Review by Frank Plowright
Zatanna has always been a favourite among a minority of superhero fans, never enough to sustain her presence in anything other than one-shots, but in Paul Dini there’s a writer who’s also really fond of her potential and personality. So fond, in fact, that he wove her presence into Batman continuity.
In 2010 he persuaded DC to let him loose on a regular monthly series. While Zatanna by Paul Dini presents the complete run plus extras, this is the better buy as it’s Dini when still enthusiastic, not needing fill-ins, and largely paired with the best artist to work on the series, Stephane Roux over two three chapter stories.
The opener begins with a magic-based slaughter in a San Francisco restaurant. As well as establishing Zatanna hides in plain sight by operating as a stage magician, Dini at a stroke introduces several viable mystical foes for a character who’s never developed recurring villains. A supporting cast are also needed and duly supplied, although the strutting, angry cop never develops beyond cliché.
While the opening three chapters provide a story hitting the right beats, Roux’s art prevents too much concentration on the formulaic aspects stitching it all together. When all is said and done there’s no great reason for Brother Night to start his murderous campaign other than Zatanna needing a threat. However, Roux’s pages look back to the glamour artists of the 1940s and 1950s, supplying a Zatanna complying with the fetishised look that’s sustained her over the years, yet recognising 21st century imperatives by not overly sexualising her. Chad Hardin and Jesus Saiz draw the following story, and while both good, they don’t have Roux’s sheer illustrative presence, although Saiz designs a nice corpulent demon.
That second story introduces Zatanna’s cousin Zach, also capable of magic employing words spoken backwards, but lost in a dissolute fog, envying Zatanna’s success while not willing to put in the same dedication to achieve it. He’ll develop later in the series, but shows his good side in what’s a more successful plot even if there’s a feeling Zatanna is too easily deceived.
Dini’s Zatanna stories are expensive in any form, suggesting DC are missing a trick by not reprinting them.
