Although known primarily these days for drive-by mind wipes, Zatanna has bewitched the DC universe since the early ’60s, when she enlisted members of the Justice League to find her missing father - Zatara.
At that time, the character was a breath of fresh air among DC’s straight-arrow heroes: she was young, inexperienced with her powers, and unafraid to tackle any challenge. Best of all, Zatanna lacked the pretentious gravitas usually given to mystical characters. (For further research, look at Doctors Fate and Strange.)
The character also initiated a storyline that ran across several different magazines before resolving in the Justice League’s own comic. Back in the day, it was rare to see a superheroine play such a major role in what was - and essentially remains - a boy’s club.
(A quick glance at Marvel’s “Avenger’s Disassembled” and “House of M” arcs demonstrates how little has changed. The Scarlet Witch plays a major role, but only because the character’s suddenly unlimited powers have driven her insane - reducing a once strong heroine to the role of victim.)
Even Zatanna’s costume - a longtime fanboy turn-on - had a practical purpose, given that she was a stage illusionist in her “secret identity.”
The character’s back story was expanded in the Bronze Age, when she finally joined the Justice League and discovered her mother was a member of the Homo Magi race (a seeming attempt to provide Zatanna a “cool” factor traditionally associated with the X-Men).
It was an unnecessary addition, but provided little harm. Worse were her new costumes, which were supposedly more appropriate for a true-blue superheroine.
After the JLA folded its tent, the Mistress of Magic hooked up with the much-derided Justice League Detroit, where she developed a liking for the manly Dale Gunn. (In fact, over the years Zatanna has ben one of the few heroines allowed to pursue a sex life that doesn’t involve Green Arrow…)
After her departure from the Justice League, Zatanna played a small, but significant, role in various Vertigo titles. Paul Dini, of Batman: The Animated Series fame, wrote a memorable Zatanna one-shot illustrated by Rick Mays that highlighted the character’s down-to-earth personality.
He also worked on an online Zatanna cartoon that cast the heroine as a teenage character in the mold of Buffy. (Dini is such a fan that his wife, magician Misty Lee, resembles a real-life Zatanna. Cool, and a little bit creepy…)
Other than some memorable appearances in the Batman and Justice League cartoons, little more was heard from Zatanna until her infamous role in Identity Crisis and its sequels.
Happily, Zatanna apparently shook off her angst by the conclusion of a four-issue mini-series that is part of Grant Morrison’s epic Seven Soldiers of Victory project.
What the future holds next for the Mistress of Magic is unknown (one of the Seven Soldiers is destined to die, although that means little in the world of comics), but hopefully Zatanna will regain her status as a bright light in the increasingly dour world of superheroics.
