Zatanna #8 (2011)

Zatanna goes to a psychiatrist, Dr. Jana Bodie, in another plane of reality and reveals her longstanding fear of marionettes. Although she has no trouble working with voodoo dolls and wax effigies, for some reason, she is terrified of dolls. She recalls a time when she was invited to perform on Sesame Street, but she was so scared that she ended up vomiting on Oscar the Grouch's garbage can. When Jana asks if she managed to get her fear under control at least once, Zatanna recalls the time when she helped Batman in defeating the Ventriloquist. She also remembers when she and Mikey went to the opening of the Magic Museum. There she saw Oscar Hampel's marionette collection on display. As she stared at the collection, she saw one of the puppets move unaided, making her nervous. When the time came for Zatanna to receive the award for Spectacle of the Year, she saw the same puppet and ran from the stage to chase after it. Returning to the puppet display, she saw that the puppet had returned to its place. Jana believes that Zatanna's fear of puppets is somehow a manifestation of a childhood trauma. Zatanna recalls a time when she went to one of her father's performances. In those days, she thought puppets were cute. Suddenly, she saw a robber with a knife and the next thing she knew is that she awakened in her hotel room. Her father said that the robber had been arrested by the police. Jana believes that the missing part of Zatanna's memory holds the key to unlock the reason behind her fear of puppets, so she suggests Zatanna meditate on that. Zatanna then returns to her home dimension. Later, Zatanna does some research on Oscar Hampel and finds that he was a famous puppet artist. He even worked alongside her father. However, there is no record of what happened to him after his last performance, so she decides to ask someone else for help. Zatanna enters the realm of dreams and finds Fuseli, asking him to search her dreams to discover the reason behind her fear of puppets. Although a bit reluctant, Fuseli accepts and the two enter Zatanna's childhood memories. There she sees her child self encountering the criminal with the knife, Oscar Hampel. John Zatara appears and transforms Hampel into a puppet to protect her daughter. Child Zatanna is left horrified, and John erases her memory of what happened. Suddenly, adult Zatanna realizes she can't move. Returning to the waking world, she finds herself bound and gagged to her bed by Hampel, who is holding a knife.