Zatanna: Everyday Magic is a one-shot comic book story staring Zatanna and co-staring John Constantine. It was published by Vertigo Comics in 2003, written by Paul Dini, and with art by Rick Mays.
While trying to juggle her busy schedule during Halloween, Zatanna's old friend and lover John Constantine get into trouble when he's seduced and cursed by rogue sorceress Nimue Ravensong, leading Zatanna into conflict with the wannabe witch.
Though it was released in 2003, this one-shot ended up being the basis from which Paul Dini would use for the Zatanna (2010) solo series, utilizing some of the supporting cast and ideas introduced in the story.
Tropes
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: The Trade demon mostly attacks by slashing with its extremely sharp claws.
- Accidental Misnaming: Zatanna is peeved that the announcer for her show in Reno keeps mispronouncing her name as Zantanna instead of Zatanna.
- Allergic to Routine: Zatanna spends most of the story exhausted, and can't wait to have peacetime to relax from her duties as a Stage Magician and as a superhero... but she quickly gets bored of the normal everyday civilian life and goes back to work on her show quicker than her agent expected.
- Amicable Exes: Constantine and Zatanna both agree they're better off now as friends than they ever were as a couple. Doesn't stop her from being pissed at his antics or Relationship Sabotage.
- Astral Projection: When Zatanna is saying goodbye to Constantine at the airport, she's actually just using her magic to project herself there and talk to him. When they're finished, her image just fades away, to the shock of the people watching.
- Atrocious Alias: Neither Constantine nor Zatanna are impressed with Nimue naming herself after the sorceress from Arthurian Legend. Apparently, she chooses it just because it "sounds Goth".
- Bad Date: When Zatanna's backstory is being explained, there's a brief montage of her failed dates to illustrate how she's been unlucky in love.
- Bad Guy Bar: The start starts with Constantine hanging out at Bewitched, the nightclub owned by the villainous Tannark that was once destroyed by Zatanna and The Spectre. Unsurprisingly, he ends up meeting trouble there by way of Nimue.
- Bathing Beauty: Zatanna spends most of the story talking about wanting to relax in a bath after her long tour, but she keeps getting interrupted. Even when she does get a Bathtub Scene, she herself ends up interrupting when she gets a "Eureka!" Moment in the middle of it and has to leave in a hurry.
- Bathtub Scene: Zatanna finally gets the chance to unwind and take a bath after she defeats Nimue, with Censor Suds bubbles and a glass of wine. It's mostly played for gratuitous Fanservice, with Leg Focus shots and a Sexy Surfacing Shot. Funny enough, she keeps her top hat on during it.
- Better as Friends: Zatanna and Constantine decide on this at the end of the story.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Nimue pretends to be a "dame in trouble" to lure Constantine into her house, when she then seduces and curses him. When Zatanna comes calling, she pretends to be helpful at first, but is just an act to catch Zatanna off guard.
- Blown Across the Room: After being stabbed by the life-draining needle, Zatanna is quickly passing out, but before she does she manages she let out one last spell that blows Nimue across the room and knocks her out cold.
- Caught Monologuing: Zatanna manages to defeat Nimue by tricking her into starting monologuing about what she'll do after she defeats Zatanna, not noticing Zatanna has been casting a silent Forced Transformation spell until it's too late.
- Censor Suds: During Zatanna's Bathtub Scene the bubbles cover all of her important bits. Even when she stands up in the tub, the bubbles still stay glued to her chest to preserve her modesty.
- Censor Shadow: When we see Constantine and Nimue having sex, strategically placed shadows are used to conceal their nudity.
- Continuity Cameo: The story begins with Constantine having a chat with Tannarak, an evil magician that Zatanna faced in the past.
- Deal with the Devil: Nimue tried to offer Constantine as an Human Sacrifice to a group of demons known as "The Traders", in exchange for a magic needle that could absorb the life force and magic out of whomever it pierces.
