The Tempest starring Zatanna & Zatara by Frank Brunner

From Act I, Scene II:
MIRANDA
You have often
Begun to tell me what I am, but stopp'd
And left me to a bootless inquisition,
Concluding 'Stay: not yet.'

PROSPERO
The hour's now come;
The very minute bids thee open thine ear;
Obey and be attentive.

I have wanted Frank Brunner to tackle one of my Shakespeare Project ideas for a long time. Since his Doctor Strange run was one of my all-time favorites, I thought he would be THE perfect artist for Shakespeare's most magical of plays, "The Tempest." However, since I thought the Doctor and Clea were the wrong characters for the parts of Prospero and Miranda, I asked him to cast Zatanna & Zatara, the daughter and father tandem of backward-speaking sorcerers from the DCU, as the main characters.

It's a relatively quiet moment from the play where Prospero (who has just had his magical servant, Ariel, create a storm that shipwrecks all those who betrayed the sorcerer in his former life as the Duke of Milan) tells his daughter, Miranda, their secret origin. As you can plainly see, Mr. Brunner took that moment and created something quite magical out of it.


The Tempest, you may know, was Shakespeare's final play. By its end, wrongs were righted, Miranda was engaged, the magical creatures of the mysterious island were set free and Prospero was no longer a sorcerer, having broken his staff and buried his books. Like Shakespeare himself, everyone goes home to a quieter life.

I had originally asked for this to be done in finished pencil, however, I decided to upgrade the commission to full inks. I'm glad I did. To say the least, I have always loved his inking, but I was blown away when I saw the ink wash he did.

Seriously, getting Frank Brunner to create a commission for me is something of a dream come true for this Bronze Age boy. I cannot tell you how lucky I am that he agreed to my crazy little idea. I would like to thank both him and his gracious wife for working with me throughout this process and for creating this very enchanting art.