When I first heard about this comic, at Wizard World Chicago last year, I was interested.  When I heard Francesco Francavilla was drawing it I was in, period, point blank, no hesitation.  I love Francesco on the Black Coat (the first Dynamite book I ever picked up by the way) and thought he would be a perfect fit for Zorro.  And he is.  Conor is right when he says the style is more European than perhaps what we are used to but I think that adds to the overall atmosphere rather than detracting in any way.  This book feels old or classic (whatever word you want to use) in a way that takes me away from our slickly produced CGI painted 21st century gloss.  There is just a sincerity about it that I find appealing.  Also, I’m really looking forward to the exclusive 8 page full color Black Coat story in Comics Now! #2 from the CGS guys.  Man, I can’t wait for that. 

Now, about the story.  I appreciate the device, a-la Holmes’ Dr. Watson, of having a 3rd party narrator to tell the tale.  That fits perfectly within the genre and actually makes me wonder why we have never gotten a good Batman story from Alfred’s point of view (at least that I know of).  There is actually a lot of story for your buck in this comic with three (at least) layers of story and a satisfying beginning, middle and end.  The soldiers story provides a nice bookend framework for the rest of the story to hang on.  There is a traditional sort of EC Comics one and done horror comic feel to this,even though we know there is more to come.  One of the other reviewers commented on the dialogue in this issue not sounding genuine or like people actually speak.  I think this is deliberate.  People living in a Spanish colony 200+ years ago do not speak like we do and I would be annoyed if they did.  For a fantastic example of really horrible anachronistic language check out James Patterson’s The Jester, I believe a 16th century peasant actually uses the word “dude”, for crying out loud…but I digress.  I love Zorro #1 I can’t wait for the next issue where I hope to get the full blown character reveal and see where we go from here.