In the last issue of Teen Titans, the three characters in the back-up 'Coven' series, Zatara, Traci, and Alice, were scoped out by three demons as the vessels by which they might escape Hell. In issue 84 the demons have granted the three protagonists their hearts' desires, and created a world in which they got what they wished for in the previous issue. And, so, we get more of the destruction of Zachary Zatara's character, as we find that all he had wished for was that his beloved Kate and their twins had not died.
Which would be all well and good if we the readers had ever even had an inkling these characters had ever existed or had been meaningful to Zach. Sadly, Zach was a more interesting character prior to this implanted backstory. As an heir to the Zatara Family legacy Zach learned traditional magic and stagecraft early on, and had become a stage magician. When magic was affected in the DCU during the last big 'Crisis' Zach learned that he had actual magic powers, and, like his cousin Zatanna, could perform actual magic by speaking spells backward. (He was limited to affecting non-living things, possibly because Identity Crisis had made influencing people using magic Zatanna's major sin, and Zach would be spared the possibility of doing similar.) Zachary proceeded to continue a Zatara Family Tradition by joining the appropriate super-team, in his case the Teen Titans. His tenure is mostly shown in flashbacks, as we see a possible romance with Raven, and an uneasy friendship with Eddie, the Kid Devil. Zach's an arrogant kid, and he rarely does well against real foes, but that does nothing to humble him.
In that, he's pretty much a regular teen guy with a steep learning curve. As we've yet to see him interact with his more famous and powerful cousin, there's the assumption that some lessons will be imparted in Zatanna's solo book, where Zach's slated to appear, and where he'll be handled by a writer who loves Zatanna, and, by extension, her family.
Unfortunately, the Teen Titans back-up was published first, and now, instead of an immature a-hole of a character, who still possessed a certain charm, who might in fact have been written in-continuity as maybe wishing his friend Eddie was no longer deceased, or that Raven had indeed returned his affections, now has the history of a thirty-year-old who lost his partner/wife and kids! It was enough of a stretch to imagine that a teen would have developed a serious stage magician act and made a profession of it, but thsi on top of that? Too much, IMO. But, there we have it. Stuck with it. I feel for Paul Dini, having to incorporate it into Zach in the pages of Zatanna. I was hoping they'd have a fun relationship, but now it can only be angsty.
