We're in the final 24 hours of Sean Gordon Murphy's Kickstarter campaign in support of Zorro: Man of the Dead, his upcoming graphic novel featuring the legendary masked adventurer. The character's return to comics will be handled by Murphy, fresh off the massive success of his Batman: White Knight books, but he has also lined up some of the biggest names in comics to do variant covers for the project. Ahead of the final day of funding, ComicBook.com can provide our readers with an exclusive first look not only at some of those covers, but at some short interviews with the artists behind them, and some preview pages (both penciled and inked, and a couple of colored/lettered ones) from the book.
As mentioned, the series is set to be funded via a Kickstarter campaign. You can check it out at that link (at least for the next 12 hours or so).
Fans are able to reserve the limited series in a variety of premium formats from prestigious artists like Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Adam Hughes, Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti, Walt Simonson, Dan Panosian, and more. The deluxe pre-order campaign will also feature an exclusive connecting cover by Murphy himself, special book formats like a high-end Artist Edition, and a premium hardcover collection with cover art only available through this campaign.
"The idea for this book is Don Quixote meets Narcos, told in a contemporary setting," Sean Gordon Murphy said in a statement. "Diego is a young man who's convinced that he's Zorro—as a child, he had a psychotic break after witnessing the murder of his parents by the drug cartel in his village. To cope with the trauma, he embraces the 200-year-old legend of Zorro by putting on the mask, training with the sword, and waging a war against the Narcos to free his people."
In this Direct-Reserve Kickstarter campaign, set to coincide with Día De Los Muertos, MASSIVE Publishing is embracing Zorro as an "indomitable spirit of Hispanic culture."
''As a Hispanic comic writer and artist, Zorro is such an important character," said Michael Calero, Massive Publishing CEO. "He was one of the first and only representations of a Hispanic hero. Not to mention the archetype for so many other great characters. I'm especially honored to have legendary Hispanic creators like Humberto Ramos and Joe Quesada lending such beautiful contributions to the project."
While the title is being funded at Kickstarter, you will be able to get variants at comic book retailers as well. At retail, Massive will be offering a range of exclusive retail variant covers from some of today's top artists (Sean Murphy, Dustin Nguyen, Matteo Scalera, Tony S. Daniel, and more) starting on October 22nd. These releases will start in January and drop simultaneously with the campaign's digital rewards, followed by the fulfillment of the premium editions offered to backers.
You can check out some covers, some preview pages, and even some conversations with the likes of Tony S. Daniel and Adam Hughes below.
Visit the Zorro: Man of the Dead Kickstarter page for a full rundown of campaign rewards and follow along as stretch goals and retail exclusives are unlocked.