Zatanna #2 – Jamal Campbell, Writer/Artist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The first issue of this new writer/artist project by Jamal Campbell blew me away with stunning visuals and a fascinating mystery that found Zatanna being pulled into the paintings of her own studio to rescue her kidnapped crew members from a variety of surreal nightmares. She succeeded – but when she found her youngest employee, Adam, in the captivity of the Lady in White, she tried to rescue him – only for Adam to seemingly betray her and stab her with a magical sword. She now finds herself alone, dying, and with the energy sword screwing up her ability to do magic. She’s able to get herself to the Oblivion Bar with a basic spell, where she’s found by Blue Devil and Detective Chimp (who seems to be having financial trouble). The bond between Zatanna and Blue Devil ever since he was transformed hasn’t really been explored much, but it’s a great subplot here that really fleshes out a character who rarely gets focus.
There are some more great visuals in this issue, from the surreal visual of the semi-invisible sword sticking out of Zatanna to the black-and-white world that Adam finds himself in as he follows his mysterious patron. Or does he? Because an investigation reveals something shocking in Adam’s apartment, and raises the question of exactly how long Zatanna has been deceived. Zatanna is a character whose world has never really been extensively explored before, beyond a few supporting characters, so Jamal Campbell has a lot of latitude to explore here and build a new mythology. So far, he’s doing an incredible job and has set up a mystery that combines cosmic-level threats with real human connections and a great new look at the magical side of the DCU. And with one creative vision behind the whole thing, it’s likely to remain excellent the whole way through.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit <a href=”https://geekdad.com/category/columns/dc-this-week/“>DC This Week</a>.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
