In this review of Zatanna #3, Clayface enters the scene, the sword situation escalates, and things get even more twisted.
ZATANNA #3
Written by JAMAL CAMPBELL
Art and Main Cover by JAMAL CAMPBELL
Variant Covers: Sweeney Boo, Jeehyung Lee, A.L. Kaplan
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: April 16, 2025
This review contain stories
Zatanna #3 begins with Lady White, and how people would fall all over themselves to please her…or if they were unlucky enough, to sate her appetite. We then go back to the Astral Plane (or Mistlewood, as the sign helpfully informs). The Bruce here has no idea who Zatanna is, despite her knowing him rather well. The party itself turns out to be for one Basil Karlo…Clayface. He’s got a booming acting career, a wife and child, and everything’s going great for him.
Meanwhile, Brother Night shows up at Adam’s apartment, with Dan still there. He talks about having wanted to ruin Zatanna’s life, all while stating his intention of skinning Dan and adding his blue hide to his collection.
Back with Zatanna, a Mistlewood film called “The Magician’s Assistant” is brought up, which had starred Zatanna, The Lady White, and Clayface as Adam. Zatanna argues that Adam was, in fact, real, but Lady White and Clayface keep pushing the narrative that this was only a movie and he never really existed. A brief scene in the apartment shows Brother Night a bit frustrated about his inability to take Dan’s skin…so he’s content with taking possession of the Adam corpse.
Zatanna continues to insist that this reality she’s found herself in isn’t really a “reality” at all and she intends to break Clayface out of it. But Lady White turns him against her fully, claiming that she’d been the one to kill his family.
He chases her, and she keeps attacking (though the sword complicates things). Lady White and her shadow corner Zatanna, leaving her for Clayface to deal with. She tries to get through to him, but he’s not listening. She reaches a point where she loses sight of herself while going to retaliate, but a familiar voice talks her down.
Lady White catches up to Brother Night and Dan, taunting him somewhat for his failure to get the skin he wanted. After a brief moment where he controls Adam’s corpse to attack her, he then tells her that he had saved Dan for her, which she then accepts, fangs coming out…And end issue. To be continued.
Going into the artwork for this first, and I’m loving the compositions for this issue. Granted, that’s been a strong point for this title so far, but this time, they’ve just gone all-out with that, creating pages that are an absolute blast to look at, even as they pull the reader through visuals that would definitely be at home in a horror movie.
And speaking of the horror visuals, those are especially prevalent when Zatanna confronts Clayface. We’ve got the image of Basil’s wife and daughter sort of melting together like a Fusion Dance From Hell. There’s also the scene where the fight between them comes to a head. It’s rough to see what this sword is doing to Zatanna, but damn if it doesn’t lead to some epically-beautiful imagery, with the 2-page spread being composed of blues, purples, pinks, and ghostly/skeletal forms. The whole scene is just so cool to see.
Also of note with the visuals: the stark contrast between Mistlewood (mostly monochrome/evocative of Old Hollywood, with Zatanna and Lady White standing out as the sole sources of color), Adam’s apartment (mostly red-tinged, befitting the situation with Brother Night’s appearance), the stylized look of the story segment at the beginning…The color work for this whole issue is gorgeous.
Story-wise, we’re getting even further into psychological horror territory with Zatanna #3. The possibility is raised that the Adam Zatanna had (somewhat) known wasn’t actually there, but may have, in fact, been Clayface in that form, possibly with the real Adam having been left to decay in his apartment. But there’s also Zatanna’s insistence that no, he was real. With everyone calling her insane for her claims, it’s reminding me a bit of a recurring theme in The Twilight Zone, where the protagonist knows that something’s wrong, points it out, and they’re the only one that can see it. So the possibility of this all being part of a massive gaslighting scheme? Can definitely see that.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a horror fan, you will not be left starving with Zatanna #3. With some crazy visuals and a tense psychological aspect, this title keeps on delivering.
