The last issue of Trinity was another average read. However, this is a weekly title so I am willing to give Busiek a little time to get this story rolling. Hopefully, Busiek will get this story on track with Trinity #6. Let’s go ahead and hit this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza
Pencils: Mark Bagley & Scott McDaniel
Inks: Art Thibert & Andy Owens
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with Rita and Gangbuster hiding out in an old warehouse. Rita is looking at her tarot cards and once again they transform into images of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. We cut to the JLA watchtower. Batman inspects the brand on Wonder Woman’s shoulder and comments that it has changed shape.
Wonder Woman comments that the brand is mystical in nature and that there is something ritualistic going on with the three of them. Wonder Woman says that Superman is an outsider who embraces the world around him. Batman is an “insider” from Earth and yet he shuts himself off from the rest of the world. Wonder Woman walks among humanity, but holds herself apart from it.
We shift to Rita holding her tarot cards and attempting to learn the cosmic significance of the three heroes who keep showing up on her cards. Rita focuses on Superman who is the ultimate immigrant who has adopted the American beliefs of truth, justice and the American way.
We hop back to the JLA Watchtower where Wonder Woman is talking about the connection between the three of them. Wonder Woman states that she has been romantically attracted to both men in the past. That Superman is a solid and supportive man who makes the perfect husband. On the other hand, Bruce Wayne is a thrill ride. Bruce is fast, dangerous and fun, but not long-term material. That Bruce has dedicated his life to his mission rather than personal relationships.
We cut to Rita focusing in on Wonder Woman. Rita sees that Wonder Woman is the essence of the America way in that she believes in strength, power and readiness tempered by ideals. The hand of peace backed up by the willingness to fight.
We slide back to the JLA watchtower where Superman asks Batman what he thinks of all of this. Batman glares at Superman and Wonder Woman and curtly states that they should return to the Hall of Justice. That the others are working and so should they.
We shift to Rita where she is focusing on Batman. Rita sees that Batman is a much darker version of truth and justice compared to Superman and Wonder Woman. And that Batman is a self-made man who set an ideal for himself and strove to great lengths to achieve what he dreamed of. That this is another part of the American way.
Rita suddenly realizes that Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are not just three faces of heroism. That they are the three faces of the same idea. Suddenly, Morgan’s furry bestial minions bust into the warehouse. We see the minions overpowering Gangbuster. The minions then grab Rita and leave the warehouse. End of story.
We get a back-up story that begins with Hawkman high in the air holding Nocturna who had tried to rob Stonechat Museum. Hawkman threatens to drop Nocturna if she doesn’t tell him why she was trying to steal the Scepter of Khaf-Re. Nocturna refuses to answer so Hawkman drops her.
We cut to Hawkman racing to Gotham. Nocturna ended up talking and told Hawkman that the Medallion of Khaf-Re was also going to be stolen tonight. Hawkman arrives at the museum and before he can attack the thieves, Gangbuster pulls a Leeroy Jenkins and attacks the thieves and yells “Where is she?”
Hawkman and Gangbuster take out the thieves. Hawkman then goes up to the roof and captures Killer Moth who was working with the thieves. Meanwhile Gangbuster calls Lois Lane to ask her if the museum related thefts were gang related. Lois does some quick research and says that all the museum thefts have been metahuman related.
Hawkman then tells Gangbuster to wait at the museum for the police and that Hawkman has some things to follow up on. Gangbuster refuses and says that he is coming along with Hawkman. Gangbuster says that a friend of his is in trouble that that these thefts were his only lead.
Gangbuster tells Hawkman his story and then Hawkman tells Gangbuster that he needs to tell Hawkman’s friends about his story. Hawkman then opens up a JLA teleportation gateway and the heroes exit the scene. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Trinity #6 was a slightly better than average issue. Busiek cranks out plenty of solid dialogue. Now, it is not anything that blows away the reader, but it is acceptable and good enough to get the job done. What I appreciated the most about the dialogue in Trinity #6 was that we did not have to put up with any running commentary by Morgan and Enigma. What a refreshing change of pace.
Busiek pulls off plenty of good character work in this issue. Busiek is displaying a nice feel for the big three. Now, it may not be as detailed and intriguing as the versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman that we get on their monthly titles, but it is good enough to create some delightful chemistry between the three heroes. Busiek is faithful to the core essences of each of the big three. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all act within their traditional personalities.
Also, Busiek has really impressed me with how he has shown the differences and similarities of these three characters. I was rather interested by Busiek’s examination of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman and how they are not just the three faces of heroism, but the three sides of Truth, Justice and the American way. They each embody different aspects of what constitutes the American way. Busiek really pulled this off with considerable skill.
Even though not much happened in the main story of this issue Busiek still ended the main story with a nice hook ending. Rita getting captured by Morgan’s minions is exactly the spark that this sluggish story needed in order to get it rolling at a faster pace. Plus, I was getting tired of the endlessly repetitious scenes involving Rita over the past several issues.
Mark Bagley and Art Thibert deliver plenty of solid and dependable artwork. The main story has a nice clean look to it. Bagley always delivers a pleasant looking story that is easy to follow.
I also enjoyed the back-up story involving Hawkman and Gangbuster. I am a fan of Hawkman so I knew that I would enjoy this back-up story just on his appearance alone. While the main story was completely devoid of action, Busiek made up for that by delivering a little bit of action in this back-up story.
Busiek did a nice job handling Hawkman’s character. Busiek may not be anything innovate in how he handles the personalities of the various characters, but he has impressed me with now faithful he is to the basic core elements of each character. Hawkman acts exactly as he should: tough, gruff and no-nonsense.
The back-up story did a fine job linking Rita and Gangbuster’s plotline into the main plotline involving Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Again, this is more plot progression that this story desperately needed. It is great to see that Busiek is beginning to finish assembling all the various players and slide them in position so that he may finally dispense with the set-up and begin to transition into the meat of the story.
Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens deliver some slightly better than average artwork on the back-up story.
The Bad: Trinity #6 was a very slow and boderline dull issue. Not much happens at all in the main story other than Rita getting captured. And other than the appearance of Hawkman, the back-up story seemed a bit shallow. Trinity #6 also had a rather poor flow. The main story felt choppy and the back-up story felt rushed. In general, Trinity still lacks anything really special or exciting that gets readers buzzing over this title.
Overall: Trinity #6 was a slightly above average read. I do have a feeling that Busiek is about to warm up on this title. I am confident that the next couple of issues are going to be big improvements over what we have been getting the past couple of weeks. However, at this point, Trinity is still interesting enough for me to recommend it to anyone other than fans of the big three.
2 thoughts on “Comic Book Review: Trinity #6”
Comments are closed.
Just to open some discussion here…
Have I been the only one who’s been a little creeped out by all the subtle sexual come-ons Wonder Woman’s been doling out these last couple of issues? First there was that bizarre moment in the last issue where she started talking about “medical attention”, and now she’s creating this very uncomfortable moment for Batman in this issue. It’s just kind of weird.
I didn’t see it that way, at least not this issue, I just saw it as her examining the nature of their relationship. She says something like “we could have been more, something deeper but we are comrades.” Overall, I think Trinity has been better than Countdown, at least thus far.