Zatanna

Zatanna
File:Zatanna-hughes.png Zatanna, from the cover of Catwoman vol. 3, #58. Art by Adam Hughes.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics/Vertigo
First appearance	Hawkman vol. 1 #4 (October-November, 1964)
Created by	Gardner Fox Murphy Anderson
In-story information
Alter ego	Zatanna Zatara
Species	Homo magi
Team affiliations	Seven Soldiers of Victory Justice League Sentinels of Magic
Notable aliases	Primak
Abilities	Skilled and powerful user of magic.

Zatanna Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4 (October-November 1964).

Fictional character biography

Zatanna is the daughter of magician Giovanni Zatara (who appeared in Golden Age comic books) and Sindella, a member of the mystical “Homo magi” race. Zatanna is a direct descendant of the alchemist Nicholas Flamel (who was a famous alchemist in the 14th and 15th centuries), and Nostradamus. Her younger cousin, the teenager Zachary Zatara, is also a magician in the DCU.

The Vertigo series Madame Xanadu also has Zatanna's father as homo magi, and a descendant of Leonardo da Vinci. Zatara notes she met the Phantom Stranger as a child, and the Stranger gave her da Vinci's notebooks, written backwards. In time Zatara used this to focus her powers.

Zatanna makes her living as a stage illusionist prior to discovering her magical abilities while investigating the disappearance of her father. Zatanna's search for her father was the subject of the first major comic book crossover in 1964, and in it, Zatanna interacts with Batman and Robin (in disguise as a witch and under the control of the villain The Outsider), Hawkman and Hawkwoman (Vol. 1, #4, Nov. 1964), the Atom (#19, May 1965), Green Lantern (Vol. 2, #42, Jan. 1966) and Elongated Man (Detective #355, Sept. 1966). The series culminated in Justice League of America #51 (Feb. 1967). This Justice League adventure took place during the Batman television craze where Batman was featured prominently on the cover. The premise that the witch in Detective #336 was Zatanna was perceived by many fans at the time as an attempt to get Batman participating in this issue of Justice League of America no matter how vague the connection to Zatanna's quest was.

Zatanna assists the Justice League of America on a number of cases before being elected to membership in Justice League of America #161 (Dec. 1978). During her tenure with the group, her power level diminishes, so that she can only control the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water; this limitation is reversed in World's Finest Comics #277 (Mar. 1982).

In the 1993 limited series Zatanna: Come Together, Zatanna worries about her lack of focus in using magic. She decides that her father's style of magic is wrong for her, and explores her mother's mystical heritage. This has since been ignored by most writers.

File:Zatannalight.PNG

Zatanna mind-wiping Doctor Light. Art by Brian Bolland.

In the 2004 limited series Identity Crisis, Zatanna is a member of the Justice League at the time the villain Dr. Light brutally attacks and rapes the Elongated Man's wife, Sue Dibny. When apprehended, he threatens the JLA members' families. Although Zatanna is prepared to erase Light's memories of the incident (as she had done to other villains with dangerous knowledge to the League), tampering with Light's mind sparks a debate among the League members: should the villain's personality be transformed in order to prevent him from repeating his crime? Zatanna, Hawkman, and The Atom (Ray Palmer) vote for such action, while Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) vote against. The Flash (Barry Allen) breaks the tie. Zatanna mind-wipes Light, and the process results in his intellectual abilities being lowered. In the midst of the process, Batman appears and tries to stop it. Zatanna freezes him, and the members vote to erase Batman's memories of the incident as well.

Her passionate relationship to Batman sours after he discovers the alteration to his memory. When Zatanna helps Batman with reconnaissance at one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits, she asks him why he came to her. "I needed someone I could trust," Batman says. "But I had to settle for you." However, after Infinite Crisis, their relationship appears to have warmed; in Detective Comics #824 he calls her for information on a card-counter involved in scamming the Penguin. He makes no mention of their conflict, and casually calls her by her nickname, "Zee".

After departing from the League, Zatanna continues to appear on stage and to defend against mystical threats, joining the Sentinels of Magic.

Catwoman discovers that Zatanna's mind-wipe of Dr. Light in Identity Crisis is not an isolated occurrence; Catwoman's journey from villain to hero and her resulting efforts to lead a moral life are retconned as being the result of Zatanna's mental intervention. Catwoman comes to distrust her memories, motives, and the choices she has made since that incident. In retaliation, Catwoman covers Zatanna's mouth with a piece of duct tape and shoves her out a window.

