Matanzas!

[Tulku]

So what is the popular feeling, now that we are two issues in? Obviously, Matanzas is not in the same continuity as DE's regular Zorro series. The character of Bernardo proves that. It comes from an earlier continuity. I am a long-time fan of Don McGregor's writing (all the way back to his never-equalled "Panther's Rage"). I was also a loyal fan of his Zorro stories back in Topps Comics in the early 1990s. Which brings me to Matanzas. This really is just a continuation of the Topps storyline: Machete, Don Ramon, his sister Anita, Moonstalker. These all either appear or are mentioned in Matanzas #2 and all were regular players in the Topps run. For me, that makes Matanzas very enjoyable. It is picking up on a storyline that has been on hold since the Topps series folded. I just wonder if Lady Rawhide will make an appearance...

But I would like to know how new readers are reacting. Were you puzzled by the introduction of the blind Don Ramon? The already-exisiting enmity between Zorro and Machete? Were you wondering why Diego's father seems so angered by a cartoon drawing? The Topps readers know that was a fight brewing for a couple issues...albeit almost a decade ago in real time. Is this special series really only able to be enjoyed by old fogeys like me who remember the Topps series or can you come to the story fresh and still enjoy it?

[TwinPistols]

But I would like to know how new readers are reacting. Were you puzzled by the introduction of the blind Don Ramon? The already-exisiting enmity between Zorro and Machete? Were you wondering why Diego's father seems so angered by a cartoon drawing? The Topps readers know that was a fight brewing for a couple issues...albeit almost a decade ago in real time. Is this special series really only able to be enjoyed by old fogeys like me who remember the Topps series or can you come to the story fresh and still enjoy it?

I, for one, dropped it after the first issue. It did shock me a little, that Bernardo and Zorro's father looked different than they appear in the regular series. It seems strange to me that earlier continuity would be used for this, since afterall, this is a Zorro title published by Dynamite Entertainment, not Topps. There was also a minor coloring mistake that happened in issue #1, where Bernardo's hair is white when we first meet him, and then it changes to brown. It's just a mistake, I guess, and forgivable, but it did add to the confusion.

That's not why I dropped it, however. All due respect to Mr. McGregor, I know he's a legend in his own right, but I personally didn't enjoy the writing in the first issue of this particular comic. It was very dense with captions and word balloons, while I felt that there wasn't much going on in the panels themselves. I wasn't enjoying the bit with the drawings, and by the end, I felt that the story didn't move, a great deal, forward.

This is all IMHO, of course. I'm sure there were many that enjoyed it. I hope it does well, and I'll have to catch up with the author's previous works.


-Pistols

[Tulku]

Originally posted by Twin Pistols:

That's not why I dropped it, however. All due respect to Mr. McGregor, I know he's a legend in his own right, but I personally didn't enjoy the writing in the first issue of this particular comic. It was very dense with captions and word balloons, while I felt that there wasn't much going on in the panels themselves. I wasn't enjoying the bit with the drawings, and by the end, I felt that the story didn't move, a great deal, forward.

It might be worth the effort to pick up issue #2 first. I actually felt the same way about issue #1--the writing was not what I had come to expect from McGregor. I suspect the problem was that he needed an "intro" issue to resurrrect a storyline that has languished for ten years. It is very mechanical in introducing the main players and themes. In other words, a lot of talk, little action.

Issue # 2, by contrast, feels like it was originally written back in the 1990s, already in the flow of the story. And quite a lot of action!

However, if after #2 it still doesn't grab you, I respect that. I can understand that his writing style is not for everybody. He does love his captions.

Ooooooh! Sudden thought: Don McGregor writing "Prince Valiant"!! Whoa! That would be worth the price of admission!