Zatanna

by | Oct 1, 2025

She can transform into practically any disguise, teleport herself anywhere in an instant, and even turn enemies into swine—all through casting spells by speaking words backwards. In this alternate standalone story of the mystic DC universe superheroine Zatanna, Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer, Skim) and Javier Rodríguez (Batgirl: Year One, Daredevil) bring a new spin on the sorceress supreme in Zatanna: Bring down the House.

This alternate story begins with a spotlight on Zatanna as a young teenager attempting to perform a classic cups and balls trick. Through sleight of hand and manipulation, she manages to make the balls vanish, but fails to bring them back, prompting jeers from a nasty bully who taunts her relentlessly. Fast forward to the present day, and Zatanna appears on stage in Las Vegas conjuring forth a series of illusions. One evening, she spies a mysterious stalker in the audience who has been attending her show consecutively for a week. This stranger identifies herself only as “Stranger.” Meanwhile, back at her apartment, Zatanna runs into another green-haired girl with bunny ears. Who are these characters and why are they appearing at every turn? As the mystery deepens, all roads lead to her late father Zatara.

Reminiscent of scenes spiraling forth from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Tamaki and Rodríguez conjure up a tale of magic and mystery ensconced in a dream-like world. While Zatanna is bereft of all supernatural powers (she continually asserts, “I do tricks, not magic”), fantastical occurrences unfold spontaneously: In the middle of one act, a monstrous demon upends the theater stage; a swarm of rabbits pops up in her apartment; even the cynical wisecracking conjuring magician John Constantine pays her a visit at a diner. Fragmented memories of her domineering father haunt her dreams, which lie at the heart of these deep-rooted mysteries. A noir-like, gothic quality mixed with surrealism and vibrant psychedelics permeate flashback sequences and liminal spaces, strategically rendered through quarter to full-page panels. Rodríguez’s artistic flair blends beautifully into plot, revealing glimpses into Zatanna’s childhood as she wrestles with demons from the past and reactivates her supernatural powers. An added bonus in the back matter features variant cover designs and a handful of character sketches to round things out in this self-contained story.

Quirky characters and a darker version of Zatanna’s father cloaked in mystery and shadows punctuated by flashbacks of Zatanna’s adolescence as a foster child add layers of complexity that expand the mythos of this longstanding mystic of magic, supplementing adult graphic novel collections with a unique foray into the supernatural.

Zatanna Bring down the House
By Mariko Tamaki
Art by  Javier Rodríguez
DC Black Label, 2025
ISBN: 9781799500803

Company Age Rating: 17+

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)
Creator Representation:  Japanese-Canadian,

Classic Fantastic: Rogues

by | Jul 20, 2024

Classic Fantastic is our series of features on the classics of the format—please check out our other picks for the most important titles, in terms of appeal, innovation, and storytelling, that every library should own.

What’s it about?

In the DC universe, Leonard Snart was once the supervillain known as Captain Cold, a prominent villain, or rogue, who clashed with the superfast superhero The Flash. With his cold gun, he could freeze the so-called fastest man alive in his tracks, but that was a while ago. Now, Leonard is out on parole. Having served his time in prison, Leonard endures a parole officer who’s a jerk and a steady paying job that doesn’t respect him in his quest to stay on the straight and narrow, until he’s finally had enough. He’s just learned of an epic score that could set him and his fellow Rogues up for life, so he’s getting the crew back together for one last heist. Joining Snart are a list of once feared villains who have suffered from addiction, dead-end jobs, and the endless cycle of prison and rehabilitation. Golden Glider, Trickster, Magenta, Bronze Tiger, and Mirror Master have, in one way or another, been kicked in the teeth by life and now want to kick back. All involved are looking to reclaim their glory days of going toe-to-toe with superheroes. It’s the heist itself that gets a little tricky. Before these rogues can enjoy their score, they must break into the mysterious Gorilla City, a city hidden away from civilization that boasts a populace of superintelligent gorillas and is ruled by Grodd, a gorilla with both a keen intellect and a savage disposition. When they get to Gorilla City, it isn’t the city that they expected and obviously the heist doesn’t go according to plan, but what heists in these kinds of stories ever go to plan?

Notable Notes

While DC villains like Lex Luthor and the Joker get all the accolades for their dirty deeds, Flash villains, calling themselves Rogues, are more blue-collar. Not interested in taking over the world or somehow sending the Earth crashing into the sun, all these villains care about is the next big score, and Snart has often emerged as the leader of this group among its various members. This mentality of simply wanting to make a living being bad makes them the perfect protagonists for a heist storyline. Fans of the Suicide Squad, a typically more adult themed team of supervillains who are enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity, should like this depiction of villains doing villainous things. Writer Joshua Williamson has worked on several DC superhero projects like “Green Arrow” and “Justice League,” and he demonstrates his familiarity for DC’s superhero universe, but he also tells a grittier, more grounded story. That grittier and more realistic tone is emphasized by illustrator Leomacs, who did the artwork for adult horror and fantasy comics like “Basketful of Heads” and “Ghostlore.” Most of the characters in this story don’t necessarily look like big-time supervillains with steely gazes and spandex-squeezed muscles; Snart is older, thinner, and balding while a freshly sprung from rehab Mirror Master is typically portrayed with wide, glazed eyes that shows he might be more committed to getting his next fix. Even Gorilla City gets a grittier makeover in an unusually fantastic way, looking more like a Las Vegas run by the mob than a lost city full of gold.

