Review – Zatanna #6: The Final Curtain

Geek Dad

16-07-2025

Zatanna #6 cover, via DC Comics.
Ray: Jamal Campbell's solo writer-artist debut has been characterized by brilliant art and a dense but coherent story, but it's also adding one key thing to Zatanna's mythos – our first look at her mother Sindella and her role in Zatanna's upbringing. In most versions, she dies very early and Zatanna's father plays a much bigger role. But the main threat here ties right back to Zatanna's mom. Over the course of this series, we've been following Zatanna as she deals with threats from villains including Brother Night and the mysterious Lady White, as well as Clayface and a possessed Blue Devil. But this issue reveals that the true threat is a mysterious dark sorceress named Princess Allura – who holds Sindella responsible for splitting her from her twin sister all those years ago, and is taking out that grudge on her daughter. Of course, we all know that villains' perceptions of reality are always very accurate. Last call. Via DC Comics.
This final issue does make extensive use of the backwards-speak device, which makes it a little trickier to read through, although I think it does it well – and that provides an excuse to linger more over Jamal Campbell's stunning art. This issue does a great job of balancing Zatanna's more ruthless nature when going up against a truly evil villain with a sense of compassion that she shows when she's up against an enemy who's been confused or corrupted against their will. In the end, it does end a little abruptly, with Zatanna spending about 90% of this issue dispelling the main threat and then quickly resolving a few things before heading on to her next show, but that works because this is essentially just a day in the life for the character. We haven't had many stories that really capture the oddball adventures of a magical superhero, especially at DC, and I expect this will be an evergreen classic for the character.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!