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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Zatanna the Magician </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=399 WIDTH=300 ALT="Zatannain her fishnets. Artist: Murphy Anderson." SRC="zatanna.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>ZATANNA THE MAGICIAN</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1964 <BR><B>Creators:</B> Gardner Fox (writer) and Murphy Anderson (artist)<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> In the 1940s, <A HREF="mandrake.htm">Mandrake</A>-like magician adventurers, often with real powers of one sort or another, were all over comic books, their stage tuxedos distinguishing them as a sub-genre of costumed <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superheroes.</A> <A HREF="zatara.htm">Zatara the Magician</A> was a  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> prominent one, debuting alongside <A HREF="superman.htm">Superman</A> in <I>Action Comics</I> #1 (and even grabbing a couple of early covers from Supes). He outlasted most, but by the end of 1950 even he had disappeared. <P> Fourteen years later, a young woman named Zatanna turned up in <I><A HREF="hawkman2.htm">Hawkman</I></A> #4 (November, 1964), which was written by Gardner Fox (<A HREF="ghrider1.htm">The Ghost Rider</A>) and drawn by Murphy Anderson (<A HREF="capcomet.htm">Captain Comet</A>). She used a couple of Zatara's schticks, including performing miracles by speaking backward and wearing a female version of his stage outfit (complete with fishnet stockings). She turned out to be the famous magician's daughter, searching for her father, who had disappeared in a magical adventure. <P> Zatanna continued to seek Zatara in guest shots with several other <A HREF="dc.htm">DC</A> characters, including <A HREF="batman.htm">Batman,</A> <A HREF="elongman.htm">The Elongated Man</A> and <A HREF="atom2.htm">The Atom.</A> The quest ended successfully three years later, in the 51st issue of <I><A HREF="jla.htm">Justice League of America.</A></I> <P> After finding her father, Zee (as she is addressed) went on to become a minor but steady player in the DC <A HREF="glossary.htm#universe">Universe,</A> with an occasional guest shot, special, or brief series in the back pages of one comic or another. After more than a decade of this low-key existence, she surprised everyone — especially editors — by overwhelmingly winning a 1978 fan poll to decide who would be the next character to join The Justice League of America. One theory has it that a lot of girls voted for her as a strong female role model; another is that a lot of boys liked the idea of having another woman wearing fishnet stockings in the JLA (<A HREF="bcanary.htm">Black Canary</A> was already making that fashion statement). <P> If the latter is true, they were disappointed, because when Zee joined — just as soon as feasible after the closing of the poll — she'd traded in her shortie tuxedo for a more conventional superhero suit. <P> And she herself became a more conventional superhero, as well. It was during her long JLA tenure that her back-story began to be filled in. She had even more magical forebears on her mother's side than her father's. In fact, she turned out to be enmeshed in that arcane-type stuff up to her eyebrows — the stage magician act was sort of a way of hiding out in the open. She's not quite a female equivalent of <A HREF="marvel.htm">Marvel's</A> <A HREF="drstrnge.htm">Doctor Strange,</A> but in the same ballpark. Since leaving the JLA, she's become involved with <A HREF="helblazr.htm">John Constantine,</A> <A HREF="spectre.htm">The Spectre,</A> <A HREF="timhuntr.htm">Tim Hunter</A> and several of DC's other heavy hitters of the mystical realm. <P> She still does the "Zatanna the Magician" stage magician routine, by the way — at least, when she happens to be located on our Astral Plane. And when she does, she still wears those fishnet stockings. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! 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