Shipping This Week -- 05.04.06

DETECTIVE COMICS #805
INTIMATES #6 (MR)
LEX LUTHOR MAN OF STEEL #2 (OF 5)
LOSERS #22 (MR)
SEVEN SOLDIERS ZATANNA #1 (OF 4)
Y THE LAST MAN #32 (RES) (MR)

SEA OF RED #1 (MR)
WALKING DEAD #17 (MR)

GLA #1 (OF 4)
INCREDIBLE HULK #80
MARVEL TEAM-UP #7 (MOON KNIGHT WOO!)
SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL #3 (OF 7)
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #17
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #75

COMICS JOURNAL #267 (mmmmaybe; I just bought the HUGE $25 CJ special, focusing primarily on manga [not enough for my taste] & Vaughn Bode [way too much for the same taste], & might give the Official Rag a shot)

Everything else I read last night was fantastic though - Y (hott!), Oceans (the 'Doors' computer corporation, har har), Walking Dead, Astonishing X-Men (with a very Morrisonish concept, it seems), and Runaways #2.

Speaking of art, there still aren't backgrounds as such in Astonishing, but there IS that fantastic splash page of Hell/the Danger Room!

- silver age character, member of JLA for a bit, has magic powers
- well known for wearing fishnets and saying spells backwards
- daughter of Golden Age wizard Zatara who got killed in an Alan Moore Swamp Thing. He also did the backwards thing; the fishnets, less so.

"Giovanni "John" Zatara was born on March 10, 1919. Descended from a long line of magicians and mystics, Zatara also became a powerful mage. At the age of fifteen, he receives a box of magic tricks from his grandfather, and began practicing stage magic. (DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5, Secret Origins #27) Using only his last name, he became a stage magician and crime fighter and debuted early in the Golden Age of heroes. He was a contemporary of the likes of Dr. Occult and Sargon. (Action #1) He occasionally teamed up with other mystics, and during World War II, he also joined the super-hero community in the All-Star Squadron. (All-Star Squadron #59)

Thirty years ago, Zatara met Sindella of the Homo magi race in Turkey. They relocated to America and their daughter, Zatanna, was born within a year. Several months later, Sindella faked her death in a car crash to spare Zatanna from being captured by the Homo magi. (Justice League of America #164)

Zatanna also had a romantic relationship with John Constantine, which began when they first studied magic together. As Zatanna was still a teenager, Zatara always disapproved of this union; he felt his daughter deserved a better, smarter, more heroic man than Constantine. They broke up following an incident in Newcastle, where he destroyed the demon, Nergal with the help of three Angels. After this, Constantine was committed to a mental asylum.

When she was only eighteen years old, Zatanna's father was cursed by an evil elemental known Allura. Since the nature of Allura's curse was such that both Zatanna and Zatara would die if the two ever set eyes on one another again, Zatara decided to leave Earth and travel among various mystical realms in order to protect his daughter. When she noticed her father was missing, however, Zatanna began a lengthy search for him. With the help of the Justice League, Zatanna finally located her father in the mystic dimension of Kharma and helped Allura's heroic counterpart to force her evil twin to remove the curse. (#51)

Zatanna teamed with the JLA several more times (#87, 100) before becoming a member. She joined after helping the JLA battle the War lock of Ys, one of Green Lantern's old nemeses, (Justice League of America #161) and remained a member until just before the Martian Manhunter dissolved the Justice League after Professor Ivo began systematically murdering its members. (#257)

Eventually, Zatanna went in search of her mother as well. She discovered the hidden Homo magi society, who had enslaved Sindella. Sindella committed suicide to destroy in order to save Zatanna from the same fate. (#162-165)

It is said that Zatanna is made up of pure magic, and she is considered one of the most formidable mages on the planet. For a time, she lost a great deal of this power (#191) Just before she left the JLA, Zatanna mystically merged with the "Godhead," the collective consciousness of all beings, living and dead. She believed that this event would change her life forever. Perhaps it did; when she next appeared, it appeared that her magical abilities were back at full strength. (World's Finest #277, Spectre v.2 #7)

