Zatanna Zatara: Appreciation 2020

[Dylan Davison]

20200814_094428.jpg

Justice League Dark #28
written by RAM V
art by AMANCAY NAHUELPAN
cover by KYLE HOTZ
ON SALE 11/24/20
$3.99 US | 32 PAGES | FC | DC
No greater cost than this! As the Justice League Dark’s losses continue to mount, all of Zatanna’s training and adventures have led to a spell that will defeat the Upside-Down Man. But there is always a price. Wonder Woman, Detective Chimp, Doctor Fate, and Man-Bat must contend with their choices and decide how they will move forward after such an explosive ending.

I don't think they would have a cover and solicitation like this if they were killing of Zatanna, it's too on the nose. Ram V just says on Twitter that they have a plan and to keep on reading. The wait till November is killing me. Guess we'll see what the solicitations are for it next month.

[Gaius]

I don't think they would have a cover and solicitation like this if they were killing of Zatanna, it's too on the nose. Ram V just says on Twitter that they have a plan and to keep on reading. The wait till November is killing me. Guess we'll see what the solicitations are for it next month.

I've been suspecting it will probably involve something regarding Zatarra .

Cover art is pretty cool.

[Dylan Davison]

I've been suspecting it will probably involve something regarding Zatarra .

Cover art is pretty cool.

Yeah, I'm assuming Zatarra will be gone "for good", like the cost will be him. He was burning, now she is, so maybe she takes his place, though...I would hate that.

Someone on Twitter pointed out no Swamp Thing in this issue, so he may be one of the three sacrifices mentioned in the solicitation for 27.

Yeah, it's a cool cover, I just hate to see Zee on fire haha.

[Gaius]

Yeah, I'm assuming Zatarra will be gone "for good", like the cost will be him. He was burning, now she is, so maybe she takes his place, though...I would hate that.

Someone on Twitter pointed out no Swamp Thing in this issue, so he may be one of the three sacrifices mentioned in the solicitation for 27.

Yeah, it's a cool cover, I just hate to see Zee on fire haha.

Yeah, something along those lines was what I was thinking. Something like Zatanna has to sacrifice Zatarra to stop the Upside-Down man.

Didn't notice Swamp Thing was missing, thought Diana's hair was supposed to be him for a second. .

[Dylan Davison]

Yeah, something along those lines was what I was thinking. Something like Zatanna has to sacrifice Zatarra to stop the Upside-Down man.

Didn't notice Swamp Thing was missing, thought Diana's hair was supposed to be him for a second. .

I thought that too haha. Didn't notice it wasn't him till someone pointed it out. Well, assuming this is right, and Swampy is gonna bite the dust, as well as Zee's father, we still have one more sacrifice...I'm sure these are gonna be wrong and Ram V will suprise us with something cool haha.

[Frontier]

I don't think they would have a cover and solicitation like this if they were killing of Zatanna, it's too on the nose. Ram V just says on Twitter that they have a plan and to keep on reading. The wait till November is killing me. Guess we'll see what the solicitations are for it next month.

Feels very finale-ish.

[Dylan Davison]

Feels very finale-ish.

Agreed, however the writer has been talking about how his run is continuing and that there's a plan. So maybe books that don't say Finale Issue will be getting a new number 1 or something. Cause he has said in interviews that he was able to change up the team and do his own thing, so I don't think it's ending. It seems very finaleish because it is the end of the Upside Down Man story that has been going on since issue one. But like I said, guess we will see next month haha.

[Edwin30]

SPOILERS
If you haven't been keeping up with JLD (Rebirth), don't read.

I think JLD Rebirth shows us the best version of Zatanna. I found that unlike other writers James Tynion works on her weaknesses by finding new practical ways to overcome them.

Example 1
In JLD vol.1, Zee goes up against Enchantress. She realizes that her magic doesn't work against her. She teleports out and leaves it to the rest of the team to deal with her.

Vs

In JLD Rebirth, in issue #1 Zee finds out that the Otherkind are immune to her magic. But the next time she encounters one of them, she say "My magic might not hurt him but it can hurt the world around him." Then she makes the earth surround him and bind him to the ground.

Example 2
When Amazo attacked the Justice league, he copied Zatanna's magic and used it to take away her mouth.
Zatanna then used her magic by writing the spells with own blood on the ground.

What I didn't like about this was that it was never shown before that her magic could work like that.

Similarly in Paul Dini's Black Canary & Zatanna, when Zee is gagged and strapped to a pole by the Furies, she escapes by "Finger Spelling" her way out of there. Again never shown before.

Vs

In JLD (Rebirth), Mordru takes away her mouth and nose and leaves her to suffocate on the ground.
But the next time, when Circe does the same thing to her, Zee immediately pulls out a switchblade and cuts open her own mouth to get back in the fight.

Its things like these that makes me appreciate James Tynion's Zatanna.

[Gaius]

SPOILERS
If you haven't been keeping up with JLD (Rebirth), don't read.

