Spoilers for Justice League Dark #21 below!
Zatanna has a spell for just about every situation as DC Comics' most famous magician can escape life-threatening situations by uttering a command backwards. In her latest excursion with John Constantine, Zatanna decided to have her own rockstar moment and cast a spell by singing along to the Queen hit, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Zatanna's reason for casting spells by speaking backward was revealed early in the pages of the current Justice League Dark series. The reason she does so is to protect reality from the Otherkind. Speaking backward is almost like a protective force (or distraction) that allows Zatanna to use spells unexposed to the monstrous beings. So, while speaking backward might seem gimmicky, later in Zatanna's characterization, they made a legitimate reason for her to do it when using magic.
In Justice League Dark #21 by James Tynion IV, Ram V, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, June Chung, and Rob Leigh, Zatanna and Constantine are searching for Abigail Arcane. They break into an abandoned sanitarium and jump into the heart of the rot to find her. As Constantine licks an ayahuasca vine usually used by Urarina Shamans for divining and projecting, a group of horrible, mutated rot monsters attacks Zatanna. As Constantine bails in order to dig deeper into the rot (while somewhat hallucinating) the magician gets creative with her spells, calling out the lyrics to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody to cast of a spell of "very, very frightening, thunderbolt and lightning."
Using the lyrics from Bohemian Rhapsody to hit the rot monsters with powerful thunderbolts and lightning is extremely badass. You have to wonder how long Zatanna has been waiting to use that spell - because in this case, it was perfectly executed. Martinez Beuno, Fernandez and Chung absolutely nail the art, as Zatanna strikes a Freddy Mercury pose (from the iconic music video) as lightning comes from her fingers. Meanwhile, Zatanna strikes another infamous Mercury pose after calling for the thunderbolts and lightning as she puts one hand up in the air as the rot monsters are consumed by the spell.
It's a fun, unexpected moment that completely works. Who wouldn't want to sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody while casting literal spells of thunder and lightning? Zatanna channeled her inner-Freddy Mercury and took out the rot in the most rockstar way imaginable. It's a supremely rad moment. Hopefully, Zatanna continues with the Queen-themed spells. What's next? We Will Rock You? I Want to Break Free? Killer Queen? Under Pressure? The possibilities are endless.