. The stories collected in this book haven’t been printed in over sixty years, starting with Four Color #228 where Dell introduced Zorro in a comic based on McCulley’s original story. Featuring art by the extremely talented Everett Raymond Kinstler, his illustrative art style shows a romanticism not usually found in “kids’ comics.” With six other Four Color comics collected in this book, The Pre-Code Collection is an excellent companion book to Hermes Press' Alex Toth collection.

~ Steve Leaf