User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
"I don't need to run. And I don't need lights or tricks. My dad didn't need illusions, and neither do I. I'm magical." -- the title character, provoked to some climactic righteous fury, on page 194
I'm down for anything that DC publishes featuring the underused super-heroines Zatanna and/or Black Canary, therefore
Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend - the latest in the ever-expanding YA graphic novel series featuring known characters, but specifically during their adolescent years - seemed like a sure thing. However, I will admit the changing of her basic origin did not exactly sit too well with me during the initial two chapters . . . but I soon forgot about that minor issue as this story became increasingly sort of charming and even a little suspenseful. I'd say it cemented my interest when Zatanna wields her newly-realized magical powers to save her best friends (two young ladies with a sweetly unrequited love for one another) from a certain death after the tale's malevolent villainess performs a truly reprehensible act of sabotage at a Coney Island rollercoaster. It was occasionally a little slow-moving at times, but eventually it worked itself into a good family drama with even some effective notes of tragedy at the conclusion. I've often said that the books in this on-going series have been hit-or-miss in quality, but
The Jewel of Gravesend is a fine edition to the line-up. Oh, and like a few other like-minded GR reviewers I agree that this story cries out for a direct sequel.
Rating: really liked it
🎩 ✨ Release date: July 26th 2022!
Rating: really liked it
4/5 stars.
This wasn't half bad, there was actually a lot of heart put into it. It's one of the better DC YA graphic novels.
Zatanna Starr lives at an amusement park, the daughter of the illusionist Ezra and his wife Lola. Everyday her life at the Golden Elephant hotel is fill with magic shows, gambling, and magic Russian mobsters behind the scene. She has her friends Izzy and Kenia and her boyfriend Alexei, the son of one of the mobsters. Life is perfect, mostly. Her father keeps making her participate in his magic shows and soon she starts seeing mirror script, backwards words floating in the air. Then Zatanna knows what's really going on: magic is real and she has some of it. A quest to learn her magic and to figure out what happened to the great illusionist Zatara will reveal multiple revelations.
The story here is pretty simple, but still enjoyable. I think the target teen audience will enjoy it. Adult audiences might know what's already up, but it's still fun. I do feel like the ending is a bit rushed. Also, I don't understand why Alexei's family and their servants had to be mobsters? They could've just been intimidating magicians that all other magic-users feared. I don't think the mobster edge was necessary. There's no real scenes that are like what you would see in a mobster or mafia story, the tone and story and structure are kept together well throughout the book, so I think they could've been simpler.
I actually do like the art. There's some moment where it looks off or flat, unfortunately poor Alexei looks bit off sometimes, but it's still pretty cute overall. I actually liked Zatanna's design and clothing. She has the typical witchy attire that a lot of late millennial and early Gen Z girls wear, so if you are that demographic you might like it.
I think the story shines the most with Zatanna and her internal struggle and thoughts. She was a great character and I did feel for her. The rest of the cast is pretty solid, for the most part; Zatara is just kind of there. I enjoyed Alexei and his own struggles and his romance with Zatanna, it was really cute. Izzy and Kenia are also great, although I feel we could've seen a bit more of their own relationship developing. The story is a bit fast, but not too fast.
This was really cute, sweet, magical, and sad. It was nice little palate cleanser from the more darker books I read.
Rating: really liked it
HELLO I NEED A SEQUEL RIGHT. NOW.
Rating: really liked it
I know that teenage rendition of classic comic characters is hit or miss, but believe me when I say that this story hit so hard the ball flew over the fence.
The artwork was immaculate, the characters and diversity within was so true to what New York is truly like, Zatanna's personality was relatable.
Even as a teen, even with this new take on an origin story, the character truly felt– to me, as a long-time Zatanna fan– as a very true to form. The author took creative liberties as appropriate but kept the spirit of the character still in sight.
Major, major fan. I look forward to buying a physical copy to display on my bookshelf and read again and again.
Rating: really liked it
DC reimagines Zatanna for a young adult audience just a couple years after Zatanna & the House of Secrets reimagined her for a middle school audience. And I have to say, I prefer tween Zatanna Zatara to the slow, mopey teenage Zatanna Starr who meanders around Coney Island and between these covers.
