Significant entry in the Santo canon because it manages (through the use of time travel, back to the year 1603) to provide our hero with an origin story. Like The Phantom ("the first costumed super hero") and The Green Hornet (a descendant of none other than The Lone Ranger), El Santo comes from a long line of masked heroes. (As with the origin of The Lone Ranger- as shown in the television episode, ENTER THE LONE RANGER-, Santo1603 never shows his face. He first appears wearing a silver domino mask and later, during a duel, is careful not to present his mug to the camera. Huerta, like other performers before him- Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger, who rarely appeared in public sans mask, or Harpo Marx, who wouldn't speak in public- understood the value of Image... and so hid his own from view.) The only real problem I had with this one was the time travel angle: I would've preferred a straight period-piece telling of his origin. A quibble, perhaps, but a quibble, nonetheless.
Review of The Diabolical Axe
