DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest No. 5November-December 1980
Cover: Zatara and Zatanna conjuring Superman, J’onn J’onzz, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batman, Wonder Girl, and Demon out of a top hat //Ross Andru / Dick Giordano
Story: “The Secret Spell” (10 pages)
Editor: E. Nelson Bridwell
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Romeo Tanghal
Inker: Vince Colletta
Letterer: Milt Snapinn
Colorist: Gene D’Angelo
Feature Characters: Zatanna (first chronological appearance; next chronological appearance in HAWKMAN #4), Zatara (in flashback; first chronological appearance; next chronological appearance in ACTION COMICS #1; origin and first name, John (Giovanni), revealed in this story)
Intro: Zatara’s grandfather, Mr. and Mrs. Zatara (Zatara’s parents; all in flashback; only appearance for all)
Cameo appearances: Hawkman, Elongated Man, Batman, Atom, Green Lantern
Comment: Shortly after this story Zatanna enlists the help of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in HAWKMAN #4, helps the Atom fight the Druid in THE ATOM #19, fights Batman and Robin as the Witch in DETECTIVE COMICS #336, helps Green Lantern fight the Warlock in GREEN LANTERN (2nd series) #42, meets the Elongated Man in DETECTIVE COMICS #355, finds Zatara with the help of the Justice League in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #51, helps the Flash fight Xarkon in THE FLASH #198, helps the Justice League fight the heroes of Angor in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #87, briefly appears with Superman and Batman in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #207, and briefly appears with Superman and Dr. Fate in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #208.
Synopsis: Zatanna, finding her father Zatara gone and his house in a shambles, discovers his diary, reads how he first learned to work magic by speaking his commands backwards, and resolves to go on a quest to find him.
Adventure Comics No. 413
December 1971
Story: [untitled] (7 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Gray Morrow
Feature Character: Zatanna (last appearance in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #208)
GS: Zatara (last appearance in DETECTIVE COMICS #379)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (first appearance)
Cameo appearances: Hawkman, Elongated Man, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash (in flashback)
Villains: Allura (last appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #51; voice only; next appears in issue #415), barbarians (first appearance)
Comment: Story continues in next issue.
Synopsis: On a visit to see her father, Zatanna and her manager Jeff Sloane are inexplicably transported by Zatara to another dimensional world. In an effort to find a way to return, Zatara sends herself and Jeff into yet another dimension, in which they are beset by barbarian warriors.
Adventure Comics No. 414
January 1972
Story: “The Tower of the Dead” (7 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Gray Morrow
Feature Character: Zatanna
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane
Villains: Varnu, zombie warriors (first and only appearance for all), the barbarians (last appearance), Gorgonus (first appearance; next appears in issue #419)
Comment: Story continues in next issue.
Synopsis: Zatanna and Jeff are forced by a wizard named Varnu to enter the Tower of the Dead, so named because none have emerged from it alive.
Adventure Comics No. 415
February 1972
Story: “Kill or Be Killed” (7 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Grey Morrow
Feature Character: Zatanna (next appears in issue #419)
GS: Zatara (last appearance in issue #413; next appears in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #162)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (next appears in issue #419)
Cameo appearance: Gorgonus, Varnu (in flashback)
Villains: Allura (last appearance in issue #413; next appears in ZATANNA SPECIAL #1; incorrectly depicted as the good Allura in this story), Grunnd and other demons (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: Zatanna and Jeff Sloane return to Earth, where they must face the wrath of her father Zatara.
Adventure Comics No. 419
May 1972
Story: “A Nightmare Called Gorgonus” (5 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Dick Giordano
Feature Character: Zatanna (between issues #415 / 421)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (last appearance in issue #415; next appears in SUPERGIRL #1)
Villain: Gorgonus (last appearance in issue #414; last appearance)
Synopsis: Gorgonus reappears to battle Zatanna and Jeff Sloane.
Adventure Comics No. 421
July 1972
Story: “The Brave and the Broken” (6 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writer: Steve Skeates
Penciller: Win Mortimer
Inker: Frank McLaughlin
Feature Character: Zatanna (last appearance in issue #419; next appears in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #100)
Intro: Dale Thomas, a blind man (only appearance for both)
Villains: Two crooks (first and only appearance)
Comment: Shortly after this story Zatanna teams with the Justice League, the Justice Society, and the Seven Soldiers of Victory to fight the Iron Hand in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #100-102.
Synopsis: Zatanna gives a private eye who has lost his nerve a lesson in courage.
Supergirl No. 1
November 1972
Story: “Castle In the Clouds” (7 pages)
Editor: Dorothy Woolfolk
Writers: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman
Penciller: John Rosenberger
Inker: Dick Giordano
Feature Character: Zatanna (last appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #102)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (last appearance in ADVENTURE COMICS #419)
Other Characters: Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain
Villains: Various demons (first and only appearance)
Comment: The tracking of various “real” or semi-legendary characters such as Lancelot or Gawain in the Earth-One universe is not yet complete; thus, before-and-after appearances for these characters are not yet available.
Synopsis: Jeff Sloane stumbles into Zatanna while she is in a trance and accidentally catapults himself back to King Arthur’s time.
