DC Super-Stars 11 - the battle of the mystic Z's!

[perletwo]

I bring you today five and a half pages of a 17-page story, found in DC Super-Stars #11 circa January 1977 - "DC Super-Stars of Magic!" Story by Len Wein, art by Gray Morrow.




On the prologue page, Zatara is ambushed in his study by...something.





I love how Zee just looks mildly miffed at this turn of events. Anyhoo, magic carpet ride, swordfights with savages, Tower of the Dead blah blah blah, when suddenly...GORGANUS.





Impy demons follow them home interrogation blah blah, Zatara is on the rampage across New York...



As Zatara falls unconscious a blonde demon spirit rises from his body, and Zee traps it in a jar...



And a good day was had by all. :D

Now for the real reason I lured you guys in here with lovely Gray Morrow art - to critique my less lovely art! (see how that works?) I've never been altogether happy with Zee's top hat and tails look, and the less said about her other looks the better. So I thought I'd try a redesign - call it an alternate-Earth Zatanna if you like - with the idea in mind of the costumers Piper Perabo and Scarlett Johannsen wore in The Prestige.

Zatanna redesign 1 by ~perletwo on deviantART

Hope that DA embed thing works. Anyhoo, the snakey-headpiece was the one element of the 80s costume I thought worth keeping. The hatching on her legs is meant to be fishnets, not dirt. :D The opera cloak owes a little something to the Phantom Stranger, without being a direct steal.
Pleased with the relative lack of anatomy fail in this one.

I've got another idea for a Criss Angel punk-metal based redesign, but I haven't worked out the details in my head yet.


So there you go - the Zataras, father/daughter relationship of the year, y/n?

Tag wranglers! char: john zatara (does not exist yet), char: zatanna zatara, creator: gray morrow, creator: len wein, publisher: dc comics

Comments

[kirke_novak]

Fishnets? Check
Tentacles? Check
"Masters"? Check

Ok, who sold the pictures from my last b-day party to S_D? Hm? Come on!

[tacobob]

Dead Lobster thing on her head? Hey!

[aaron_bourque]

Damn that's some fine art.

[icon_uk]

Isn't it though? Just lovely to look at.

[retro_nouveau]

Mirror Image creates 1d4 images plus one image per three caster levels (maximum 8 images total).

Zatanna Zatara : Jeff Sloane :: Donna Troy : Terry Long ? XP

I like your redesigns, especially the gloves and boots. :) Um, everything except the 80s snakey-headpiece? Your art is really coming along nicely!

I'd like you to redesign this Jeff Sloane's look next. The polka-dot pants and matching ascot scarf do not work for me at all. XP

[icon_uk]

I've always wanted to see a normal world magic user in the DCU or MU who actually DOES think in D&D terms to get things done. It would add a neat element to them, and act as the built in limitation that too powerful a magic user would need for story purposes.

[retro_nouveau]

Agreed. DCU/MU magicians are crazy powerful, and limiting her to elemental spells made her boring. At least you have a chance with Zee if you can cover her mouth before she starts bending reality.

[icon_uk]

Except of course you don't, as (apart from when written by the likes of Brad Metzler whose awareness of the DCU is as good as his plotting) she doesn't need to speak her spells, it's simply an aid to make it easier to do.

[retro_nouveau]

Ugh, I'm with team Metzler on this. Otherwise, everyone else can retire and Zee can be the League of One.

[aaron_bourque]

She's taken the Silent Spell feat. Gagging her will do no good. Meltzer fail.

Ask and ye shall receive -

[perletwo]

- a quick 'n' dirty sketch redesign on Jeff Sloane. I call this the Hipster Douche Remix:


Jeffrey Sloane redesign by ~perletwo on deviantART

Note the boat shoes without socks, the skinny flat-front khakis, the ironic snug argyle sweater, the long woolly scarf, the Buddy Holly glasses. The hair - has unfortunately come back into style, overlong unkempt and slightly greasy, with the addition of scruffy facial hair.

I had to recolor a few things once I scanned it - the khaki went to dull brown, and the hair turned up bright red. So if it looks a bit funny in those areas, that's why.

And yes, when the hair came up red, he did look remarkably like Terry Long's slightly sleazier older brother.

[retro_nouveau]

Still a little better than his earlier look! It looks like his scarf was a present from redesigned!Zee. You lost me at "without socks" -- if that didn't make Zee put an ad out for a new manager, nothing will. :D

Your art skillz are starting to hit their stride. My #2 motto will now be "be careful what you wish for"!!1! :)

[perletwo]

Thanks! My sense of proportion is coming back in terms of figure drawing. Still have to fight my tendency to render everything to death.

I was sweating the work on Re!Zee, not because I didn't have confidence in the costume idea, but because while I was working on it I saw this abomination. Gaaah, out of my brain!

The Virtual Pose books are my new best friends. You'll see their impact on Re!Zee and Jason Todd there in the DA gallery.

[jkcarrier]

One of my favorite Zee stories. I wonder whatever happened to Jeff, has he appeared at all in recent years?

[tacobob]

Probably went to the same place all boring love-interest characters went to.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I don't think he's supposed to be a love interest, just a good friend - and her manager, so they have a business relationship as well.

[kenn_el]

He became Nekron.

[proteus_lives]

Fishnets forever!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Interesting that the villain is Allura, who dates back to Zee's first appearances. She's probably the closest thing to an archenemy the character has, even though she hasn't appeared for years, that I know of.

[perletwo]

*nodnod* Zee explains that to Jeff in the panels I cut above the last half-page - "my father's greatest foe!" she calls her - and a text box refers the reader to Justice League of America #51 for details.

Allura doesn't rate her own page in the DC Database, a search just refers back to Supergirl's mom, so I'm thinking she's just gone down the memory hole.

[psychopathicus_rex]

That's a shame - I mean, it's not all that surprising; she's a fairly generic character when you get down to it, but Zee deserves villains of her own. You can't be a really top-notch character in comics unless you've got a rogues gallery.

[sistermagpie]

Have to agree with everyone on the art here, and I love everybody's personality.

[halloweenjack]

Jeff has to be a Marty Stu. Who else but someone working in comics would wear polka-dotted pants with a matching scarf?

[perletwo]

I shudder to say it, but that was the epitome of the Sharp Dressed Man in 1977. Begone, foul decade with thy polyester fashions!

[halloweenjack]

Wrong--I came of age in the 70s. Plaid bell-bottom pants, yes. Polyester leisure suits, yes--somewhere, there's pictures of me in one. Polka-dots? Not that I remember. And definitely not by 1977. Pics or it didn't happen.

[halloweenjack]

And, just to clarify, I'm talking about an adult male, old enough to have a mustache, wearing the pants (scarf optional) as streetwear, not posing for a picture. (I just did a GIS and no dice.)