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* CharmPerson: Brother Night is easily able to get normal people under his control by just being near them, and they find themselves unable to obey his orders.

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* CharmPerson: Brother Night is easily able to get normal people under his control by just being near them, and they find themselves unable to obey resist his orders.
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** A lot of the characters introduced in the Zatanna: Everyday Magic one-shot story return for this series, like Zatanna's crew members Arnie and Andre, and the evil witch Nimue who shows up at Brother Night's bar.

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** A lot of the characters introduced in the Zatanna: Everyday Magic ''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot story return for this series, like Zatanna's crew members Arnie and Andre, and the evil witch Nimue who shows up at Brother Night's bar.
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** Issue #12 has Backlash, an evil lout who captured a fairy and is using her powers to cause trouble in San Francisco.

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** Issue #12 has Backlash, Backslash, an evil lout who captured a fairy and is using her powers to cause trouble in San Francisco.



** Backlash in issue 12 kills some merfolk simply because they failed to tell him where he could find a [=McDonald's=].

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** Backlash Backslash in issue 12 kills some merfolk simply because they failed to tell him where he could find a [=McDonald's=].
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Organization is singular


The series begins when local police detective Dale Colton asks for her help in investigating the brutal murders of the ranking members of the city's organized crime families, suspecting that magic was involved. These murders lead Zatanna to discover that the local mystical criminal organization, led by Brother Night, have decided it is time to muscle in on more mundane villainy. After she solves this initial crime, and deals with the repercussions, the series follows her as she combats other supernatural threats to herself and others as she tours across the country.

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The series begins when local police detective Dale Colton asks for her help in investigating the brutal murders of the ranking members of the city's organized crime families, suspecting that magic was involved. These murders lead Zatanna to discover that the local mystical criminal organization, led by Brother Night, have has decided it is time to muscle in on more mundane villainy. After she solves this initial crime, and deals with the repercussions, the series follows her as she combats other supernatural threats to herself and others as she tours across the country.
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Zatanna is no longer an active member of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica and now has the time focus on her career as a StageMagician back in San Francisco, though she still works as an active superheroine when needed.

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Zatanna is no longer an active member of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica and now has the time focus on her career as a StageMagician back in San Francisco, UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, though she still works as an active superheroine when needed.
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In May 2010, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} received her second ongoing solo series, written by Creator/PaulDini with art by [[Creator/StephaneRoux Stéphane Roux]]. The series works as a sequel to Dini's ''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot, featuring some of the same ideas supporting cast introduced there.

to:

In May 2010, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} received her second ongoing solo series, written by Creator/PaulDini with art by [[Creator/StephaneRoux Stéphane Roux]]. The series works as a sequel to Dini's ''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot, featuring some of the same ideas and supporting cast introduced there.

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* DisproportionateRetribution: Zatanna turns some party girls that mistook her for a waitress into birds. Granted she's cranky that they're partying in her apartment without permission and she turns them back pretty quick.

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* DisproportionateRetribution: DisproportionateRetribution:
**
Zatanna turns some party girls that mistook her for a waitress into birds. Granted she's cranky that they're partying in her apartment without permission and she turns them back pretty quick.quick.
** Backlash in issue 12 kills some merfolk simply because they failed to tell him where he could find a [=McDonald's=].

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* EvilBrit: Backslash, albeit a scrubby example.

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* EvilBrit: Backslash, albeit a scrubby example.example, is a British thug.


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* YouMonster: In issue 12, Backslash is called a monster by his fairy companion for murdering some merfolk [[DisproportionateRetribution all because they failed to tell him where he could find a McDonald's]].
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* DemonicDummy: Complete with a requisite kitchen knife and homicidal tendencies. Indeed it turned out to be a murderer magically transformed into a puppet by Zatanna father decades earlier.

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* DemonicDummy: Complete with a requisite kitchen knife and homicidal tendencies. Indeed it turned out to be a murderer named Oscar Hampel who was [[PuppetPermutation magically transformed into a puppet puppet]] by Zatanna father decades earlier.
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* FatBastard: The demon Mammon is depicted as obese and sadistic.

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* PuppetPermutation: Zee's father once transformed the SerialKiller Hampel into a marionette. Decades later, Hampel took vengeance by turning Zatanna into a marionette: a form in which she was trapped for several months.

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* PuppetPermutation: Zee's father once transformed the SerialKiller Oscar Hampel into a marionette. Decades later, Hampel took vengeance by turning Zatanna into a marionette: a form in which she was trapped for several months.


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* SelfMadeOrphan: Oscar Hampel implies that he murdered his parents when forced to explain his past to Zatanna.
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* BrainwashedBride: Benjamin Raymond drugged and hypnotized Zatanna into marrying him as part of his scheme to give her soul to Mammon to [[DealWithTheDevil pay off the debt]] that would otherwise cause his own soul to be forfeited. When the plan fails, he has [[EntitledBastard the gall]] to beg Zatanna to save him; she takes pity on him by transforming him into a lump of gold and obliterating his soul before Mammon could claim it.
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Disambiguation


** When Fuseli is showing Zatanna her worst nightmare, we get some panels of traumatic moments from other stories, like her final encounter with her mother Sindella, her father TakingTheBullet for her in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and Batman, Catwoman and Dr. Light (the primary targets of her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory tampering incident]] in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'') screaming at her.
** [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph and Sue Dibny]] appear in the audience at Zatanna's "wedding," and she remarks how wonderful it is [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis that they are]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo not dead anymore]].
** When it is revelated that John Zatara wiped Zatanna's memories of a tragic incident to calm her down, Fuseli remarks that such actions [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis must run in her family]].

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** When Fuseli is showing Zatanna her worst nightmare, we get some panels of traumatic moments from other stories, like her final encounter with her mother Sindella, her father TakingTheBullet for her in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and Batman, Catwoman and Dr. Light (the primary targets of her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory tampering incident]] in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'') ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'') screaming at her.
** [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph and Sue Dibny]] appear in the audience at Zatanna's "wedding," and she remarks how wonderful it is [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004 that they are]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo not dead anymore]].
** When it is revelated that John Zatara wiped Zatanna's memories of a tragic incident to calm her down, Fuseli remarks that such actions [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004 must run in her family]].



* MindScrew: In the second arc, when Zatanna is being brainwashed into an eternal torment in Hell, her perspective is of a joyous wedding ceremony attended by all her friends. [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis Including Ralph and Sue Dibny]].

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* MindScrew: In the second arc, when Zatanna is being brainwashed into an eternal torment in Hell, her perspective is of a joyous wedding ceremony attended by all her friends. [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004 Including Ralph and Sue Dibny]].
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!!Tropes:



* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: {{Subverted}} Zatanna attends a group therapy session for people who have experienced supernatural occurrences. [[DoubleSubverted It gets double-subverted]] when it's revealed her therapist is actually a demon that is connected to the BigBad (though [[AbortedArc the comic was canceled before the sub-plot went anywhere]]).

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* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: {{Subverted}} {{Subverted|Trope}}. Zatanna attends a group therapy session for people who have experienced supernatural occurrences. [[DoubleSubverted It gets double-subverted]] when it's revealed her therapist is actually a demon that is connected to the BigBad (though [[AbortedArc the comic was canceled before the sub-plot went anywhere]]).
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** When Fuseli is showing Zatanna her YourWorstNightmare, we get some panels of traumatic moments from other stories, like her final encounter with her mother Sindella, her father TakingTheBullet for her in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and Batman, Catwoman and Dr. Light (the primary targets of her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory tampering incident]] in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'') screaming at her.

