InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "NYANYANYANYANYANYANYANYANYA!!!"

sailorlibra (sailorlibra) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-20 22:54:00

Entry tags:

char: alfred pennyworth, char: batman/bruce wayne, char: giovanni "john" zatara, char: joker, char: ventriloquist/peyton riley, char: zatanna zatara, creator: don kramer, creator: dustin nguyen, creator: paul dini, publisher: dc comics, title: detective comics

Zatanna Highlights from Detective Comics
As per request, Zatanna as done by Dini. From issues 833, 834, 843, and 844.

Bruce and Zee have a long history. In fact, she appears to be one of the only two childhood friends he's ever had. She's a much better friend than Hush, however.

They're investigating the murder of one of Zatanna's former employees, who died while performing in one of Loxias's shows.

When they find Loxias, he reveals that he is not, in fact, who they think he is. He's the Joker. He manages to get the upper hand on Zee and Bruce at first, but Bruce breaks the stage chair he was tied to in order to free Zatanna from the tank Joker put her in. Unfortunately, the Joker escapes.

They go hunting for Batman's arch-enemy and eventually manage to find him, still using the Loxias identity, planning to kill the crowd of his fans. Luckily, Zee is awesome.

Batman runs into Zatanna again about ten issues later. This time she's in town on her own business. But she's not too sad about seeing Bruce again.

They dash off to discover that it's the new ventriloquist, Peyton, who causing the disturbance. During the ensuing fracas, Bruce is kidnapped by Peyton. She does the usual for villains, acts a little crazy, tells Bruce her life story, leaves a ticking bomb on his chest... And that's where Zee comes back in.

Peyton ends up getting pulled into the water.

And thus goes Zee's gueststar appearances during Dini's Detective Comics, with the exception of a few already posted excerpts from DC #847 and DC #850.

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runespoor7
2009-05-21 05:49 am UTC (link)

Y'know, I sort of like Zatanna, but then I read her saying things like "I'd like to know if I have to apologize again for the worst mistake in my life" and that makes me be angry at her for the rest of the arc. You mindraped one of your friends, and then you failed for years to fix it. No matter how many times Bruce makes you apologize for it, you'll still be in the wrong.

Other than that, I do like the way Dini writes her. "Well, it's there and it's wearing a top hat" is awesome, though I don't think they'd make a good couple at all, among others for the reasons Zee mentions.

Wasn't there talk of Dini writing a series about her, or is it the Black Canary/Zatanna team-up?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-05-21 07:34 am UTC (link)
	Except she HAS apologised, she has expressed sincere regret, and she absolutely knows she did the wrong thing, she's not making excuses for it. It's Bruce's hot/cold reaction to her which she's finding tough. If he chooses to forgive her fine, if not, also fine, but vacillating between the two doesn't help anyone with anything. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-05-21 08:12 am UTC (link)
	I understand why she's reacting as she does, I still find it annoying as hell. They're both coming off as passive-aggressive to the extreme on that page, and while I don't mind Bruce acting that way because it's not like his distrust is unwarranted, from Zatanna, here, it rubs me the wrong way. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-05-21 07:50 am UTC (link)
	"mindraped"? Really? All she did was take away 3 minutes of him trying to stop her from doing what she thought was right, and she HAS apologised to him several times. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

runespoor7
2009-05-21 08:03 am UTC (link)

Yeah, and she didn't tell him until he found out all by himself. I certainly hope she apologized, but she has no right to act as offended as she does. I understand and empathize with why she would find the constant reminder tiring and hurtful, but Bruce being a jerk doesn't make her look better.

I just wish they'd let that horse rot in peace already, so I can pretend that people like Dinah and Ollie never let something like that happen.

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kenn_el
2009-05-21 12:13 pm UTC (link)

It irks me no end that what Zee did was retconned into the JLA history by Metzger when she had shown no prior inclination toward interfering with others in an invasive manner. But what's done is done. However, if ZEE has to go on a never-ending apology tour for that incident, likewise should Bruce be constantly held accountable for his precautionary pre-emptive measures aimed at disabling his fellow JLAers that the Al Ghuls used effectively back when. Or have we forgotten those?

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runespoor7
2009-05-21 12:23 pm UTC (link)

I'm okay with Bruce being perpetually held responsible for those, even though I've always thought he was right to have them and even though he wasn't the one implementing their use. (Completely irresponsible of him to have them accessible to other people, though.) It's not that I think Zatanna should have to apologize for that every time she saw Bruce, but I think she should be ready for it.

But what's done is done.
I'll take that retcon, no matter how stupid.

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jlbarnett
2009-05-21 07:55 pm UTC (link)

I can see telling him if he hadn't found out. Her going around in circles, trying to apoligize for doing.

Cause see the key thing is she probably still thinks it was right to make Light an ineffective weasel. In fact that would be the least he deserved. But Bats would never accept that so he had to be kept in the dark.

THe biggest problem is that DC is on a Silver Age kick. And this is the sort of thing every single DCU superhero would have done without a second thought back then so the upset is actually a little disconcerting for me.

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mooppoom
2009-05-21 02:52 pm UTC (link)

The Batman thing didn't piss me off at all. Honestly, how many times has he turned on his allies and friends for less reason than that? He's played a bunch of games just to test people. It's sick, and in my opinion he doesn't get to whine and whimper when they manipulate him like he did them.

What infuriated me, and ruined the Zatanna character for me, was what they did to Catwoman. It bugged me not only in the story, but as meta. "Oh. She was never *really* a hero. She was just mindraped into being one!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-05-21 04:59 pm UTC (link)
	There's a difference between manipulating someone and mindraping them, though. I thought the Catwoman issue had been retconned? Didn't they handwave it with the explanation that no, she hadn't really been forced, she'd been-- something like she made her choice faster? Something like that? But I agree, that was horrible. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	darkknightjrk 2009-06-04 02:39 am UTC (link)
	Hell, her whole villain re-turn annoyed me. She had an interesting thing going with her "half-hero, half-Robin-Hood" thing in the Brubaker run. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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