Zatanna: Bring Down The House #1 – Mariko Tamaki, Writer; Javier Rodriguez, Artist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Most Black Label series focus on some of the darker characters in the DCU, usually from the Bat-family, so one focusing on Zatanna seemed like an unlikely fit. But with a creative team like this—acclaimed novelist and comic writer Mariko Tamaki, and artist extraordinaire Javier Rodriguez—it fits perfectly, picking up with Zatanna before her superhero years as she ekes out a living working in Vegas doing tricks—not magic, never magic. Some flashbacks reveal a haunting tale of a girl who wanted desperately to learn her withholding father’s craft, tried to impress her friends, and made a horrible mistake that caused her to withdraw into herself. This story is revealed casually over the course of the issue, but it seems like Zatanna is punishing herself—working at a job she hates, refusing efforts to take her skills to the next level, and keeping rabbits as her only real companions.
The story treats the casino as a noir environment, with Zatanna being one of many low-rent entertainers working there for the amusement of gamblers who come in and out. But there’s one guest who draws Zatanna’s attention—a mysterious woman who comes to show after show, always in a different disguise. When she first appeared, the character design made me think she might be Catwoman here to recruit/blackmail Zatanna into a heist, but that doesn’t seem to be where this is going. Rather, this is a woman who knows more than she’s letting on about Zatanna’s tragic past. This issue waits a bit to get going, but when it does, it results in some of the most disturbing visuals I’ve seen in a comic in a while, complete with a truly nightmarish monster. This is one of the most ambitious Black Label launches in a while, and I think it’s just beginning to reveal its dark secrets.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