- Dine and Dash: During the Bad Date montage, one of Zatanna's dates wants her to use her magic so they can get away without paying, which Zatanna doesn't want to do for morality reasons, so she dumps him on the spot and teleports away by herself, leaving him to pay the bill by himself by cleaning the dishes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Constantine's "curse" that he got from sleeping with Nimue is treated as an allegory for getting an STD from an ill-advised one night stand.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Nimue is portrayed as a slutty 'bad girl' for her promiscuous behavior, but not for the fact that she uses Questionable Consent methods for getting men into her bed (Zatanna mentions she uses spells and charms to making herself irresistible) and she's treated as a harmless joke villain despite the fact she's more of a Serial Rapist who uses her magic to seduce men then callously disposing of her one by transforming them into frogs.
- Energy Absorption: Nimue's barter with the Trader was to get her hands on a magical needle capable of absorbing the life force of anyone she stabs, and transmitting it to her as raw magical power. She uses it to stab Zatanna after catching her off guard, to absorb her Homo Magi magic reserves, but they end up being too much for Nimue to handle.
- Evil Redhead: The main villain of the story, Nimue Ravensong has short red hair and a nasty attitude.
- Fanservice: There's a lot of gratuitous nudity and sex in the story, from both male and female characters.
- Forced Orgasm: When Nimue first absorbs Zatanna's magical energy, the feeling is so powerful that it causes Nimue to be overwhelmed with sexual pleasure, with her facial expression implying she had an involuntary orgasm. This it's likely because Nimue relates power with sex, rather than sexual pleasure being the intended effect of the needle.
- Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Zatanna picks a random person from the crowd of her show to perform a trick, it just happens to be a tourist in Reno, with the stereotypical Hawaiian shirt.
- Halloween Episode: The episode takes place on Halloween, though there isn't any plot significance for it other than Zatanna being busier than usual with her Stage Magician show.
- Hidden Eyes:
- During Zatanna's Lipstick-and-Load Montage, her eyes remain hidden, and they only become visible when she gets a full body shot showing that she's ready for her show.
- The Trader demon's face is always framed in shadow, making it look like he has no facial features other than his mouth. It's only in his last scene that his eyes are seen, open in shock at being banished by Zatanna.
- Honey Trap: Nimue pulls this off on Constantine, flirting and seducing him and once she has him on her bed, she puts a curse on him by biting his hand, marking him as a Human Sacrifice for a Trader demon.
- Human Sacrifice: Nimue bartered away Constantine's soul in a Deal with the Devil for an object of power, causing Constantine to be relentlessly pursued by a demon. According to her dialogue, this isn't the first time she's done this.
- Humiliation Conga: Nimue's defeat. First she's turned into a sloth and tossed around by Zatanna until she's made to dispel the curse on Constantine. When Zatanna does turn her back to human, she has no clothes on and is surrounded by her previous victims who quickly chase her out of her own apartment, butt-naked and humiliated.
- Implacable Man: The Trader, the demon that's after Constantine won't ever stop pursuing him until he gets him sacrificed, with even a powerful magician like Zatanna being unable to defeat him permanently, which is why she goes after Nimue instead. The only thing that manages to keep The Trader at bay at the protective spells around Shadowcrest, which means Constantine is trapped at Zatanna's house for most of the story.
- Instant Seduction:
- Nimue is flirting with Constantine at the bar and invites him back to her place. The next time we see them, they're already in bed.
- When Hal and Zatanna first meet, he asks her out for a drink, and she coyly accepts. The very next page is a shot of them lying in bed post-sex.
- I Surrender, Suckers: When Zatanna first confronts Nimue at her house, Nimue pretends to surrender and to hand over the MacGuffin needed to stop the Trader demon. But she hands it over by throwing it into the air and using the moment of distraction to stab Zatana with the needle of magic absorption.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Inverted. Hal is the one put off when Constantine tells him about all the dangers Zatanna faces daily, and ultimately decides not to pursue a romantic relationship with her for this reason.
- Lecherous Licking: Nimue licks her lips in a lecherous fashion when absorbing some life energy of a voodoo doll, to illustrate she equivalates power with sexual pleasure.
- Leg Focus:
- During Zatanna's Bathtub Scene, she stretches her legs out of the water, with them being the only thing visible among all the Censor Suds.
- The robe Nimue wears while fighting Zatanna in her house leaves her legs bare, and a lot of panels put them on emphasis.
- Lipstick-and-Load Montage: Zatanna's introduced doing the finishing touches to her Stage Magician costume for her last show in Reno.
