Graphic Novel Review - 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets' by Matthew Cody (Writer), Yoshi Yoshitani (Artist)

Before 'House of Secrets', I never liked any comic with Zatanna in it (and not much else with her in it, I realise).

She's been around since 1964, and my knowledge of and exposure to her stories, plus stories that include her as a side character (or even less, which I find happens too often with her), is admittedly limited. However, practically all that I have found has either failed to impress me, or has just made me feel uncomfortable, creeped out, or thoroughly disgusted. I mean seriously, how many people's memories and minds has Zatanna violated and effed up over the years? And what about her own memories? How much of her mind is her own? How much of any DC character's mind is their own, thanks to her? No wonder she's the top subject of others' trust issues in the DCU! She's barely a hero, not only because of her incompetence (or plain underutilisation) but the frankly monstrous acts she pulls on her own friends and colleagues.

Zatanna gets sidelined far too frequently in the DC universe, to boot. She is constantly being controlled, manipulated, fridged and saved by men, most notably her father, Zatara, an abusive arse she inexplicable idolises so deeply. Her whole existence revolves around Zatara and Batman, it seems.

Which is a shame, because I adore witches and magical girls, and Zatanna is a female stage magician whose magic is legit and is extremely powerful - powerful enough to control the elements, fly, teleport, heal, manipulate minds, manipulate time, defeat demonic forces, detain and contain dimensions and multiverses, and beat anything in the cosmos. Really, she can do literally anything, by just saying it backwards as a spell. She should be a superheroine on the level of Wonder Woman. She should be as popular and as recognisable as Wonder Woman.

Too bad men keep being hired to write her.

Well, thanks to DC's recent line of graphic novels for juniors and teens, made to refresh and reintroduce many of their superheroes and antiheroes to contemporary times, Zatanna receives another chance in the spotlight in 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets'. Yes, again it is authored by a man, Matthew Cody, but it's a good story about her, where she's a real character who's given real development, culminating in her shining as her own independent hero. Surrounding that is a very cute, funny and magical kids' comic, straight out of something from Cartoon Network.

Long story short: Zatanna is the thirteen-year-old daughter of a magician, Zatara. She's an outcast at school, of course, and she wonders if hanging out with other misfits is worth the scorn and teasing of the popular kids (mostly boys); if being true to herself and her friends is worth "missing out" on the cool things in school and life, like parties.

Unbeknownst to her, Zatanna's home is a dormant house full of magic and secrets, allegedly dating back to the beginning of time, and is the First house; and her dad's magic is real, no tricks. When he disappears with a villainous intruder, the Witch Queen, Zatanna must discover her own innate magical abilities in order to find him, and save her house and her family.

Dealing with goblins is the very least of it as she explores the topsy-turvy, labyrinthine puzzle that is the House of Secrets, containing ancient, magical creatures and traps. And doors.

There's a little more to it than that, but that's the hocus-pocus, abracadabra gist of it. There's also a talking rabbit, a witch's cat (who, bizarrely, doesn't talk), a sphinx made entirely of book pages in a library, and Klarion the Witch Boy (who may or may not be a romantic interest for Zatanna in the long run - what? What is that about? Why put that possibility here? Why?).

In 'House of Secrets', Zatanna is a temperamental, dynamic and determined young girl. She's funny, too. Her whole arc and development is ultimately about teaching girls that they are special, that they are stronger, braver, and more powerful than they think. That they are meant for greatness - meant to achieve it - even if they don't know it or believe it yet.

Zatanna has both a male friend and a female friend in her ordinary life, and while she looks up to and relies on her father initially, he is the damsel in distress in this story, and she is the one to rescue him, with the help of her not-so-deceased mother towards the end...

There is a lot of diverse representation in the comic. However, it is not perfect. Zatanna's dead mother is typically blonde, blue-eyed, saintly and angelic (in fact, she looks a lot like the Blue Fairy from Disney's 'Pinocchio'). The villain, the Witch Queen, on the other side of the mum coin (she's Klarion's mother), is a demonic, black-eyed, black-haired, greedy and just-too-ambitious woman with power. She's already a magic queen and is powerful enough, yet she wants the House of Secrets because... I don't know, she simply wants everything? Power corrupts? But at least she can be viewed as cool and OTT entertaining. Zatanna's companions on her quest are male, apart from the nontalking cat.

STILL. 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets' is fun, joyful, touching, inspiring, and (mostly) wholesome. I adore the colourful and cartoony art. It is what a kids' comic about magic, spells and conjuring should be. It is how Zatanna, and her origins and early magician days, should be. As the Mistress of Magic, the Sorceress Supreme, and an otherwise normal girl.

Once again a modern comic revamps and redeems a heroine who's been underused, underrepresented, underestimated, ignored, fridged, badly treated by men both in and out of her fictional universe, and whose potential has been wasted for the majority of her history.

TNECSERC SIMETRA, TUO GNINGIS.

Final Score: 4/5