Zatanna: London, Two Nights Only (Book 1) [TrUzApalOOza cardstock wraparound variant cover]

[my rough proposal for a two-part Zatanna Zatara storyline for DC Comics]

In the city of magic and wonder, where the lights of the West End shine bright, a legendary illusionist is about to take the stage. Zatanna Zatara, the enchanting mistress of magic, has arrived in London for a limited two-night engagement at the historic Garrick Theatre in the heart of Westminster.  As she prepares for her opening night, Zatanna is approached by an old family friend, the enigmatic and mysterious Sargon the Sorcerer. His eyes gleam with an otherworldly intensity as he whispers a cryptic message in her ear. "Zatanna, my dear, I have a favor to ask of you. A dear friend of mine, a collector of rare and ancient artifacts, has gone missing. His name is Silas, and he was last seen in the city, searching for the Orb of St. Edward. It seems that the Cult of Mithras, a secretive and ancient organization, has stolen the Orb from the British Museum, and Silas was tracking them down. I fear he may have gotten himself into trouble, and I need your help to find him and recover the Orb."

Zatanna's eyes narrow, her mind racing with the possibilities. She knows that Sargon's friends are often involved in the darker side of magic, and she senses that this is no ordinary case. "I'll help you, Sargon," she says, her voice firm and resolute. "But I need to know more about the Orb of St. Edward and what kind of danger we're facing."  Sargon's smile is like a crack of thunder on a stormy night. "Ah, Zatanna, you always were one for the thrill of the chase. Very well, I'll tell you what I know. The Orb of St. Edward is a powerful relic, said to grant the power to control the very fabric of reality. It's been passed down through the centuries, and its last known resting place was the British Museum. But now it's gone, and I fear that if it falls into the wrong hands, the consequences will be catastrophic."

Zatanna's eyes flash with excitement. She knows that she's in for the adventure of a lifetime, and she's ready to face whatever dangers lie ahead. "Then let's get started, Sargon," she says, her voice dripping with determination. "I'll find Silas and the Orb of St. Edward, no matter what it takes." And with that, Zatanna Zatara sets off on a journey that will take her to the very limits of her magical abilities, and beyond. The game is afoot, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Will Zatanna emerge victorious, or will the darkness consume her?  The world of magic is full of surprises, and Zatanna is about to find out just how true that is...

I am proposing this would be written by Paul Dini, interior art by Jamal Igle, and exclusive painted covers by TrUz ApalOOza.

[Workflow: A series of image prompts from Bing Co-Pilot and NightCafe to give me a chunk of starter images, which I then composed and merged within Affinity Photo. Lots of layers, overlays for shadows and lighting, texture layers for lens flares, sparkles, fireworks, distorted/warped/twisting all over with a large dash of masking.]

Image list:

1. final TrUzApalOOza cardstock variant wraparound cover of Zatanna London book 1
2. raw version of the painting (reduced resolution), without final book layouts/logos
3. front cover view
4. back cover view
5. The series logo which I worked within both Affinity Photo and Designer
6. Letter Z, applied to her tuxedo lapel
7. and a glance at my Affinity Photo layering panels with Fx filters

The Mummy's Revenge [The Lost and Found: Uncovering Hidden Comic Book Treasures]

"BEWARE!" warned the aged Arab. "Beware the wrath of Princess Amen-Ra!"

The four Englishmen laughed uproariously. What was there to fear of an Egyptian princess who had died some 3,500 years ago?

Her mummy case, only recently excavated from the ruins of a nearby temple, lay on the ground before them, and they were determined to bring it back to London, as a souvenir of their holiday in Egypt. Ignoring the old man's repeated warnings, they paid him a handsome fee---for it was he himself who had led them to the buried mummy case---and made off with their prize.

That very night, one of the Britishers was seen to emerge from his tent. He spoke to no one; his eyes were fixed, trance-like, on the wide expanse of desert sand before him. He was like a man possessed as he wandered off. And this was the last anyone ever saw of him. Somewhere in the desert, he had vanished, and no trace of his body was ever found. His friends assumed that he must have been stricken by a fever that had affected his mind.

Yet, only a few days later, a second tragedy occurred, when another of the tourists was shot in the arm by a bandit, and the arm subsequently had to be removed. Upon returning to Cairo, a third member of the party found a cablegram awaiting him, informing that his entire fortune had been wiped out by a bank failure. And when they came back to London, still bearing the mummy case of Princess Amen-Ra, the fourth member of that ill-fated group met with the same news---business collapse which left him a pauper.

But this was still only the beginning. The long-dead princess, it seemed, was determined to avenge herself upon anyone who disturbed the tranquility of her resting place. For when the mummy case was later bought up by the British Museum, more tragedy was in the offing.

First there was the newspaper photographer who took a picture of the exotic looking case, shortly after its arrival at the museum. While en route to his home, he was fatally injured. Then there was the cleaning man, who scoffed at the notion of a haunted mummy case, and proved contempt by waving his duster at it, derisively. Some days later, his wife was stricken by a rare disease.  In addition, all sorts of minor injuries befell various museum workers who had helped set up the mummy case in its exhibit vault. Visitors to the museum began talking of strange noises emanating from the case---tapping and crying---and one night watchman went so far as to claim that the princess once emerged from the vault.

It was then that officials of the British Museum decided that these wild tales had gone far enough, and agreed to remove the case from the exhibit hall and store it in the basement. Of the men selected to carry it down, one of them suffered a badly sprained ankle, almost immediately afterwards, and another was found dead of a stroke, only a few days later.

Of course, nobody, except a handful of superstitious people, ever believed that this mummy case actually bore a curse---that the hardships it seemed to create were ever anything more than mere coincidence. Yet, fate had one more cruel trick to play, involving Princess Amen-Ra in her final tragedy.

For in 1914 an American Egyptologist purchased the mummy case from the British Museum, planning to bring it to this country. But this man, too, went to his death, together with the princess, aboard the steamship Titanic, which struck an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic, and sank with a loss of 1,500 lives!

• story author uncredited
• title header illustration created by TrUz ApalOOza
• story featured in The House of Secrets #67 (October 1957) 
• published & copyrighted by DC Comics

FACT CHECK: I did a little searching and found this article which documents the above story to be untrue, including the Titanic reference.

Disclaimer: As the original publisher is no longer in operation and has not issued digital reprints, this collection serves as a valuable archive of these classic tales for the benefit of researchers, scholars, and enthusiasts. By making these stories available, I aim to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of comic books, while also acknowledging the original creators and copyright holders.