Significance

“The Flash” series completed its ninth and final season in 2023 while a 2021 Suicide Squad movie starring Idris Elba and Margot Robbie helped people forget the less-than-successful Suicide Squad movie in 2017. This proves that superheroes are not only a part of popular culture, but they remain ripe for reinvention. The Flash made his debut in 1956 and is still running thanks to his appearances in different media, but his villains, the Rogues, have the potential to steal the spotlight, thanks to the Suicide Squad, a series that is so similar in tone and premise that these groups interacting or teaming up doesn’t seem like a stretch. Apart from the current popularity of superheroes, this comic, part of DCs Black Label imprint, shows a gritty take on superheroes that isn’t just morally corrupt people snarling and dropping f-bombs. Many of the villains in this book are multifaceted individuals with their own unique goals and interests, and just like any good crime story, they sometimes run counter to the group’s overall objective. Some might want the money while others want to relive the glory days. Superhero graphic novels are often ridiculed as adolescent power fantasies, and many adult superhero tales are derided as simply everyone’s favorite superheroes and villains swearing, but “Rogues” actually works as a mechanically precise heist story that just happens to feature supervillains.

Appeal

Fans of The Suicide Squad and adult fans of superheroes, particularly ones who want a mature kind of storytelling, should enjoy reading this story and watching the wheels coming off this caper. This book should also appeal to fans of movies like “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Italian Job,” where the thrill is watching to see whether everything goes right, goes wrong, or both (spoiler alert: there’s a lot that goes wrong). While this book features fantastical elements like cold ray guns and lost gorilla cities, this book has the beating black heart of the darkest kind of noir story. Along with the swearing, there is a lot of death in this book, often in very violent ways. Even those who manage to walk away with all their various organs in their original locations don’t walk away unscathed, so fans who don’t mind superpowered individuals dying or killing should give this book a read (Just prepare for the gore!).

Why should you own this?

A surprisingly popular trope in the superhero genre involves spotlighting their villains, whether as complete antiheroes or showing a more sympathetic side. “Rogues” takes this concept to a new level by offering a group of villains who feel like their backs are to the wall. Readers will root for these heroes and feel their loss when this heist goes tragically off the rails. With debt, addiction, and a dwindling legacy all threatening to overwhelm them, they strike back the only way they know how: by trying to commit the biggest score of their lives. The book is also one of the strongest from the DC Black Label imprint, showing that one can tell a mature noir story that can also include a talking gorilla. Rogues By Joshua Williamson Art by Leomacs DC Black Label, 2022 ISBN: 9781779516855 NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)

Suicide Squad: Blaze

by | Mar 17, 2023

There was a time when superhero stories were thought to be just for kids, but titles like Suicide Squad helped tear that stereotype apart. People who’ve seen Margot Robbie portray Harley Quinn on the big screen might be familiar with the Suicide Squad, a group of lesser-known villains coerced to work for the government in exchange for lighter sentences. Many of these missions have high fatality rates, hence the group’s name, but mainstays like Quinn and Captain Boomerang have stayed alive, largely due to their popularity. However, that makes Suicide Squad: Blaze, written by Simon Spurrier and illustrated by Aaron Campbell, and its focus on people other than its regular roster an adult-rated anomaly.

Yes, the shark man King Shark, the boomerang-tossing Australian Captain Boomerang, and the John Cena vehicle Peacemaker are not the true stars of this book; that dubious honor goes to a group of convicts. They become part of a government experiment that grants normal people superpowers that will eventually kill them, but this group feels they have nothing left to live for, anyway. These newly-powered individuals are the last line of defense against a super-powered individual murdering and devouring people. Even stalwarts like Superman and the Justice League are unable to defeat him, so odds are that planet Earth will burn.

Some might be familiar with Spurrier and Campbell’s collaborations on Hellblazer, and the same violent yet bleak tone is present here. One of Suicide Squad’s appeals is the fact that the roster, apart from a few core characters, is constantly in flux as B-list villains often meet gruesome, and sometimes comedic, ends. Blaze ups the ante by having a twist with these newly superpowered people: when one of them dies, their power gets divided up among the remaining convicts, so it’s guaranteed that their number will diminish and those who survive will steadily become more powerful. One of those who might be the last superperson standing is Michael Van Zandt, who wants to get back together with the love of his life before his powers kill him. But this might be too hopeful (and a deep misunderstanding of this book’s themes) to think there’s any chance of a happy ending.

