The Nerd Signal

Zatanna Finally Conjures Up An Ongoing Series

Written by Skott Stoland on 02/04/2010 – 5:29 PM -

Zatanna has been around the DC Universe since 1964. And in all that time she’s never had an ongoing series to call her own. She’s had numerous successful minis and countless memorable guest appearances, but at no point has DC ever saw fit to give Ms. Zatarra her own book.

Until now, and it couldn’t possibly be in better hands.

DC’s Source Blog finally has some concrete information about the Zatanna ongoing series that has been talked about at cons for a while now. The book starts in May and will come from writer Paul Dini and artist Stephane Roux.  We all know Dini’s talent, and how much he loves the character (no really, look at his wife). And Roux’s done some really fantastic cover work, it’ll be interesting to see him make the move to interiors.

When asked for a comment about the upcoming series, Dini had this to say.

Outside of her star turn in 7 Soldiers of Victory, her ongoing supporting role in JLA and guest appearances elsewhere, Zatanna doesn’t come with a lot of backstory. That’s both a blessing and a challenge for me as a writer. I don’t have to adhere to 70 years of continuity, but that doesn’t give me a lot of history to draw from, either. That said, I’ve been having a lot of fun populating her world with new characters, friends and allies as well as an entirely new mystical rogues gallery. I’m out to create some really unique and creepy villains, ones that aggressively prey on humankind the way gangsters in a crime book would victimize innocent people. As Zatanna herself says in the first issue, there’s little in the way of human punishment that can be enforced on evil mystics. There are few laws they are compelled to obey, no jails to hold them, and no way ordinary people can defend themselves from their attacks. Zatanna has taken it upon herself to operate as both peacekeeper and avenger between those two worlds.

Though a lot about Zatanna’s world is new, it is still firmly rooted in the DC Universe. She’s still a JLA member, and that will play into her stories now and then. Also, I plan to explore her somewhat dicey relationship with her younger cousin, Zachary Zatara. I saw a good chance to inject some family discord there, so when I was developing the book, I ran some ideas by Geoff Johns. He created Zach, so I wanted to get his okay before I shook things up. Luckily Geoff was cool with what I wanted to do, so readers can expect to see Zach becoming a permanent part of Zee’s world.

For his part, Roux had significantly less to say.

What can I say about being attached to the project? I’m a fan of the character AND a longer-time fan of the writer. Paul’s delivering very exciting scripts, pushing the character in directions that make it so much fun for me to draw. I’m dealing with various dimensions, litterally. You’ll be scared, you’ll be excited, you’ll enjoy the fights she’s going through. And because it’s Paul, because it’s Zatanna, I simply can’t afford to deliver average art. Not to mention Karl Story’s sure helping me make art look great. Hope the effort shows, hope you like it.

Though he made up for his lack of wordiness, by giving us four pages of art to look at.

Go to the DC Source Blog for the rest of this page and for the other pages.

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