La maschera sul volto

Can a famous masterpiece of Elizabethan theatre come to life in the rugged America of fur trappers, transforming a poet’s grim and bloody tale into tragic reality? Zagor and Chico can’t possibly know but the dangers looming over old McKean (head of the American Fur Company, in constant rivalry with the English Hudson’s Bay Company) seem to echo the dark omens of a royal murder: that of King Duncan of Scotland, slain in the chambers of Lord and Lady Macbeth.

McKean’s ambitious right-hand man, Taylor, plotting to usurp his position, allies with the British and orchestrates the massacre of the trappers under their business partner, Bill Eyck. Zagor intervenes to help the survivors and follows them to Fort Wolf.

But events take a darker turn when Bill Eyck now seeking to lead the American Fur Company himself, kills Taylor in revenge, then murders McKean and attempts to shift the blame onto Wabuno’s Delaware tribe. He aligns with the English under Colonel Starkley, who launch a brutal attack on the Delaware, slaughtering women and children, unleashing Zagor’s unstoppable wrath.

Also entangled in the web are Michael, McKean’s son, returning from England, and Milton, Wabuno’s enigmatic brother.

And hanging over the head of the treacherous Bill Eyck is the chilling prophecy of False Face, a mysterious Iroquois shaman who hides his identity behind a haunting wooden mask:

“The killing of McKean will not bring him fortune!”