Abra - *Fizzles* Damn It!

I had this idea randomly last weekend. In the DCU, there's Black Alice, who can basically swipe the powers of any one character with magic-based powers at any given moment, up to and including the Spectre. For a variety of reasons - being on teams, dealing with people trying to take advantage of her powers, the generally questionable decision-making that can come with being a teenager - she uses this ability fairly often.

So I thought it might have been interesting if, in other books, you saw characters with magic abilities losing them at random times. Obviously there's a potential for abuse there, with the writers opting to always take the powers away at times that are dramatically convenient. But on average, that wouldn't happen that often (and really, every so often it should work out for the heroes. Wonder Woman's fighting Giganta, and suddenly she's not giant any more). More like Zatanna's performing and whoops, she can't turn pigeons into pterodactyls right at this moment. Or heck, the JSA are having a BBQ and suddenly Dr. Fate's got no powers. It's mildly inconvenient, in the sense that it probably feels quite unusual when you're accustomed to having the powers, but not a catastrophe.

Everyone knows what's happening and why, and they probably worry for a moment about what exactly Alice is up to - and it's likely the person whose powers she borrowed would look into it once their powers are back - but at this point, it's become one of those things you kind of expect. Like that neighbor who always mows their lawn way too early in the morning, and you just have to roll with it.