Strange Magic: When Paul Dini Met Zatanna

The famed writer of Batman: The Animated Series has always loved DC Comics' fishnet-wearing, backwards-speaking magician. Then he married her.

As a writer, one of the things that fascinate me are accounts where the realms of fiction bleed into our world. Speaking specifically within the realm of DC Comics, there are many examples, such as the multiple Hellblazer writers who claim to have seen the series’ protagonist, John Constantine, in the flesh (Greene). Sandman’s Neil Gaiman claims to have encountered a woman resembling Death when dining with artist Dave McKean (Bender 238), as well as the demon Choronzon, who appeared in the Sandman collections Preludes & Nocturnes and Season of Mists, one Halloween (McKean and Gaiman). There are even instances of writers manipulating reality using sympathetic magic, as practicing occultist Grant Morrison discussed in a May 2012 Playboy interview:

When I was writing The Invisibles, I thought, If I’m going to be sitting in the house writing all day, then on weekends I want to look like this cool comic book character so more girls will like me. I shaved my head and dressed more like King Mob [the leader of the Invisibles]. It was an art thing, and it was also an occult thing. I could make things happen by putting King Mob through certain things in the comic, like a voodoo doll. If he met a certain girl, three weeks later she would turn up in my life. It became hard to tell his life and my life apart.

It got out of control—I ended up in the hospital because of it. In the comic, King Mob’s cheek is eaten away by something; within three months, I’d gotten an infection that ate right through my cheek. I was conjuring these scorpion gods, and I got stung by them. That’s not to say scorpion gods are real, but you can make things happen by believing in them hard enough. (qtd. in Edwards)

And then there’s Batman writer Paul Dini, the man who famously created Harley Quinn by taking his friend, the late Arleen Sorkin, and fashioning a fictional version of her initially designed to be a henchperson for the Joker. The animation and comic book creator has always been a fan of the DC Comics character Zatanna Zatara, the magician and sometimes member of the Justice League. But little would he suspect how his devotion to the character would play out in his personal life.

First appearing in Hawkman #4 (November 1964) and created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, Zatanna was introduced as the daughter of John Zatara, a Golden Age hero, and she quickly became a supporting Justice League of America character whose story played out across a series of backup stories and guest appearances. One of the few characters to straddle the line between mainstream DC Comics and their Vertigo imprint in the 1980s, she remained in general obscurity until the creative team behind Batman: The Animated Series elected to bring the magician into animation. One of the few non-Batman related characters to appear during the series’ initial run, she was reimagined as someone Bruce Wayne met when he travelled the world acquiring skills that would one day allow him to become Batman. Dini explained in a 1994 interview with Cinefantastique:

Bruce had to learn to be an escape artist from someone, and I thought wouldn’t it be great if he learned from Zatara, DC’s old Golden Age hero, who at the time had a cute little sixteen-year-old daughter. I pitched this to Paul Levitz, president of DC Comics, who said, “That’s wonderful. That’s better than anything we’ve ever done with Zatanna!” And it was logical that if he learned from her father, he would have had a little thing going with Zatanna. (qtd. in Garcia and Garcia)

There were some conditions to her appearance, as she was changed to better fit into BTAS’s down-to-Earth, non-superpowered world. Said Producer Bruce Timm, “We wanted to make sure any superhero guest stars would make sense within the context of the Batman show, [s]o we played Zatanna’s powers down and made her more of a David Copperfield-type of magician so that she had a bit more realistic framework for her appearance” (qtd. in Brick). Nevertheless, the episode was a standout, providing the audience with a look into Bruce Wayne’s early days, as well as a rare team-up, as Batman helped clear Zatanna when she is framed for an illusion-related theft. However, while the creative team obviously appreciated the backwards-speaking magician as a character, Producer Alan Burnett revealed the real reason she appeared on BTAS in a 1998 interview: “Paul Dini wanted to use Zatanna because he was secretly in love with her. […] It’s something we try not to talk about too much” (qtd. in Brick).

Later, in 2003, Paul Dini would return to Zatanna, this time as the author of Zatanna: Everyday Magic, the first of what was originally intended to be a series of Vertigo one-shot stories (Allstetter). In a 2002 interview with The Pulse, Dini explained his love for the character:

Zatanna is one of the most powerful magic users in the DC / Vertigo universe. She’s right up there with Dr. Fate, Tim Hunter, and [Felix] Faust in terms of mystic ability. Anything she can visualize she can make happen, largely through mental focus and willpower. She does chant spells and mystic commands backwards as a way of invoking significant magical effects, but she’s so adept at sorcery that she can often do smaller things, such [as] making objects move around by themselves with just a look or a gesture. I wanted her own world to be filled with magic, some which is explained in detail, some of which is never mentioned. That’s the nature of a magician anyway—they never explain all their tricks.

