Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend

Gr 7 Up–In this newest young adult graphic novel, Arden revisits the origins of everyone’s favorite backward-talking magician, Zatanna. The book begins with its lead desperately resisting a life of stage magic and completely unaware of her abilities. As the story unfolds, though, Zatanna discovers her hidden powers while being hit with plot twist after plot twist. While this has the potential to grow completely overwhelming, Arden does an admirable job of keeping things friendly for new readers while also modernizing decades of backstory. Unfortunately, the ambitions of the story don’t always live up to the execution. Characterization, in particular, is lacking. Zatanna’s friends feel like paint-by-numbers characters, and their motivations in the latter part of the story are only in service to the plot. The art, by contrast, is consistently engaging, with gorgeous color work. There’s a solid flow from panel to panel with some clever layouts along the way.