Zorro (Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He is portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of California against corrupt and tyrannical officials and other villains. The character was featured in a total of five serialized stories and 57 short stories, the last one appearing in print posthumously in 1959, the year after his death.