File:Zatanna7s.jpg

Cover art for Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #1, by Ryan Sook.

A 2005 four-issue Zatanna limited series was published as part of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory event. In it, at a support group for superheroes, she recounts a failed magical ritual to search for her father's tomes, during which one of her past spells summons a shapeshifter named Gwydion, who kills her companions. This trauma, combined with her guilt from her former mind-wipes, robs her of her powers. With the help of her new apprentice, Misty Kilgore, she captures Gwydion to use as her own. She eventually regains her confidence and powers, and uses them to defeat Zor, a rogue Time Tailor who released the Sheeda as a plague to infect and degrade the entire universe. As a reward, the other Time Tailors allow her one last meeting with her father, who reveals that his books were written in her, his "greatest spell and gift to the world." In the final battle against the Sheeda, Zatanna casts a spell to move time and space, retroactively positioning the Seven Soldiers to overthrow the Sheeda.

In Detective Comics #833 (August 2007), it is stated that Zatanna's father was a friend of Thomas Wayne. Zatara trained Bruce Wayne in the art of escape; and Bruce and Zatanna were childhood friends (although Batman believes that he has never met in her Justice League of America #51, and her only memory of meeting him is while she was disguised). Bruce helps Zatanna investigate the death of one of her former assistants; all clues point to a performer named Ivar Loxias. However, Loxias is revealed to be the Joker in disguise; he shoots Zatanna in the throat and incapacitates Batman. Zatanna is able to heal herself by writing a curing spell in her own blood, and she is instrumental in foiling the Joker's scheme. Bruce puts Zatanna's betrayal behind him, allowing the two to renew their friendship.

Zatanna helps Catwoman, to whom she owes a favor, mind-wiping Angle Man and Film Freak, who had been subdued by Selina after the two discovered her secret identity and threatened her child.

Following the flooding of Earth-26, the Zoo Crew and other humanoid animal refugees escape, transformed into their animal counterparts and unable to speak, even though they retain their human-level intelligence. Zatanna encounters the group and takes Captain Carrot as a pet for use in her magic act, unaware of his true identity (Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #3, February 2008). The Crew has their anthropomorphic forms and powers restored in Final Crisis #7 by Nix Uotan.

On the "Roll Call" of Justice League of America #22, Zatanna is listed as a part of the team. Called upon to help with Red Tornado's restoration in his android form, she aids the League when they are attacked by a new, powerful iteration of Amazo. During the battle, Zatanna has her mouth magically removed, and once again uses her blood to write out spells and restore it. However, she is silenced again after Amazo uses his power ring to create a gag for her mouth, rendering her useless for much of the fight. After Wonder Woman throws off Amazo's concentration and causes the gag to vanish, Zatanna defeats Amazo once and for all by using Red Tornado's soul. Following this battle, Zatanna rejoins the team.

Shortly before the mysterious disappearance of Batman and the Final Crisis events Zatanna is stalked and targeted by Hush, wanting to get his vengeance over Bruce Wayne using the people he loves most: Zatanna herself and Selina Kyle. Zatanna escapes Hush's wrath, and is able to provide help and relief to the wounded Catwoman.

In the Reign in Hell storyline, Blue Devil comes to her to seek assistance in reaching Hell. Both convene in recruiting Sargon the Sorcerer; Zatanna's motives to venture into the realm include helping the soul of her father, locked in the Gull, Hell's commercial province as a spy for the resistance. However, Lobo kills the soul of Zatara, making his retrieval impossible. Rather than allow himself to be rendered for the bricks and mortar of Hell, Zatara begs her to send him to the Abyss (soul death), the worst fate aside from rendering. Seeking revenge from Lobo for being forced to kill her father, she goes over her head and ultimately Sargon sacrifices himself to Lobo's mercy to allow all other heroes and anti-heroes to escape Hell altogether; Zatanna is left badly shaken from the whole ordeal.

Zatanna later accompanies Firestorm, Black Lightning, and Batman to Metropolis after they come to believe Kimiyo Hoshi has been kidnapped by agents of the covert metahuman team known as the Shadow Cabinet. After a brief conflict, Zatanna and the others are informed by teenaged superheroine Rocket that Kimiyo's perceived abduction was actually a misunderstanding caused by the Shadow Cabinet's mission to seek out her help in dealing with the cosmic vampire known as Starbreaker. With assistance from Hardware and Icon, Zatanna and her comrades are able to defeat Starbreaker in a massive battle in the Himalayas.

