Zatanna #1 // Review
One of the world’s foremost stage magicians is opening a show at a classy, old theatre. The Terpsichore Theatre in San Francisco had been home to such legendary acts as The lady White, Anderson Fox and even her own father. Now she’s looking to celebrate art and magic with a whole new show, but there’s some small concern about the venue itself. There may be a haunting going on that she’s going to have to deal with in Zatanna #1. writer/artist Jamal Campbell opens a whole new chapter in the life of Zatanna Zatara with a bit of a glimpse into the world in which she inhabits.
The Lady White was an old movie star who was one of the first big celebrities to come out of Hollywood. She’s still there in the theatre. She’s still there looking-on as Zatanna gets ready to launch a whole new show. Naturally she’s going to want to introduce herself to Zatanna. She’s going to introduce herself through launching her into some pretty serious danger, though. And Zatanna’s crew is going to be in great danger as well if she can’t figure out what’s going on and confront the ghost of the great star of stage and screen.
Campbell spends some time slowly setting-up the background on the opening story. There’s a bit of backstory involving a sort of a fairytale that might actually have some grounding in reality. And there’s the small matter of introducing all of Zatanna’s supporting crew. She’s always been a stage magician, which has always been pretty cool, but the occasion has been pretty rare when she’s been able to be seen in the context of the extended family that so often evolves around the stage. Campbell is wise to engage in that stage world as Zatanna is immersed in the danger of the Lady White.
As always, Campbell’s visuals are fabulous. Zatanna is given the opportunity to cascade across the stage of a very ornate-looking classic performance venue. The architectural work that Campbell is putting into the backgrounds is matched by his clever use of old movie poster iconography. As The Lady White shoots Zatanna and her crew through the action, she casts her into the settings of a parade of different classy, old movies starring The Lady White. The movie posters are all cleverly-rendered as Zatanna and company tumble through them in a very memorable opening issue.
The action DOES lag a bit in places and the culture of an old movie theatre isn’t exactly a new setting for an action story, but Campbell does a solidly respectable job of making it all FEEL new as it all moves across the page with a fluid grace that involves ore than a bit of flashy stage-magic-style visuals to keep it all moving. Once again, Zatanna makes it tot he page under her own cover and it looks like a very promising run with an old favorite. It’s nice to see Zatanna given top-billing again.