Supergirl No. 2
January 1973
Story: “The Magic Piper” (5 pages)
Editor: Joe Orlando
Writers: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman
Artist: Don Heck
Feature Character: Zatanna
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (next appears in WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #274)
Intro: The Pied Piper of Hamelin and his descendant (only appearance for both)
Synopsis: Trying to find a cure for the city’s rat problem, Zatanna warps back in time to enlist the help of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Supergirl No. 3
February 1973
Story: “Curse of the Phantom Heckler” (7 pages)
Editor: Dorothy Woolfolk
Writer: Cary Bates
Artist: Don Heck
Feature Character: Zatanna
Intro: Mr. and Mrs. Barth (new administrators of Midvale Orphanage), Neal, Cissy, and other children, Mickey (a ghost; first and only appearance for all)
Villain: A hood (first and only appearance)
Synopsis: Zatanna puts on a magic show at Midvale Orphanage as a favor for Supergirl. But all her magic tricks seem to go awry, until she learns she is being contacted by a little boy’s ghost, asking for help.
Supergirl No. 4
March 1973
Story: “The Rock of Revenge” (6 pages)
Editor: Dorothy Woolfolk
Writer: Cary Bates
Artist: Don Heck
Feature Character: Zatanna (next appears in issue #7)
Intro: Arthur and his parents (descendants of King Arthur; only appearance for all)
Cameo appearance: King Arthur (in flashback)
Villain: Merba (first and only appearance)
Synopsis: When an evil sorceror descended from Merlin entraps Zatanna in a stone, she has to seek out the newest living descendant of King Arthur to free her.
Zatanna’s interim appearances:
SUPERGIRL #7
ACTION COMICS #434
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #114, 163 (flashback), 161-168, 171-174
DC COMICS PRESENTS #18
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #175-180, 182
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #169
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #187-188
NEW TEEN TITANS (1st series) #5, 4
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #190, 191, 194, 195
SUPERMAN FAMILY #214
World’s Finest Comics No. 274
December 1981
Story: “The Song the Shrieker Sang” (8 pages)
Editor: Len Wein
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Bob Smith
Letterer: Milt Snapinn
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Feature Character: Zatanna (last appearance in SUPERMAN FAMILY #214)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (last appearance in SUPERGIRL #2)
Villains: The Shrieker (Eddie Edwards), Zatanna’s doppleganger (first appearance; voice only; next appears in issue #276)
Comment: Story continues in next issue.
Synopsis: While working her act on a cruise ship, Zatanna comes to grips with an unpleasant fellow who wields a superpowerful scream.
World’s Finest Comics No. 275
January 1982
Story: “Soul-Shriek” (8 pages)
Editor: Len Wein
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Dan Spiegle
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Bob LeRose
Feature Character: Zatanna (next appears in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #198)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane
Villain: The Shrieker (dies in this story)
Comment: Shortly after this story, Zatanna helps the Justice League fight the Lord of Time in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #198-199, the Phantom Zoners in PHANTOM ZONE #2, and the Appelaxians in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #200.
Synopsis: With only her magical control of elemental forces, Zatanna must find a way to stop the Shrieker.
World’s Finest Comics No. 276
February 1982
Story: [untitled] (8 pages)
Editor: Mike W. Barr
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Artist: Dan Spiegle
Letterer: Adam Kubert
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Feature Character: Zatanna (last appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #200)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloan
Intro: Blackwall
Villains: Zatanna’s doppleganger (last appearance in issue #274; revealed in this issue), demons (first appearance)
Comment: Story continues in next issue.
Synopsis: A stage performance of Zatanna’s is interrupted by demons, and before it is over, she and Jeff Sloane find themselves confronted by a negative Zatanna.
World’s Finest Comics No. 277
March 1982
Story: “Doppleganger” (8 pages)
Editor: Mike W. Barr
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Artist: Dan Spiegle
Letterer: Peter Iro
Colorist: Tom Ziuko
Feature Character: Zatanna (next appears in WONDER WOMAN #291)
Supporting Character: Jeff Sloane (next appears in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #202)
Other Character: Blackwall (last appearance)
Villains: Zatanna’s doppleganger, demons (last appearance for all)
Comment: This is the last Zatanna solo story.
Synopsis: Zatanna must battle her evil self, who has more mystic power now than she herself possesses.
Zatanna’s later appearances:
WONDER WOMAN #291-293
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #202
FURY OF FIRESTORM #4
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #207
ALL-STAR SQUADRON #14
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #208
ALL-STAR SQUADRON #15
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #209
WONDER WOMAN #300
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #285, 286, 288
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #217
ACTION COMICS #546
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #219, 220, 223
WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #300, 302
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #225-227
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #24
SUPERGIRL #20
BLUE DEVIL #4, 5
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #228-230
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #2
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #233-239
BLUE DEVIL #13
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #241-243
INFINITY, INC. #19
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #244
DETECTIVE COMICS #557
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #4, 5
ALL-STAR SQUADRON #53
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #3
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #9
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #245
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #11, 12
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #246
SWAMP THING #49-50
HAWKMAN (2nd series) #4
ZATANNA SPECIAL #1 (indexed in ICG’s JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA INDEX #6)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #247-257
NOTE: The New Earth Zatanna first appears in THE SPECTRE (2nd series) #7.