- Living Aphrodisiac: Evil Sorceress Nimue uses a lot of spells and charms to make herself supernaturally irresistible to men, making her seduce even someone like Constantine, who would usually have the common sense to see through her obvious Honey Trap scheme.
- Lovely Assistant: Zatanna's stage show is accompanied by four Hunks who are all Shirtless. Zatanna mentions this is her attempt to attract female fans to her show.
- MacGuffin: Nimue made a Deal with the Devil with the Traders (and marked Constantine to be the Human Sacrifice for it) in order to get an object of power, in this case, a magic needle made out of the Trader's bones that can absorb life energy/magic. Zatanna must retrieve it in order to banish the demons back to hell and save Constantine from them.
- Magic Tool: The item of power that Nimue got from the trader happens to be a needle with magical properties: Being able to drain the life/magical energy of anyone she stabs.
- Malicious Misnaming: When Nimue is talking to her latest one night stand that she turned into a frog, she mispronounces his name, showing she can't even be bothered to remember the name of the man she just slept with.
- Marked By The Supernatural: Nimue marks Constantine by biting his palm, making a mouth grow in its place. It marks him as a Human Sacrifice for The Trader.
- The Modest Orgasm: It's heavily implied by Nimue's pleasured and unfocused expression that she had a Forced Orgasm when she first stabbed Zatanna with her life-draining needle, with the implication that the Power High overwhelmed her.
- Morphic Resonance: Nimue's past lovers that she turned into frogs retain some of their human characteristics, mostly their hairstyles. When Zatanna also transforms Nimue into a sloth the same thing occurs, with sloth-Nimue still keeping her red hair and a chin piercing.
- Modesty Bedsheet:
- After they sleep together, Zatanna and Hal are seen under a single bedsheet that goes up to their shoulders. When Zatanna gets up after realizing she's late for her show, the sheet seems glued to her as if by magic (which might be in her case).
- When Arnie calls Zatanna while he's in bed with his boyfriend, he has a bedsheet wrapped around his waist.
- Mundane Utility: Zatanna is often seen using her magic to levitate objects around her like her luggage or a glass of wine. She also says goodbye to Constantine at the airport via Astral Projection.
- Naked Freak-Out: Nimue is humiliated by Zatanna by leaving her naked with all the men she turned into frogs, who is chased out of her home by them with only her hands to cover herself.
- Naked People Are Funny:
- Zatanna's fury at finding Constantine sleeping naked in her bed is played for laughs.
- Part of Nimue's Humiliation Conga is being rendered naked via Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing and being chased off of her apartment naked by her previous victims.
- Navel-Deep Neckline:
- The red robe Nimue has for most of the issue is open all the way to her navel.
- Zatanna wears a shirt that is unbuttoned all the way to her stomach.
- Near-Villain Victory: Even after her Humiliation Conga, Nimue still almost manages to win since she tricked Zatanna by not using her real name white un-cursing Constantine. Zatanna only realizes her mistake much later and barely arrives in time to save Constantine from the Trader.
- Offering Another in Your Stead: Nimue's Evil Plan was to make a Deal with the Devil that requires a Human Sacrifice, but getting another person to be sacrificed instead of her by placing a curse mark on them.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: Upon coming back home after her long tour as a Stage Magician, Zatanna finds Constantine naked and passed out on her bed. Her first reaction is to kick him out and demand he get dressed.
- Power High: Since Nimue is a normal human, when she stabs the Homo Magi Zatanna with the life-draining needle, Zatanna's life / magical energy are so potent that they overwhelm Nimue, who never felt anything like it before. It's heavily implied she actually gets sexual pleasure out of it due to her orgasmic expression and Lecherous Licking.
- Questionable Consent: Nimue uses spells and charms to make herself into a Living Aphrodisiac so men can't resist her advances, which is why she succeeds at even fooling Constantine, who would usually have the common sense to see through her obvious Honey Trap attitude.
- Really Gets Around: Villainous Nimue's promiscuity is portrayed as a bad thing, especially in the way she callously disposes of her lovers.
- Relationship Sabotage: Hal comes to Zatanna's house while she's out dealing with Nimue, meaning only Constantine is there to receive him, and Constantine takes the chance to tell Hal all about Zatanna's dangerous life, which frightens Hal enough that he gives up on pursuing Zatanna. She's pissed when she finds out, and although Constantine admits he was a bit jealous, if Hal couldn't handle the danger, she's better off knowing it sooner rather than later.
