{"id":36903,"date":"2026-11-09T18:42:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36903"},"modified":"2026-11-09T18:42:46","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:42:46","slug":"zatanna-and-the-house-of-secrets-a-graphic-novel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/11\/09\/zatanna-and-the-house-of-secrets-a-graphic-novel-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Zatanna and the House of Secrets – A Graphic Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Matthew<\/strong> Cody<\/strong>, Yoshi<\/strong> Yoshitani<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-9070-2 (TPB), 978-1-77950-204-9 (Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless and Magical… 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years DC broadened its shared superhero universe and amazing character pantheon to encompass Original Graphic Novels featuring its stars in stand-alone adventures for the demographic sadly saddled with the soubriquet \u201cYoung Adult\u201d. To date, results have been a bit hit or miss, but when they\u2019re good, they are very good indeed…<\/p>\n

An ideal example is this cheery chiller reinterpreting the formative years of DC\u2019s mystic marvel Zatanna <\/strong>and concentrating on her early relationship with her oh-so-mysterious parents…<\/p>\n

As I\u2019m sure you already know, Zatanna has been around since the early 1960s, and boasts an impressive heritage going back to the first moments of comic book superheroes. With Julius Schwartz & John Broome, writer extraordinaire Gardner Fox invented the Silver Age of Comic Books and laid the foundations of the entire DC universe. They were also canny innovators, with Fox one of the earliest proponents of extended storylines. These have since become overwhelmingly familiar to us as \u201cbraided crossovers\u201d.<\/p>\n

A lawyer by trade, Fox began his comics career in the Golden Age on major and minor features, working in every genre and for most companies. One of the B-list strips he scripted was Zatara<\/strong> – a magician-hero in the Mandrake <\/strong>manner and a mystic who had fought evil and astounded audiences in the pages of Action <\/strong>and World\u2019s Finest\/World\u2019s Best Comics<\/strong> for over a decade, beginning with the very first issues. Zatara fell from favour as the 1940s ended, fading from memory like so many other outlandish crime-crushers.<\/p>\n

In 1956, Schwartz & Co reinvented the superhero genre, reintroducing costumed characters based on the company\u2019s past pantheon. Flash<\/strong>, Green<\/strong> Lantern<\/strong>, Hawkman<\/strong> and The<\/strong> Atom<\/strong> were refitted for the sleek, scientific atomic age, and later their legendary predecessors were reincarnated, returning as champions of an alternate Earth.<\/p>\n

The experiment became a trend and then inexorable policy, with enduring heroic survivors Superman<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, Green Arrow<\/strong>, Aquaman<\/strong> & Wonder Woman<\/strong> all retrofitted to match the new world order. The Super Hero was back and the public\u2019s appetite for more seemed inexhaustible…<\/p>\n

For their next trick, Fox & Schwartz turned to the vintage magician and presumably judged him wanting. However, rather than condemn him to Earth-Two (where all the original Forties champions were parcelled off for guest-shots), they instead created the first \u201clegacy hero\u201d by having Zatara reported long-missing by a dutiful daughter. She then set out on a far-reaching quest to find him. Zatanna <\/strong>debuted in Hawkman<\/strong> #4 (cover-dated October\/November 1964) illustrated by the great Murphy Anderson in a tale entitled \u2018The Girl who Split in Two\u2019<\/em>. From that yarn, she moved on to a string of guest shots, before winning her own occasional series and becoming a mainstay of the Justice<\/strong> League<\/strong> and greater DCU.<\/p>\n

Here and now, scripted by children\u2019s author Matthew Cody (Powerless<\/strong>, Super<\/strong>, Villainous<\/strong>) and illustrated by concept artist Yoshi Yoshitani in their debut graphic novel lettered by Ariana Maher, this stylish spooky surprise jiggles and resets continuity so that \u201cZee\u201d (for Zatanna) is now a vivacious schoolgirl living in a rather foreboding manse with her stage magician dad.<\/p>\n

Her mother has been gone for a long time, lost to sickness, but Zatanna and her rabbit Pocus<\/em> are pretty much happy and normal…
\n\"\"
\nEverything changes one day at school after a pack of bullies are inexplicably transformed during a confrontation. On returning home, the stunned magical lass overhears a charged conversation between her dad and.. Someone… in his workshop. When he is called away, over-inquisitive Zatanna breaks in and discovers evidence that her mother Sindella<\/em> is still alive…<\/p>\n

Angry and betrayed, Zee breaks curfew to attend a school dance and encounters a really weird kid who secretly steals a key from Pocus\u2019 collar. When she finally gets back to their dilapidated domain she finds the house bizarrely altered and the weird kid already there, cowering behind a bossy woman calling herself Witch<\/em> Queen<\/em>. When Zatara abruptly confronts them all, his daughter\u2019s life changes forever…
\n\"\"
\nSuddenly catapulted into a world where magic is real and deadly dangerous, the feisty girl learns that her father is a true sorcerer: caretaker of magical preserve The House of Secrets and a vast reservoir of arcane power. Sadly, that cannot save him from the cruel Queen and her son Klarion<\/em> the<\/em> Witch<\/em> Boy<\/em>, and with his defeat Zatanna is trapped in a dread domicile where all reality is overwhelmed by eldritch chaos. Thankfully, Pocus is now able to talk and explains some facts and rules whilst giving her a crash course in making magic, arming her for a lifechanging duel with cosmic forces and catastrophic showdown with the malefic invaders.
\n\"\"
\nThat entails redeeming Klarion, rescuing her dad, defeating the Queen and embracing her destiny, but along with her newfound responsibility for the miraculous House of Secrets comes an incredible unexpected reward…<\/p>\n

Bold, beguiling and deliciously uplifting, this magical rite of passage is a slick reinvention of Zatanna\u2019s wondrous worlds and a rousing reminder that there is magic everywhere.
\n\u00a9 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matthew Cody, Yoshi Yoshitani & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-9070-2 (TPB), 978-1-77950-204-9 (Digital edition) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless and Magical… 9\/10 In recent years DC broadened its shared superhero universe and amazing character pantheon to encompass Original Graphic Novels featuring its stars in stand-alone adventures for the demographic sadly saddled with the soubriquet … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Zatanna and the House of Secrets – A Graphic Novel”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,280,76,102,125,225,296,254,268],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-animal-antics","category-dc-superhero","category-fantasy","category-humour","category-mystery","category-school-stories","category-young-adult","category-zatanna"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9Bd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36908,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36903\/revisions\/36908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}