Zatanna 5 - Wherein Zach's tongue is discussed

[terrykun]

Four delightful pages under the cut, where we finally after several years get some honest to goodness backstory on Zach and a better glimpse into how he interacts with Zee. (:

Zee just finished off a bunch of fire demons with a holy water attack, dousing Zach, who was holding them off with ice spells.




Awwww, Tiny Zach! And... teenage Zee!

For those who missed the previous issue, Zach's "attempt to reconnect" was throwing a party in Zee's suite. Check the tags. (:



But no. Zee gets seduced by Rohypnol roses instead.

So how does Zach take it?



"First I was like :) Then I was like :( But now I'm like >: D "

 

Comments

[jaybee3]

"That horrible business with Ralph and Sue" aka the event I previous called the biggest mistake of my life (mind-wiping Batman and others) and then lied about for years until it was uncovered when Dr. McRapey got his memory back after Sue was butchered and then all of a sudden I felt guilty (or so Brad Meltzer* says). Zee does have a way of making a horrible backstory just another pithy comment no?

*I personally don't think there's another DC character more damaged by the hackness of Identity Crisis than Zatanna (and I'm counting Ralph and Sue!).

[thokstar]

I personally don't think there's another DC character more damaged by the hackness of Identity Crisis

I assume you no longer count Dr. McRapey as a character? He was clearly more damaged than Zatanna, Sue, Ralph, and Jean Loring combined.

[jaybee3]

Perhaps I should rephrase and say character that I don't think there's a "hero" more damaged by IC than Zatanna? Personally I expect villains to act like villains but I don't expect heroes to be lying mind-wiping douches.

[jlbarnett]

well, it's kind of funny. That story involved a bit of Silver Age stuff, everyone knowing everyone's secret identity, characters not seen in a while and all, and they did some stuff similar to that back then.

The Silver Age was the era of Superdickery and the mental trauma inflicted on people weren't limited to Superman's supporting cast.

[icon_uk]

I'd say all of the "cabal" are seriously damaged by it, but the only reason that Zatanna appears to be worst off is that she's the only one that has referenced this as being something she SERIOUSLY screwed up over more than once. Hal and Barry in particular are supposedly the epitomes of heroism, but because they conveniently never talk about this particular decision, they never have to look bad or deal with the consequences.

[xammax]

Bruce really should randomly hit Barry... Hawkman too but thats because I think that guy is a douche.

[icon_uk]

No need to hash all that up in front of Zach though, if she continued to exposite anguished backstoy ad nauseam every single time it came up, then it would be OTT. This is just for placing the event in the DCU timeline.

[kenn_el]

I stand by the notion that Identity Crisis is the sole reason Zach was given the limitation of not being able to 'magic' humans.

[terrykun]

Editorially, or are you suggesting that Zanna or someone else placed that limitation on him?

He seems to be able to teleport himself now, so that may be waning...

[kenn_el]

Editorially. Zach was introduced at about the time that Zee was doing her apology tour through the DCU books, and it seemed that the only way to sell a Zee-related character was to make him harmless in the one area that Zee (or, more to the point, Metzger's retcon) had messed up in. It's possible that current writers are forgetting said limitation, and hoping that the readers forget as well. (If Zach's doing half the stuff in his act that Zee does, and cannot use magic on Bunny, he's either a REALLY good magician or lucky.)

[terrykun]

If Zach's doing half the stuff in his act that Zee does, and cannot use magic on Bunny, he's either a REALLY good magician or lucky.

(: I like to think he's just that damn good. Zee wouldn't let just anyone fill in for her for a gig in Metropolis after all.

[psychopathicus_rex]

It's possible that she's referring to when they got killed. Presumably, she attended the funeral, so that would be a good reason for not showing up.