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DC ComicsNew 52Review

Review: Trinity War

ComicBookWire

Quick Summary

Pros: Some of the fight sequences are interesting. One of the twists at the book’s conclusion is well done. The art looks excellent.

Cons: This entire event is made almost meaningless by the ending, which is more disappointing considering the amount of setup for this story. Most of the fight sequences are intrusive and unnecessary. The narrative is riddled with logical errors and unanswered questions.

Overall: After nearly two years of hype and setup, Trinity War turns out to be one of the most bloated and pointless crossovers in recent history. The entire book is simply an excuse to stage large scale battles between the biggest DC heroes and set up for a completely separate event. Mistakes in plot and structure further this disappointment and effectively cover the more interesting aspects of the book. Read this if you really like nice looking fights between superheroes, but don’t go into it looking for anything else.

Story

Trinity War is one of the most hyped stories in this stage of the New 52. Three separate series crossover here and utilize a character who was teased in Flashpoint (Review) and in the first issue of every single New 52 series. In the end though, all this hype simply manages to turn Trinity War into an even larger disappointment than it already was.

This entire storyline seems to be an excuse to make superheroes fight superheroes in whatever way possible. There is a somewhat interesting mystery here, but it is nearly lost in bloated fight sequences and complete lapses in logical reasoning. Plus, the story’s conclusion provides no resolution to the story at hand and instead turns this entire event into the setup for a different (yet much better) story. If you like low stakes and ultimately meaningless fights between the biggest heroes in the DC Universe, then you might like this book; otherwise prepare to be disappointed.

(spoilers start here)

The beginning of the book starts by summarizing and providing explanation for Pandora and the mysterious events surrounding her appearances in the DC Universe. She is indeed the Pandora of legend and is now searching the world for someone who can open her box and imprison the evil she unleashed so long ago. In pursuit of this goal, she seeks out various heroes and villains in order to find someone either pure evil or pure good to open it.

Alongside this, the events of Shazam! (Review) lead to a showdown between the Justice League and the Justice League of America. This showdown ends with Superman killing Doctor Light, though we immediately learn it was not actually Superman’s fault. Resolute on proving his innocence, the Justice Leagues shuffle their members and split up, each group investigating a different lead for the mystery.

It is this mystery that provides one of the book’s major positives. Writer Geoff Johns is able to send readers on a wild goose chase of belief, painting one villain as the culprit only to reveal the next suspect soon after. This makes the story engaging and fun as readers are never quite sure what will happen or who will be thrown into the mix next.

However, instead of focusing on this interesting mystery, the book chooses to focus on the maddening effect it has on heroes. The entire investigation is minimized because the heroes come into contact with Pandora’s Box and are driven crazy by its power, leading to huge fight sequences. The problem here is that these fights have little to no stakes to them. Sure it is cool to see Wonder Woman fight Superman, but any smart reader knows that their fight will have no lasting effect on either character. Plus, the fights are diluted by their own numbers: Superman and Wonder Woman fight at the beginning of the book, two of the Justice Leagues fight in Kahndaq, a slew of heroes fight at the prison, and all of the heroes fight at the book’s conclusion. This is a book so packed with meaningless battles that nothing else is able to stand out.

Then the book’s conclusion comes and continues the trend of frustration. This entire book has been about Pandora opening the Box, so fans are obviously expecting some sort of resolution once it is opened. Instead, the Box turns out to be a portal to the evil world of Earth 3 and a kickoff for the Forever Evil (Review) event. This is like waiting all year for your birthday, only to have all your friends tell you they’re going to wait for Christmas to give you your gifts. I like the end result, especially since Forever Evil (Review) turned out amazing, but detest the way it was accomplished.

This also opens up a host of logical and structural problems with the narrative. Why did the old Wizard believe the Box could be opened by those with a pure heart? Why would a portal to Earth 3 release evil spirits when it was first opened? How was the Box exported to this Earth so long ago in the first place? Is there any real reason Constantine is unaffected by the Box besides that he has “magic hands”? And, above all, if the Outsider was aware of Pandora’s encounter with Superman, why would he bother orchestrating this entire event if he knew Pandora had the exact same goal he did? There are so many flaws with this story that it becomes even harder to appreciate the already lackluster quality of the work.

Besides setting up for a better story, the only positive about the book’s conclusion was the twist involving the Atom. The Atom turns out to be a mole, working for the villains of Earth 3 the whole time. The reveal itself was done so well and was so unexpected that it is undoubtedly the crowning achievement of this saga.

All in all, if this were a regular Justice League story designed as a simple prelude to Forever Evil (Review) it would simply be another lackluster installment in DC’s history. However, with tons of setup and hype supporting a massive crossover, this story turns into a memorable disappointment. It feigns importance yet ultimately amounts to nothing but a bloated introduction to the main event.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The art throughout Trinity War is one of its biggest saving graces. Nearly everything within the book looks great and celebrated artists like Ivan Reis and Mikel Janín provide some absolutely stunning visuals. In particular, the book’s conclusion features some fantastic full page spreads that are a veritable who’s who of DC Comic’s finest heroes. On some of the larger spreads, I spent full minutes just looking at the artwork, taking time and soaking up all the minute details that were strewn about the pages. There is a lot to appreciate here in terms of visuals, so much, in fact, that if the story were at least average this could have been a solid collection just in terms of art. However, this not being the case, the art ends up being a shining star in a sea of dark.

Continuity

Trinity War is a crossover story between the Justice League, Justice League Dark, and Justice League of America series. The most recent volumes of these series, Justice League Vol. 4: The Grid (Review), Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Death of Magic (Review), and Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous (Review), are the most relevant, but small details from earlier in each run also come into play. See our Trinity War Reading Order for more information.

The main storyline here directly continues in Forever Evil (Review)and its companion book Justice League Vol. 5: Forever Heroes (Review). The individual adventures for the Justice League Dark continue in Forever Evil: Blight (Review) and for the Justice League of America in Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil (Review).

This volume also references stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

 

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