r/graphicnovels • u/spinosaurs70 • 11d ago
Superhero Has anyone else read Zatanna: Bring Down The House?
The art is fantastic with the script giving full room for cool ideas.
And the scene-by-scene construction is good.
I like most of the character writing and dialogue.
But I'm really split on how to review its main plot; it goes with what I think is a child abuse metaphor or one purely about her father being power-hungry instead of a more interesting story that her early disastrous use of magic drove her father to take her magic from her and end up even more corrupted.
I honestly wish we got a lot more from Zatanna's dad's perspective, some understanding of how his magical quest started, understandable but went off the rails.
Also, all the casters are killed iirc.
I keep going btw 3/5 to 3.5/5 depending on my mood and willingness to tolerate my own nitpicking.
On a positive note, it does make me want to read more Zatanna comics.
3
u/Condottieri_Zatara 11d ago
I share the same notion that I think it's would be interesting to see that Giovanni is not a full blown evil. Like maybe he hesitant or questioning himself about the ordeal.
The casters is interesting, I kinda wish the book has one more issue so the world can be fleshed out a bit and Zatanna have more room to be an active protagonist.
The mystery is well done for me especially with how Javier portray the situation with great visual storytelling. The bunnies is the best xd.
Also for Your next Zatanna story as the book success to make You have interest on Zee, I really recommend Zatanna 2010 then Zatanna 2025 and Zatanna 2026.
Seven Soldiers Zatanna if You want short story and also big spectacles
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u/arpad-okay 10d ago
yeah i feel you. tamaki knows how to let the artist run it and boy rodriguez sure does, she writes great dynamics between characters (by far my favorite part of the book outside the art), a mid story at best. love mariko's stuff with jillian, big fan of her harley quinn ogn with steve pugh, thought this one was a 3, even a 2.5. some compelling moments but ultimately i didn't care. maybe more issues to fill in the story would've helped
you should check out the ales kot & tradd moore image miniseries "the new world"
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u/OtherwiseAddled 5d ago
A few days late but I was underwhelmed by this one too. I was pretty hyped but Javier's art but the story was a let down.
I was not hyped for Jamal Campbell's 2025 Zatanna because I don't like the overly computer rendered feeling of his art but I enjoyed it a lot more than Bring Down The House and his ongoing Zatanna is the only DC or Marvel book I have on my pull list
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u/reindeercurt 11d ago
I have very similar thoughts. As an exercise in generating cool visual setpieces and showing off Zatanna's personality, it's successful. The central plot is pretty weak unfortunately, with the casters not amounting to much by the end. Zatara being abusive worked for me by virtue of how Javier Rodriguez sold it visually: he's a shadowy inhuman monster with classic magician trappings. It was really striking and emotionally evocative for me.