By Jonathan Edwards

This book reminds me a lot of two other recent DC miniseries: Supergirl: Being Super and Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love. At least in terms of tone and writing style. As far as premise goes, it’s much closer to the former. Because, at its core, Mystik U is just a retcon of Zatanna Zatara’s origin. But, it’s one that attempts to justify it by introducing the “Malevolence,” a super-powered threat that has ravaged the magical world. So much so that the only way to stop it is to turn back the clock and beat it before it becomes too big. However, it’s not clear how they’re meant to do so, when it appears that no one has any more of an idea about said Malevolence then, presumably, the first time this all happened. And, if that didn’t already sound like pretense, the rest of the issue makes sure you know it is.