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View Full Version : Trinity #4: Discussion and Review Thread


Binker
06-26-2008, 10:03 AM
By Nathaniel Ruff (also known as Binker, Binker2 and Nate on many forums)

TRINITY #4

Written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Art by Mark Bagley, Art Thibert, Scott McDaniel, Andy Owens, Tom Derenick, Wayne Faucher, Mike Norton and Jerry Ordway
Covers by Carlos Pacheco
Edited by Mike Carlin

PLOT:
The lead feature explores the unusual bond — and importance — of DC's top three characters, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, as a mysterious dream links them together and may prophesy important changes in their trinity!

REVIEW:
In comparison with issues #1-2, instead of both stories being good, the main story suffered, and it was the co-story was the one that saved the entire issue from being bad. One part of it was that the JLA stopped when the Trinity arrived, thus it was like they were pushing "the Trinity is important" too much, and having the cliffhanging end of Superman being defeated by Konvikt being played out in a way that it really shouldn't have been. Other than that, nothing else happened, but it was the co-story that got the interest back with Rita, and the wonder on how her role in the series will be like. Now as we pick up where we left off last time, let's see how issue #4 plays out.

Issue #4 brings us to a close to the first month of the weekly series. And as we started this issue, in regards to my review to issue #3, some things I found odd were cleared up for the better. I kept on forgetting that this little creature is driving Konvikt, and maybe it's just him or both that have magical powers, which Superman has a weakness in. That in my head about this villain (or villains), and not just thinking of Konvikt just being a behemoth monster like Doomsday was, felt like that added as to why Superman was out cold at the end of issue #3 (which was used like a cliffhanging ending, which I hated). Thankfully, Superman got his a$$ up at the start of this first series, and continued his job. That's one thing about Superman that is good even if he was de-powered like his previous days: he's not a wimp, he gets hit, he gets back up and back into the game. Another thing that was cleared up was the JLA, to whom they stopped at issue #3 during the battle when ther Trinity arrived, something unlike them. This issue, which was seen briefly in issue #3 I might add, Black Canary leads the other Leaguers in helping the civilians, with Batman included as well with a funny remark (he tells a couple that they're sitting above a fuel tank, and they run and scream. Job well done). Because I remembered that's what the JLA did anyway in issue #3, maybe I pushed a little more hate on what they were like in that issue than I should've. But it was just that they stopped fighting when the Trinity appeared, and that was something that is not the case, and it seemed like they were pushing the Trinity importance too much in that issue. But anyway, this issue cleared what happened in issue #3 up nicely.

Other things were that Busiek presented Wonder Woman as the one with faith, as she encouraged those she couldn't get to pass from their damaged building to the other safe building. The faith theme in Wonder Woman has been played since Perez' days, and is currently back in full force during Gail Simone's current run on the book. Morgaine Le Fay and Enigma point this out, as much as pointing out that Superman is classified as savior, while nothing can be said for Batman from their minds other than "the guy who scares people". It's only now that I ask this: Morgaine Le Fay has fought these heroes before, so why is it here that she talks about them like she is getting to know them like she never heard of them before? That's weird. Maybe I was reading into it too much. But another thing was that Batman finds the aliens' crashed spaceship; how did he find that? Was it something I missed?

We continue the co-story from issue #3 with Rita (by the way, her name was not "Tarot Rita" like I thought. I mentioned "Tarot" was used referring to her by someone, so that's why I assumed. Her name is actually Marguerita, and she, and others, call her Rita for short). In this, there wasn't as much as you would think compared to the previous co-story. We do get important moments that might be a foreshadow to the future of where this series is going, as Rita uses her equipment to make her see the future in a dream: Despero conquering an alien planet, only to notice something and.....it ends. The gang that attacked her and were defeated, wants her now because of what happened. Other than that, that was it in a nutshell. Though, one wonders what could happen to Rita down the line.

Overall, compared to issue #3, issue #4 went back to the positive-ness of the series. Things got cleared up (the JLA, Superman, etc), and Busiek played out the Trinity in the right way again. The main story and co-story were all good, and while the co-story didn't have much to say, the foreshadowing toward Desporo was good enough to see what this series could be leading towards. Trinity Month One is done, now comes Month Two!