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** When Fuseli is showing Zatanna her YourWorstNightmare, worst nightmare, we get some panels of traumatic moments from other stories, like her final encounter with her mother Sindella, her father TakingTheBullet for her in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and Batman, Catwoman and Dr. Light (the primary targets of her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory tampering incident]] in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'') screaming at her.
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Bare Your Midriff is now a disambig


** Mikey dresses up in a revealing outfit (daisy dukes and a tight blouse with BareYourMidriff) in order to seduce Oscar Hampel to find out what happened to Zatanna.

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** Mikey dresses up in a revealing outfit (daisy dukes and a tight blouse with BareYourMidriff) blouse) in order to seduce Oscar Hampel to find out what happened to Zatanna.

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* AloofBigBrother: An Aloof Older Cousin version. Zatanna and her cousin Zachary were always close as children, but Zachary now is struggling to make it big as a performer and Zatanna has yet to see even one of his shows. This leads to resentment when it appears that Zatanna has skipped one appearance, what might have been his big break, not because of any sort of global catastrophe or emergency with the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]], but because she had a ''date''. Of course, [[{{Brainwashed}} not everything is as it seems...]] [spoiler:Zatanna finally gets to his show in the end, of course.]]

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* AloofBigBrother: An Aloof Older Cousin version. Zatanna and her cousin Zachary were always close as children, but Zachary now is struggling to make it big as a performer and Zatanna has yet to see even one of his shows. This leads to resentment when it appears that Zatanna has skipped one appearance, what might have been his big break, not because of any sort of global catastrophe or emergency with the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]], but because she had a ''date''. Of course, [[{{Brainwashed}} not everything is as it seems...]] [spoiler:Zatanna [[spoiler:Zatanna finally gets to his show in the end, of course.]]



** Issue #14 has Yuki-onna, a seductive demoness who's targetting Zachary.

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** Issue #14 has Yuki-onna, a seductive demoness who's targetting targeting Zachary.


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* BadassBystander: A Superman cosplayer manages to push two people out of the way of a crashing car.
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** Yuki-onna attempts to kill Zach by approaching him as a gorgeous woman and trying to lure him to a "intimate location". Zatanna manages to put a stop to her because she gets the chance.

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** Yuki-onna (Who despite the name is a [[SuccubiAndIncubi Succubus]] rather than a YukiOnna) attempts to kill Zach by approaching him as a gorgeous woman and trying to lure him to a an "intimate location". Zatanna manages to put a stop to her because she gets the chance.
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In May 2010, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} received her second ongoing solo series, written by Creator/PaulDini with art by [[Creator/StephaneRoux Stéphane Roux]]. The series works as a sequel to Dini's
''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot, featuring some of the same ideas supporting cast introduced there.

to:

In May 2010, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} received her second ongoing solo series, written by Creator/PaulDini with art by [[Creator/StephaneRoux Stéphane Roux]]. The series works as a sequel to Dini's
Dini's ''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot, featuring some of the same ideas supporting cast introduced there.



** The victim's of Brother Night's massacre turn out to be ruthless gangster, which is why neither Zatanna nor Cole are too horrified by their gruesome deaths.

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** The victim's victims of Brother Night's massacre turn out to be ruthless gangster, gangsters, which is why neither Zatanna nor Cole are too horrified by their gruesome deaths.



** Issue #8 to #11 has Oscar Hampel, the evil puppeter with a grudge against John Zatara.

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** Issue #8 to #11 has Oscar Hampel, the evil puppeter puppeteer with a grudge against John Zatara.



** Issue #14 has Yuki-onna, a seducting demoness who's targetting Zachary.

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** Issue #14 has Yuki-onna, a seducting seductive demoness who's targetting Zachary.



* BathingBeauty: Zatanna's ideal relaxing activity is "bubble bath and a glass of Merlot". And taking a bath is exactly what she does after her first fight with Brother Night's gang. When she gets to New Vegas, she also longs for a shower, but keeps getting interrupted by either her cousin or the villains.
* BatmanColdOpen: Issue #2 begins with Zatanna finishing up an adventure with the JLA: putting down a gang of werehyenas alongside Vixen and Black Canary. This is also used to estabileshed Zatanna is exhausted for the rest of the issue, while she still has to deal with Fuseli bothering her in her dreams.

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* BathingBeauty: Zatanna's ideal relaxing activity is a "bubble bath and a glass of Merlot". And taking a bath is exactly what she does after her first fight with Brother Night's gang. When she gets to New Vegas, she also longs for a shower, but keeps getting interrupted by either her cousin or the villains.
* BatmanColdOpen: Issue #2 begins with Zatanna finishing up an adventure with the JLA: putting down a gang of werehyenas alongside Vixen and Black Canary. This is also used to estabileshed established Zatanna is exhausted for the rest of the issue, while she still has to deal with Fuseli bothering her in her dreams.



* BilingualBonus: The SoleSurvivor to Brother Night's massacre in the club is a latino server who only speaks in spanish. While Zatanna translates the gist of his dialogue to Colton, someone fluent in spanish will obviously understand all of his dialogue.
* BigBad: Brother Night is the the ArcVillain of the first story, but is set up as the overall antagonist of the series when his powers begin to return and he's revealed to be connected to Dale... but then the series got cancelled and the plotline was LeftHanging.

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* BilingualBonus: The SoleSurvivor to Brother Night's massacre in the club is a latino server who only speaks in spanish. Spanish. While Zatanna translates the gist of his dialogue to Colton, someone fluent in spanish Spanish will obviously understand all of his dialogue.
* BigBad: Brother Night is the the ArcVillain of the first story, but is set up as the overall antagonist of the series when his powers begin to return and he's revealed to be connected to Dale... but then the series got cancelled canceled and the plotline was LeftHanging.



* BoobsAndButtPose: In Issue #1, there's a gratuitous {{fanservice}} shot of a nude Zatanna as she's stepping into her bath while posing in a manner to show her breats and buttocks to the viewer, only said buttocks and {{Sideboob}} are covered up by SceneryCensor instead.

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* BoobsAndButtPose: In Issue #1, there's a gratuitous {{fanservice}} shot of a nude Zatanna as she's stepping into her bath while posing in a manner to show her breats breasts and buttocks to the viewer, only said buttocks and {{Sideboob}} are covered up by SceneryCensor instead.



* CombatTentacles: Yuki-onna can turn her finders into tendrils and uses them to [[PuppeteerParasite puppet Zachary]] and attack Zatanna.

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* CombatTentacles: Yuki-onna can turn her finders fingers into tendrils and uses them to [[PuppeteerParasite puppet Zachary]] and attack Zatanna.



** A lot of the characters introduced in the Zatanna: Everyday Magic one-shot story return for this series, like Zatanna's crew member Arnie and Andre, and the evil witch Nimue who shows up at Brother Night's bar.

to:

** A lot of the characters introduced in the Zatanna: Everyday Magic one-shot story return for this series, like Zatanna's crew member members Arnie and Andre, and the evil witch Nimue who shows up at Brother Night's bar.



* DreamSpying: Before Fuseli attempts to attack Zatanna in her dreams, he spies on her neighbours first, as a way to estabilish his DreamWalker powers.
* ElCidPloy: After Zatanna has freed her assistants and crew from Brother Night she has to remain and deal with him for good. However, she explains that somebody needs to [[TheShowMustGoOn perform at their scheduled show]] and she dresses Mikey in her outfit and and sends them all back to the stage.
* EnfantTerrible: Out of every member of Brother Night's gang, Teddy is the one that bothers Zatanna the most, due to looking like a innocent child, but being a creepy mysticaç murderer.

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* DreamSpying: Before Fuseli attempts to attack Zatanna in her dreams, he spies on her neighbours neighbors first, as a way to estabilish establish his DreamWalker powers.
* ElCidPloy: After Zatanna has freed her assistants and crew from Brother Night she has to remain and deal with him for good. However, she explains that somebody needs to [[TheShowMustGoOn perform at their scheduled show]] and she dresses Mikey in her outfit and and sends them all back to the stage.
* EnfantTerrible: Out of every member of Brother Night's gang, Teddy is the one that bothers Zatanna the most, due to looking like a an innocent child, but being a creepy mysticaç murderer.



