Challenge of the super friends
Oh boy! Another weekly series from DC! While that exclamation may send shivers up and down the spines of those who struggled through Countdown (to Final Crisis), I have higher hopes for Trinity. Busiek has proven he can tell brilliant super hero stories, and Bagley’s art is always top notch, but does the second issue hold up to the first?
Trinity #2
Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley and Art Thibert, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens, Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher and Mike Norton and Jerry Ordway
Covers by Carlos Pacheco
That big explosion that rocked Superman’s world last issue was the sudden appearance of a micro solar system appearing above Metropolis. While we have seen the Silver Age Superman push planets and suns into different orbits with ease, here he struggles to get the ever growing solar system away from Earth and off into the galaxy.
The micro sun has yellow rays, so it should boost Superman’s powers, but instead he becomes quite weak. Hmmmm… Superman is weakened when it comes to magic.
Meanwhile, Batman finds himself in a completely different Gotham, one that reminds me a great deal of the Holy Terror Gotham from the Elseworlds series. While Batman explores the strange city, he has this weird feeling that everything could collapse at a moment’s notice – almost like it isn’t real at all. Hmmmmm… a spell perhaps?
Finally, Wonder Woman is confronted by an attack from giant robots from another world. Even when Superman offers to help, her warrior ways (and wanting to go for a personal best in giant robot smashing) lead her to defeat the enemy on her own. Those giant robots do go down pretty easy though. Hmmm… a conjured enemy for the hero to dispatch?
The trio reach a conclusion that somehow all of these event are related to their common dream and that spectral being screaming to be freed. With the appearance of Morgaine Le Fay and Enigma again this week, the mystical aspects of the story grow and lead me to believe magic or majik will play a bigger role as this tale reaches its conclusion.
Before anything can be truly resolved, the heroes receive a distress call from Green Lantern who is being attacked by the Konvikt creature we saw last issue.
If you have seen the cover images for the next 10 issues, you know each set of three fit together into a bigger image. The first three are the hero poses introducing the character, the next group the first big battle, followed by the mystical confrontation, and then apparently victory or celebration as the trio are offset by a giant flag in the background. The covers by Carlos Pacheco could very well be hinting to the reader the direction of the overall story, and if each group of 12 issue tells a contained story arc, Busiek and company could be on their way to keeping the story fresh without being bogged down with filler. It almost feels like what Mark Waid did in the first arc of Brave and the Bold.
As mentioned previously, I like Busiek’s writing. Here it is very to the point, but walks a fine line between believable conversation and Silver Age cheese. Busiek is able to reveal the underlying character of the trio as they deal with their individual trials; Superman as the jock willing to rush into any situation without thinking everything though, Batman is the real brain when he is able to dispatch his trial with a single word, while Wonder Woman is shown to be a true warrior with stubborn tendencies that could cause her problems down the road.
This week’s backup story tells how Jon Stewart got into trouble with that big purple goliath and its impish friend.
This is another good story from Busiek, Bagley and the rest of the crew. Like the World’s Finest tales from the last 50 years, Trinity #2 tells super hero stories that set up the conflict, and for the most part, lead to a resolution, thus setting the reader up for the next issue. While I could care less for the Konvikt and Graak subplot, the overall story is solid. Trinity #2 is a very good read and earns 3.5 out of 5 Stars.
Stephen Schleicher is one of those guys that has always loved comics but never got into them until really late in life - like high school in the 80s. He just missed the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but has been around for every major crossover since.
As a prolific writer, Stephen began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen also freelances for the Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog.
Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment.
Loading ...
Countdown’s sub par storyline and art, caused me to pass on this series. I’d been burned on 52 as well, so I’m passing on this, taking a wait and see approach, and then perhaps picking it up as a collected trade. How long is this series?
I wish I had my money back for all the issues I dropped on Countdown… yeesh!
I’m enjoying Trinity thus far. Have to agree w/ OS Perry. A shame to have wasted my $$$ on Countdown…especially after seeing it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.