In Gotham City Sirens Zatanna is visited and violently restrained by Poison Ivy, who interacts via a tree and asks her if her encounter with Catwoman changed Selina in any way.

Zatanna takes a leave of absence from the JLA, only to reappear during a battle with Despero. Once Despero is defeated, Zatanna informs the League of the apocalyptic events of the Blackest Night taking place across the globe. After taking the team to the Hall of Justice to find Firestorm, she is forced to fight the undead form of her father, continually pitting the black magic he wields against her own; it is implied she was successful in banishing the Black Lantern, but was left psychologically crushed from having to kill her father again (in a fashion). In the aftermath of Blackest Night, Kimiyo mentions that Zatanna is one of the members who has left the team.

In May 2010 Zatanna began starring in her own solo series, written by Paul Dini and with art from Stephane Roux. Now no longer an active member of the JLA, Zatanna is asked by officer Dale Colton to help her solve a murder case at a restaraunt frequented by mobsters. Zatanna informs Dale that the murderer was a powerful sorcerer known as Brother Night, who rules the supernatural crime scene in San Francisco. After Zatanna shows up at Night's demonic nightclub and threatens him, he responds by calling upon a powerful demon for help in taking her down.

Relationships

Zatanna has had various romantic relationships with fellow DC characters, including John Constantine (with whom she practiced tantra) and Doctor Thirteen. Zatanna also has a kindly semi-parental friendship with Timothy Hunter and also had a brief flirtational relationship with her fellow Justice Leaguer the Flash (Barry Allen) shortly after the death of his wife Iris.
She also (currently) has a strong friendship with Batman due to their shared (retconned) pasts. In Detective Comics #843 and #844, Zatanna and Bruce briefly discuss the possibility of having a more meaningful relationship. Both later concede that Bruce is too devoted to his cause as Batman to give her the relationship she wishes for, but the pair reaffirm their bond as close friends.
Catwoman, however, appears to consider Zatanna a more dangerous contender for Bruce's attentions than Jezebel Jet (his current fiancée at the time). A pep talk between the two women confirms how Zatanna really meant, during the fateful discussion with Bruce, to explore the possibility of a true romance, but turned out quietly resigned to the role of best friend and confidante. Claiming to act on Bruce's best interest, she pushes Selina into confessing her feelings to Bruce, thus stealing him from Jezebel Jet before it's too late. When Zatanna and her comrades attempt to track down Starbreaker in the headquarters of the Shadow Cabinet (a short time after Bruce's death), the trickster god Anansi sends Paladin, the western inspired-Batman he created in his multiverse world, to aid them. Upon seeing the alternate Bruce, Zatanna immediately bursts into tears of joy and embraces him in her arms before realizing he is not the Bruce she knew.

Zatanna has also a strong bond to Rose Psychic and Doctor Occult, who apparently acted as surrogate parents to her after Sindella's disappearance, with Rose distinctly remembering about how she used to bounce [Zatanna] on her knee.

Alternate versions

• An alternate version of Zatanna with blond hair is seen in the 2005 series Books of Magick: Life During Wartime. In the series, Zatanna fights for a coalition of humans and faeries against the dictatorial class of faerie-ruling elites.
• Annataz Arataz, Zatanna's evil Earth-3 counterpart, assists Superman-Prime to detain and torment Mr. Mxyzptlk in Countdown to Final Crisis #23. The imp refuses to provide Prime with information, and Annataz restores his powers. Reflecting upon her own prior cruel actions, she allows herself to be killed by the enraged villain. Her spells are recited "upside-down", rather than backwards.
• Zatanna's evil Antimatter Earth counterpart, who unlike the Earth-3 counterpart is called Zatanna, is briefly mentioned in Trinity #35, as one of the few survivors of a purge on magic users.
• In the Amalgam Comics universe, Zatanna is merged with Scarlet Witch of the Avengers to form a character known as Wanda Zatara, the White Witch.