* FlashyTeleportation: Most times Zatanna teleports throught the series, it's accompanied by flashy smoke, similar to the kind StageMagician's use.

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* FlashyTeleportation: Most times Zatanna teleports throught throughout the series, it's accompanied by flashy smoke, similar to the kind StageMagician's a StageMagician use.



* FunWithPalindromes: Issue #12 has Zatanna (who, recall, pronounces the words in her spells backwards) going up against a villain with time-reversal powers that allow him to negate her spells by having them sound like normal words. She gets around his powers by casting spells in palindromes (such as "Nurses Run" causing him to be stampeded by an army of running nurse mannequins).

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* FunWithPalindromes: Issue #12 has Zatanna (who, recall, pronounces the words in her spells backwards) backward) going up against a villain with time-reversal powers that allow him to negate her spells by having them sound like normal words. She gets around his powers by casting spells in palindromes (such as "Nurses Run" causing him to be stampeded by an army of running nurse mannequins).



* GodivaHair: One shot in issue #2 has Ember lying at Brother Night's couch nude save for her hair that is covering her breasts. Given Brother Night's disheveled clothes it's implied they just finished having offcreen sex.
* GoodIsNotDumb: When Oscar Hampel claims that he was turned into a puppet because of a tragic series of events almost out of his control, and that his actions were an isolated event, Zatanna accepts that her father, for all his wisdom and power, [[HumansAreFlawed was only human]]. She gives Oscar the benefit of the doubt and agrees to help him become human again... After she runs him through a magic LieDetector, that is. After all, just because her father was not perfect does not mean he was wrong this time, and she is going to make sure before she takes any actions.

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* GodivaHair: One shot in issue #2 has Ember lying at Brother Night's couch nude save for her hair that is covering her breasts. Given Brother Night's disheveled clothes it's implied they just finished having offcreen off-screen sex.
* GoodIsNotDumb: When Oscar Hampel claims that he was turned into a puppet because of a tragic series of events almost out of his control, and that his actions were an isolated event, Zatanna accepts that her father, for all his wisdom and power, [[HumansAreFlawed was only human]]. She gives Oscar the benefit of the doubt and agrees to help him become human again... After she runs him through a magic LieDetector, that is. After all, just because her father was not perfect does not mean he was wrong this time, and she is going to make sure before she takes any actions.action.



* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The Witch Hunters attempt to shoot down Zatanna with machine guns, but they somehow end up missing every shot despite all that she's doing to dodge them is swing on a rope.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Mammon is willing to grant Benjamin Raymond eternal life, youth and freedom from hell in exchange for Zatanna's soul. It would be the prize of his entire soul collection.
* InstantCostumeChange: Thanks to her magic, Zatanna is often just instantly changing between outfits throught the story. This is also how she proves to Detective Dalton that she [[MagiciansAreWizards isn't just a mere stage magician]]. She also changes a towel-clad Bunny into her working outfit just so she can get her and Zachary out of her apartment as quickly as possible.

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* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The Witch Hunters attempt to shoot down Zatanna with machine guns, but they somehow end up missing every shot despite all that she's doing to dodge them is swing on swinging in a rope.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Mammon is willing to grant Benjamin Raymond eternal life, youth youth, and freedom from hell in exchange for Zatanna's soul. It would be the prize of his entire soul collection.
* InstantCostumeChange: Thanks to her magic, Zatanna is often just instantly changing between outfits throught throughout the story. This is also how she proves to Detective Dalton that she [[MagiciansAreWizards isn't just a mere stage magician]]. She also changes a towel-clad Bunny into her working outfit just so she can get her and Zachary out of her apartment as quickly as possible.



* KungFuWizard: The series has constant reminders that while Zatanna is [[LadyOfBlackMagic an extremely power magician]], she's also a trained martial artist and can still defeat some {{Mook}}s by herself with just hand-to-hand combat. This is especially evident in issue #15, where she has to fight off the witch hunters with only her martial arts, and she even has a {{flashback}} showing her dad trained her for just such occasions.

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* KungFuWizard: The series has constant reminders that while Zatanna is [[LadyOfBlackMagic an extremely power powerful magician]], she's also a trained martial artist and can still defeat some {{Mook}}s by herself with just hand-to-hand combat. This is especially evident in issue #15, where she has to fight off the witch hunters with only her martial arts, and she even has a {{flashback}} showing her dad trained her for just such occasions.



* NotWearingPantsDream: When Fuseli is DreamSpying on Zatanna's neighbours, one of them happens to be having a "naked in public nightmare", which Fuseli dimisses as "kid's stuff".

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* NotWearingPantsDream: When Fuseli is DreamSpying on Zatanna's neighbours, neighbors, one of them happens to be having a "naked in public nightmare", public" nightmare, which Fuseli dimisses dismisses as "kid's stuff".



* PsychicAssistedSuicide: A officer that was guarding Brother Night suddenly commiting suicide just as Night was attacking his doctor is implied to have been this, implying that Brother Night's powers are slowly returning even after being defeated and [[DePower de-powered]] by Zatanna.

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* PsychicAssistedSuicide: A officer that was guarding Brother Night suddenly commiting committing suicide just as Night was attacking his doctor is implied to have been this, implying that Brother Night's powers are slowly returning even after being defeated and [[DePower de-powered]] by Zatanna.



* SeriesContinuityError: In issue #14, by guest writer Adam Beechen, the resolution to the story hinges on Zatanna's power not being able to affect living things. Not only has she used her powers on living beings many times in her history, but in this series alone she has turned a guy into a rat, turned three women into birds, turned a guy into a lump of gold (destroying his soul in the process) and her father used the same magic she does to turn a man into a puppet. Zatanna did once have a limitation on her powers of only being able to manipulate [[ElementalPowers elemental matter]] for several years, but that facet of her character was re-written several years before this series came out.

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* SeriesContinuityError: In issue #14, by guest writer Adam Beechen, the resolution to the story hinges on Zatanna's power not being able to affect living things. Not only has she used her powers on living beings many times in her history, but in this series alone she has turned a guy into a rat, turned three women into birds, turned a guy into a lump of gold (destroying his soul in the process) and her father used the same magic she does to turn a man into a puppet. Zatanna did once have a limitation on her powers of only being able to manipulate [[ElementalPowers elemental matter]] for several years, but that facet of her character was re-written rewritten several years before this series came out.



* SlashedThroat: The witch hunters who ambush Zatanna manage to slash her throat with an arrow. It's not enough to be lethal, but she's unable to speak (thus no SdrawkcabSpeech based spellcasting) and will bleed out soon if she doesn't deal with it. She staunches the bleeding with a cloth and later to heal the wound via a magical oilment.

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* SlashedThroat: The witch hunters who ambush Zatanna manage manages to slash her throat with an arrow. It's not enough to be lethal, but she's unable to speak (thus no SdrawkcabSpeech based spellcasting) and will bleed out soon if she doesn't deal with it. She staunches the bleeding with a cloth and later to heal heals the wound via a magical oilment.



* StarSpangledSpandex: Zatanna creates a star-spangled gala dress to go to a event. Mikey is convinced the starts are actually real.

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* StarSpangledSpandex: Zatanna creates a star-spangled gala dress to go to a an event. Mikey is convinced the starts stars are actually real.



* SuccubiAndIncubi: Zatanna identifies Yuki-onna as a succubus, despite the name being a clear reference to a YukiOnna. But Yuki-onna's gorgeous appearance and HoneyTrap modus operanti does indeed fit the bill for a succubus.

