The first Zorro story was a 1919 novel, "The Curse of Capistrano", by Johnston McCulley. He soon becomes a regular character in pulp fiction magazines. McCulley was inspired by the story of the real bandit Salomon Pico and other real Mexican bandits who robbed Americans after the Mexican-American War. However, because his readers were Americans, McCulley had his Zorro fighting Spanish people instead of Americans.