The dynamic duo of old California ride! Lady Zorro and Lady Rawhide team to keep Southern California safe from all those who dare harm those less fortunate. But is their comic any good? Major Spoilers reviews Lady Rawhide/Lady Zorro #1 from Dynamite Entertainment.

LADY RAWHIDE/LADY ZORRO #1
Writer: Shannon Eric Denton
Artist: Rey Villegas
Colorist: Morgan Hickman
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Lady Rawhide/Lady Zorro: Both Lady Rawhide and Lady Zorro have had series running at Dynamite Entertainment, and though I could have sworn the two have teamed up before…

WHEN THE FOX IS AWAY

With Don Diego away in Northern California helping to build a new mission, Lady Rawhide and Lady Zorro are left to keep order and protect the innocents. They do quite the job of it. Not only do they rescue a native tribe, they are also able to fake Zorro’s death to help increase the legend of the hero… and all of this happens in the first couple of pages! The two also have a good conversation on who they should protect, why they should protect them, and how far is too far when it comes to taking out the bad guys.

That is where the issue gets interesting.

A young child stumbles out of the underbrush and tells the two heroes that brigands have captured her village and things are going to get really bad really quick. With revenge in their hearts, the two decide to aid the young girl, but first they need to get her to safety. Unfortunately, no place is south in the South Land.

Shannon Eric Denton’s set up in this issue works great. It instantly sets up the characters for those who may not know the duo from their individual series, creates a little conflict in their methodologies of the two heroes, and sets up an impossible situation that they must get out of. Considering the pulp nature of the universe the characters reside in, the melodramatic nature of the tale works well, but the damsels tapped with a dozen or more baddies kind of veers into the uncomfortable realm.

WHIP AND SWORD

Rey Villegas does a stellar job on the art in this issue! A ton of detail in every single panel gives the reader a lot to look at, and makes the world feel bigger than the characters that inhabit it. There are some great action sequences, but there are a few moments where (to me) the screen continuity gets a little twisted, but it’s only in one sequence and doesn’t harm the story at all.While Lady Rawhide dresses in the leather corset and thigh high boots, Lady Zorro’s costume is a perfect look to fool those who are looking for that other guy.

The color scheme is rather interesting in this issue. The abundance of red and brown tones is a unique way telling a story at night, and when I first saw it, gave off a very Francesco Francavilla vibe in the way the artist uses a limited color palette in his work. Morgan Hickman doesn’t fall into the overly heavy blacks and darker than they should be shadows, and that brings up the overall look of the issue. The coloring works especially well on the last page when the heroes enter a very dark church and we can still see all the wonderful details in Villegas’s art.

BOTTOM LINE: BUY IT

I liked this issue more than I thought i would. At first the concept comes off as a sexy sexy ploy by the publisher to make some quick cash of the lonely hearts of the world, but quickly the author and artist throw us into an adventure that grabs us and leaves us wanting more. Good plot and great art make this an issue you should pick up this week when it arrives in stores.