Zatanna and her father were part of a large collection of Earth's sorcerers assembled by John Constantine to battle the primordial Shadow Creature that threatened Heaven itself, a battle which cost Zatara his life. (Swamp Thing #50) Zatanna blamed Constantine for Zatara's death and the two parted bitterly. Zatanna also aided the Spectre against the alien sorcerer known as Wotan, (Spectre #7) and battled Felix Faust along side Dr. Mist. (Secret Origins #27)

Zatanna now operates on the fringes of the metahuman world. Although she has returned to active JLA duty, she has occasionally acted in reserve capacity, and she was appointed liaison between the JLA and the Sentinels of Magic. (JLA #68, JLA: Black Batptism #4) She craves the limelight and has built a successful national stage show. At times, she still encounters Constantine, but it is clear that they are now just friends. (Books of Magic v.1, Zatanna: Everyday Magic)

Zatara and Zatanna descend from a distinguished line of ancestors including: Leonardo da Vinci; Nicholas Flamel (who is still alive [JLA Annual #2]; Nostradamus; Cagliostro (a.k.a. Joseph Balsamo, Guiseppe Balsamo, also still alive); Luigi Zatara (grandfather of Zatara) and Evan Fulcanelli (unknown relationship to Zatara, described as an "uncle" of Zatanna, deceased).

NOTES: The exact date of Zatara's debut is subject to debate. His origin was first told in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (March 1980), which cites November 14, 1938. The History of the DC Universe #1 confirms the year. Later, Secret Origins #27 retold the origin using the date September 1, 1939.

Exactly when Zatanna regained her powers is debatable. They were back in World's Finest #277 (3.82). But the letter column of JLofA #260 (3.87) claims she got them back in Swamp Thing #50 (7.86). The Justice League Sourcebook states that they returned in JLofA #257.

Zatara also appeared in a pre-Crisis Earth-1 tale where he met the young Clark Kent at age 3 (New Adventures of Superboy #14, 2.81) and later as Superboy (age 16, #49, 1.84) "

What recent continuity? She was in JLA: Obsidian Age, and then there's that IC stuff, where nothing major happened. And she was in a Flash IC tie-in that was no big whoop, continuity-wise.
Whatever "recent continuity" DC nurds think is being betrayed exists only their jerk-off fantasies.

"I'm supporting Zee, not Morrison, which is why I'm not wasting my money on the rest of this silly Seven Soldiers fiasco. Zatanna is an extremely interesting character, she's lovable, fun, powerful, and she's so cool. She deserves better treatment and if by buying a horrible limited series by a horrible writer it can be shown that she is more popular than DC originally believed, then I'm all for it. The whole thing is rather silly since the Vertigo Zee one shot, Zatanna: Every Day magic sold very well, so why they are letting morrison destroy this character is beyond me, but she needs to come back regularly in some title! That's why I buy it. And it'll only be 3 more lousy issues instead of the whole 38 that some people are going to waste their money on."

"Why CAN'T Captain Marvel be the flagship character for DC?"

Create Your Own H3AT!

Bode was always REALLY popular w/ UK graffiti artists/taggers

Anyone read the end of the S/B alterna-timeline story? Strikes me the whole coulda been done in three issues, but it's been pretty fun. (First person panels still v. annoying, though.)

Also, no one's mentioned the excellent GLA, the increasingly overlong GL: Rebirth (sorry, Huk), or -- best of all! -- that fantastically piss-poor painting of Hal Jordan in DC model adverts this week. Nice ringlets.

That Promoethea stuff went on a bit, didn't it?

I loved it, but then I have a high tolerance for bollocks, and for Alan Moore's intricate clockwork.

Dave, has Y really been flaky on the release schedule? Seems like it comes out all the time.

I think it's been pushed back a little here & there - nothing prolonged, but maybe a few weeks' off, occasionally. I was kinda goofing w/ that post, of course.

BTW, the cover to the 2nd part of this storyline is TEH HOTTNEZZ.

"I HATE Morrison's nonsense SO MUCH that I'm going to buy four issues of him, in my estimation, warping my favourite character into some hateful harlot of harriden-ness!!!"

Is that supposed to make sense? Or is it a form of BACKWARDS VOODOO OMG

Especially since "reckoning" sounds so much like "retconning", at least the haughty way Luthor says it.

I also read the new Phil Jiminez solo book, Otherworlds or whatever. Sort of muddled, overly serious and a little pretentious, but very pretty to look at.

Haha, read one indie comic?