Slow is the word for the day as the obvious plot takes forever to finally get to its non-conclusion. No sequel for me, please.
Rating: really liked it
Firstly, I’m a simp for gorgeous art. The three stars was for the art alone. ~ However, the plot line was really lacking. I didn’t really feel connected to Volkov & the whole film school thing fell off the map really fast. Just a lot of missing points that I needed filled and a lot of drama that needed to be further explored.
Rating: really liked it
[ultimately tragic (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
Absolutely hated the ending. I guess it kind of had to go that way, but I still hated it. When I was younger I probably would have appreciated the tragedy of it, but now? Not so much. No stars, as I skimmed and honestly don’t know enough about the character to be a good judge of where this falls in the canon and if it is actually good or not.
Rating: really liked it
BUNNIES. MAGIC. COTTON CANDY. this was amazing and beautiful and I am obsessed. give me all the zatanna stories please and thank you. 💜💔💜
Rating: really liked it
it pretty
Rating: really liked it
A fun story with heart and the artwork was gorgeous.
Rating: really liked it
ARC was given by NetGalley and DC Entertainment in exchange for an honest review.This review is being published before the release date (July 26th, 2022) Content/Trigger Warnings: Near death experiences, death, loss of loved ones, grief Oh my glob, friends! Receiving an arc of this comic came out of left field and I am shook! I was graciously blessed by the arc gods and oh, thank you because this was a wonderful experience. I don’t really talk about my favorite DC universe heroes too often and Zatanna has always been one of my favorites. She’s also a hero that we don’t know much about. Zatanna doesn’t have a huge backstory and she doesn’t get the spotlight that often in shows or comics, and it feels so good to see Zatanna getting the spotlight compared to a lot of other DC heroes.
Zatanna is the daughter of famous illusionists, Ezra and Lola Starr. In Coney Island, New York, Zatanna only wants to get away from everything and lead a normal life. A life that doesn’t involve being in the constant spotlight or even the center of her father’s stunts. When one night Zatanna it out with her boyfriend and friends, strange things begin to happen and she decides to confront the one person who may have answers. Soon, secrets and mysteries surround Zatanna begins to pop up, friends and foes lurk in the shadows to see what with become of this magician.
Again, Zatanna is one of my favorite DC heroes. I’m pretty much a lover of the kind of heroes that don’t often get the spotlight like Martian Manhunter, Huntress, Hawkgirl, etc… So seeing a comic come out with more of Zatanna’s childhood/teenage years was a big excited time for me. However, I’ve been hesitant due to these comics being written in middle grade style, but also they tend to feel hit or miss to how the characters have already been established from the get-go of DC Comics. And I’m happy to say that this is one where I really fell in love with it.
The artwork is absolutely breath taking and the colors of the cover instantly drew me in. Not only is the art style something that really captures me attention and really shows off the mood in ever panel, but the color pallet is one that speaks to me and feels very much like my own personality at times. Plus, I have to talk about the rabbit, Flop. The way the rabbit was given expressions had me on the floor dying because I loved it so much.
Overall, I had a great time reading this comic. I think my only real issue or downside I had was the lack of information we have around the foe/foes of this book. I think I would have liked to have seen a little more information about that, but still a fantastic read. Like with all comics, I recommend then for readathons and those quick reads for travel. And I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s a true whimsical time!
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Rating: really liked it
7/28/2022 Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
7/29/2022 I was so thrilled to pick up a copy of this and have it signed by Alys Arden at the recent American Library Association's Annual Conference 2022! I'd never read any Zatanna before, despite being both fascinated by the character and curiously reluctant to read any of her solo books. I figured that a modern YA retelling of her origin story might be the best way to ease me into learning more about a character who seems ripe for misogynistic exploitation and, frankly, whose idea of spellcasting always seemed vaguely clever-for-the-early-1900s-but-otherwise-extremely-obvious for me.
