DC Comics
Geoff Johns and Jeff Lemire, writers
Ivan Reis, Rod Reis, Oclair Albert, Doug Mahnke, Mikel Janin, Joe Prado and Eber Ferreira, artists
Maybe all of the hype -- nearly two years' worth of it -- was a bit much for this crossover, but I did enjoy it.
"Trinity War" has been teased ever since the launch of DC's New 52. At the end of Flashpoint, the line-wide crossover event that led to the re-starting of the entire DC Universe, a character named Pandora makes her first appearance, reshaping the re-created timeline. And then she made an appearance in each and every single No. 1 issue of The New 52 titles DC launched in 2011. From that point on, "Trinity War" was teased and fans began to speculate exactly what it would be.
There hasn't been nearly as much online hate about "Trinity War" now that it is over -- at least, not that I've seen -- as often follows events like this one. The main criticism, when I have seen any, has been that the crossover didn't really end, it just led into the next event comic. I say that isn't a valid criticism of the story because it was announced ahead of time that "Trinity War" would lead into Forever Evil. Also, because the story isn't really finished, I reserve final judgment on this tale until it is wrapped up. But for these six pieces of the overall tapestry, I enjoyed reading the story and look forward to more.
If you haven't been reading the books (or this blog or anything else comics-related online), the Justice League is the big seven -- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Cyborg. Justice League Dark is a bunch of magical and/or supernatural characters banded together in much the same way. JL Dark is led by John Constantine and includes Black Orchid, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Frankenstein's monster and others. Justice League of America is a relatively newer team formed by the U.S. government as a secret weapon in case the feds ever need to challenge the Justice League. That team includes new Green Lantern Simon Baz, Hawkman, Stargirl, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Catwoman, Katanna and Vibe and is led by Col. Steve Trevor.
The newly created Shazam is also in the mix, although not part of any team yet. After defeating his enemy, Black Adam, in previous issues of Justice League, Shazam tries to do the right thing and return Adam's ashes to his home country of Kahndaq, a particularly troubled Middle Eastern hot spot. The presence of an uninvited superhuman in Kahndaq threatens to start an international war, and the Justice League sets out to stop Shazam's innocent mistake before it escalates. Knowing only that the Justice League has illegally entered Kahndaq, the Justice League of America is sent in after them. Already you have dozens of superhumans converging on a spot where it is dangerous for them to be; each feels they are there with the best of intentions, but the more who keep showing up, the worse the situation becomes.
Add to the mix Pandora. She has now found the mysterious box she is known for having opened, thus releasing evil into the world in the form of the Seven Deadly Sins. She has the box but cannot open it to try to put the Sins back where they belong. In seeking out someone pure enough to open the box, Pandora finds Superman and Wonder Woman and tries to have Superman open the box. Immediately after, Superman begins to show physical signs of being ill, as if the box has corrupted the Man of Steel. Superman is still reeling when he joins his teammates in Kahndaq, and while there, he kills another hero with his heat vision. That act serves to splinter the various heroes into three groups: one group takes Superman into custody and guards against the threat of more lethal actions, a second tries to track down Pandora, suspecting that she is behind Superman's malady, and a third tries to explore other theories for the Man of Steel's behavior. All of which leads to the secrets behind not only Pandora's box, but the real power behind the formation of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, and leads directly into the aforementioned Forever Evil series.
Rather than being the big event itself, "Trinity War" is really more set-up for Forever Evil, the main event. When looked at in that fashion, this really is a good set-up, and I'm very curious to see what happens in Villains' Month and the main Forever Evil title.
Technically, "Trinity War" is a six-part crossover in the books mentioned above, but events in the current issues of both Trinity of Sin: Pandora (which I also read) and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger (which I did not) flesh out parts of the search for various factions following Superman's fatal heat vision malfunction. I found the Pandora issues to be more focused on her character development and not essential to "Trinity War," and as I didn't feel I missed anything by not reading Phantom Stranger, I'm guessing it was the same.
2 comments:
My problem with it was simply that Dr. Light has too much baggage attached to his head for him to be the trigger here, even if it's all gone in the reboot. That said, the Atomica bit genuinely blindsided me and that never happens. Essentially, the only thing you missed from the Phantom Stranger bit was his being completely erased from continuity by God for his actions, which, hopefully, will fix the horrifically awful idea of giving him a defined past again.
I understand what you mean about Dr. Light, A.H. Several characters didn't change much with the New 52 reboot, but when one is changed as drastically as Dr. Light, readers need a little more time to get used to the changes. It was a little hard to get used to this newer family-man Arthur Light, which we weren't really given.
I also didn't see the Atomica twist coming. I liked her a lot in Justice League and was pretty shocked.
Thanks once again for your insights on Phantom Stranger's role in "Trinity War." Way back in the mid-1980s when the Secret Origins title gave P.S. four possible origins, I liked the Judas scenario the best. It didn't bother me so much when this new incarnation nailed that down, but I definitely didn't care for the overall direction Dan Didio took the New 52 P.S. in with his own title. Having to betray everyone he interacts with got to be a drag and caused me to drop the title after only a handful of issues. That's why I didn't bother to pick up the "Trinity War" issues.
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