I think of Zatanna as a generally benevolent person in an otherwise dark world. She lives equally in the worlds of show business, sorcery, and celebrity, and through a combination of a strong belief in herself, a mastery of her power, and being a genuinely nice person, she gets through okay. That’s not to say she doesn’t have her dark or down moments, rather she never allows herself to give into them for too long. Whereas other magic users with shorter tempers wouldn’t hesitate to use their powers to settle every argument, Zatanna usually tries to reason things out first before she reaches for her wand. Still, she does display a mischievous sense of humor from time to time, especially when handing out some karma to a deserving jerk.

Zatanna may be able to create miracles on stage or go toe-to-toe with an evil demon, but magic doesn’t necessarily solve every problem, especially when it comes to juggling a hectic performing schedule or dealing with old boyfriends. In that regard, she’s not so different from the rest of us in that the same problems that are a part of our everyday lives are her problems too. She’s somewhat of a workaholic and, as a result, is often lonely. Dating is hard, even for stunning female magicians. She has to run a career, a staff of employees, and her homelife by herself and that sometimes gets to her. She also has to deal with insecurities, hateful rivals, and the fact that Tony Bennett makes a lot more than she does when they both play Tahoe. Okay, relatively few people have to deal with that last one. (qtd. in Contino)

Everyday Magic was a strong story, establishing the magician as a formidable protagonist juggling show business, heroics, relationship issues, and even the occasional vengeful supernatural rival. And while the story was a one-off, it did find itself in the hands of many, including one Misty Lee.

A practicing illusionist with a background in musical theater and improv (“About”), the Detroit native also held the distinction of physically resembling the DC Comics heroine. Apparently not an avid comics reader, she was introduced to Zatanna through an associate. “A friend of mine who’s kind of a comic book geek handed me [Dini’s 2003’s] Zatanna one-shot and said, ‘This is you. She looks like you. She’s sassy like you. You have to read this book; you’re gonna love it,’” Lee recollected (qtd. in Aclin). And love it she did, so much so that she acquired Dini’s email address and contacted him. “I wasn’t looking to date the guy,” Lee said, “I was just trying to tell him good job” (qtd. in Sunderland).

Needless to say, the email from a Zatanna doppelgänger surprised Dini, and he initially was suspicious. “Is she a female who’s an illusionist,” he thought at the time, “or is being female the illusion?” (qtd. in Sunderland). After confirming her story by reviewing her website, he still felt wary, saying “I had been through the wringer with actress and performer types before, and I thought, I’m gonna stay away from this one” (qtd. in Sunderland). However, despite his unease, he found himself emailing the magician, which led to phone calls, although he waited “a few days” to call after receiving her phone number (Sunderland). And, when he finally called her, she shouted “I’m not married!” in obvious frustration over the delay (Sunderland).

Despite his initial hesitation, their acquaintance became friendship, which later blossomed into something more. “I took it kind of slow, and it developed over time, and we became friends online and then by talking most every night, and then we met in person,” Dini said (qtd. in Sunderland). They eventually married in 2005, and Misty Lee moved to Los Angeles (“About”).

Since then, things have really taken off for the happy couple. For Misty Lee, she became a “resident séance medium / magician” of the Magic Castle, which she joined in 2010 (“This Female Magician”), and she has worked extensively as a voice actor, providing voices for animation, video games, and movies (“Misty”). And as for Dini, he continues to write for animation, comics, and—for a brief period—the ABC television series Lost. And they are still happily married to this day.