- Romantic False Lead: Hal, Zatanna's Love Interest in this story, ends up deciding not to pursue her due to having a hard time dealing with her superhero life.
- Sexual Karma: Zatanna and her Guy of the Week Hal have a mutually satisfying one night stand, with her even completely losing track of time while in bed with him. In contrast, her Evil Counterpart witch Nimue is really promiscuous and turns her lovers into frogs after she's done with them, an allegory to her giving her partners an STD, which is even more obvious with her encounter with Constantine, which gets him cursed.
- Sexy Silhouette: When Nimue and her lovers are reverted back to naked humans, there's a shot of all of them in silhouettes as Nimue attempts to order them around.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: When Zatanna has a "Eureka!" Moment during her Bathtub Scene, she jumps out of the water in a hurry, with only some strategically placed Censor Suds over her breasts keeping things modest.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing:
- All the men Nimue turned into frogs come back naked when Zatanna changes them back.
- Nimue herself falls out of her clothes when she's turned into a sloth, and is naked when she's turned back human.
- Shirtless Scene: Zatanna's male Lovely Assistant for her show are all gratuitously shirtless.
- Sleeps in the Nude: Subverted. When Zatanna first finds out Constantine passed out naked on her back, he assumes he's just being a slob who passed out after a night of drinking. But it's actually because he had to escape from an attempt on his life mid-coitus, and apparently found nothing to wear once he got to her place.
- Soft Glass: When Constantine does a Super Window Jump out of Nimue's bedroom to escape the trader, he clearly breaks through the glass, but is seemingly unharmed, despite being naked.
- Stage Magician: Zatanna's job as a stage magician takes up a significant part of the issue, as she's working extra hard due to it being Halloween.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: When Zatanna is coming back home after her tour, she feels an odd supernatural chill near the entrance. She dismisses it at first, but when she finds out Constantine is hiding inside to protect himself from a Trader demon, she figures it was the demon lurking nearby that she felt.
- Super Window Jump: Constantine first escapes from the Trader by dramatically jumping out of Nimue's bedroom window, breaking through the glass seemingly unharmed.
- Throwing the Distraction: Nimue throws the (actually fake) MacGuffin toward Zatanna in order to distract her while she uses the opportunity to stab her with a magic absorption needle (the real MacGuffin).
- Too Many Mouths: Constantine grows one in his palm, thanks to Nimue's curse, which actually involved her biting into his palm during sex (he just thought she was kinky at first).
- Toplessness from the Back: When we see the mid-coitus Constantine and Nimue turn to face the Tracer demon as he appears in her room, Nimue's modesty is preserved by the fact she has her back to the audience.
- Vapor Wear: Nimue and Zatanna's Navel-Deep Neckline outfits make it clear they're not wearing bras under them. Nimue at least has an excuse, since she was lounging in the privacy of her bedroom.
- Villainous Underdog: Nimue's just a normal human with some magical training and living in a modest house, in contrast to Zatanna who is a Homo Magi, a master magician, and is wealthy and successful. Nimue is very jealous of her over it, but the fact that Nimue resorts to Deal with the Devil and Human Sacrifices to obtain power makes her rant unsympathetic.Nimue: That's not fair! Shall I tell you of the innocents I've sacrificed... or of the years I've traded off my life for the smallest fractions of your power?
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Zatanna wonders how she was unable to undo a spell after she forced the Evil Sorceress Nimue to swear it off with her real name, then she realizes it's because she didn't use her real name as nobody is born with a name like "Nimue Ravensong". Zatanna then manages to undo the spell by using the sorceress' birth name: the much plainer "Mary-Ann".
- Withholding Their Name: Played With. When Zatanna makes Nimue swear off her Deal with the Devil, she uses her Nom de Guerre of Nimue Ravensong, thus making the whole thing invalid. Zatanna only notices this later and manages to save Constantine from the Trade in the nick of time by swearing by Nimue's true name of Mary-Ann.
- Working with the Ex: Constantine has to ask for Zatanna's help to dispel Nimue's curse, despite knowing how awkward it is to ask his ex to deal with the after-effects of a one night stand he had.