Powers and abilities

Zatanna is a powerful sorceress whose abilities are apparently genetic. As a tribute to her father and as a focal point, she usually casts spells by speaking verbal commands backwards. She has also proven capable on many occasions of casting spells by speaking normally, and, in rarer occasions, the ability to use magic for simple tasks without speaking. Like Black Canary, Zatanna's reliance on her voice often led to her being bound and gagged by villains in Silver Age stories, thus rendering her 'powerless'. On very rare occasions, Zatanna has cast spells by writing them in her own blood rather than speaking them aloud. As stated by herself and Batman, blood magic is far more powerful than spoken incantations. It's used as a last resort, only to heal from severe physical damage preventing her to speak, like having her larynx mangled by a bullet, or her mouth magically erased by her own powers . The only magic command issued in both cases, Heal me, had to be spelled backwards, as she were speaking (laeH em).

Overuse of her magical powers can deplete them to the point that further use of logomancy starts to put a considerable strain on her physical well-being: as with other magical users, the only way to restore her waning powers is an extended period of rest

Even if not as precisely as Madame Xanadu, Zatanna has proven herself able to call upon tarot reading for insight or divination . Apparently, such a task doesn't require verbal incantations, spoken or written, at all, nor is it tied to a specific tarot deck.

The limits of her powers have never been clearly established. She has been called the most powerful member of the Justice League, and is often depicted working alongside the most powerful magic-users on Earth, including Doctor Fate, Madame Xanadu, and Captain Marvel. She has used her powers to command elemental forces, heal, transmute and transmogrify objects, manipulate minds, and attack her opponents with energy blasts. She has resurrected the city of Metropolis from ruin , merged Aquaman's spirit with the entire ocean, and manipulated time and space. During a portion of her initial tenure with the Justice League, her powers were more limited, consisting in the manipulation of fire, air, water, and earth. Furthermore, her powers seems tied to her self-confidence, as the long series of blunders described in Seven Soldiers left her both emotionally and psychologically shattered, powerless, until she was able to restore her lost confidence.

Zatanna may be harmed by magic, even if her training makes her able to defend from the most magic users. Along with Etrigan and the Phantom Stranger she was able to hold her own against a host-less Spectre, and was later able to banish alone the god-empowered Mary Marvel from her home, but the current iteration of Amazo was able to employ her own powers to take away her voice, acting fast enough to leave her off guard and unable to defend herself. Powerful enchantments against beings of magic, like gods, are able to restrict her as well, preventing her to access enchanted places or dispel the adverse charm.

Zatanna is a skilled illusionist, showgirl and stage magician even without resorting to her innate magical powers. In fact she considers part of her "training" exercising sleight of hand tricks, and she claims to have invented a variation of the three card shuffle game called the Zatara shuffle, in which she's so fast and precise that, even without resorting to cheating, only skilled gamblers like Selina Kyle are able to follow the movements of her hands.

Zatanna owns a mansion called Shadowcrest, in which she keeps a vast library of magical knowledge, as well as an arsenal of powerful relics, enough to do "just about anything you'd want to do." Shadowcrest seems to exist in a completely different dimension, although it is initially located outside of Gotham.

Other media

Television

File:Zatanna.JPG

Zatanna as seen in the Justice League Unlimited episode "This Little Piggy".

• Zatanna first appears in a Batman: The Animated Series episode "Zatanna" voiced by Julie Brown. She appears as an illusionist with no apparent magic powers. She developed a close relationship with Bruce Wayne (who was using the alias "John Smith") during the years in which Bruce was traveling the globe learning skills that later serve him as Batman. Zatanna later comes to Gotham City with her magic show, but finds herself being framed by a criminal magic debunker named Montague Kane. Her efforts to restore her name and stop the villain put her side-by-side with the Batman.

• Zatanna made a short appearance in Batman Beyond episode "Out of the Past" (season three, episode five) in a collection of pictures that Bruce is looking at on his computer of past loves, alongside Lois Lane, Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Barbara Gordon.

• Zatanna appears in Justice League Unlimited episode "This Little Piggy" voiced by Jennifer Hale. She helps Batman search for the villainess Circe (who has turned Wonder Woman into a pig). Zatanna is apparently aware of Batman's true identity since her last appearance ("Bruce! I haven't seen you for so long...") and knows him well enough to perceive his romantic relationship with Wonder Woman. She seems to be very good friends with Batman, as they often banter ("Don't get snippy with me!"). In her JLU depictions, her spells are often cast backwards, but almost equally often cast without words, and on one occasion, speaking normally. She also appeared in the episode "The Balance" (voiced by an uncredited Juliet Landau) amongst the magic-based superheroes affected by the disturbance in the magical balance. In "Destroyer", Zatanna appears as one of many Justice League Members called to help fight the invading Apokoliptan forces. She transforms an entire flock of Parademons into doves, then transmutes them into explosive energy, and destroys several Apokoliptan battleships with them. DCAU writer Paul Dini wrote both of Zatanna's former and latter appearances described above, and apparently likes the character quite a lot. In 1998, Alan Burnett told Wizard Magazine "Paul Dini wanted to use Zatanna because he’s secretly in love with her. It’s something we try not to talk about too much." Dini later married magician Misty Lee.

