Book Review: Zatanna: Bring Down the House by M. Tamaki et al.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House written by Mariko Tamaki, art and covers by Javier Rodriguez

In this reimagined origin story of Zatanna, she is working in Vegas as a magician. Her show is bargain basement--free admission is included with a waterpark pass at a second-rate casino. Even so, one person keeps showing up in the audience. Her performance is also very basic--she does slight-of-hand tricks, no actual magic. Meeting the audience member, who is part of a secret cult of actual magicians, draws out some bad stuff and a demon attacks. In the chaos, Zatanna helps her stalker get rid of the demon (but the casino gets a lot of damage). She finds out about the cult and also a rival faction. They both want something from her. Zatanna grew up with a magician father, Zatara, who was a leader in the cult. Zatanna accidentally killed a bully by using magic, creating a lot of trouble for her and her dad. He tried to fix the situation but wound up dead. She doesn't use real magic because the incident seems to have drained her. The confrontation with the demon brings it back. Now she has to figure out what to do and which faction she should side with.

The story is interesting and provides both character development and history for an obscure member of the Justice League (which will come in later stories, maybe). She has a nice sense of humor and a lot of pathos from her life story. There's enough surprises to keep things interesting. Like many other magic-themed stories, the demons and alternate realities are very creatively depicted. This is published under the DC Black Label, letting it both sit apart from the larger continuity and have more adult content. Zatanna is surprisingly underdressed for many scenes in the story and has an on-going affair with John Constantine. So the book is really aimed at older teens.

Mildly recommended.