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* SuccubiAndIncubi: Zatanna identifies Yuki-onna as a succubus, despite the name being is a clear reference to a YukiOnna. But Yuki-onna's gorgeous appearance and HoneyTrap modus operanti does operandi do indeed fit the bill for a succubus.



* UndignifiedDeath: Brother Night does this to the local mafia in San Francisco in order to impose his rule there, killing them after transforming then into animals. Zatanna ruins his message by unding the ForcedTransformation.

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* UndignifiedDeath: Brother Night does this to the local mafia in San Francisco in order to impose his rule there, killing them after transforming then them into animals. Zatanna ruins his message by unding undoing the ForcedTransformation.



* TheWitchHunter: A group of generic witch hunters attempt to assassinate Zatanna in issue #15.
* WreathedInFlames: The fire demons Mammon sends after Zatanna look like middle aged women whose bodies are complely clad in flame, including FlamingHair.

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* TheWitchHunter: A group of generic witch hunters attempt to assassinate Zatanna in issue #15.
#15, under the belief that all magic is evil.
* WreathedInFlames: The fire demons Mammon sends after Zatanna look like middle aged middle-aged women whose bodies are complely completely clad in flame, including FlamingHair.



* YukiOnna: In issue #14, Zatanna faces off against a creature who is a yuki-onna InNameOnly: she is more of a cross between a gorgon and a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]] (Zatanna in fact explicitly refers to her as a succubs at one point) who controls Z's cousin Zachary (who got attracted to her in one of his many instances of thinking with his "bottom head") to make him fighting her.

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* YukiOnna: In issue #14, Zatanna faces off against a creature who is a yuki-onna InNameOnly: she is more of a cross between a gorgon and a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]] (Zatanna in fact explicitly refers to her as a succubs succubus at one point) who controls Z's cousin Zachary (who got attracted to her in one of his many instances of thinking with his "bottom head") to make him fighting her.

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[[redirect:ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}]]

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[[redirect:ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zatanna_vol_2_11.jpg]]

In May 2010, ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} received her second ongoing solo series, written by Creator/PaulDini with art by [[Creator/StephaneRoux Stéphane Roux]]. The series works as a sequel to Dini's
''ComicBook/ZatannaEverydayMagic'' one-shot, featuring some of the same ideas supporting cast introduced there.

Zatanna is no longer an active member of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica and now has the time focus on her career as a StageMagician back in San Francisco, though she still works as an active superheroine when needed.

The series begins when local police detective Dale Colton asks for her help in investigating the brutal murders of the ranking members of the city's organized crime families, suspecting that magic was involved. These murders lead Zatanna to discover that the local mystical criminal organization, led by Brother Night, have decided it is time to muscle in on more mundane villainy. After she solves this initial crime, and deals with the repercussions, the series follows her as she combats other supernatural threats to herself and others as she tours across the country.

The series was cancelled with issue #16 due to the relaunch of the DC Universe as the "ComicBook/New52" in September, 2011, leaving the series plot LeftHanging.

