#Anyway I'm following this artist since the Marvel era and I still love this art style so much

[aboutzatanna]

Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Barry Allen go undercover in this issue of DC Retroactive: JLA- The 70's #1 (2011) and Diana is absolutely terrible at it:

For those who don't know DC Retroactive are untold stories set in past continuities mostly by writers from those eras.

This issue was written by Carey Bates with art by Andy Smith.

(Side note: While Diana being 'bad' at going undercover is just a two page gag, it makes more sense for me that Diana, former 'Goddess of Truth' and wielder of the Lasso of True wouldn't be comfortable with secret identities. I never liked the idea of Diana needing a secret identity. )

The plot of this issue mainly revolves around Adam Strange, who is accidentally transported to Earth Prime following a fight with Kanjar Ro so Barry, Diana, Zatanna and Ollie travel to Earth Prime to rescue him while Hawkman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) take on the newly empowered Kanjar Ro.

Earth-Prime is basically "our world" where the JLA are all fictional characters and the writers and creators exist on that earth. It's also the world where Superboy Prime originally came from. Since Adam had his mind zapped at a mental institute, the only solution is to find DC editor and Adam Strange super fan Julius Schwartz who can jog Adam's memory.

I'm not really a fan of creators writing themselves or their collegues into the story. It feels very self congratulatory. Especially since WW's lasso could have solved the whole thing. I much prefer how Marvel did it, like an Easter Egg, where Stan and Jack would sometimes appear as themselves in issues of Fantastic Four. But I guess you can look at this issue as Carey's tribute to Schwartz. This issue also came with a reprint of Justice League of America #123 where Carey Bates wrote himself (or rather his Earth Prime counterpart) as the villain of the story.

Adam Strange himself is a character that I have mixed feelings about. He's very much a product of his time but the ordinary guy with a space suit, jetpack and helmet really appeals to the young boy in me who loved the Rocketeer. I don't think anyone has ever quite figured out how to make him relevant today. Tom King tried in his mini but it was the usual trope of 'lets reveal this innocent Silver Age character is actually a horrible person' variety of reinvention.

Anyway, enough rambling, since this is a Zatanna blog, here is a few moments with her that I like:

-The League chilling on the tower, Diana looks like she is oogling at Zee plus Hal being a Pink Floyd fan:

-Zatanna and Barry interactions plus Barry taking a leader ship role:

-This bit about mind wipes:

Knowing how much of a nerd Barry is he probably folded inside when she called him boss.

Also while this was most likely an excuse to bring in Julius Schwartz, Zatanna not tampering with minds is more in character for her during this period especially since the arc with her mom also had a subplot of her being mad that her father played with her mind. Another point deducted from Identity Crisis.

Blink and you miss it panels where the artist is clearly showing off their ability to draw human body in perspective:

And Diana wanting to take a selfie after the League defeats Kanjar Ro:

(also Diana's clearly a history geek, only a history geeks would drop random facts about Incas completely unprompted):

Overall, it's an old school issue. Very much a throwback. Still it's noteable that the writer of this issue didn't do the almost obligatory 'Zee gets gagged or taken out early so other characters can shine' plot. Every one has a role and everyone contributes their fair share to help defeat the villain.