DC’s Absolute Universe already has a lot to offer. Over the course of barely one year, the initiative has reimagined DC’s iconic heroes and villains in ways they never could have thought were possible.
Batman’s rogues gallery have basically become a string of Elden Ring bosses. Martian Manhunter’s journey to Earth has become a trippy, explanation-defiyng crime noir. Green Arrow’s time in the universe is… probably going to go a lot differently than we expected.
For many, one of the crown jewels of the Absolute line has been Absolute Wonder Woman, Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman’s reinvention of the beloved heroine. Instead of being raised on Themyscira, this Diana was brought up in the pits of Hell, and goes about the world with a comically-large sword, an arm full of magical tattoos, and a bone to pick with gigantic kaiju.
Now, she will be going up against another iconic DC character, who is wearing a costume I never would have expected. DC’s January 2026 solitications revealed the first details around Absolute Wonder Woman #16, and more specifically, the best look yet at Absolute Zatanna.
ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #16
- Written by KELLY THOMPSON
- Art and cover by HAYDEN SHERMAN
- Variant covers by DERRICK CHEW, GUILLEM MARCH, YASMINE PUTRI, and ANGELA WU
- $4.99 US | 32 pages | Variants $5.99 US (card stock)
- ON SALE 1/28/26
- The Season of the Witch arc begins here! After her exploits in the Area 41 maze, Diana has resolved to not let her personal mission overwhelm the one she was sent to the surface world to fulfill. But a new threat has emerged in Gateway City, and it turns out the best thing to send to kill Wonder Woman is…another witch! Zatanna is here, and Diana’s life will never be the same!
THAT costume?!
As Sherman’s main cover for Absolute Wonder Woman #16 shows, Absolute Zatanna will be clad in a different take on her usual fishnet stockings and magician attire. The fishnets are still there as a shirt, alongside some gigantic boots, a cropped vest, and gold jewelry. This outfit not only fits the punk-rock energy that a lot of the Absolute Universe has had so far, but it actually is the spiritual successor to a short-lived costume Zatanna had in mainline DC.
In 1993, Esteban Maroto redesigned Zee’s look for the four-issue miniseries Zatanna: Come Together. The vest-and-pants attire had attempted to bring her aesthetic into the real-life fashion of the ’90s, and to the more alternative vibe that the “British Invasion” of writers like Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan had recently brought to mainstream comics. While the costume only lasted for a year, some fans still regard it to be among her worst.
The Come Together look isn’t even Zatanna’s most polarizing costume, as her redesigns in the late ’70s and early ’80s still have their fair share of retractors. (I, personally, will always love the gigantic cape and Z-themed earrings of her 1981 costume.) And this is a whole separate conversation, but honestly: nearly every mainstream DC heroine had at least one controversial costume change in the ’80s or ’90s.
Still, it is nice to see this particular outfit get its flowers by being reinvented in Absolute Wonder Woman… and honestly, it makes perfect sense within the context of that universe. Any sense of whimsy in the Absolute Universe has, arguably, been fewer and further between, which would make Zatanna’s usual stage magician outfit look very out of place.
And, based on what we’ve already seen of her, Absolute Zatanna seems to be extremely powerful and formidable, to the point of being terrifying. Her first appearance in last month’s Absolute Wonder Woman #12 showed her in a prison that makes Hannibal Lecter’s look tame, with a muzzle and a criss-cross of binds across her body to prevent her from speaking or casting a spell. It feels absolutely on brand that this version of the character would rock some no-nonsense pants and jacket, while still having a bit of flair.
(featured image: DC)
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