#dr mist

[evilhorse]

Justice League Europe #29

[celticcat17]

“…Well can you…uh IDK learn magic?”

“Why don’t YOU learn Magic in 5 fucking minutes you fucking Goth Furry? Didn’t you like train with Zatanna before becoming Batman?”

“I’ll be honest I…I spent most of that time fantasizing about her sitting on my face…”

“I’m…I’m still on Coms Bruce…”

“SHIT…”

[justiceallianceunlimited]

Jericho Drumm Dr Voodoo marvel Nommo Balewa Dr Mist dc comics Crossover

[browsethestacks]

[fancyfade]

Black Manta: Sure Devil Ray tried to kill us and also literally every person in Atlantis, but whom among us hasn't done that? Dr Mist: Almost all of us, Manta. Everyone but you has not done that.

[aboutzatanna]

Interesting tidbit that has been quietly retconned over the years; Zatanna's dad was originally missing for ~20 years~.

Source: Justice League of America Vol 1 (1960) #51

This even made it one of her and father's earliest Whos Who page:

Both of these are from the mid-late 80's.

And a slightly more 'recent' one from the 90's:

However in DC's 'Blue Ribbon' #5 (1980) by Gerry Conway and Romeo Tanghal she was shown as much older when she first learned that her father went missing:

Later DC's Secret Origins #27 (1988) and her new Whos Who established that she was 18 when her father disappeared:

And that has been the case ever since.

So if initially, Zatara was missing for 21 years, who raised Zatanna? That has never been specified. Aging her up to 18 when her father disappeared was a more sensible explanation as it explains why Zatanna takes after her father so much. Her 2010 ongoing by Dini further emphasized how influential and present Zatara was in Zatanna's life.

Secret Origins #27 also suggested that Dr Mist has been secretly orchestrating the lives of many characters including Zatara and Zatanna (hence the 'despite your gender I decided to raise you' line in the cropped scan above) but that's been ignored ever since and rightfully so I would say.

Only time the 20 years thing was mentioned was in James Robinson's Starman ongoing when the titular Starman, Jack Knight, met with the ghosts of various Golden Age heroes and he uses that fact to great dramatic effect to compare and contrast the relationship between Jack and his superhero father and Zatara's relationship with his daughter:

Source: Starman #37

(See more about Zatara's origins here)

As great as these two pages are, Zatara being missing for 21 years would never be brought up again. Zatara disappearing when Zatanna was 18 and only being gone for a few years instead of two whole decades is the current predominant canon.

Still, for an Elseworlds, it might be fun to consider what would have happened if Zatara did disappear when Zatanna was a child and how Zatanna might have turned out if she was raised by someone else for most of her life and how that might have affected her relationship with her Dad. What if she was raised by Madame Xanadu? Or Jason Blood? Or let's make it really bad and it was a villain like the Wizard or Felix Faust? How would her powers, costume and outlook on life be like?

[dcbinges]

Justice League International #12 (1988) by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire

[evilhorse]

Every one of the Global Guardians…frozen stiff!

(Justice League Europe #30)