DC’s Zatannic Panic #1 – Lyndon Radchenka, Robert Recchioni, Daniel Warren Johnson, Alex Gayler, Cavan Scott, Andrew Maclean, Rowan MacColl, Callie C. Miller, Writers; John McCrea, Gigi Cavenago, Riley Rossmo, Daniel Bayliss, Don Aguillo, Andrew Maclean, Rowan MacColl, Megan Huang, Artists; Mike Spicer, Inaki Azpiazu, Matt Herms, Jordie Bellaire, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: DC’s annual Halloween anthology has an interesting mix of big names, new creators, and indie sensations. How do the eight stories within compare to past years?
“The Greatest Magician There Ever Was” by Radchenka and McCrea kicks us off with a creepy tale as Zatanna’s disappearing trick in front of an audience goes wrong, transporting her to a haunted forest that claims to be taking its revenge for her misuse of magic. McCrea’s art does a great job of immersing us in the environment, and the flashbacks to the lessons Zatara taught her give this story a nice human grounding.
“Ouroboros” by Recchioni and Cavenago is a unique experiment – a story designed to be read the same way back and forth, as a palindrome. It begins – and ends – with Batman saying “I am not the prisoner of any cycle” and we then follow him through a conversation with Alfred and a battle with a sinister snake cult. The art by Cavenago is brilliant, but the gimmick of the story doesn’t add much. It feels more like an showpiece than a story.
“Full-Sized Bars” by Johnson and Rossmo is the lightest story in the volume – and far and away the most disturbing, a Plastic Man body-horror adventure as a group of kids out trick-or-treating and get some large candies from Plastic Man – only for the candy to melt their bodies, allowing Plastic Man to absorb them into a sort of hive mind to get strong enough to take on a parent-capturing monster. Some of the visuals are deeply disturbing – but not to the kids, who seem to be having a blast at the end. I guess that’s the spirit of Halloween.
“In Your Eyes” by Galer and Bayliss isn’t really a Halloween story at all – it’s a Warlord story, finding Travis Morgan captured by a strange cult that worships an ancient dragon that has been trapped in a decaying body. The dragon wants to swap into Travis’ body to return to the world and wreak havoc, but he dramatically underestimated the Warlord’s willpower. There are some creepy monster effects and a disturbing sense of intensity throughout, but this would fit into any Warlord anthology.
“Splitting Heirs” by Scott and Aguillo finds Jason Blood out for a night on the town when things go to hell – an army of demon assassins, out to kill him and led by a demonic noblewoman. It turns out that a powerful Duke in Hell has named his heir – and it’s Etrigan. And in the classic style of the underworld, that means everyone wants to bump him off so they can claim the title for themselves. This is a quick, darkly funny story with some great monster visuals.
“What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse” by Andrew Maclean is a Swamp Thing and Constantine tale by the iconic indie creator of “Head Lopper”, and it finds the Grumpy Green Giant interrupted by the British mage – who has been on the trail of a mysterious werewolf and has now been infected himself. Why is Constantine so determined to save this other wolf, even as he tells Swamp Thing to kill him before the curse takes hold? Maclean is a very unique artist, and he depicts Swamp Thing’s powers in a way I’ve never seen before. Best story in the comic and it’s not close.
“The Trick or Treater of Gladstone Street” is an indie-style Raven story by Rowan MacColl, and it finds Rachel Roth trying to enjoy a quiet night when a missing child upends the suburban street’s Halloween night. A mystery child in a burlap mask has reportedly been kidnapping kids for years, like an urban legend, and Raven’s search for answers leads her right into the mystery villain’s clutches. The visuals in this one are great, although it doesn’t quite have enough time to really get into the mythology of its creepy villain.
Finally, Miller and Huang wrap things up with a meta tale in “The Haunted Comic” starring Ambush Bug. He just wants to get home to trick or treat with his son (who is a stuffed monkey), but he’s interrupted with a new case – one which takes him through every other story in the issue, cameoing and bugging all the other characters we’ve encountered. This is a very clever idea, and provides some hilarious gags.
Overall, this was a strong anthology with some real gems of stories, although a few didn’t work and some others could have stood to be twice as long.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
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