Zatanna has been a long-time member of the Justice League in general, but currently she’s one of the foundational pillars of Justice League Dark, a team comprised of characters who have a penchant for magic and the occult, so she fits right in among the roster of monsters and ne’er-do-wells. It’s been interesting to see her character develop in what is essentially a leadership role on the team, and her relationship with Constantine should go down as one of the more curious phenomena in comics in recent times. Her characterization as a “hot goth chick” from New York fits this “New 52” rendition of the character, and it’s one that helps the character gel with the team in a more effective way. It’s also a character point that served to setup her relationship with Constantine, something that would eventually form a core attribute of the “Dark” Justice League team.
Given Zatanna’s importance on the Justice League Dark roster, it makes sense that DC Collectibles would select her and Constantine to kickoff their JLD line of figures. What they’ve given us is a figure that may not be all that “functional,” but is one that is an absolute knockout in terms of sculpt and overall appearance. Let’s take a look at Zatanna!
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Zatanna’s packaging is the standard DCC boxed fare. It showcases the figure nicely, gives us a (super) brief bio on the back, shows off her wave-mate Constantine, and gives us a cool silhouette of the character on the side of the box. It’s a handsome presentation that should please MOC collectors as well as those who just want to tear the box open and toss it in the trash.
The figure itself is beautiful. An outstanding job was done on Zatanna’s sculpt and her proportions are perfect. Seriously. This may be one of the better female figures ever released in terms of her capturing what could pass for a realistically proportioned female. Even my wife was impressed when I showed the figure to her, and she is the first one to roll her eyes every time a new female figure is released. Both the sculpt and paint here are exceptional.
One of the highlights of her paint apps in her fishnets. They’re painted on, and they came out so sharp and clean that I’m honestly a little blown away. This would have been an easy thing to have come out less than perfect, but on my figure these paint apps came out perfectly, just super sharp. Other than her fishnets, there isn’t a whole lot of paint work to speak of here. There’s the white of her costume, her fingernails, and the paints on her face, but that’s it. Mostly, she is just a whole lot of black plastic.
I’m a big fan of her cape, but I was a little disappointed to see that it’s not removable. Well, I guess it could be removed with a little work, but it appears to be glued firmly in place on her upper torso. Not a big deal for me, but I can see this being a point of contention for some collectors, especially since it does restrict her articulation quite a bit (more on that later).
Her head sculpt resembles Zooey Deschanel more than a little bit. I think it’s mainly the hair, especially the bangs, but I can’t help but see the actress in the sculpt every time I look at the figure. The sculpt captures a sweetness I’ve always associated with the character, which is probably more in line with her pre-New 52 characterization when I often picture her pulling a rabbit from her hat. Either way, she looks awesome. The sculpt of her hair is a winner too, and it successfully looks long, thick, and flowing. There is no top hat this time, so unlike the DC Universe Classics figure, her hair didn’t have to be sculpted so as to accommodate and secure a magician’s hat on her head.
Now, there are two areas where the figure falters a bit, and those would be her articulation and her feet (her heels, rather). Because of her cape, she is a little back-heavy. Combine that with the heels she was sculpted with, and you end up with a figure that is very difficult to keep standing. This photo shoot took forever for me to complete simply because Zatanna kept falling over again and again and again. It drove me crazy.
Her articulation is pretty limited in general, and her cape does a good job of getting in the way of her arms. The above pic was the best I could do in terms of showing off her articulation and keeping her standing at the same time, so be aware that action poses will be a challenge with this figure. Her articulation breakdown is as follows:
- Swivel head
- Hinge and swivel shoulders
- Bicep cut
- Single-hinged elbows
- Ball hips
- Thigh cut (at the boot)
- Single-hinged knees
- Hinged ankles
Her cape and hair restrict her head movement quite a bit as well, and she would benefit from some kind of rocker ankle, but otherwise it’s pretty standard articulation for a DCC figure. Her cape does kill her arms’ range of motion quite a bit, making it difficult to even raise her arms over her head. The care is a softer material, but it’s not so soft as to move easily when her arms are raised, so you are limited in terms of dynamic poses.
She comes with no accessories at all, so don’t expect a wand ot a hat like the Mattel figure came with. She id seldom depicted carrying anything in the comic, so her lack of accessories is not a big deal in this case. I’m not sure what she would come with anyway. Some word balloons with some words spelled backwards?
She’s only slightly larger than her Mattel counterpart, which means she can probably be fudged into a DCUC collection if that’s something you’re concerned about. While her classic costume is certainly the more iconic of the two pictured here, this new design suits the character well, and it’s certainly less campy because it doesn’t make her look like a sexy magician’s assistant. I mean, the new costume does have its share of typical comic book, male-fantasy elements, but it’s much more subtle and subdued, which can probably be attributed to overwhelming amount of straight black used.
I don’t think one figure will replace the other in my display since I am very fond of both, so I think I’m going to have to find a new spot in my display for this new Zatanna. She looks good when posed next to the JLD Constantine despite their design differences, so hopefully more JLD characters will be released soon so I can just surround her with her team (Deadman, Black Orchid, Frankenstein — all these would be good, DCC!).
Her articulation and poseability may not be the greatest, but she is a fantastic-looking figure on the shelf, providing you can keep her standing. If you see her at your local comic shop, I would not hesitate in picking her up. In fact, I originally had no intention of grabbing one for myself — I went in intending to pick up just Constantine, but when I saw Zatanna, she looked so good hanging there on the pegs that I had to snag her as well, and I’m glad I did. I bet you’ll feel the same.
Buy from Amazon (release date: 11/12/14)
