Zatara - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

John Zatara is introduced as a magician in various publications of DC Comics, beginning with 1938's Action Comics # 1, which also contains the first appearance of Superman. Like the very similar Mandrake the Magician, Zatara had a large East Indian as a friend/bodyguard, called Tong, to share his early adventures.

As well as being an illusionist, Zatara also had genuine magical powers (decades later ascribed to being a descendant of the Homo magi), which he focused through speaking backwards: he could do anything so long as he could describe it in sdrawkcab hceeps ("backwards speech"). This helped distinguish Zatara from the numerous Mandrake the Magician knockoffs that cluttered the comics and pulp magazines of the day, although Merlin the Magician (Quality Comics) also had this attribute, and it was also given to him by Zatara's creator, Fred Guardineer.

His love of magic began early when he was given a magic kit by his uncle, himself a professional illusionist. Although he began learning the craft in childhood, his early attempts at performing professionally were unsuccessful until he realized that he needed to work on his showmanship.

His lessons in magic were bolstered by visits from the Phantom Stranger, and he had a sexual relationship with Madame Xanadu, but she refused to marry him because she saw his future.

To that end, he dug up old diaries of Leonardo Da Vinci, who was a direct ancestor. While reading the diaries, which Da Vinci wrote in backwards spelling as a security precaution, Zatara learned that his family had the command of magic. He discovered this inadvertently when he accidentally gave a command to a mannequin to begin waving an arm wildly. Zatara realized that he could command it to stop by giving the order in backwards spelling.

With this new knowledge, Zatara developed a successful show. During the premiere performance a fire broke out on stage, forcing Zatara to use his command of real magic to put it out. While the audience mistook the incident as part of the act, Zatara realized that this power could be invaluable in helping people and he resolved to use it as such between shows.

Zatara became good friends with Thomas Wayne. His incursions with Wayne and his "friend" Roger Elliot would lead to Wayne into meeting his wife, Martha Wayne. After the two would be killed, Zatara would leave Gotham City and eventually America himself, partly blaming himself for being unable to stop the deaths of the two and orphaning young Bruce. Eventually, in Europe, Zatara would meet up with Sindella, whom he would wed, she would give birth to his daughter, Zatanna. Sindella would, however, seemingly die after giving birth to Zatanna, prompting Zatara to become a depressed drunk.

Things would change for the better in Zatara's life when a young Bruce Wayne would arrive, requesting him to teach him as to become an escape artist and an illusionist. Bruce's appearance would also prompt Zatara to come out of alcoholism as well as teach the young Wayne, as a means of redemption for being unable to save his parents.