artist: Esteve Polls
Well, I think Matt Wagner nailed the ending. Going into a project where he was not only continuing his own work on Zorro but creating the first sequel to a Quentin Tarantino film, this was something he needed to do. Django Unchained is a lot of things, but first and foremost it's a surprisingly moral experience, turning in one spectacular moment into a character's outrage at the conclusions the villain has not only reached but callously shared as if there wouldn't be consequences. Wagner goes a slightly different route, but it's Zorro's awakening of Django's moral outrage that informs this story's conclusion. As Django himself observes on the final page: "Diego de la Vega...alias El Zorro -- without a doubt, the most peculiar white man I have ever met. And, brother...that's sayin' somethin'!" And Wagner completely earns that statement.
It might seem a little pat to have Django realize that black slaves were not the only minorities being mistreated, because after all, championing black slaves, black Americans at all, would certainly have been mission enough, and in Zorro's own adventures, a limited scope always seemed to be enough. But Wagner's conclusion is that perhaps Zorro had been limiting himself for too long, basking in comforts that have now become to feel uncomfortable. And so yes, Wagner achieves victory with both characters. How often does a crossover achieve that?
And this is something that has been building all along, mind you, but to see all the pieces come together, to even have the villain taken out, ultimately, by someone other than Zorro or Django, is entirely pleasing to experience. It reminds me all over again why I read Wagner's Zorro in the first place, and even the expansive potential of Django, a character Tarantino himself borrowed from others. Zorro is a character of the frontier. This is a story that brought him closer to home. And as such, helped do the reverse for Django. And perhaps, helped enrich both for future adventures.
Zorro is white?
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