Zorro in the magnificent form of a graphic novel

To begin, my experience with Zorro consisted of the silly version that Antonio Banderas played Zorro in.  This, as I have come to find, it quite a travesty.  The version that I, and most people in class seemed to be familiar with, was a horrible distortion of the original Zorro, there was little to no similarities in the actual character.  I for one am very glad that we got to read this graphic novel which paints, both literally and figuratively, Zorro in quite a different light than the Zorro that Americans from my generation are mostly familiar with.  Not only was this my first experience with ever reading anything about Zorro, this was also my first experience with reading a graphic novel.  I must say that I enjoyed reading a graphic novel a whole lot.  I found it to be a very unique reading experience.  In fact, I enjoyed this graphic novel so much, that I have ordered the second one already.  The main difference I found in reading a graphic novel as opposed to a standard novel, was that rather than having a lot of the reading be descriptions of things, mostly all of the reading you do in graphic novels is dialogue and basic plot lines.  There really is not a whole lot of descriptions if any at all.  The descriptions of the way people look, or the way a scene is portrayed is certainly a large part of the story just like a traditional novel.  However, it is simply shown in a different fashion.  These descriptions as in the illustrations which are an essential part of how the reader reacts to the story.  It was very interesting how each page was completely different than the previous.  The way in which the story was told required different sized illustrations to show different actions.  For example, my favorite scene in the entire graphic novel is near the very end of the story.  At the end of the fight between Gonzalez and Zorro, when Zorro claims his victory of the battle not by killing Gonzalez, because that is what a weak individual would do, but by carving a Z into his face.  For me this page in particular was one that not only stood out, but was also not as likely to be analyzed by the rest of the class.  The way in which this page is illustrated gives us an excellent close up shot of Gonzalez getting the finishing touches on his gigantic "Z" we see being carved into his face.  This close up gives and excellent expression in which we can see the pain in Gonzalez face, which almost seems like a win for the reader.  This man that has caused so much pain for so many is finally being punished properly for his sins.  Zorro does not do him the privilege of ending his life, as a cowardly man may.  He carves a "Z" into his face, for everyone who ever looks at him again will see.  This is a very strong image for Francesco Francavilla to portray in this fantastic display of emotion we see at the end of this epic battle.  The two images that come directly below the close up carving are of equal importance in my eyes.  While Gonzalez is essentially weeping with his hands covering his face we see Zorro cock back a chair, and in the next illustration directly below he follows through Gonzalez and see a huge "KRASSH."  In my eyes, this represents the justice that Zorro stands for.  When at the end of his epic battle not only does he forever scar the man that represents evil in the most visible part of his body, Zorro also gets his redemption shot in directly after.  The important thing about Zorro is that he does not kill Gonzalez, as he will stand for a representation or Zorro existing.  If people realize that Zorro actually exists, they are in theory less likely to commit any wrongdoings which may warrant Zorro's presence.  Overall, I loved this story.  It really seemed a little silly to me that in college we would be analyzing a graphic novel.  After reading this one though, not only am I already buying number two, I also feel silly for ever questioning the validity of another means of communication.  I look forward to reading many more graphic novels in the future thanks to Zorro opening my eyes.