Campbell’s art is well-suited to showcase this dark universe where even Superman can be gravely injured and the Justice League are cannon fodder. Deaths and dismemberments are shown in graphic detail, and the powers that exist in this world are far from phenomena resembling Renaissance artwork of angels. The powers summoned by these people burn their bodies and distort their dimensions. In case Spurrier’s morally bankrupt characters haven’t clued readers into the book’s worldview, Campbell’s depiction of powers and what they do to a person’s anatomy will show these people to be fundamentally cursed.

The characters from the classic Suicide Squad roster, like King Shark and Quinn, have some shining character moments, but mostly this is a title to see who is left standing while the world burns. It’s a superhero book that has a inky black view of superheroes, which might be up the alley of readers who enjoyed Suicide Squad movies but think they could have gone darker.

Suicide Squad: Blaze  
By Simon Spurrier
Art by Aaron Campbell
DC Black Label, 2023
ISBN: 9781779514264 

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Creator Representation:  British

The Human Target, Vol. One

by | Feb 1, 2023

Christopher Chance is not a DC character many people will be familiar with. He wasn’t the first “Human Target” from DC Comics, but since Len Wein and Carmine Infantino reimagined the character in Action Comics #419 December 1972, he’s been impersonating people who pay him to take their place and save them from assassins and others looking to harm them. Chance is part bodyguard, part private investigator. In this latest iteration, he is hired by Lex Luthor to find who was trying to assassinate him and wound up taking a bullet from a would-be assassin. The twist is that this isn’t the only person trying to kill him that day and someone else with much more sophisticated methods poisoned Chance by mistake. He now he has 12 days left to live and try to solve the puzzle of who poisoned him and why they wanted Luthor dead.

Doctor Midnight diagnoses Christopher after he passes out from the poison and crashes his car. He gives his some medicine to try and help manage the pain, but more importantly makes a discovery. The poison in his system gives off traces of radiation from another dimension and the only people to have traveled there and returned are The Justice League International. Now, with 11 days left to live, Christopher has to try and figure out who in the JLI would want Luthor dead bad enough to poison him and why. This is where Tora Olafsdotter enters the picture, Ice of Fire and Ice, and JLI fame. She will be the key to all of this as Lex once had her killed and most of the JLI hasn’t forgotten. Ice, however, is full of surprises herself. There is a bond growing between her and Christopher and the more time they spend together the further complicated his investigation is getting.

Of all the books I’ve read in 2022, The Human Target is the one that made the biggest impression and the one I’ve talked about the most since reading. This is the first of two volumes, covering the 12 part mini-series written by Tom King and illustrated by Artist Greg Smallwood. Both have equally contributed to why this book stays with me and why I enjoyed it so much. While both are producing great work respectively, as a team they have elevated the work and created a truly distinct, riveting book.

Tom King is doing what I would argue he does best, taking characters outside of their normal continuity in universe and telling interesting and unusual stories with them. Some of his most popular and well regarded work falls under this category, like The Vision or Mister Miracle. This is also a detective story and King excels at having people solve mysteries that involve a human element.

I mentioned before that Greg Smallwood’s art made a lasting impression and that is an undersell. I haven’t seen a book like this maybe ever. It has the feel of a chalk or soft pastel ad from the 1950’s. There is a timeless quality to the entire book that makes it impossible to place, while at the same time you know exactly where and when it is. It feels akin in style and dress to a show like Mad Men, while somehow being more colorful and vibrant. When I recommend this book to people (which I do constantly) my inability to articulate everything that is important and beautiful about Smallwood’s work frustrates me and makes my point. I simply don’t have the words to do justice to what he’s managed here and for that reason you should read it for yourself to understand.

Because The Human Target, aka Christopher Chance, and the Justice League International aren’t the best know or most compelling characters at DC Comics I can easily understand this book flying under the radar for a lot of readers. An author like King being attached should help it gather some attention, but it may not look like the most accessible story. For the uninitiated reader there is enough introduction and background information included in this volume to give you everything you need to enjoy this story. If you do know something about the JLI or its members this is a fascinating look at how King pulls characters apart psychologically and presents them as flawed individuals who are trying their best despite their shortcomings.

An absolutely worthwhile addition to any library collection for older teen and adult readers, this particular 12 issue story is coming out under DC’s Black Label. Since 2020 is Black Label has been defined as “The imprint intend(ed) to present traditional DC Universe characters for a mature audience with stand-alone, prestige-format series.” DC rates this as an ages 17+ book and I would agree that between the drinking, language and romantic intrigue it’s best suited for older readers. It feels like a hard-boiled detective novel in both tone and look, something of a throwback. It’s not as brutal as something like Ed Brubaker’s Reckless series, but will certainly shares an audience with those books.

The Human Target Vol. 01
By Tom King
Art by  Greg Smallwood
DC Black Label, 2022
ISBN: 9781779516701

Publisher Age Rating: 17+

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18)