Zorro

Don Diego Vega

"The Curse of Capistrano" (in All-Story Weekly, 1919)

Frank Munsey

Johnston McCulley

Don Diego Vega was a wealthy nobleman who lived in Reina de Los Angeles in the early 19th century. Hoping to help the poor and repressed, he became the wiley masked outlaw known as Zorro.

He battled local authorities, including Governor Alvarado, Captain Juan Ramon and Sgt. Pedro Gonzales. Zorro later tracked down the marauding pirate, Barbados, and in 1824, he was enlisted to stop Don Del Oro from becoming an emperor in Mexico.

Zorro was a master swordsman, and in his first adventure, carried a pistol. He was extremely athletic and used the whip against those who wipped the innocent. However, in his civilan identity, Don Diego pretended to be a weak and self centered fop.

Zorro was assisted by Bernardo, his deaf and mute servant, his father Don Alejandro Vega, Fray (Friar) Felipe, and his best friend Don Audre Ruiz. He loved an impoverished noblewoman named Lolita Pulido, who regarded Don Diego with contempt, but fancied the heroic Zorro. She later learned that the two were one in the same, and accepted his proposal of marriage.

Don Diego's son, Don Cesar Vega, later took up his father's mantle. Zorro also inspired the heroes known as "The Eagle" and "The Black Whip," among others.

The Curse of Capistrano Parts I - V (All-Story Weekly, 1919) The Further Adventures of Zorro Parts I - VI (Argosy, 1922)

The Mark of Zorro (1920) Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939)