Ofc, YA retellings of iconic characters are not without their pitfalls. I have spent far too much of my reading life quietly seething at what well-meaning authors have done to (ruin) the origins of Wonder Woman and Catwoman, so I figured that not knowing anything about Zatanna's background would actually serve me well here. So while I can't speak to how closely this book hews to the accepted canon -- in deed or even, and perhaps more importantly, in spirit; see the first X-Men movie for an excellent example of capturing the spirit of a story without necessarily keeping to the often tricky and contradictory minutiae of decades of background detail -- I can say that it was a very entertaining graphic novel that perfectly introduces a rebellious, stage-shy Zatanna who will eventually grow up to be the confident mystic and magician long-time readers are more familiar with.
Zatanna Starr is looking forward to spending a summer away from the snooty kids at the school her wealthy parents insist she attends. While her snobby classmates talk about traveling to Europe and the Hamptons, Zatanna is more than content to lounge on the beach of her Coney Island home, hanging out with her real friends and, especially, with the boy she's been inseparable from for almost a decade now, Alexei Volkov. Sure, it's a little weird that his dad is the Russian mobster in charge of running the casinos in the basement of her own family's legendary hotel, but their parents are mostly cool with them being together, even if Alexei's mom is constantly fussing at him to work out with a slew of personal trainers she brings in from all over the world.
A freak accident while visiting a new mermaid-themed circus, however, sets into motion a deadly chain of events that will not only force Zatanna to confront her stage fright but also to question everything she ever thought she knew about herself. Her parents are master illusionists and entertainers, so the thought has never crossed her mind that magic could possibly be real. But what if it is, and what if she can wield it? And worse, what if the impossibility of real magic isn't the only lie she's spent her entire life believing?
Keeping in mind that I knew little of Zatanna's actual background, I found this story solidly entertaining, and even cried near the end. Ms Arden is a terrific writer, deftly infusing what little I do know of the classic character with wonderfully modern details. The best thing about this story, I thought, was how it neatly evaded tired tropes to tell its tender tale. The love between Zatanna and Alexei was so lovely, and there was never any stupidity introduced between them for the sake of plot tension.
And can I say how much I loved what the creative team did with the magic system used here? The fact that the mirror-script lettering was so different from the rest of the text made it really feel like something just on the edge of human knowledge, with flowing, glowy purple-tinged letters. Which leads to yet another strength of the book: its gorgeous colors and overall solid art. There was a bit of an unfinished quality to the linework in some of the full-body panels, but the close-ups were great, with rich colors and textures throughout.
I hope this is only the first in a series, as it sets up for a sequel really nicely. I'd love to follow along as teen Zatanna discovers more about her past and heritage. Tho there was one thing that confused me: what's the deal with the physical manifestation of the jewel? It was never really explained in this volume but will, I'm hoping, be addressed in any sequels.
Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend by Alys Arden & Jacquelin De Leon was published July 26 2022 by DC Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
Rating: really liked it
In my opinion, this is a bad comic. Slow pacing, painfully inconsistent characterisation
everywhere, fixed archaic gender roles (in a 2022 mainstream publication!), poor editing, and worst of all, it has one of the messiest and most poorly thought-out endings I've ever seen. Plot points, character points, character relationships, and
characters period are dropped and forgotten about. Even one or two promising LBGTQ elements are completely forgotten about by the end. It's rushed, underdeveloped, underwhelming and lacks gravitas to boot, and there are many plot holes. I barely cared about anyone in this dreck. It's hardly even magical, overall. Just a boring, frustrating waste of potential.
One pure positive I can give is that the art is very nice. The drawings and colour palettes (especially those of the setting, Coney Island) are soft, lovely, lively and striking.
'Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend' (hell even the subject of that title gets forgotten about at the end! how is that possible?) also doesn't refute my general observation that Zatanna is basically a slave to her shady AF father, unwitting or otherwise. And to other men in her life. But when a woman is ambitious and manipulative, she is thoughtlessly designated as the villain. She is defeated and punished, but not the men for their own evil deeds - if those deeds are acknowledged. That this double standard is still prevalent in 2022 reflects the sorry state of the entertainment industry as a whole. It's untenable.
Love the aesthetic, dislike everything else.
What the regressive world is coming to...
Final Score: 2/5