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* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: When Zatanna is in therapy, trying to find some way to deal with her crippling unease and dislike of [[CreepyDoll puppets]], the focus is on finding the key incident in her childhood that spawned her lifelong distaste. This is played even more straight as Zatanna outright says she ''hadn't'' been afraid of them as a child before one specific night, which most likely meant that something traumatic had happened. [[spoiler:It was her dad who had turned Oscar Hampel into one of his puppets when he took a child Zatanna hostage after she witnessed him standing over a dead body with a knife.]]
* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: {{Subverted}} Zatanna attends a group therapy session for people who have experienced supernatural occurrences. [[DoubleSubverted It gets double-subverted]] when it's revealed her therapist is actually a demon that is connected to the BigBad (though [[AbortedArc the comic was canceled before the sub-plot went anywhere]]).
* AloofBigBrother: An Aloof Older Cousin version. Zatanna and her cousin Zachary were always close as children, but Zachary now is struggling to make it big as a performer and Zatanna has yet to see even one of his shows. This leads to resentment when it appears that Zatanna has skipped one appearance, what might have been his big break, not because of any sort of global catastrophe or emergency with the [[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]], but because she had a ''date''. Of course, [[{{Brainwashed}} not everything is as it seems...]] [spoiler:Zatanna finally gets to his show in the end, of course.]]
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: An Annoying Younger ''Cousin'' version. Zach can be an irresponsible showboat off-stage, which aggravates Zatanna to no end - especially when such behavior leads him to fall for HoneyTrap demons.
* AlwaysSecondBest:
** Zachary Zatara, Zatanna's cousin and fellow magician, is always in her shadow both as a stage performer and as a hero. However, Zatanna does point out that Zack's unprofessional manner such as missing cues in front of a live audience makes double-billing with him unpleasant--especially since he brushes her off to go to a club rather than take her criticism seriously.
** Zatanna herself is disappointed when it takes her a full twenty-eight seconds to escape from a straitjacket, because [[ComicBook/NewGods Scott Free]] could do it in twelve.
* AttractiveBentGender: Mikey used to look like a stereotypical burly teamster, but now is a beautiful young woman who even looks good in Zatanna's stage costume.
* AndIMustScream:
** Fuseli tries to trap Zatanna in his nightmare dimension, preventing her real body from ever waking up, even if she's still conscious.
** Hampel when he's turned into a puppet by Zatanna's father. Zatanna suffers the same fate for ''months'' when he reverses the spell and turns ''her'' into a puppet.
* AssholeVictim:
** The victim's of Brother Night's massacre turn out to be ruthless gangster, which is why neither Zatanna nor Cole are too horrified by their gruesome deaths.
** The only people that Sargon the Sorcerer manages to kill are a pair of drug dealers and a mugger.
* BadBoss: Mammon, as a demon, is prone to [[YouHaveFailedMe disciplining]] his minions when they disappoint him, but will also punish them even when he never expected them to succeed in the first place.
* ArcVillain:
** Issue #1 to #3 has Brother Night trying to take control of San Francisco
** Issue #4 to #6 has Zatanna evading Mammon's plan to capture her soul in New Vegas.
** Issue #7 has the unstable spirit of Sargon the Sorcerer going on a rampage in Los Angeles.
** Issue #8 to #11 has Oscar Hampel, the evil puppeter with a grudge against John Zatara.
** Issue #12 has Backlash, an evil lout who captured a fairy and is using her powers to cause trouble in San Francisco.
** Issue #14 has Yuki-onna, a seducting demoness who's targetting Zachary.
** Issue #15 has a group of witch hunters trying to assassinate Zatanna.
** Issue #16 has Uriah, a Croatoan who invades Shadowcrest to steal from Zatanna.
* BackToBackBadasses:
** Issue #2 starts with Zatanna, Vixen and Black Canary fighting back-to-back against a group of werehyenas.
** Issue #6 has Zatanna and Zachary blasting away at Mammon's minions while they stand back-to-back.
* BathingBeauty: Zatanna's ideal relaxing activity is "bubble bath and a glass of Merlot". And taking a bath is exactly what she does after her first fight with Brother Night's gang. When she gets to New Vegas, she also longs for a shower, but keeps getting interrupted by either her cousin or the villains.
* BatmanColdOpen: Issue #2 begins with Zatanna finishing up an adventure with the JLA: putting down a gang of werehyenas alongside Vixen and Black Canary. This is also used to estabileshed Zatanna is exhausted for the rest of the issue, while she still has to deal with Fuseli bothering her in her dreams.
* BetweenMyLegs: When Zatanna first teleports into Brother's Night hideout, we get a shot of Zatanna's legs framing Brother Night as he [[SlouchOfVillainy slouches in his couch]].
* BewitchedAmphibians: Less played for laughs when she comes across a scene of mobsters who've been brutally killed via magic. One of the victims is someone who's [[ForcedTransformation been turned]] into a still human-sized frog.
* BilingualBonus: The SoleSurvivor to Brother Night's massacre in the club is a latino server who only speaks in spanish. While Zatanna translates the gist of his dialogue to Colton, someone fluent in spanish will obviously understand all of his dialogue.
* BigBad: Brother Night is the the ArcVillain of the first story, but is set up as the overall antagonist of the series when his powers begin to return and he's revealed to be connected to Dale... but then the series got cancelled and the plotline was LeftHanging.
* BodyHorror: Brother Night opens his war on the mundane mobs by murdering the upper echelons in a horrific and twisted fashion, mutating them into bizarre shapes and animals before they die.
* BondageIsBad: A S&M club is shown to be frequented by demons, supernatural serial killers, and a psychotic mob boss who trades in human souls. However Creator/PaulDini, the writer, included a bondage club in an issue of ''Detective Comics'' that was portrayed in a much more positive and tolerant light and Batman was even shown to be a friend (as much as Batman is ANYONE'S friend) of the owner, having helped her out during a riot at the club weeks before. So the club in Zatanna is probably more AuthorAppeal and possibly a homage to the kinky Cenobites of ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}''.
* BoobsAndButtPose: In Issue #1, there's a gratuitous {{fanservice}} shot of a nude Zatanna as she's stepping into her bath while posing in a manner to show her breats and buttocks to the viewer, only said buttocks and {{Sideboob}} are covered up by SceneryCensor instead.
* BoundAndGagged: Zatanna is bound and gagged around three times during the comic's run. In fact, his first issue of ''Zatanna'' opened with a [[https://i.imgur.com/zcfzwTl.jpg splash page of the character bound and gagged while in her stage outfit]].
* {{Brainwashed}}: The second arc of her series features Zatanna herself brainwashed into marrying a man so that he can substitute her soul for his when the demon Mammon comes to claim him. This is not the first time he has done this, either, as the previous women he plunged into hell serve as the bridesmaids at the wedding.
* BreatherEpisode: The backup story of issue #9 shows Zatanna getting braces and trying to deal with a thief in a mall when she can't even speak properly.
* ButterFace: The Yuki-onna true appearance is still having the body of a gorgeous MsFanservice, but her head is just a giant MonsterMouth.
* CaughtMonologuing: When the witch hunters finally corner Zatanna, instead of just killing her, their leaders goes on a spiel about their work and the evils of magic, and how their cause is righteous. This gives Zatanna enough time to finish healing her wound, thus getting her magic back and then easily dealing with them.
* CharmPerson: Brother Night is easily able to get normal people under his control by just being near them, and they find themselves unable to obey his orders.
* CombatTentacles: Yuki-onna can turn her finders into tendrils and uses them to [[PuppeteerParasite puppet Zachary]] and attack Zatanna.
* TheCommissionerGordon: Detective Colton becomes Zatanna's ally and FriendOnTheForce in San Francisco.
* ContinuityNod:
** When Fuseli is showing Zatanna her YourWorstNightmare, we get some panels of traumatic moments from other stories, like her final encounter with her mother Sindella, her father TakingTheBullet for her in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' and Batman, Catwoman and Dr. Light (the primary targets of her [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory tampering incident]] in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'') screaming at her.
** [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph and Sue Dibny]] appear in the audience at Zatanna's "wedding," and she remarks how wonderful it is [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis that they are]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo not dead anymore]].
** When it is revelated that John Zatara wiped Zatanna's memories of a tragic incident to calm her down, Fuseli remarks that such actions [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis must run in her family]].
** At the end of ''[[Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew Captain Carrot and the Final Ark]]'', the Zoo Crew had ended up in the main DC Universe, where they were normal animals. The Justice League found them and Zatanna said she could use another bunny in her act. The peculiar behavior of one of Zatanna's rabbits, the offspring of a brown stray she took in, is briefly mentioned in one issue.
** A lot of the characters introduced in the Zatanna: Everyday Magic one-shot story return for this series, like Zatanna's crew member Arnie and Andre, and the evil witch Nimue who shows up at Brother Night's bar.
* CutShort: When the series was canceled in the lead-up to the Post-ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} DC Universe, Paul Dini left the series and was replaced by other writers for the final issues. These issues did not follow the ongoing plot of the series, leaving several threads dangling, such as the entire Brother Night arc and Zatanna's predicted conflict with ComicBook/TheSpectre.
