Comic Title: Secret Origins #27
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: June 1988
On Sale Date: February 16, 1988 Shipping Date February 16, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #2

Shipping Date February 16, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #136

Newsstand Date March 10, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #136

Copyright Date February 16, 1988
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1988

Shipping Date February 23, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #1
Listing dates were out of sequence

Cover Price: $1.50
Page Count: 48
Editor: Mark Waid

Title: "A Symphony of Shadows"
Pages: 38

Feature(s):
Zatanna (Post-Crisis)

Plotter: Ehrich Weiss
Plotter: Roy Thomas
Scripter: Robert Loren Fleming
Penciller: Tom Artis
Inker: P. Craig Russell
Penciller: Grant Miehm
Inker: Fred Fredericks
Letterer: Gaspar Saladino
Letterer: Duncan Andrews
Colorist: Eugene D'Angelo

Feature Character(s)

• Zatara (Giovanni Zatara; in flashback; origin revealed; next appearance in Young All-Stars #3)
• Zatanna (last appearance in Spectre #11; next appearance in Spectre #23)

Guest Star(s)

• Doctor Mist (real name Nommo revealed; last appearance in Justice League International #12; no further appearances)

Villain(s)

• Felix Faust (first post-Crisis appearance; last appearance in Secret Origins #27; no further appearances)
• Adolf Hitler (in flashback; first post-Crisis appearance; next appearance in Secret Origins #31)

Other Character(s)

• Dekan Drache (a sorcerer; no further appearances)
• Luigi (Zatara's grandfather; in flashback; no further appearances)
• Zatara's unnamed parents (in flashback; no further appearances)
• Sindella (Zatanna's mother; in flashback; no further appearances)

Flashback Appearance(s)

• Doctor Mist (5000 B.C.; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Teen Titans Spotlight #11)
• Felix Faust (5000 B.C.; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Secret Origins #27)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Doctor Occult (mentioned as a disciple of Doctor Mist)
• Sargon (mentioned as a disciple of Doctor Mist)
• Marco Polo, Christopher Colombus, Vasco DaGama, Cagliostro, and Leonardo Da Vinci (pictured in Doctor Mist's tale)
• Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Paine (pictured in Doctor Mist's tale)
• Flamel and Nostradamus (pictured in Doctor Mist's tale)
• All-Star Squadron (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Hawkman (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Starman (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Flash (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Green Lantern (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Tong (pictured in images of Zatara's past)
• Tigress (pictured in images of Zatara's past)
• Spectre (in flashback to Zatara's history)
• Justice Society of America (in flashback to the JSA disbanding)
• Atom (in flashback to the JSA disbanding)
• Sandman (in flashback)
• Johnny Thunder (in flashback)
• Global Guardians (in flashback to Dr. Mist's past)
• Fire (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Tasmanian Devil (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Gaucho and Legionary (pictured as early members of the Global Guardians)
• Rising Sun (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Tuatara (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Wild Huntsman (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Seraph (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Fleur-de-Lis (pictured as a Global Guardian)
• Allura (an elemental; in flashback to Zatara's past)
• Justice League (in flashback)
• Hawkman (in flashback)
• Hawkgirl (in flashback)
• Green Lantern (in flashback)
• Atom (in flashback)
• Warlock of Ys (in flashback)
• Elongated Man (in flashback)
• John Constantine (in flashback)
• Superman (in flashback)
• Flash (in flashback)
• Black Canary (in flashback)
• Green Arrow (in flashback)
• Deadman (in flashback)
• Phantom Stranger (in flashback)
• Wotan (in flashback)

Comments:
First Movement:"Once Upon a Time..."
Second Movement:"The Length of His Sleeve"
Third Movement:"The Coming of Zatanna"

This story tells the origins of Doctor Mist, Zatara, and Zatanna. All three have their entire histories recapped in flashback.

Synopsis:
Zatanna is mystically drawn to Mont Saint-Michel where she finds Doctor Mist bound by a captor shrouded in darkness. The captor casts a spell which separates Zatanna's soul from her body. Her soul then merges with the mind of Doctor Mist.

Inside Mist's mind, Zatanna learns that the mage was a wizard-king in the African empire known as Kor in 5000 BC. Mist was the Chosen of the mystically Flame of Life which provided him power and brought prosperity to his people. One day a stranger named Felix Faust enters the kingdom seeking the Flame. When Mist informs him that only the Chosen can access the Flame, Faust murders him. The Flame resurrects Dr. Mist, and he enters a battle with Faust which rages for weeks. In the end Faust is banished, but Mist's kingdom is destroyed in the process.

Dr. Mist becomes an immortal and seeks to influence both branches of humanity, Homo Sapien and Homo Magi. He founds a secret city in northern Turkey for the Homo Magi. He also influences prominent figures in human history including Leonardo Da Vinci and Cagliostro. As time marched forward, World War I caused Mist to see the need to create heroes. Unknown to him at the time Faust also escaped from his banishment.

Following the war, Dr. Mist took a hand in guiding the life of Leonardo Da Vinci's descendant Giovanni Zatara. Posing as a book dealer, Mist delivers a book of spells to Zatara that will lead him on a path to gaining true magical abilities. When Hitler began to amass power, Zatara took action fighting saboteurs and common criminals. Eventually he joined the wartime All-Star Squadron.

Following World War II, Mist founded the Global Guardians. He also arranged for Zatara to meet Sindella from the secret city populated by Homo Magi. The couple produced a daughter, Zatanna, who was to be Mist's disciple. When Zatara became cursed by Allura, Mist viewed Zatanna's quest to find her father as a training exercise. She would eventually join the Justice League and be reunited with Zatara who was killed saving the Earth. Zatanna would eventually save the soul of her father.

As the monologue in Mist's mind reaches present day, Zatanna is returned to her body. The wizard she faces is revealed as Felix Faust. He still seeks the Flame of Life, a knowledge which Zatanna now possesses since her mind was merged with Mist. During the ensuing mystical battle, Zatanna admits that Mist has consumed the Flame and abused its power. Mist admits that the Flame granted him immortality but not power. He also grants that Zatanna is greater than he is. Together Zatanna and Dr. Mist defeat Faust and banish him.