I've only got a few of the issues and I just scanned in 225, 1984, "Hellrazor is comming" and I wondered once she was on the team did they face more magical threats than scientific/supervillain/alien style threats?
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I recently re-read Justice League of America in it's entirety. If anything, I'd say there were fewer mystical menaces after she joined. It seemed every other issue that magic was the method used to sideline Superman, and afterwards the League had become so large that they would just focus on a few members for each story.
Of course, I'm likely completely wrong and the Commander will come by and give chapter and verse...
Well the line up in the issues I have is Black Canary, Hawkman/Girl, Atom and Green Arrow, so she's sort of the big gun in that group assuming she isn't gagged. That's why I wondered if they'd tailor the menaces to her.
There were other changes occurring in the period when Zatanna arrived. Gerry Conway took over the writing with #151. Julie Schwartz continued editing to #165, after which Ross Andru took over with #166. Dick Dillin's last issue was #183. The title went from double-sized (#139-#157) to 25 pages (#158-#160) to 22 or so (#161-#165) to the era's standard 17 (#166).
Zatanna was added to the cast with #161, because she won a poll for who should join next. She was given a new costume upon her arrival, and initially handled as a young adult character, younger than the other members. She had a prominent position in the title in the period after she joined, particularly in the stories in #161 (written as a sequel to Green Lantern #42), #163-#165 (involving her search for her mother), and #166-#167 (where she saved the day), but I doubt she was all that popular: the elements of the character just didn't fit together in a sufficiently appealing way. Her first appearance after Dillin's death was in #187, where she was given a new costume, which I think was designed by George Perez, although the issue was drawn by Don Heck. From that point she looked older, so her characterisation as a young woman was gone, leaving her without a personality; and her Perez (?) costume moved her further in direction of being a generic sorceress. Conway tried limiting her powers from #191 but that didn't solve the problem, and I'm not sure it stuck very long. In #187-#188 the title very briefly dallied with the idea of starting a relationship between her and the Flash, this being after Iris's death. I think she had a short-lived back-up series somewhere in the earlier 80s.
Zatanna was added to the cast with #161, because she won a poll for who should join next. She was given a new costume upon her arrival, and initially handled as a young adult character, younger than the other members.
Her being a young adult is consistent with the way she was originally introduced, when she was searching for her father.
I'll bet the fans who voted for her were expecting her to be in her fishnets instead of those later awful costumes.
She was also handled as a young adult in her 70s backup stories. I don't hate the Dillin costume, but it doesn't have a motif that catches the imagination. Bob Rozakis has described her as a surprise winner of the poll. Perhaps the ballot box was stuffed.
I think her costume looked ok here, not as flashy and she worked well with the team. Did Canary ever teach her hand to hand? They had the same basic weakness as far as superpowers go and as shown in this scene Zatanna could have used some training.
I was always under the impression that Zatanna was around the same age as Supergirl & Batgirl, roughly halfway between the Justice Leaguers and the Teen Titans. But then Zatanna got older and the other two got younger.
Richard Willis said:
Luke Blanchard said:
Zatanna was added to the cast with #161, because she won a poll for who should join next. She was given a new costume upon her arrival, and initially handled as a young adult character, younger than the other members.
Her being a young adult is consistent with the way she was originally introduced, when she was searching for her father.
I'll bet the fans who voted for her were expecting her to be in her fishnets instead of those later awful costumes.
Perhaps since she wasn't connected closely to other characters (Zatara wasn't a major player since the 40s) she was allowed to actually age more or less normally for awhile. Batgirl suddenly had to be younger than Robin, even though she was originally older, Don't know the deal with Supergirl,
Not only was Zatanna's costume one without a memorable motif, it didn't fit her at all. For some reason she had a red demon on her head, which contradicted my impression of the character (and likely what made her popular). I dunno how to describe it except to say it's the role Stargirl is currently filling. Imagine Stargirl with a demon on her head, and you can imagine the double-take the young Captain made.
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Hmm.
I recently re-read Justice League of America in it's entirety. If anything, I'd say there were fewer mystical menaces after she joined. It seemed every other issue that magic was the method used to sideline Superman, and afterwards the League had become so large that they would just focus on a few members for each story.
Of course, I'm likely completely wrong and the Commander will come by and give chapter and verse...
Well the line up in the issues I have is Black Canary, Hawkman/Girl, Atom and Green Arrow, so she's sort of the big gun in that group assuming she isn't gagged. That's why I wondered if they'd tailor the menaces to her.
Was she popular? Is that why no Earth-1 Dr. Fate?
There were other changes occurring in the period when Zatanna arrived. Gerry Conway took over the writing with #151. Julie Schwartz continued editing to #165, after which Ross Andru took over with #166. Dick Dillin's last issue was #183. The title went from double-sized (#139-#157) to 25 pages (#158-#160) to 22 or so (#161-#165) to the era's standard 17 (#166).
Zatanna was added to the cast with #161, because she won a poll for who should join next. She was given a new costume upon her arrival, and initially handled as a young adult character, younger than the other members. She had a prominent position in the title in the period after she joined, particularly in the stories in #161 (written as a sequel to Green Lantern #42), #163-#165 (involving her search for her mother), and #166-#167 (where she saved the day), but I doubt she was all that popular: the elements of the character just didn't fit together in a sufficiently appealing way. Her first appearance after Dillin's death was in #187, where she was given a new costume, which I think was designed by George Perez, although the issue was drawn by Don Heck. From that point she looked older, so her characterisation as a young woman was gone, leaving her without a personality; and her Perez (?) costume moved her further in direction of being a generic sorceress. Conway tried limiting her powers from #191 but that didn't solve the problem, and I'm not sure it stuck very long. In #187-#188 the title very briefly dallied with the idea of starting a relationship between her and the Flash, this being after Iris's death. I think she had a short-lived back-up series somewhere in the earlier 80s.
Luke Blanchard said:
Zatanna was added to the cast with #161, because she won a poll for who should join next. She was given a new costume upon her arrival, and initially handled as a young adult character, younger than the other members.
Her being a young adult is consistent with the way she was originally introduced, when she was searching for her father.
I'll bet the fans who voted for her were expecting her to be in her fishnets instead of those later awful costumes.
She was also handled as a young adult in her 70s backup stories. I don't hate the Dillin costume, but it doesn't have a motif that catches the imagination. Bob Rozakis has described her as a surprise winner of the poll. Perhaps the ballot box was stuffed.
I think her costume looked ok here, not as flashy and she worked well with the team. Did Canary ever teach her hand to hand? They had the same basic weakness as far as superpowers go and as shown in this scene Zatanna could have used some training.
http://members.ttlc.net/~mso/Justice_League_America_225_1984_Page23...
I was always under the impression that Zatanna was around the same age as Supergirl & Batgirl, roughly halfway between the Justice Leaguers and the Teen Titans. But then Zatanna got older and the other two got younger.
Richard Willis said:
Perhaps since she wasn't connected closely to other characters (Zatara wasn't a major player since the 40s) she was allowed to actually age more or less normally for awhile. Batgirl suddenly had to be younger than Robin, even though she was originally older, Don't know the deal with Supergirl,
Not only was Zatanna's costume one without a memorable motif, it didn't fit her at all. For some reason she had a red demon on her head, which contradicted my impression of the character (and likely what made her popular). I dunno how to describe it except to say it's the role Stargirl is currently filling. Imagine Stargirl with a demon on her head, and you can imagine the double-take the young Captain made.
Also, I though it was ugly. So there. :)
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