Comic Book Review: Trinity #2

The Revolution found the debut issue of Trinity to be a solid, but not spectacular read. I do think that Busiek has a clearly laid out story and purpose in mind with Trinity. I would imagine that Trinity will end up being not as good as 52, but certainly an improvement over Countdown. I have a feeling that Busiek will deliver another dependable read with Trinity #2. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Pencils: Mark Bagley & Tom Derenick
Inks: Art Thibert & Wayne Faucher

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Superman saving some bystanders from the rubble from the exploding building. Superman then looks around Metropolis and sees that an entire solar system worth of planets and a sun have landed into various buildings in Metropolis. The planets then begin to grow in size as they mature. Superman figures that he is witnessing a solar system being born.

We slide over to Gotham City where suddenly Gotham’s buildings are transformed into older styled gothic buildings and there is a general darkness cast across the city. We see medieval looking monks patrolling the city. Batman says that everything is wrong with his city. The sights, the smells and the general aura.

We shift over to Washington, D.C. where we see Wonder Woman brawling with several giant robots. We cut back to Metropolis where Superman flies into the small sun and manages to push the sun out of the Earth’s atmosphere. The rest of the planets in the budding solar system follow the sun. Superman then throws the growing solar system far into deep space.

We hop back to Gotham City where Batman is still staring at this dark nightmarish version of Gotham City. The monk guards see Batman and tell him that he is under arrest. Batman then concentrates and says “No.” Suddenly, the monk guards and the entire nightmarish version of Gotham City disappears.

We cut back to Washington, DC where Wonder Woman is still brawling with the giant robots. Superman then arrives on the scene. Wonder Woman tells Superman to back off and that she does not need his help. Wonder Woman then polishes off the robots. Superman cracks that Wonder Woman was trying to beat her personal best time at smashing giant robots.

We slide over to Morgan Le Fey and Enigma watching the events that just transpired in Gotham, Metropolis and Washington, D.C. Morgan is duly impressed with Superman and Wonder Woman’s handling of their situations. However, Batman fails to impress Morgan until Enigma points out the fact that Batman ended his problem with a single word.

We cut to Superman and Wonder Woman contacting Batman. Batman tells them to come and meet him at the Batcave. Batman says that it is time that they went on the offensive. Suddenly, the big three get a JLA distress call from John Stewart who has just been knocked out by Konvikt and Graak.

We then get the “back-up” story that begins with John Stewart tracking an escape pod that entered the Earth’s atmosphere. We then cut to Massachusetts where Konvikt and Graak have arrived on Earth. Evidently, they just escaped from some intergalactic prison.

The local police arrive on the scene and pull their guns on the two aliens. Graak tells Konvikt to not attack the police. One of the cops fires his gun and Konvikt immediately attacks.

Graak pleads with Konvikt to stop his rampage. Graak says that they will simply be going from one prison to another. Konvikt telepathically tells Graak that his honor compels him to attack.

John arrives on the scene and tells the aliens to back down. John’s ring scans the two aliens and then says that they are not in the Oan primary database of sentient species. Graak is terrified that a Green Lantern is on the scene and begs Konvikt to stop attacking. Konvikt refuses to listen to reason and attacks John.

John end up restraining Konvikt with his power ring when suddenly John’s eyes glow and he begins spitting out binary code. John then materializes large guns around his body and blasts Konvikt. John then suddenly turns back to normal.

Unfortunately, the event broke John’s concentration letting Konvikt escape from the power ring’s grasp. Konvikt ends up beating the hell out of John and then knocks John out. Now that Konvikt has beaten a Green Lantern, Graak suddenly changes his tune and urges Konvikt to keep attacking the Earthlings. That they can rule this planet. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Trinity #2 was another solid read. Busiek turns in a yeoman’s effort with a sound story. This was a well paced issue. Trinity #2 is a quick read as Busiek never lets the story drag or meander. Busiek delivers a well plotted issue that continues to progress the story in an orderly and logical fashion. Over the first two issues, it is clear that Busiek is taking a very methodical approach to this story.

