Comic Book Bios: Zatanna – DC’s Magician

There are quite a few b-list characters at DC, but I think Zatanna Zatara is my favorite. The resident magician for the Justice League, she’s rarely had her own series. Despite this, Zatanna has been around for decades, crossing over into many series and even being a lynch pin plot point for a few stories. While many of the male demographic like Zatanna for her… character design, she actually has depth. I swear!

Created in 1964, she first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4 (the alien cop version, not the Egyptian reincarnation version). Both Zatanna and Hawkman were created by Gardner Fox , with Murphy Anderson also credited with her creation. Zatanna follows in the steps of her father, Giovanni Zatara, as a stage and real magician. Her father was a character during the Golden Age (1938 – 1950s). Zatanna was only a stage performer before she realized she could perform real magic. In one of her earliest tales, she set about trying to solve her fathers murder. The story crossed many different DC titles like Batman and The Atom as Zatanna did not have a book of her own. Zatanna also has a cousin, Zachary Zatara, who follows in the family trade, but isn’t as talented or successful.

Zatanna’s powers are genetic, as she comes for a magical race or something. Not important. To cast spells, she speaks her words backwords. It’s an interesting mechanic. It can be a little annoying sometimes when her spells become too wordy, reading that many phrases backwards. Her powers in practice are rarely more complicated than that. She’s a master of backwards talk, with her only weakness coming from her inability to speak.

Paul Dini has always loved the character, bringing her into the forefront in recent years. On Batman: TAS, Bruce is seen learning how to become an escape artist under Giovanni. Zatanna has a few scenes with him as well, showing there is a spark between them. In 2007, when Dini wrote Detective Comics, he retconned the same idea into issue #833. Since then, there has been many moments between her and Batman, showing mutual feelings. Two other writers have also done tremendous work with the character. Neil Gaiman wrote a series for Vertigo, The Book of Magic. This took her out of the DCU proper, and had her mostly on her own. In the series she becomes friends and guardian over a boy, Timothy Hunter, who’s destined to become the greatest magician in the world. The series ends with him relinquishing his powers. Grant Morrison also took a turn at the character in a 4 issue mini series, part of his Seven Soldiers of Victory series. I read it, couldn’t tell you what happened. Grant Morrison!

Her biggest moment came during Identity Crisis. Here she mind-wiped Dr. Light, Batman, and any other villain that needed it. While I liked the idea, I didn’t like her reaction, or lack there of, to it. She didn’t seem to have an opinion about invading or tampering with people’s minds. She (for the most part), went alone with what she was told, blindly. From there many writers used her mind wipe whenever they wanted. Grant Morrison’s series was the only one to deal with the fallout from this, and how it affected her.

In 2010, Paul Dini started a solo series starring Zatanna. I really enjoyed the series, especially because of Dini’s obvious love of the character. After 12 issues Dini left and Matt Wagner wrote the next and final 4 issues. The series was ultimately cancelled when the New 52 happened (DC rebooted their entire line of books). I think they would have cancelled the book sooner, but opted to keep it until the New 52 dropped.

Zatanna has had a few television appearances beyond her first appearance on Batman: TAS. She was seen in Justice League: Unlimited, Batman: Brave and the Bold, and even a live action showing on Smallville. Her most prolific appearance was on Young Justice, where she was a series regular, joining the team in the first season.

Currently, Zatanna is on the Justice League Dark team. I really don’t like that title. They use the Justice League name to catch a few more sales, while the team is simply many of the magically users in the DCU teaming together. Her characterization has remained the same, largely in thanks to the writing of Jeff Lemire. At least now her new iteration has pants.

What’s your favorite Zatanna story (I love when she teams with Batman)? Like her redesign? Comment below!

Tony writes for his own site, thecredhulk.com, about comics, video games, movies, TV and more, six days a week. You can follow his updates on Facebook or Twitter. Drop by and tell’em hi.

Kluh hsams!