Speaking of Paul Dini’s writing, it is worth mentioning that a significant portion of his work has been Zatanna-related. For example, he wrote twelve of the sixteen issues of the ongoing Zatanna series (2010-2011), as well as the Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell one-shot graphic novel (July 2014). In addition, he further intertwined her backstory with Batman’s during his tenure writing Detective Comics (2006-2009) and Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009-2011), and he facilitated her further animated appearances in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League Action. And, as Dini wrote these stories of Zatanna’s adventures, he had the benefit of Misty acting as a creative consultant, as he recounted during a 2014 Comic Book Resources interview about Bloodspell:

I got her thumbs up, but only after I made a few adjustments. [LAUGHS.] She actually did provide some very good consulting, especially in one scene where Zatanna summons the spirit of her father, Zatara. At the moment Zatanna summons him, he was working on […] some tricks in the afterlife with Harry Houdini and had mystified him with a certain card pass. Originally, it was something else, but [Misty] said that he wouldn’t know this one certain card pass that always mystified him. The trick was created by [magician] Dai Vernon [sometimes referred to as “The Man Who Fooled Houdini”; 1894-1992], and she said, “This is how you put it in there, like this.” She was the consultant on that. Every time I have Zatanna mentioning something that is a magician skill or trick, I run it by her, and she’s the one that always goes, “No, no, no. It’s like this.” [LAUGHS.] (qtd. in Renaud)

Finally, there is the matter of Zatanna’s non-Dini adventures, which has been on the uptick in recent years. For example, the aforementioned Grant Morrison wrote a Zatanna miniseries (2005) during his Seven Soldiers storyline, and she is currently a member of Justice League Dark in the new-52 version of the DC Universe. In addition, Zatanna has made many appearances on television both animated and live action, such as Young Justice, DC Super Hero Girls, and Smallville.

While not as dynamic as meeting the fictional character in the flesh, it is fascinating that Paul Dini—the writer who loved Zatanna, a previously minor DC hero—would meet her real-world equivalent by way of his writing. And while it would be presumptuous to suggest that Zatanna, through some sort of sympathetic magic, facilitated the meeting of Paul and Misty as thanks for increasing her visibility as a comic book character for the past 30 years through his work, but—as previously stated—you can make things happen by believing in them hard enough.

Works Cited

“About.” Misty Lee. N.p. n.d. <https://mistylee.com/about/>. Accessed 27 Sept. 2023.

Aclin, Justin. “Play Misty for Me.” Internet Archive. Internet Archive. 16 May 2007. <https://web.archive.org/web/20070516130857/http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/wizard/004071239.cfm>. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.

Allstetter, Rob. “Justice League Unlimited Update.” Comics Continuum. Comics Continuum. 28 May 2004. <http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0405/28/index.htm>. Accessed 9 Jan. 2023.

Bender, Hy. The Sandman Companion: A Dreamer’s Guide to the Award-Winning Comics Series. New York: Vertigo Books, 1999. Print.

Brick, Scott. “Tooned Out?” Wizard JLA Special. 1998: 20-23. Print.

Contino, Jennifer.  “Backwards Magic:  Paul Dini on DC’s Mistress of Magic, Zatanna.”  Internet Archive.  Internet Archive.  13 Aug. 2002.  <https://web.archive.org/web/20060719181558/http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=000050>. Accessed 28 Dec. 2022.

Edwards, Gavin. “The Super Psyche.” Internet Archive. Internet Archive. 4 May 2012. <https://web.archive.org/web/20120504030406/http://www.playboy.com/playground/entertainment/culture/the-super-psyche>. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.

Garcia, Bob and Nancy Garcia. “Episode Guide.” Cinefantastique. Feb. 1994: 100, 102. Print.

Greene, Jules Chin. “Constantine’s Writers at DC Comics Keep Meeting Him in Real Life.” Screen Rant. Screenrant.com. 27 Dec. 2021. <https://screenrant.com/constantine-real-life-alan-moore-dc-comics/>. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.

McKean, Dave and Neil Gaiman. Dust Covers: The Collected Sandman Covers. New York: Vertigo, 2014. Print.

“Misty Lee.” IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. n.d. <https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2641523/?ref_=nm_mv_close>. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Renaud, Jeffrey. “Dini Conjures OGN Magic for Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell.” Comic Book Resources. Comic Book Resources. 6 Jan. 2014. <https://www.cbr.com/dini-conjures-ogn-magic-for-black-canary-and-zatanna-bloodspell/>. Accessed 30 Sept. 2023.

Sunderland, Mitchell. “Creator of Harley Quinn Reveals the Personal Tragedy of His Batman Years.” Vice. Vice Media Group. 24 Jun. 2016. <https://www.vice.com/en/article/53nn95/creator-of-harley-quinn-reveals-the-personal-tragedy-of-his-batman-years>. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.

“This Female Magician is a Real Crystal Ball Buster.” Vice. Vice Media Group. 29 Jan. 2016. <https://www.vice.com/en/article/9k9zm7/a-day-with-misty-lee>. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, DC Comics, Paul Dini, and Misty Lee.