Review: Trinity Vol. 3- Dark Destiny

Quick Summary

Pros: There are some fun moments of action in this volume’s fight scenes. Parts of the story have nice levels of emotion.

Cons: The main story arc is plagued with mismatched symbolism and squandered potential. The main story arc offers a lackluster conclusion. The book’s final chapter is disappointing and feels more like a Suicide Squad tie-in than an interesting Trinity adventure.

Overall: This volume sees a new low for the Trinity comic series, as it features some of the worst storytelling series thus far. The adventures here are not that interesting and offer little positives outside of generic fights between random heroes. In addition, contractions and poorly structured narratives further complicate the volume and make for a frustrating reading experience. Readers willing to sacrifice storytelling for action may enjoy aspects of this book, but other readers may want to steer clear.

Story

Trinity Vol. 3: Dark Destiny, by Rob Williams, sees the Trinity series continue to devolve with each subsequent volume. The story starts out alright and seems to have nice levels of potential but, by the end of the narrative, this potential is wasted. Instead, this collection centers around a poorly structured story that fails to capture interest. Most of the volume’s achievements come from fun moments of action, but these are not significant enough to redeem the volume’s failures. As a whole, this book offers few positives and a number of negatives, making for a subpar reading experience.

(spoilers start here)

The majority of Dark Destiny centers around a story arc started in Vol. 2: Dead Space (Review). This arc sees various “trinities” form and go head to head with one another. The main DC Trinity is responsible for fending off corrupted forces from the magical community and the typically heroic members of Red Hood and the Outlaws. These forces are being mind-controlled by a “trinity” formed from the main Trinity’s greatest foes. As a concept, this all sounds great and feels as if it should lead into an interesting story.

However, right from the start, this concept is plagued with problems, as Lex Luthor abandons the villains and sours the “trinity vs. trinity” symbolism that the volume was centered around. Things only get worse from here as the use of mind-control destroys any chance for unique interactions between members of the various groups of heroes. Instead, mind-controlled characters simply verbalize vague threats and talk about their ultimate plan. Red Hood’s dialogue comes the closest to having some real meaning but even this is woefully underdeveloped. The lack of meaning leaves the bulk of this arc devoid of interest outside of occasional moments of fun during scenes of mindless fighting.

In the end, this story arc contradicts itself and by abandoning most of its main themes. Circe’s plan and the symbolism that it represented radically changes in a way that feels contrary to the arc’s beginning. Even the prophecy that jumpstarted this entire arc, and formed the basis for my interest in this volume, falls apart and becomes inconsequential by the end of the narrative. The conclusion then ties things up in a way that offers little to no resolution, outside of a moderately emotional moment from Wonder Woman.

Dark Destiny also includes one chapter that has the Trinity help Deadshot in his quest to find his daughter. There are some interesting points in this story but, as a whole, it is rather disappointing. Instead of feeling like a unique adventure centered around DC’s premiere heroes, this chapter feels like a lackluster Suicide Squad tie-in centered around Deadshot and Batman. There are some decent emotions from Deadshot here, but the narrative does little to define itself as something worthwhile.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Dark Destiny is good and ends up being one of the better aspects of this volume. V. Ken Marion’s work here gives the characters and locations nice levels of detail. Marion also does particularly well in drawing action scenes that flow together well and show off the power of the heroes. This is especially important in a volume where action scenes are a central piece of the story, thus highlighting one of the story’s best attributes. In addition, Dinei Ribeiro’s colors do a wonderful job in matching the tone of the story and reflecting the shifting moods of different situations. Overall, this is a decent looking volume that does little to disappoint in regards to visuals.

Continuity

Trinity Vol. 3: Dark Destiny continues the story from Trinity Vol. 2: Dead Space (Review).

The story here continues in Trinity Vol. 4: The Search for Steve Trevor (Review).

This volume also references the stories from other comic books, detailed below:

• Red Hood’s death at the hands of the Joker is referenced a few times. This occurred in Batman: A Death in the Family.
• Batman references a incident from his past where he saved Deadshot’s daughter. This story is told in Suicide Squad  #1, now collected in Suicide Squad Vol. 1: The Black Vault (Review).
• Batman mentions that Amanda Waller owes him a favor. This is because he helped save her in Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Kill Your Darlings.