* DeaderThanDead: After finally being caught by his DealWithTheDevil that he had managed to avoid for decades, Benjamin Raymond is only a few minutes away from being dragged down to Hell for eternity. He pleads for Zatanna's help but, as she rightly points out, this is a situation of his own making, and he had earlier tried to substitute ''her'' soul in his place, [[EntitledBastard why should she fight a demon on his behalf]]? He becomes so desperate that, if she will not rescue him, then at least ''kill'' him; not just kill him, but rend his soul asunder and remove it forever from existence, since even not existing would be better than what will happen to him if Mammon should be able to claim him. Taking pity on him, Zatanna consents, and transforms him into a soulless, inanimate lump of gold. Luckily, Mammon appreciates the irony of a greedy man being turned into a symbol of greed.
* DealWithTheDevil:
** Brother Night sacrificed the souls of thirteen children to the lords of Hell atop Mount Diablo in return for his power as an EvilSorcerer and {{Necromancer}}. [[spoiler:When Zatanna faces him atop Mount Diablo to save her friends, she defeats him by using her SdrawkcabSpeech to force him to renounce his power and his contract, freeing the souls of the kids to move on to their proper afterlife and depowering him so that he can be incarcerated by the regular authorities, but also dooming him to Hell when he dies.]]
** The second arc of the series revolves around a decades-old deal with the demon Mammon, who lays claim to the soul of Benjamin Ramond, the man who built UsefulNotes/LasVegas. Raymond has kept himself out of hell by feeding Mammon the souls of innocent women in his stead.
* DemonicDummy: Complete with a requisite kitchen knife and homicidal tendencies. Indeed it turned out to be a murderer magically transformed into a puppet by Zatanna father decades earlier.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Zatanna turns some party girls that mistook her for a waitress into birds. Granted she's cranky that they're partying in her apartment without permission and she turns them back pretty quick.
* DistractedByTheSexy: One sidewalk cleaner gets distracted in the background while he stares at Zatanna as she walks past him, ending up flooding the sidewalk instead.
* TheDon: Brother Night is already the top crime boss in the Mystic Underworld of San Francisco mystical realm, but he wants to expand to the mortal half. His first move towards doing this is by killing TheDon of the mortal San Francisco.
* DueToTheDead: While Zatanna acnowdeledges they were all {{Asshole Victim}}s, she still makes a point to reverse the humiliating ForcedTransformation that Romalthi inflicted on the human gangsters before killing them. As Zatanna says, "The world needs to see that humans, not monsters, were killed tonight".
* DreamSpying: Before Fuseli attempts to attack Zatanna in her dreams, he spies on her neighbours first, as a way to estabilish his DreamWalker powers.
* ElCidPloy: After Zatanna has freed her assistants and crew from Brother Night she has to remain and deal with him for good. However, she explains that somebody needs to [[TheShowMustGoOn perform at their scheduled show]] and she dresses Mikey in her outfit and and sends them all back to the stage.
* EnfantTerrible: Out of every member of Brother Night's gang, Teddy is the one that bothers Zatanna the most, due to looking like a innocent child, but being a creepy mysticaç murderer.
--> '''Zatanna:''' "Teddy. Don't get me ''started'' on Teddy."
* EntitledBastard: After Benjamin Raymond tries and fails to sacrifice Zatanna to Mammon, and gets his own soul claimed instead, he has the gall to ask Zatanna to help him. She takes pity on him and transforms him into an inanimate lump of gold so he won't suffer.
* EroticDream: In #16 (the final issue of the 2011 series), a seriously sleep-deprived Zee is woken from a dream involving two hunky men and a tub of cocoa butter when Uriah breaks into her library. She spends the rest of the issue trying to deal with the pest as quickly as possible so she can get back to the dream.
* EvilBrit: Backslash, albeit a scrubby example.
* EvilPuppeteer: Oscar Hampel, a.k.a. Stringleshanks, was a murderous puppeteer transformed into a lifeless dummy that resembled Hampel's most famous marionette Stringleshanks by Zatanna's father John Zatara. However, the spell-bound Hampel's wooden existence to Zatara's bloodline. Hampel would later be awakened by Zatanna's presence and come back to plague her as a DemonicDummy.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first two arcs of the series takes place in less than twenty-four hours.
* EyeOfHorusMeansEgypt: When the {{Mummy}} Hassan speaks his SpeechBubbles are filled with Egyptian Hieroglyphs which include the "Eye" and even Ra's sun disk, with neither one actually being words in the Egyptian language just religious symbols.
* FlashyTeleportation: Most times Zatanna teleports throught the series, it's accompanied by flashy smoke, similar to the kind StageMagician's use.
* ForTheEvulz:
** Fuseli, the Lord of Nightmares, enjoys twisting people's psyches just for the hell of it.
** This is also Backslash's explicit motivation:
---> '''Backslash:''' "What we doin' is I'm about to hack you up into tiny bits and listen to you scream. And ''why,'' always with ''why.'' Why is the same reason I nick beers from the shop, same reason I gutted them fish, same reason I do anything-- 'cos I want to. 'Cos I can. No other reason necessary."
* FunWithPalindromes: Issue #12 has Zatanna (who, recall, pronounces the words in her spells backwards) going up against a villain with time-reversal powers that allow him to negate her spells by having them sound like normal words. She gets around his powers by casting spells in palindromes (such as "Nurses Run" causing him to be stampeded by an army of running nurse mannequins).
* GenderBender: Mikey is the result of an [[NoodleIncident as-yet-unspecified]] application of the trope. We see her in a "three years ago" dream sequence as a burly male.[[note]]''Zatanna'' #13 (2011)[[/note]] WordOfGod from Paul Dini says "Zatanna didn't do it & can't reverse it; Mikey brought it on him/herself. Now Mikey's in an interesting place where she has to sort out her feelings about this." While there's a lot more to Mikey's story, with the book's cancellation, [[LeftHanging it doesn't seem likely that her story will be told any time soon, if ever]].
* GodivaHair: One shot in issue #2 has Ember lying at Brother Night's couch nude save for her hair that is covering her breasts. Given Brother Night's disheveled clothes it's implied they just finished having offcreen sex.
* GoodIsNotDumb: When Oscar Hampel claims that he was turned into a puppet because of a tragic series of events almost out of his control, and that his actions were an isolated event, Zatanna accepts that her father, for all his wisdom and power, [[HumansAreFlawed was only human]]. She gives Oscar the benefit of the doubt and agrees to help him become human again... After she runs him through a magic LieDetector, that is. After all, just because her father was not perfect does not mean he was wrong this time, and she is going to make sure before she takes any actions.
* {{Hellfire}}: The fire demons that attack Zatanna use hellfire, which can't be easily be put out. Zatanna then resorts to finding a priest and having him [[HolyWater bless the water]] so she can use it to defeat the fire demon trio.
* HolyWater: In order to defeat the {{Hellfire}} demon trio Mammon sent to kill her, Zatanna finds a priest and has him bless the hotel pool, and is now able to destroy them by blasting them with the holy water.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Almost every villain of her series is defeated when Zatanna outdoes them in magic and trickery, often inflicting on them the very punishment they meant to do to her.
* HomageShot: In Brother Night's nightclub, [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Morn]] is seated at the bar.
* HoneyTrap:
** Mikey dresses up in a revealing outfit (daisy dukes and a tight blouse with BareYourMidriff) in order to seduce Oscar Hampel to find out what happened to Zatanna.
** Yuki-onna attempts to kill Zach by approaching him as a gorgeous woman and trying to lure him to a "intimate location". Zatanna manages to put a stop to her because she gets the chance.
* HumansAreFlawed: When Zatanna is faced with the results of her father's temper, the victim claims it was all a tragic misunderstanding that sprang out of desperation. Zatanna, despite the love and respect she has for her father, recognizes that he was only human. Just because he meant well did not mean he was infallible, and she is willing to investigate further. [[spoiler: Okay, the guy ''did'' deserve it, but the point still stands]].
* HumanSacrifice: Brother Night acquired his powers by filling graves with the bodies of children and offering them to the Lords of Hell.
* HypocriticalHumor: When Zatanna is lecturing Zach about using magic responsibly to restore the karmic balance he asks where was the karmic balance in turning the party girls into doves and dropping them into the pool. She just says that they pissed her off.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Raymond attempts to marry Zatanna after he has her captured, and she's forced to comply thanks to a magical roofie. She's rescued by that fate from Zachary.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The Witch Hunters attempt to shoot down Zatanna with machine guns, but they somehow end up missing every shot despite all that she's doing to dodge them is swing on a rope.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Mammon is willing to grant Benjamin Raymond eternal life, youth and freedom from hell in exchange for Zatanna's soul. It would be the prize of his entire soul collection.
