As part of DC Comics’ latest comic initiative, “All-In”, the company will be releasing what they call act two of the “All-In” initiative called “Next Level”. This next phase of the current DC Comics era is set to take place after the conclusion of “DC K.O.” which is the ongoing multiversal tournament event that is set to conclude on March 4.
What “Next Level” will bring is a wave of brand-new comic runs featuring characters that are beloved by DC Comics fans including but not limited to Batwoman, Deathstroke, Firestorm, Lobo and Zatanna.
These new comic runs are especially exciting since most of these characters haven’t been featured prominently on their own for a while. Except of course, the mistress of magic herself, Zatanna.
For those who don’t know who Zatanna is, Zatanna is the daughter of Giovanni Zatara who’s become known as one of the most powerful magic users across the DC Universe as well as one of the most popular stage magicians. He trained Zatanna to not only follow in his footsteps, but to exceed the power he had. In the current continuity, Giovanni Zatara is dead, but Zatanna lives on to continue her father’s legacy of both being a stage magician and an extremely powerful magic user. Her most iconic ability is that she talks backwards to cast spells.
I am over the moon that we are getting a brand-new run for Zatanna because not only is she one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, but the run will also be written and illustrated by Jamal Campbell. Campbell is a truly gifted artist who is most known for his exteriors that are usually featured on variant covers. However, he has done interior work including Joshua Williamson’s Superman and his own run of Zatanna that came out last year.
Campbell’s Zatanna run was one of the best comic runs I read in 2025. Not only is the art exceptional but Campbell’s voice for Zatanna matches the whimsical edge of the zany and complex magical world of the DC Universe. Campbell also puts Zatanna into a different role than she’s had before in which she’s a mentor for a group of magic apprentices who also happen to be her stage crew for when she goes on tour as a stage magician. I really enjoy that aspect a lot since I think that Zatanna should gain a prominent leadership role such as in the Justice League Dark which is the magic user division of the Justice League.
It seems that DC has been giving Zatanna a major push in terms of comic book appearances and relevance because not only was Jamal Campbell’s first Zatanna run from 2025 a major boost for her but 2024’s “Zatanna: Bring Down the House” by Mariko Tamaki was also incredibly enjoyable.
“Zatanna: Bring Down the House” is a five-issue mini-series under DC’s black label imprint. This story takes place out of the main DC continuity but still has that zany edginess that Zatanna embraces. I’d honestly recommend this book as a first read for any new comic readers who want to get into the character because even though this story takes place outside of regular continuity, Tamaki perfectly captures Zatanna’s values for independence and confidence. On top of that, the art by Javier Rodriguez is gorgeous and displays the mind-bending world of magic in the DCU.
Aside from the two recent solo comic runs she’s had; Zatanna has also been playing a larger role in recent DC Comics events including the current “DC K.O.” event. “DC K.O.” is a multiversal tournament in which the competitors must eliminate their opponents through fights and challenges. Whoever wins will be deemed King Omega and will not only have the power to defeat Darkseid, one of DC’s big bads, but will also gain the power to rewrite reality.
Zatanna was chosen as one of the 36 challengers; however she lost in issue three of the event to the Joker. It’s still cool to see Zatanna in one of these events. Not to mention, she played a big supporting role in the last big DC event, “Absolute Power”, which was the prelude to the current “All-In” era DC is currently in. Zatanna went through a lot in that event including teaming up with Superman in his run where she had to fight to get both her powers and her soul back.
Overall, I’d say that this renaissance era for Zatanna Zatara has been quite a success. A shocking one at that because as a huge fan of this character, I was not aware until the new comic run was announced, that Zatanna was getting this much love from DC Comics. I’d really love to see her make her first live-action film appearance in James Gunn’s DCU in the future, but I’ll happily take all of these comic appearances in the meantime. Make sure to check out the upcoming Zatanna run by Jamal Campbell coming to comic stores on April 29.
