Zatara
Profile image by Alex Garcia (Pen and inks) and David Stepp (Colors)
Personal information
Real Name: (First name unrevealed) Zatara
Residence: Mobile
Occupation: Professional Magician, Adventurer
First Appearance (Golden Age): Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
First Appearance (Post-Golden Age): DC Comics Presents #40 (December 1981)
Character History
Zatara was likely born in the 1910's on Earth-Two but his early life is largely unrecorded prior to his first documented case in 1938. At this point, Zatara was already an accomplished mage with some knowledge of the female crime lord known as the Tigress. Accompanied by his assistant Tong, Zatara's first case involved a series of complex train robberies. Zatara approaches the New York Police and offers his services. He, Tong and two detectives board a train suspected of being robbed and encounter agents of the Tigress. One of the detectives is killed and Zatara eventually discovers that the conductor has marked cars containing valuables for the Tigress to quickly abscond with. When the conductor is exposed, Zatara confronts the Tigress who manages to escape (Action #1).
In the late 1930's and early 1940's, Zatara was one
of the most powerful mages on Earth-Two. He engaged in battle with
other powerful mages such as Amen-Hotep in Egypt (Action Comics #5),
Jerbel in Tibet (Action Comics #9) and Setap of Ophir (Action Comics
#17). He protected the Earth from enormous threats including an
invasion from Saturn (Action Comics #16), a colony of megalomaniacal moon
men (Action Comics #20) and the maniacal Herbert Handers creating an
army of gorillas transplanted with the brains of men (Action Comics
#19).
Zatara's mos recurrent adversary was The Tigress, battling over a dozen times. How they first met is unclear as they seemed acquainted in the first recorded case in 1938. A ruthless criminal organizer and femme fatale, the Tigress wove a tapestry of murder and theft on an international scale ranging from treasuring hunting (Action Comics #6,#10 and #23) to murder (Action Comics #3 and #30). She worked with other criminals such as the mad lama Jerbel (Action Comics #9), The Mask (Action Comics #22) and the Master (Action Comics #30). In their last recorded case, the Tigress attempted to steal a device that allowed potent mind-control. The Tigress' accomplice Frosty Parke uses it on himself and develops the ability to rob banks simply by asking for money and easily fends off Zatara. The powers turn out to be temporary and Zatara defeats the pair while the inventor destroys the machine. Zatara offers Tigress and Frosty a chance to flee before the police arrive with the promise they abandon crime for good (Action Comics #42). While it is not know whether Tigress truly went straight, it is the last recorded case of her activities on Earth-Two.
In 1942, Zatara reached the attention of the All-Star Squadron who invited him to join the team (All-Star Squadron #31) but other than only one other instance during the Crisis on Infinite Earths (All-Star Squadron #59-60), there are no recorded casework with the team. In contrast, in late 1942, Zatara's reported history undergoes a drastic change. Additional appearances of Tong or the Tigress or missing and the scale of his efforts are notably diminished. No more does he deal with existential threats but focuses on more mundane crimes like bank robbery (World's Finest #5 and #16) or teaching values to children (Action Comics #93, #97, #99, #102 and #103). The reason for this change is unclear. It is possible that Zatara had suffered a reduction in power or been banished in some way, tho such has never been recorded. It is has been speculated that in the 1940's he migrated to Earth-One and operated at a lower level in that world with no super-heroes to avoid attracting attention but definitive proof of such is lacking. As a result, the final fate of the Earth-Two Zatara remains unknown.
Powers and Abilities
Zatara was a powerful mage with an unusual form of magic, the origins of which are not entirely known. He could alter matter, empower others, and even tamper with the fabric of reality of any concept he could verbalize backwards. The full limits of his powers are not known. Aside from his magic, he appeared to possess considerable personal wealth and was an average hand-to-hand combatant.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Zatara's power required him to use his voice and any impediment such as
a gag, being choked or a vacuum neutralized his powers. Without his magic, he was an ordinary mprtal and could be injured as such.
Multiversity
Earth-One
The Zatara that operated on Earth-One was born Giovanni "John" Zatara, son of teh famous stage magician Luigi Zatara, The Zatara had family had kept documents from Leonard da Vinci for generations, written in a backward code that young John soon learns is a secret form of a magic. He resolves to use that power for good (DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5). Whether is is also true of the Earth-Two version is unclear.
Most of the Zatara of Earth-One's early career is not recorded and may have actually started on Earth-Two if the two Zatara's are the same. It is known that Zatara was active on the Earth-One in the mid-1940's, encountering Kal-El as a baby (Superboy Vol 2 #14) and later again as a youth (Superboy Vol 2 #49). In around 1946, Zatara battled a mage named King Infero in the mountains of Turkey and was severely injured. He was rescued by a hidden species of human called the Homo Magi and fell in love with Sindella of that community. The union led to their marriage and the birth of their daughter Zatanna. Sindella evidently died and Zatara raised Zatanna alone (Justice League of America #164).
When Zatanna turned 18, Zatara was cursed by the demon Allura and fled contact with his daughter. Undaunted she launched a search that lasted years that culminated with the intervention of the Justice League, Allura's defeat and the reunion of the Zatara family (Justice League of America #51). They were briefly reunited with Sindella when they made contact with the Homo Magi again and found that she had been abducted by her people but she died in a conflict with a group called the Hidden Ones (Justice League of America #165).
Zatara remained largely in retirement at that point but joined other mages in opposing the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. During the event, the rise of the Great Darkness resulted in the martially of several Earth-One mages including Sargon, Zatanna and Zatara who formed a magical shield by binding their powers together in a mystic circle. When the Darkness attempted to kill Zatanna, Zatara pulled his energies into himself and combusted, dying instantly. His sacrifice not only saved his daughter but protected Earth from the Darkness long enough to allow other forces to prevail (Swamp Thing #50)
Prior Earth-0
The history of Zatara in the post-Crisis timeline is thought to reflect a fusion of the Earth-Two and Earth-One timelines with all of the recorded events occuring in a fused continuity.
Earth-22
The history of Zatara in the Earth-22 timeline is thought to mirror his Earth-Two and Earth-0 history. He is known to be present as the battled with Dynaman in Washington DC in 1950 (The Golden Age LS) and survived it as his legacy is inherited by a grandson using the Zatara name in the early 21st century (Kingdom Come LS).