File:Serinda Swan as Zatanna Zatara.jpg

Serinda Swan as Zatanna Zatara on Smallville.

• Zatanna appeared in the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of Smallville, titled "Hex", played by actress Serinda Swan. She is described as the daughter of the deceased John Zatara, "the world's greatest magician." Zatanna is at the Ace of Clubs, where Chloe Sullivan’s party is being held. To enlighten her birthday, Zatanna uses magic to make Chloe’s inner desire come true- which makes her look like Lois Lane. She later goes to Oliver Queen to offer him a deal: to grant him his wish if he returns her father’s magical book to her. She is later confronted by Clark and Chloe, explains that her magic grants peoples inner wish until they no longer want it, and grants Clark’s wish to be normal. Once she gets the Book of Zatara from Green Arrow, whom she recognizes as Oliver, it is revealed that she wants to use it to bring her father back. When Oliver is about to destroy the book, he is magically chained up to a post. With the magic over Clark and Chloe being uplifted, Zatanna has to realize that her father sacrificed himself so she could live. She later goes to Oliver to explain herself, and decides to help him if he encounters any supernatural foes along the way by leaving him her phone number. The role was reprised in the ninth season of Smallville in the episode, titled "Warrior", once again played by Serinda Swan.

• Zatanna appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the teaser of "Chill of the Night!" Jennifer Hale reprises her role of Zatanna from Justice League Unlimited. She and Batman stop Abra Kadabra from robbing a museum exhibit displaying the history of magicians. While Batman holds back the mind control slaves, Zatanna battles Kadabra, and traps him in her hat. She later pulls out a tiny bird cage with Kadabra in it, winning the magic battle. Though she relies primarily on vocal spells, she is also shown to be able to effectively wield Kadabra's magic wand after he binds her mouth closed. This version of Zatanna wears a slightly modified version of her original outfit, albeit with her trademark fishnets replaced by purple tights.

Film

• In 2005 screenwriter Hadley Davis (Ice Princess) announced that she had written an action-comedy featuring a teenaged version of Zatanna. Nothing further was ever heard about this project, and it is presumed to have been abandoned.

Web animation

File:ZatannaCM.jpg

Teenage Zatanna in Cartoon Monsoon

• Zatanna makes two appearances in the Gotham Girls flash animation episodes, voiced by Stacie Randall. In "A Little Night Magic", Zatanna walks home on her own after doing a magic show and has some adventures on the way: She turns a robber's gun into a snake, splits a truck in half when it almost runs her over, and turns some street thugs into toads after they take her hat. In "Hold the Tiger", Zatanna stops Catwoman from stealing the Cat's Eye Opals from a jewelry store. Zatanna doesn't arrest Catwoman but instead asks Catwoman for help in finding her white tiger.

Two episodes of a Cartoon Monsoon contest entry feature Zatanna as a teenage hero who is a cross between Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This saw her match wits with Klarion the Witch Boy, and also featured her father (referred to only as "Zatara") as well as the new character of Zatanna's older, non-magic-wielding brother (named "Damon" in promotional literature, though his name was only mentioned once in the second episode).

Video games

• Zatanna is a playable character in the console videogame Justice League Heroes voiced by Kari Wahlgren.

• Zatanna is set to appear in the upcoming video game DC Universe Online.

Parodies/Homages

• Zatanna was spoofed in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Just-Us League of Supertoons" as Fifi Le Fume's alter-ego, Scentanna the Mystical Maiden of Musk.

• Zatanna was also spoofed in The Fairly OddParents episode, "The Masked Magician", where Timmy Turner had an alter-ego called The Masked Magician.

External links

• Zatanna's secret origin on DC Comics.com
• Zatanna at the DC Database Project
• Index to Zee's Earth-1 adventures
• Morrison's 7 Soldiers Part Five: Zatanna, Comicon, September 9, 2005
• Seven Soldiers: Zatanna annotations at Barbelith
• Zatanna: A Magic Story in Spanish.
• Zatanna at the Grand Comics Database
• Zatanna at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)