Prepare to be astounded
One of comics’ most popular magicwielding characters, Zatanna, celebrates her 60th anniversary this year.
TON reh tegrof! If you were wondering what that sentence means, then chances are you are not a fan of Zatanna, who casts spells by chanting them backwards. Initially I was tempted to write this entire column backwards as a tribute to her 60th anniversary, but I doubt anyone would want to spend the time reading it that way.
I must confess that I only became a Zatanna fan after her pivotal role in Identity Crisis, where it was revealed that she mind-wiped many DC characters, including Batman. This was a breakthrough for her character and status in the DC Universe, as prior to that she was more of a Bor C-list character.
Anyway, in conjunction with Zatanna’s 60th birthday, let’s go down memory lane to reiterate why we should .... Forget her not.
Daughter of magic
Co-created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, Zatanna Zatara made her comic book debut in the pages of Hawkman (Vol.1) # 4 (November 1964). She is the only child of renowned magician Giovanni “John” Zatara (who made his appearance in
Action Comics #1) and Sindella, both members of the homo magi race, a unique subset of humanity endowed with innate magical abilities.
Zatanna started off as a professional illusionist, before venturing into the role of a mystic superheroine, and later expanding that role as a consultant in matters pertaining to the arcane arts. The latter role has seen her assuming key positions in both the Justice League and its offshoot supernatural branch, the Justice League Dark.
Sadly, Zatanna’s early stories during her first two decades mostly revolved around her investigating on her “disappearing dad”. It was only after
Identity Crisis that her true potential was revealed, which eventually led towards her becoming the DC universe’s equivalent of Marvel’s “Sorcerer Supreme”.
Sdrawkcab gnikaeps
The one characteristic that Zatanna is best known for is the “backwards speak” she uses for when casting spells. This not only requires a few extra seconds of reading and deciphering, but must also be letterer’s nightmare.
It was initially explained that her backwards spells were simply meant to honour her father, and indeed, she has cast her spells by speaking normally on a few occasions (or was that a letterer’s oversight?).
However, in 2018’s Justice League Dark #3, it was revealed that the backwards speech also serves another purpose – to protect her (and everyone) from the Otherkind – a race of mystical monsters.
Wiper of minds
To what extent will superheroes do to protect their secret identities, for the ultimate goal of protecting their loved ones? Well, this question was answered in the 2004’s Identity Crisis miniseries, where it was revealed that Zatanna mind-wiped a host of villains, and even Batman!
The actual deed goes back even further to a 1979 Justice League of America #168 story, where the Secret Society of Super-villains (SSOSV) swapped bodies (and minds) with the Justice League of America (JLA).
That switcheroo allowed the SSOSV to discover the secret identities of their heroic counterparts and learn their personal secrets. In desperation, the JLA got Zatanna to ‘mind wipe’ all of them, which allowed the heroes and their families to live peacefully.
During Identity Crisis ,itwas revealed that the loony villain Dr Light once raped Sue Dibny (the Elongated Man’s wife) at the JLA satellite. To avenge Sue, Zatanna (who was less skillful at the time) wiped the incident from her and Dr Light’s minds. But Zatanna also added a little “extra” to her wipe on Dr Light, rendering him harmless and less, er, bright.
This decision was made by JLA members Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Atom, Elongated Man, Hawkman, Zatanna and the Flash (Barry Allen), who voted for the mind-wipe and held on to their secretly devious act for the sake of the peace and safety of all their loved ones. Eventually, this act led to a crisis of conscience within the JLA, resulting in even the Dark Knight receiving a mind-wipe.
Coincidentally, Catwoman, who was once a villain, also got mindwiped, raising questions about whether her switch to the good side was voluntary or not, and also leading to many exciting encounters between her and Zatanna.
Joker’s baby
If you thought mind-wiping Batman is Zatanna’s most outlandish feat, the spell she cast on the Joker last year beats ‘em all.
In a fun one-shot story at the end of Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #4, Zatanna is so disgusted and angered by the Joker’s attraction towards her that she miscast a spell by saying: “On eno esle lliw reve evah ruoy ybab!” (“No one else will ever have your baby!”).
What happened next was one of the most bizarre stories in DC history (and there have been some really weird ones in the past), in which the Clown Prince of Crime woke up the next morning to discover he’s suddenly nine months pregnant and about to deliver a baby.
He does so by vomiting a blob of sentient mud that morphs into a tiny Joker doppelganger. See, I told you it’s weird.
Puppet phobia
Every hero has a weakness, even Superman, and Zatanna’s “kryptonite” used to be that if you gagged her or prevented her from speaking, she would not be able to cast her spells.
Eventually, someone realised that such a simple way of immobilising a powerful sorceress like Zatanna was kind of illogical, so DC came up with another weakness – “Pupaphobia” aka the fear of puppets.
This was addressed in 2010’s Zatanna (Vol.2) #8-#10, where creators Paul Dini and Cliff Chiang retcons Zatanna’s dark childhood memory into one where she encounters creepy , horrible and soul-sucking puppets.
Back in black
After a few years being a supporting character in other titles as well as being part of teams (JLA, Justice League Dark, to name a couple), Zatanna will finally be getting her own solo title once more this June, this time under DC’S more mature Black Label imprint.
Created by Eisner awardwinning writer Mariko Tamaki
(Detective Comics, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, Crush and Lobo) and artist Javier Rodríguez
(Batman: The Brave And The Bold, The Dreaming: Waking Hours, Tales Of The Titans), Zatanna: Bring Down The House brings our heroine to Las Vegas, where she spends her time performing sleigh-of-hand magic in the city’s worst hotel and casino.
However, when an interdimensional vortex releases a demon hellbent on killing her, she has to confront the “even more terrifying consequences of her past” (source: Dc.com).
The story sounds like a great way to showcase Zatanna’s past as well as bringing her into the future, and here’s hoping we’ll see another 60 years from this character!