Trinity #17 – James Robinson, Writer; Patch Zircher, Artist; Gabe Eltaeb, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 7.5/10
Corrina
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: Trinity #17 has a tough battle ahead of it, being the second book this week to feature Wonder Woman and a member of the Trinity (in this case, two!) being teleported to a mystic realm to fight monsters. In addition, the current Wonder Woman arc didn’t make me optimistic about this story. Well, color me a bit surprised – this is a perfectly entertaining arc, and features one of my favorite concepts in obscure DC lore – the land of Skartaris. The issue opens with Clark, Bruce, and Diana being interviewed by the government about a mysterious recent adventure they went on. A flashback shows how it all began – Diana is still searching for Themysrica, and she’s enlisted her friends to help her scout the world. They track a mysterious weather phenomenon and find not Themysrica, but a powerful whirlpool that manages to drag them down despite all their power and technology.
When they arrive in Skartaris, things go from bad to worse. Superman is powerless, as magic immediately drains his abilities. Complicating manners, Diana is mysteriously blind. (This is the second time Diana has been blind – the first was when she burned her eyes out fighting Medusa in Rucka’s first run). Fortunately, Amazons train fighting blindfolded, so this plot twist doesn’t turn Diana into a damsel in distress. That comes in handy when the lizardmen attack. This is a fun, old-school fantasy adventure comic with a lot going for it, although it maybe wastes a bit too much time on action segments and the dialogue is a bit iffy in places. Still, this is the best Robinson has written Wonder Woman yet, and the appearance of the Warlord at the end of the issue makes me excited for what’s to come. Definitely an improvement over the last Trinity arc.
Corrina: Perfectly entertaining are not the words I’d use for Trinity #17. It’s absolutely an improvement over the last Trinity arc, but that’s a horribly low bar to clear.
The parts I liked? The convention of having Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman speaking separately to what I assume is government interrogators. Their dialogue was nicely woven. Zircher’s artwork is also terrific and I especially love how he posed the three of them differently: Wonder Woman treating the chair as a throne, Batman closed and hidden, and Superman at attention.
And then the adventure started and it lost me. It seemed to contradict the end of the terrific Rucka arc of Wonder Woman to have Diana searching for her home. That door seemed closed and Diana seemed reconciled with that. I like the Warlord and Skartaris but I’m not sold on the adventure that may await them there. We’ll see.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, check out our index.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
I feel like Wonder Woman will never not want to return home. No matter how settled she is with the idea, a part of her will always miss her sisters and mother, and her friends could see that hiding deep inside . So they decided to help her, and even if that does stray away from Ruckas run i still think its a valid storyline when including the rest of the trinity. either way i almost entirely agree with you