The New 52, Corrected: Zatanna


What Happened: This replaces that new Constantine book that’s coming out.

What I’d Change: Zatanna, aside from Captain Marvel and maybe Dr. Fate, is the key connecting tie between the DC’s superhero world and their mystical world.  I’d make Zatanna a book that was just as likely to see Flash and Superman show up as it would be Swamp Thing or John Constantine.  Zatanna should be a vital defender for Earth against all the nasty threats of the magical world, and occasionally helping out some superheroes against the mystic threats that are out of their element.

Why: Because NO ONE CARES.  DC thinks its cute to cancel Hellblazer and do Constantine, and the excuse is that Constantine will be no less dark or more censored than Hellblazer was.  Well, first off, I highly doubt it.  And second off, it doesn’t matter.  Because nobody cares.  Very, very few people that would read Hellblazer wants to see John Constantine do anything, at all, ever with a DC superhero, unless that superhero is being killed in some comically violent way.

I’m not a Hellblazer fan, or even that big of a Vertigo fan, but I know that Hellblazer has been a hallmark, almost a foundation stone for Vertigo for as long as I’ve been alive.  And this initiative is no excuse to get rid of that.  You won’t have the same fanbase reading Constantine that you do Hellblazer--not all of them, at least.  You’re losing fans with the hope of gaining new ones, but those new ones aren’t promised.  I get the idea, but it would be better to simply put a bigger publishing push on Hellblazer instead of pissing off the mostly steady fans you’ve had for years.

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