Trinity #2 definitely serves up plenty of action. There is no shortage of fighting as the action scenes overwhelmingly dominate this issue. I have to say that it is nice to see that Busiek isn’t afraid to load up on the action scenes early into this story. Countdown was such a dull read that it is probably a wise idea of Busiek to alert the reader early into Trinity that if anything he is not going to deliver a plodding and dull story.

Busiek has done a nice job making sure that Trinity is new reader friendly. Busiek makes sure that every character that has appeared in this title is property introduced. The story itself of Trinity is self-contained and is not dependent on the reader having an encyclopedic knowledge of the DCU or its continuity.

Busiek continues to display a good sense for the basic personalities of the big three. Superman is a straight laced hero reminiscent of his Silver Age incarnation. Wonder Woman is a warrior first and a hero second. Busiek does effectively remind the reader of this fact by showing Wonder Woman refusing Superman’s help to take care of the giant robots.

Busiek points out that if innocent bystanders had been in danger then Wonder Woman would have gladly accepted Superman’s help. But, since everyone had already been cleared out of the area, Wonder Woman viewed this contest as a test of her warrior strength. That is just not how Superman would have viewed that attack.

Busiek’s Batman is also well done as he gives Batman a more subtle test to handle. Even though Batman’s resolution to his problem lacked the overt gross display of power that Superman and Wonder Woman displayed, the fact is that Batman’s handling of his problem was more powerful. For Batman to resolve his test with just one single word was impressive. Busiek clearly shows that Batman wields the most powerful mind on the planet.

Busiek delivers a nice dramatic appearance of Konvikt and Graak. I dig how Graak pleads with Konvikt to not attack the Earthlings or the Green Lantern and then quickly changes his tune once he realizes that Konvikt is powerful enough to defeat John Stewart.

Busiek does a good job teasing the reader about the mysterious origins of Konvikt and Graak. We learn that John’s power ring cannot identify the origin of these two aliens. That is a rarity. I’m certainly curious to learn more about these two aliens and how they fit into the larger story.

Busiek also teases the reader with the bizarre occurrence with John Stewart suddenly having glowing eyes and spitting out binary code before sprouting large guns. This was a strange turn of events and certainly piqued my interest.

Busiek is doing a good job fashioning several interesting little mysteries in short order on Trinity. It is a tough balancing act between flooding the reader with too many mysteries at the very beginning of a story and moving too slowly and taking too long to set up the various mysteries. Busiek has certainly achieved that balance as the reader is not overwhelmed with this pleasantly swift start to Trinity. The reader gets the sense that something large is occurring and that all these events are mysteriously connected with each other.

Busiek ends this issue with a good hook ending. We have the big three responding to an alien menace that is powerful enough to take down a Green Lantern. If nothing else, we can expect plenty more action in the next issue.

I dig how Busiek has constructed the structure of Trinity. I much prefer how Busiek is utilizing the “back-up” story compared to how it was used in 52 and Countdown. Busiek has decided to use the “back-up” story to give the reader a different perspective of the same event or simply dealing with other events going on at the same time.

Mark Bagley and Art Thibert combine to deliver some solid artwork for Trinity #2. Bagley’s art has never “wow-ed” me or come across as anything spectacular. However, Bagley’s magic is his incredible consistency. Bagley is always going to give you a quality effort with ever issue.

Bagley is able to create a clean looking comic book that makes the story easy to read. Unlike 52 and Countdown, I believe that Bagley will be able to deliver a dependable and consistently nice looking comic book each week.

Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher combine to deliver plenty of equally solid artwork for the “back-up” story.

The Bad: Trinity #2 was simply did not deliver anything that was brilliant or amazing that really grabs the reader and hooks them into the story. Busiek is clearly playing it safe and sticking to a textbook delivery and story out of a fear of creating another Countdown.

I understand DC’s effort to put forth a more dependable read that the hideous story we got on Countdown. But, the downside to that approach is that when a writer plays it safe, they have completely eliminated the chance of delivering something truly great.

Overall: Trinity #2 is a dependable read. This title is a real tweener for me. I don’t feel comfortable urging everyone to run out and give Trinity a try. However, I also cannot tell people to avoid this title, either. At this point Trinity is a real toss up. Having said that, I do think that if you are a big fan of either Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman then you will probably get a kick out of this title.