* InstantCostumeChange: Thanks to her magic, Zatanna is often just instantly changing between outfits throught the story. This is also how she proves to Detective Dalton that she [[MagiciansAreWizards isn't just a mere stage magician]]. She also changes a towel-clad Bunny into her working outfit just so she can get her and Zachary out of her apartment as quickly as possible.
* InstantSedation: Mikey drugs a piece of cloth and uses on Oscar Hampel, who passes out almost instantly as Mikey shoves the cloth into his face.
* IWasHavingSuchANiceDream: In the final issue of the run, Zatanna is awakened from a dream involving [[EroticDream two hunky men and a tub of cocoa butter]] by an intruder in her library.
* KungFuWizard: The series has constant reminders that while Zatanna is [[LadyOfBlackMagic an extremely power magician]], she's also a trained martial artist and can still defeat some {{Mook}}s by herself with just hand-to-hand combat. This is especially evident in issue #15, where she has to fight off the witch hunters with only her martial arts, and she even has a {{flashback}} showing her dad trained her for just such occasions.
* LadyInRed: The seductress Yuki-onna that targets Zachary is wearing a striking [[FormFittingWardrobe skin-tight]] red dress.
* LeftHanging: The story was canceled before the plotlines involving Brother Night, Detective Colton and Mikey could be wrapped up.
* LighterAndSofter: Zatanna's solo series is basically the fantasy-comedy series of DC. Zatanna's crippling phobia of puppets, while treated as a serious problem which requires therapy to resolve, was discovered in the most hilarious way possible: performing on ''Sesame Street.'' [[RefugeInAudacity She threw up in Oscar's trash can.]]
* LovePotion: The Roses Benjamin gives to Zatanna function as one when she smells them. The effect is even more potent when he slashes her with one of its thorns.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Upon interrogating his estranged birth mother, Colton discovers he is Brother Night's son.]]
* TheMafia: The first arc revolved around a supernatural MobWar, with the mystical criminal underworld attempting to wrest control of San Francisco from the traditional Mafia.
* MagicFeather: Averted in the ongoing series where speaking her spells backwards is an essential component of her magic. [[DependingOnThewriter Some previous writers]] had claimed that the speaking spells backwards routine was just a focusing technique and that Zee could cast spells without it.
* ManOfKryptonite: Zatanna encounters a low-level thug named Backslash who has a magical sword that gives him the ability to rewind short bursts of time, turning her backwards speech into forwards speech and completely invalidating her powers. She is only able to stop him by speaking in palindromes which are the same back and forth, such as "Nurses, run!" and "Ogre, flog a golfer, go!".
* MindScrew: In the second arc, when Zatanna is being brainwashed into an eternal torment in Hell, her perspective is of a joyous wedding ceremony attended by all her friends. [[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis Including Ralph and Sue Dibny]].
* MistakenForServant: Zatanna arrives at her hotel room after an exhausting show she finds that her cousin, Zatarra, is throwing a wild party filled with people she does not know. When several women mistake her for a waitress due to her stage attire and ask for their drinks Zatanna, already extremely frustrated, [[ForcedTransformation turns them into birds and has them fly away]].
* ModestyTowel:
** PlayedWith near the end of the first issue. When Zatanna's naked climbing into her bath, a magically floating towel blocks the view of her lower body, preserving her modesty even if she's not actually wearing it.
** Zachary's assistant Bunny is caught wearing one in Zatanna's apartment. Zatanna is quick to [[InstantCostumeChange use her magic to clothe her]] and kick then her and Zachary out.
* MonsterMouth: Yuki-onna's true form has her worm-like mouth taking up the entiry of her head, including a huge tendril-like tongue.
* {{Muggle}}: Detective Dale Colton had no prior experience with the supernatural before he came to Zatanna, and was not even sure if he really believed it existed. The only reason he came to her at all is that the mystical criminal underworld has decided it was time to move in on the Muggle underworld, which has no way of dealing with such otherworldly events.
* MyGrandsonMyself: Benjamin Raymond, the villain of the Vegas arc, knew Zatanna's father several decades ago, and is now posing as his own son to strike up a "friendship" with Zatanna herself.
* NoodleIncident: The exact circumstances that led to Mikey now being a beautiful woman.
* NotWearingPantsDream: When Fuseli is DreamSpying on Zatanna's neighbours, one of them happens to be having a "naked in public nightmare", which Fuseli dimisses as "kid's stuff".
* OffhandBackhand: While Zatanna's talking with Brother Night, a monster attempts to attack her from the back, but she casually disposes of him with a backhand magical blast that [[ForcedTransformation turns it into a harmless bunny]].
* OrganicBra: The fire demons take the form of nearly naked women that are WreathedInFlames, they curiously seem to have some kind of organic fire underwear on their bodies.
* PainfulTransformation: Brother Night ''killed'' his targets with their transformations into [[BodyHorror horrific inhuman]] ''[[BodyHorror things]]''.
* {{Paparazzi}}: Zatanna is not a fan of the media, and one of the reasons she hates traveling to Los Angeles is because there are paparazzi ''everywhere''. When she stops a high-speed chase that happened to pass her by she is already dreading the countless pictures that will surface of the event, followed by articles, media theories ([[DistractedByTheSexy Primarily focused on if she has gained or lost weight]]), and videos uploaded to "[[CaptainErsatz Youface]]" that have been edited to make ''her'' look like the villain.
* ProsceniumReveal: The series begin with Zatanna being BoundAndGagged while Joker and Dr. Light and seemingly about to execute her [[ThisIsADrill with a drill]]. The very next page reveals it was just a part of her StageMagician show, and the villains are actually just actors.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: When Zatanna arrives at her hotel room after an exhausting show she finds that her cousin, Zach, has thrown a wild party filled with people she does not know. When several women mistake her for a waitress and ask for their drinks Zatanna, already extremely frustrated, [[ForcedTransformation turns them into birds and has them fly away]]. Nothing bad happens to the women while they were birds, and Zatanna returns them to human form soon afterwards, but nobody sees any real problem with her ''mutating innocent bystanders just because she was incredibly annoyed''.
* PsychicAssistedSuicide: A officer that was guarding Brother Night suddenly commiting suicide just as Night was attacking his doctor is implied to have been this, implying that Brother Night's powers are slowly returning even after being defeated and [[DePower de-powered]] by Zatanna.
* PuppeteerParasite: Yuki-onna shoves one of her tendril-tongue inside Zachary's mouth, and takes control of his body, magic powers included.
* PuppetPermutation: Zee's father once transformed the SerialKiller Hampel into a marionette. Decades later, Hampel took vengeance by turning Zatanna into a marionette: a form in which she was trapped for several months.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Benjamin Raymond [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to Mammon]] years ago in exchange for wealth and youth, and every few years he marries an innocent woman and gives Mammon ''her'' soul in order to extend his life. By the time he moves on to Zatanna he has been doing this for quite a while, and knew her father [[MyGrandsonMyself back when he was his own father]].
* RevealingReflection: Zatanna sees that Romanthi is about to attack her from behind when she sees his reflection on her wine glass and she uses SwapTeleportation on Nimue, making him attack ''her'' instead.
* RoguesGallery: Zatanna [[LampshadeHanging refers to]] Brother Night's {{mook}}s as "a veritable rogues' gallery of the mystic underworld."
* SalemIsWitchCountry: In "Witch Hunt" Zatanna sends some [[TheWitchhunter witch hunters]] that attacked her back to the Salem trials where they are ironically mistaken for witches by the Salemites who prepare to burn them at the stake. As Zatanna watches them from afar, her narration reveals she’ll save them before they actually die.
* SceneryCensor: When Zatanna uses her magic to strip off her clothes in order to take a bath, her strategically placed arms a the floating objects block any naughty bits from being seen.
* SealedEvilInACan: A more literal example than usual, as Oscar Hampel — in the form of his puppet, Stringleshanks — is sealed into a magician's milk can.
* SesameStreetCred: Zatanna ''tried'' to star in an episode of ''Series/SesameStreet'' [[ShowWithinAShow within the series]], but her crippling phobia of puppets meant that she did not even get through her act before she wound up throwing up in Oscar's garbage can. This actually leads her to seek therapy to try and deal with her fear of puppets and instigates the third arc of the series.
* SeriesContinuityError: In issue #14, by guest writer Adam Beechen, the resolution to the story hinges on Zatanna's power not being able to affect living things. Not only has she used her powers on living beings many times in her history, but in this series alone she has turned a guy into a rat, turned three women into birds, turned a guy into a lump of gold (destroying his soul in the process) and her father used the same magic she does to turn a man into a puppet. Zatanna did once have a limitation on her powers of only being able to manipulate [[ElementalPowers elemental matter]] for several years, but that facet of her character was re-written several years before this series came out.
* ShipTease:
