Zatanna is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life full of friendship issues and middle-school angst. She lives in an ordinary house with her ordinary widowed magician father and his ordinary rabbit in a hat. Then one day she comes home to find a witch in the front hallway of her now "awake" house, where her father's rabbit begins talking to her. Her father has disappeared, and she must team up with the witch's child to save her family and her home. This fun origin story for a member of DC Comics' Justice League is as much an introduction to the House of Secrets as it is to the character of Zatanna herself. The dialogue is snappy, and the plot moves quickly does the exposition eeping readers from being bogged down by backstories that originated in the 1960s. The bold artwork consistently features an appropriately witchy color palette of purples and oranges, and the minimal backgrounds make the expressive figures pop. Another solid entry in DC's line of stand-alone graphic novels for middle-grade readers.

Halloween is going poorly for Zatanna, a middle schooler who lives in an odd-looking house with her small-time stage magician father, Zatara, and his rabbit, Pocus. Changing friendships and social pressures create awkward challenges, and then, after school, an intruder unleashes a deluge of revelations. Her house, it turns out, is really an ancient repository of secrets and power; Pocus is her father-s talking familiar; and Zatara is the latest in a lineage of the house-s caretakers. Capable of potent magic, she and her father are under siege by a formidable witch, and in order to save them, Zatanna must harness her powers and solve the house-s mysteries. Cody (the Supers of Nobles Green trilogy) blazes through twists and turns at a headlong pace, occasionally rushing past opportunities for character development. The artwork from Yoshitani, however, is magical. Memorable characters and gently sinister creatures (kappa-esque goblins, a fantastical paper sphinx) inhabit a world that merges architectural forms from a range of places and times with repeating motifs (keyholes, stairs), all rendered in a consistent, distinctive style that displays aesthetic influences from video games and contemporary animation. More from the inclusive supporting cast would have been welcome, but the groundwork is well-laid here for future adventures. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)