By: Paul Dini (writer), Cliff Chiang (artist), John Kalisz (colorist), Adam Beechen (feature writer), Jamal Igle (feature penciller), Robin Riggs (feature inker)
The Story: What better way to treat the puppet that’s going to kill you than invite him to your home? Also, Zatanna, junior sorceress, learns braces can really get you down.
The Review: Magic is an enormously potent sowing ground for stories. Because it can do and be pretty much anything, it’s limited only by writer’s ingenuity—and by the writer’s skill. Too often, especially in superhero comics, it gets used as story fodder for the characters, or a deus ex machina to explain away anything the writer can’t figure out more tangibly. Because of magic’s elastic nature, writers have to create some physics for how it works in their stories. When they don’t, magical stories easily become unconvincing, confusing, or just plain random.
Paul Dini may be starting to apply some rules to magic in Zatanna’s world—a good thing, especially for this particular character. No two writers have ever portrayed her powers the same way, with the possible exception of her backwards-talk, and even that doesn’t get consistent treatment. Despite all her many appearances throughout the years, you still don’t really have a handle on her abilities, and that’s partially because in the DCU, magic is so elastically defined by all the writers who have tried to use it that there’s no sense of order to it at all.
You can see this disorder every time Zatanna uses her powers in this issue, which always leaves you with a bunch of nagging questions. For example, with her infamous “pots” spell, does she freeze time around the person? Are they paralyzed? If they’re paralyzed, how come the puppet can still talk? Is it because he’s magicked already? Can people think in this “deppots” state? How long do they stay that way? What are the spell’s limitations? Sure, you can just accept it for what it is, but you’re sure to be bothered when it pops up again and works a different way.
There are also the bigger questions of how powerful Zatanna exactly is, how necessary it is for her to use backwards-talk or her voice altogether, and how different kinds of magic counter each other. Dini’s making an effort to address some of these things by confronting Zatanna with one of her own father’s own spells. The end of the issue sees the return of Shadowcrest, the Zatara estate, which hasn’t showed up since it was first introduced in Countdown. We can only hope Dini will use the opportunity next time to expand and clarify Zatanna’s mythology.
Adam Beechen’s feature on a prepubescent Zatanna hits the right balance of sweet and funny, although it flies right into the face of even current continuity where Zatanna doesn’t discover backwards-spells until after her father disappears. Still, the gag of her leaky braces is just fun (but wisely not overplayed to the point it gets ridiculous and way too gross), and gets treatment from Jamal Igle’s delightful lines to boot. It’s enjoyable, but it does cut short the main story, and in the long-run, I hope this is only an occasional interlude.
Cliff Chiang has become a huge boon to this series. He’s not spectacular at drawing action, which looks a bit stiff from time to time, but everything is clean, detailed, and stylish. He has a great sense of point-of-view, getting tight and backing out for the most emotional punch. And whether it’s Chiang’s art or Igle’s, John Kalisz always gives them the most vibrant colors.
Conclusion: This issue offers a stronger outlook on the series’ future than the last, thanks to more focused, less formulaic storytelling from Dini, a lively co-feature from Beechen, and strong art overall. It all depends on the next issue’s wrap-up to see if this series has what it takes to make it in the long-run.
Grade: B+
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – “Emutsoc raeppa!” I find it hilarious Zatanna has to change into her “business” clothes before getting on with interrogating the puppet.
– Nice shout-out to Zatanna’s escapist rivalry with Mr. Miracle and Batman. Hope we get to see more Houdini stuff from her.
Grade
Conclusion