** There are some hints throught the story that Zatanna and Dale are attracted to each other, but this never goes anywhere.
** During Zatanna's "marriage" to Raymond, she has a vision of all of her JLA friends as guests to the wedding. When she sees Bruce she thinks she sees a "trace of regret" on his expression, implying she wants him to be attracted to her.
* ShotgunWedding: Zatanna is drugged and brainwashed into walking down the aisle with a man she barely knows ([[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld though he did know her father pretty well]]). However, he only wants her soul so he can give it to the demon Mammon in lieu of his own.
* TheShowMustGoOn: After she frees them from Brother Night, Zatanna explains to her cast and crew that they still have a scheduled appearance, [[ElCidPloy dresses Mikey in her costume]], and sends them back to the stage to perform.
* ShowWithinAShow: Apart from Zatanna and Zatara's own magical performances, the beginning of the third arc of the series recounts when Zatanna [[SesameStreetCred tried to guest-star]] in an episode of ''Series/SesameStreet'', but could not perform [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes because of her fear of puppets]].
* SmallNameBigEgo:
** Fuseli likes to think of himself as the lord of all nightmares but to Brother Night he's just a goon, and as soon as Zatanna gets the upper hand in their fight he starts begging for his life.
** Brother Night himself seems to think he's an elite among the forces of hell, but Zatanna says his powers are nothing more than palor tricks on a cosmic level.
** Zatanna herself gets a taste of this during her discussion with ComicBook/TheSpectre:
--->'''The Spectre:''' I don't tell you how to use a thumb tip, don't tell me how to administer God's wrath.\\
'''Zatanna:''' Wow, that makes me feel like I'm completely nonexistent on a cosmic scale.\\
'''The Spectre:''' Mission accomplished, then.
* SlashedThroat: The witch hunters who ambush Zatanna manage to slash her throat with an arrow. It's not enough to be lethal, but she's unable to speak (thus no SdrawkcabSpeech based spellcasting) and will bleed out soon if she doesn't deal with it. She staunches the bleeding with a cloth and later to heal the wound via a magical oilment.
* SlasherSmile: Brother Night, the villain of the first arc, bears a sickeningly wide grin that is inhuman (Literally) and highly disturbing.
* SlaveToPR: Mammon will [[YouHaveFailedMe punish]] his assassins for failing in a mission, even though he never expected them to succeed, because to let them slide would set a bad precedent.
* SlippingAMickey: Benjamin Raymond convinces women to marry him by using a magical roofie on them, which is made by Mammon.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Brother Nigh is often seen slouching is his extravagant sofa at his mystical club, usually with Ember right beside him.
* StarSpangledSpandex: Zatanna creates a star-spangled gala dress to go to a event. Mikey is convinced the starts are actually real.
-->'''Mickey:''' ''[regarding Zatanna's dress]'' Are those stars?!\\
'''Zatanna:''' Maybe.\\
'''Mickey:''' Those are real %&$#ing stars!
* SuccubiAndIncubi: Zatanna identifies Yuki-onna as a succubus, despite the name being a clear reference to a YukiOnna. But Yuki-onna's gorgeous appearance and HoneyTrap modus operanti does indeed fit the bill for a succubus.
* SuperheroesWearCapes: The actor that plays Dr. Light for Zatanna's show complains about how hard it is to wear capes and is in disbelief that superheroes and villains often wear them.
* SupernaturalFloatingHair: When Yuki-onna reveals her supernatural nature, her long hair starts floating above her.
* SwapTeleportation: To escape from being grabbed by Romalthi and suffer from his ForcedTransformation powers, Zatanna uses her magic to switch places with Nimue at the last second, and Nimue is the one who ends up getting turned into a slug.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. It turns out Zatanna has a crippling phobia of [[CreepyDoll puppets]], which has gotten so bad that she could not even guest-star on an episode of ''Series/SesameStreet'' without vomiting on-set before her scene was through. However, she is currently undergoing therapy to help deal with this issue and has discovered the source of her unease in an unpleasant incident from her childhood. Sure, with a ''mystical'' therapist, but still.
* ThisIsADrill: The first issue begins is a crucified Zatanna about to be pierced by a drill, but we find out soon after it's [[ProsceniumReveal just part of her stage magician show]] and she easily escape the situation with her magic. The drill ''was''' actually real though.
* TimeRewindMechanic: Backslash, a [[EvilBrit British]] [[LowerClassLout chav]] that [[SuperWeaponAverageJoe inexplicably acquired]] a fairy-enchanted sword (modeled after clock hands) that allowed him to rewind short periods of time. Along with allowing him to avert blows, reversing time [[ManOfKryptonite completely nullified]] Zatanna's SdrawkcabSpeech based spellcasting. She had to [[FunWithPalindromes improvise palindrome spells]] to work around this.
* TransferableMemory: Zatanna uses her magic to delve into the mind of the SoleSurvivor of Brother's Night massacre, thus being able to "remember" his memories of the event.
* TrueCompanions: Zatanna's cast and crew are closer to friends than employees, and after she frees them from Brother Night they refuse to run away and leave her to face him alone. It is only by [[TheShowMustGoOn explaining that they have a show to do]] and assuring them of her safety that she gets them to leave.
* UndignifiedDeath: Brother Night does this to the local mafia in San Francisco in order to impose his rule there, killing them after transforming then into animals. Zatanna ruins his message by unding the ForcedTransformation.
* VillainsWantMercy:
** Fuseli begs for mercy after being defeated by Zatanna, and she settles for sparing him for a favor, though she still seals him in her hat in the meantime, to his humiliation.
** Benjamin Raymond, having [[DealWithTheDevil made a deal with Mammon]] to help him collect souls in exchange for [[ImmortalityImmorality extended life]], tries and fails to sacrifice Zatanna. This causes his own soul to be forfeit to Mammon, and he has the nerve to ask Zatanna to help him. She can't stop Mammon from claiming him, but takes pity on him and transforms him into an inanimate lump of gold so he won't suffer.
* VivaLasVegas: The Vegas arc takes place in UsefulNotes/LasVegas. Zatanna is there performing her world-famous stage act, and her cousin Zachary is trying to break into the big time himself with his own show. Ultimately, Zatanna comes into conflict with the demon Mammon, the personification of greed and wealth, who bought the soul of the man who helped build Las Vegas decades ago as a monument to greed.
* WeirdnessCensor: Dale Colton [[LampshadeHanging explains]] that most normal people have a lot of trouble accepting the truth about magic and such, even when they hear about it on TV and have to deal with the aftereffects, which is why magic is still a "secret" in the DCU, despite Zatanna herself being a world-famous StageMagician with [[MagiciansAreWizards actual magical powers]] who is a member of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. This is particularly frustrating, even to Zatanna herself, because here there is no {{Masquerade}}, the supernatural world ''wants'' to be recognized, but the people are not listening.
* WeirdnessCensor: In the first arc, detective Dale Colton explains to Zatanna that people have a lot of trouble accepting the truth about magic, even though Zatanna herself is a world-famous StageMagician with [[MagiciansAreWizards actual magical powers]] who is a member of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. No matter how often there is verifiable documentation of legitimate supernatural affairs people prefer to look the other way and hum really loudly, which explains why magic is still a "secret" in Franchise/TheDCU. This is particularly frustrating, even to Zatanna herself, because here there is no {{Masquerade}}, the supernatural world ''wants'' to be recognized, but the people are not listening. The alternate argument would be that in a world populated by aliens who can fly and shoot lasers out their eyes and gets invaded once a month, most people probably don't really see much difference between natural and supernatural as one could easily be used to mimic the other.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Zatanna, it turns out, has a serious and crippling phobia with regards to puppets. Not voodoo dolls or wax effigies, those she can handle with no problems, but with actual ''puppets'' with their hanging strings and painted-on eyes. Her fears extend back to her childhood and a traumatic incident she experienced with her father. When she tried to guest-star on an episode of ''Series/SesameStreet'', reasoning that helping educate and entertain children was worth any sort of personal discomfort, she did not even make it through her scene before she vomited into an on-set trash can. She is currently in therapy to help her deal with this issue, {{avert|edTrope}}ing ThereAreNoTherapists.
* TheWitchHunter: A group of generic witch hunters attempt to assassinate Zatanna in issue #15.
* WreathedInFlames: The fire demons Mammon sends after Zatanna look like middle aged women whose bodies are complely clad in flame, including FlamingHair.
* YouDontWantToKnow: Zatanna regrets bringing up The Spectre to Cole.
--> '''Zatanna:''' ''[Observing the results of Brother Night's massacre]'' It's like ComicBook/TheSpectre went on a bender.\\
'''Detective Dale Colton:''' The Spectre?\\
'''Zatanna:''' Better you don't know.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Mammon plunges his elemental assassins into the fires of perdition for failing to kill Zatanna, even though he never really expected them to succeed in the first place. [[SlaveToPR Letting them slide would set a bad precedent]].
* YukiOnna: In issue #14, Zatanna faces off against a creature who is a yuki-onna InNameOnly: she is more of a cross between a gorgon and a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]] (Zatanna in fact explicitly refers to her as a succubs at one point) who controls Z's cousin Zachary (who got attracted to her in one of his many instances of thinking with his "bottom head") to make him fighting her.
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