I think JLD Rebirth shows us the best version of Zatanna. I found that unlike other writers James Tynion works on her weaknesses by finding new practical ways to overcome them.

Example 1
In JLD vol.1, Zee goes up against Enchantress. She realizes that her magic doesn't work against her. She teleports out and leaves it to the rest of the team to deal with her.

Vs

In JLD Rebirth, in issue #1 Zee finds out that the Otherkind are immune to her magic. But the next time she encounters one of them, she say "My magic might not hurt him but it can hurt the world around him." Then she makes the earth surround him and bind him to the ground.

Example 2
When Amazo attacked the Justice league, he copied Zatanna's magic and used it to take away her mouth.
Zatanna then used her magic by writing the spells with own blood on the ground.

What I didn't like about this was that it was never shown before that her magic could work like that.

Similarly in Paul Dini's Black Canary & Zatanna, when Zee is gagged and strapped to a pole by the Furies, she escapes by "Finger Spelling" her way out of there. Again never shown before.

Vs

In JLD (Rebirth), Mordru takes away her mouth and nose and leaves her to suffocate on the ground.
But the next time, when Circe does the same thing to her, Zee immediately pulls out a switchblade and cuts open her own mouth to get back in the fight.

Its things like these that makes me appreciate James Tynion's Zatanna.

I've enjoyed how he handles her as well. If there's ever a new Zatanna solo series I'd like to see him write it.

[The no face guy]

Agreed, however the writer has been talking about how his run is continuing and that there's a plan. So maybe books that don't say Finale Issue will be getting a new number 1 or something. Cause he has said in interviews that he was able to change up the team and do his own thing, so I don't think it's ending. It seems very finaleish because it is the end of the Upside Down Man story that has been going on since issue one. But like I said, guess we will see next month haha.

That's a relief to hear. With Constantine on the chopping block for November I was worried that JLD wouldn't be far behind. Lately I think the writing quality has dipped a bit with Tyrion concentrating on Batman's Joker War, but up until then, it has been one of my favourite ongoing comics.

I hope they bring in Dr. Occult at some point to, he's so underutilized.

[John Venus]

SPOILERS
If you haven't been keeping up with JLD (Rebirth), don't read.

I think JLD Rebirth shows us the best version of Zatanna. I found that unlike other writers James Tynion works on her weaknesses by finding new practical ways to overcome them.

Example 1
In JLD vol.1, Zee goes up against Enchantress. She realizes that her magic doesn't work against her. She teleports out and leaves it to the rest of the team to deal with her.

Vs

In JLD Rebirth, in issue #1 Zee finds out that the Otherkind are immune to her magic. But the next time she encounters one of them, she say "My magic might not hurt him but it can hurt the world around him." Then she makes the earth surround him and bind him to the ground.

Example 2
When Amazo attacked the Justice league, he copied Zatanna's magic and used it to take away her mouth.
Zatanna then used her magic by writing the spells with own blood on the ground.

What I didn't like about this was that it was never shown before that her magic could work like that.

Similarly in Paul Dini's Black Canary & Zatanna, when Zee is gagged and strapped to a pole by the Furies, she escapes by "Finger Spelling" her way out of there. Again never shown before.

Vs

In JLD (Rebirth), Mordru takes away her mouth and nose and leaves her to suffocate on the ground.
But the next time, when Circe does the same thing to her, Zee immediately pulls out a switchblade and cuts open her own mouth to get back in the fight.

Its things like these that makes me appreciate James Tynion's Zatanna.

In Dini's 'Tec run, Zatanna wrote spells with her blood to heal herself after getting shot in the throat by the Joker. So I think Dwayne was building up on that idea in the JLA vs Amazo issue. Then in Zatanna ongoing she showed she could cast spells using palindromes then in another issue we saw a child Zatanna casting spells using a Speak n' Spell because braces made her speech unintelligible. Finally, in Zatanna/Black Canary by Dini we saw her finger spelling (and on the next page we learn that it was actually sign language). So I think there is a fair bit of precedent for her being able to 'finger spell' her way out without needing to speak.

Anyway, I agree about James Tynion writing a great Zatanna.

[Dylan Davison]

Issue 25 of JLD was the best one yet. Fantastic writing and some of the best art and colors in DC today. Zee and Swampy kick some butt in this issue!

I love that in this panel Zatanna says "wep wep" to fire blasts, it's so fun and a very Zee thing to do!

12.jpg

[WallyWestFlash]

Agreed. Today's issue was great and Zatanna was awesome in it as well.

[Gaius]

Issue 25 of JLD was the best one yet. Fantastic writing and some of the best art and colors in DC today. Zee and Swampy kick some butt in this issue!

I love that in this panel Zatanna says "wep wep" to fire blasts, it's so fun and a very Zee thing to do!

12.jpg

Yeah, took me a second to realize the joke.

[Zee_Fan]

Yeah, I really enjoyed this week's issue. Good to see Zee hold her own with the Upside Down Man.