Editing Zorro (section)

== Publishing history ==
[[File:Capistrano2.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Zorro's debut in the novel ''[[The Curse of Capistrano]]'' (1919).]]
Zorro debuted in [[Johnston McCulley]]'s novel ''[[The Curse of Capistrano]]'', serialized in five parts between August 9 and September 6, 1919, in the [[pulp magazine]] ''[[The All-Story Magazine|All-Story Weekly]]''.<ref name=lat>{{cite news |last=Beale |first=Lewis |title=Zorro still makes his mark |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-28-et-zorro28-story.html |access-date=October 18, 2017 |date=June 28, 2005}}</ref> The story was initially meant as a standalone tale; at the [[List of story structures#Dénouement|dénouement]], Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.

[[Douglas Fairbanks]] and [[Mary Pickford]], on their [[honeymoon]], selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, [[United Artists]], beginning the character's cinematic tradition.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} The novel was adapted as the film ''[[The Mark of Zorro (1920 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]'' (1920), which Fairbanks produced, co-wrote, and starred in as Diego/Zorro. The movie was a commercial success,<ref name=lat /> and the 1924 reprint of McCulley's story by publisher [[Grosset & Dunlap]] used the same title, capitalizing on the movie's popularity. The novel has since been reprinted using both titles.

In response to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than sixty more Zorro stories, beginning in 1922 with ''The Further Adventures of Zorro'', also serialized in ''Argosy All-Story Weekly''. Fairbanks picked up the movie rights for the sequel that year. However, Fairbanks's sequel, ''[[Don Q, Son of Zorro]]'' (1925), was based more on the 1919 novel ''Don Q's Love Story'' by the mother–son duo Kate Prichard and [[Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard]] than on ''The Further Adventures''. Thus, McCulley received no credit for the film.<ref name=ths>{{cite book |last=Henderson |first=Stuart |title=The Hollywood Sequel: History & Form, 1911–2010 |publisher=British Film Institute |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jtYtDwAAQBAJ&q=The+Further+Adventures+of+Zorro+%281922%29&pg=PA23 |date=2014 |page=23 |isbn=978-1-84457-843-6 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

At first, the production of new Zorro stories proceeded irregularly: the third novel, ''Zorro Rides Again'' (not to be confused with the 1937 theatrical serial), was published in 1931, nine years after the second one. Then, between 1932 and 1941, McCulley wrote four short stories and two serialized novels. Zorro stories were published much more frequently between 1944 and 1951 when McCulley published 52 short stories with the character for the ''West Magazine''. "Zorro Rides the Trail!", which appeared in ''Max Brand's Western Magazine'' in 1954, is the last story to be published during the author's lifetime and the second-to-last story overall. The last, "The Mask of Zorro" (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in ''Short Stories for Men'' in 1959. These stories [[Retroactive continuity|ignore]] Zorro's public revelation of his identity.

''The Curse of Capistrano'' eventually sold more than 50&nbsp;million copies, becoming [[List of best-selling books|one of the best-selling books of all time]]. For the most part, McCulley's other Zorro stories remained overlooked and out-of-print until the 21st century. Bold Venture Press collected all of McCulley's Zorro stories ''Zorro: The Complete Pulp Adventures'', in six volumes.

Over 40 Zorro-titled films were made over the years, including ''[[The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]'', the 1940 classic starring [[Tyrone Power]] and [[Basil Rathbone]]. The character was also featured in ten TV series, the most famous being the Disney-produced ''[[Zorro (1957 TV series)|Zorro]]'' series of 1957–59, starring [[Guy Williams (actor)|Guy Williams]].<ref name=lat /> Zorro appears in several stories written by other authors, comics books and strips, stage productions, video games, and other media. McCulley died in 1958, just as Zorro was at the height of his popularity thanks to the Disney series.