- Hecate may have once represented something light in this world. But she has become a twisted force of hate. It was not my mercy that made her my patron, but my scorn. And with all the power I wield, it is nothing in the face of what Hecate is capable of. There is no power in the world that can stop her.
- — Circe
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #56 is an issue of the series Wonder Woman (Volume 5) with a cover date of December, 2018. It was published on October 10, 2018.
Synopsis for "The Witching Hour, Part II"
Diana and her team, now also with Constantine, travel to Greece as they needed to find a unicorn and take its blood: Diana was displeased by the act, as she sweetly remembered a time when she and her mother admired those beautiful and creatures in Themyscira, but as John says, magic comes from the darkness and with a price. Zatanna asks then to the Hellblazer why he wants to come with them, and John answers simply that he thought he was going to die when Hecate started a massacre in the Oblivion Bar, the place they just left. He wants to stop her, as he knows many more will die of an horrible that if he does not succeed together with them.
They are going to meet Circe on her island of Aeaea, as the witch could help Diana understanding her situation better. Initially ready to fight Wonder Woman, Circe calms herself and even feels compassion for the fact Diana was marked by Hecate, telling her things will only get worse. Meanwhile, in New Mexico another marked witch wakes her power: Manitou Dawn is now possessed and she's heading to her target, which seems to be in Nanda Parbat. Deadman, who was following a trail, finds out about it asking himself why she's interested in that place.
Back to Circe's home, Diana wants explanations on Hecate: Circe tells her she preceded all Pantheons and that once the first magician tried to take her power from themselves, but failed: they took power from another, darker, more dangerous source. The coming of magic on Earth started to threaten Hecate herself and so she protected her power from the Otherkind by storing it safely in five women through time, finding another host whenever one of the previous five died. Diana is one of them. Now that the Upside-Down Man and the Otherkind are back for their power, she needs to be complete to replace the core of magic with her own power, getting back the full control of the magical dimension. Circe tells them that Hecate might by the only one able to stop the Upside-Man from taking Earth, but that she's not a force of good anymore.
Diana wants Circe to teach them how to harness Hecate's power to contrast both Hecate herself and the Upside-Down Man, with Zatanna absolutely disagreeing: the sorceress believes it will cost Diana too much to use that power and that investigating it should be fine, but using it without even knowing what it's capable of and what will ask back from Wonder Woman would be deleterious. Still, Diana is convinced about her ideas and so Circe helps them channel the power. In that moment, Deadman comes to ask for help as Manitou Dawn is tearing down Nanda Parbat.
Appearing in "The Witching Hour, Part II"
Featured Characters:
- Justice League Dark
- Detective Chimp (Turned into an Ani-Man)
- John Constantine (Turned into an Ani-Man) (Rejoins team)
- Man-Bat/"Man-Cow" (Kirk Langstrom) (Turned into an Ani-Man)
- Swamp Thing (Alec Holland) (Turned into an Ani-Man)
- Wonder Woman (Diana of Themyscira) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a vision)
- Zatanna
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Hecate (In a vision)
- Manitou Dawn (Real name revealed) (Revealed to be alive) (First full appearance) (Possessed) (Also in a vision)
Other Characters:
- Ani-Men
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (Cameo)
- Lords of Chaos (Flashback only) (Origin) (Cameo)
- Doctor Chaos (First appearance chronologically) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Lords of Order (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- The Priests of Nanda Parbat (Cameo)
- Witchfire (In a vision) (Cameo)
- The Unicorn
- Batman (Bruce Wayne) (Mentioned only)
- Amazons of Themyscira (Mentioned only)
- Queen Hippolyta (Mentioned only)
- God (Mentioned only)
- John Zatara (Mentioned only)
- Odysseus (Mentioned only)
- Old Gods (Mentioned only)
- Gods of Olympus (Mentioned only)
- The Otherkind (Mentioned only)
- The Upside-Down Man (Mentioned only)
- Queen Tech (Mentioned only)
- Rama Kushna (Mentioned only)
- Sisterhood of the Sleight Hand (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- Solomon Grundy (Mentioned only)
- Superman (Clark Kent) (Mentioned only)
- Titans of Myth (Mentioned only)
- Wayne Foundation (Mentioned only)
- Apache Tribe (Mentioned only)
- Homer (Mentioned only)
- Lisa Frank (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Earth 0
- Prehistoric Era
- Earth (Flashback only)
- 2018
- Earth
- Aegean Sea
- Greece
- Aeaea
- Circe's Lair
- Aeaea
- Tibet
- Himalayas
- Nanda Parbat (Cameo)
- Himalayas
- United States of America
- New Mexico
- California (Mentioned only)
- Atlantis (Mentioned only)
- Colchis (Mentioned only)
- Themyscira (Mentioned only)
- Earth's Moon (Mentioned only)
- Earth
- Prehistoric Era
- Collective Unconscious (Mentioned only)
- Oblivion Bar (Mentioned only)
- Sphere of the Gods
- Hell (Mentioned only)
Items:
- Bracelets of Submission
- Helmet of Chaos (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- "The Iliad" (Mentioned only)
- Lasso of Truth
- Man-Bat Serum (Behind the scenes)
- "The Odyssey" (Mentioned only)
- Wonder Woman's Sword
- Wonder Woman's Tiara
Vehicles:
- Justice League Dark boat
Events:
Concepts:
Notes
- The Witching Hour storyline continues from Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour #1 and is continued in Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #4.
- This story takes place one day after the events of Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour #1.
- This story reveals that, after the Rebirth, Hecate is the "queen" of the Collective Unconscious, like in the Pre-Flashpoint continuity.
- In the Post-Flashpoint continuity, the Collective Unconscious first appeared in Justice League Dark #24 during The New 52.
See Also