Note: we’re doing all our DC reviews in separate posts starting this week. To find the reviews of all the other issues from November 15 and previous weeks, check our index.
Trinity #15 – Rob Williams, Writer; V. Ken Marion, Penciller; Sandu Florea, Inker; Dinei Riberio, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 4/10
Corrina: So Much For That
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!
Ray: The conclusion of Rob Williams’ Trinity arc (although he has a done-in-one Holiday issue next month as well) delivers very little in the way of thrills or resolution, as the various characters gather at the Pandora pits at the mercy of Circe. She’s captured two members of each Trinity, possessed or stabbed the rest, and only Batman is free. Well, Batman and the outlaws, who he freed by killing them temporarily. The outlaws charge into the battle on a Batplane, and the issue immediately descends into splash pages and battles. The problem is, Circe hasn’t been given much in the way of characterization or motivation in a while, and so she’s just a generic villain with generic goals.
This issue is typified by things being way too easy for everyone. Superman and Wonder Woman are captured? Batman has a way to kill them for two seconds to get them free of the spell. He did the same thing to the Outlaws off panel. Constantine stabbed and dying? Zatanna will say a few words and he’s all better. Villain about to get away with everything? Here comes Ra’s Al Ghul to casually stab her and end that threat. The issue ends with all the Trinities working together to save Circe from her own fate because they’re heroes, but it just sort of peters out with a team-up visual and nothing really accomplished. It’s a comic that used a lot of characters, but did very little with them. And that’s often the problem with books like this – they’ll always be side books by nature, and when there’s no bigger plan, it shows.
Corrina: After a setup which seemed to create a situation impossible to overcome, our heroes overcome it with the figurative equivalent of a snap of their fingers. “Oh, I just killed them for a sec,” was basically the answer to possession. Oh-kay, though I point out that gods might learn of this loophole if heroes keep using it too much, as Hal Jordan just did something similar to Orion in Hal Jordan & the Green Lantern Corps. Obviously, it was a way to quickly get past that obstacle and I wonder if the arc was truncated because this happened off-panel.
As for the rest, lots of yelling at Circe, and lots of the heroes just winning, not much tension after such a big setup, and no personal moments. I’d have liked to see Diana and Artemis talk! Or a scene with Jason and Superman or even with Bizarro and his Superman or even John Constantine and Zatanna, at least something…..
But there’s nothing but a big messy fight scene with little emotional impact. Very much like Williams’s Suicide Squad work.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