RATING: Yay

Dubbilex
06-26-2008, 01:20 PM
I really liked the interplay between Despero and Kanjar Ro as they duked it out for control of the planet. The most eyebrow-raising part (in a good way) of that whole sequence was how Despero could hear the cellphone going off. That implies there's more than just your run-of-the-mill mystic prophetic dream going on.

Anyway, does anyone recognize those three guys at the end? Despite never having seen them before, I could immediately tell they weren't new characters. Because no artist, not a one, would create costumes like those in 2008. :wink:

Flash's Lightning
06-26-2008, 05:24 PM
A wholly enjoyable issue, if not an extraordinary one. We see the differences between the Trinity (which really, we knew already, yes? We've been discussing this for a while now... :wink: )

Wonder Woman is shown as someone who inspires others to greatness, which is in some ways analogous to Winged Victory from Astro City. So long as we don't get a string of Wonder Woman training centers, I think I'm okay with it though! :biggrin:

Batman again shows his ingenuity by being able to track the evidence back to the ship that apparently had crashed. Morgan didn't see the significance, but again Enigma does.

Jose and Tarot get closer - they seem to be beginning a friendship that I have all ideas will lead them into some adventures. Can't wait to see what happens - in fact, Jose and Tarot are saving this book for me.

Final verdict - 6 out of 10, dialogue very shoddy, and only the b story gains my interest, making it only slightly above average

TimothyCallahan
06-26-2008, 05:46 PM
I think I'll give Trinity an issue or two more, but right now it's one of the weakest series coming out from either Marvel or DC.

By the way, has anyone brought up the notion that Enigma is Harvey Dent? Look at that facial scarring! If it's been mentioned before, sorry. I haven't been following much of the discussion about this book because it just hasn't been very good. Too bad.

John Lynch
06-26-2008, 06:49 PM
Based on these reviews and the ones at Newsarama, I'm saving myself some money and dropping this series. By the looks of it this is a continuation of the fight we saw in issue 3. So they've been fighting one bad guy or another with very little plot development since issue 2. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the series.

Dentalboy
06-26-2008, 07:08 PM
I think I'll give Trinity an issue or two more, but right now it's one of the weakest series coming out from either Marvel or DC.

By the way, has anyone brought up the notion that Enigma is Harvey Dent? Look at that facial scarring! If it's been mentioned before, sorry. I haven't been following much of the discussion about this book because it just hasn't been very good. Too bad.

I always thought Enigma was The Riddler i.e Edward Nigma

JCAll
06-26-2008, 10:45 PM
Much, much better than last issue. But somehow equally as uncreative.
They've actually started lifting sceens and dialog directly from Death of Superman. I mean, come one.

At least it's actually going somewhere this time, as opposed to just meandering about. I feel that 2 half sized issues per book is actually hurting things.

The back up wasn't as good as last week, but it was still more awesome than the main story. The Desparo and Kanjar Ro's dialog was nifty, as was Desparo's reaction when Kanjar Ro jumped off the building. And unlike the main story, the fact that Desparo seems to have seen or heard Tarot through her dream has me completely intregued.

Without doubt though, the best seen was in the main story, when Batman showed up to save people hiding from Konvikt, and they ran off screaming the minute they saw him :biggrin:

JCAll
06-26-2008, 10:48 PM
I always thought Enigma was The Riddler i.e Edward Nigma

According to Wikipedia (yeah I know) there's an Enigma in the Teen Titans books that claims to be the Riddler's daughter. So that connection was made long ago, and I doubt it'lll be done again.

Elitehaxxor
06-26-2008, 10:50 PM
i just picked up #1-4 today and I may not get anymore. I enjoy fighting and I enjoy the classic characters, so the the main story appeals to me, but I just cannot get into the b story at all. Four of these a month just is not worth it.

Will.S
06-27-2008, 09:41 PM
Given the reactions to this weekly so far I'm really curious as to how this book is going to perform throughout the coming months.

Lupek
06-29-2008, 11:45 AM
Trinity was my first weekly comic but issue #4 is my last. I am a big fan of Kurt Busieks Superman run but I found Trinity to be underwhelming.

I do not like the back up story at all, including the artwork. I dislike the logo/cover dressing. Bagelys artwork is ok, but the story doesn't grab me. I'm not digging Konvikt. If Enigma turns out to be Riddler that's cool, but so far Enigma is kinda lame. And Morgan Le Fey seems like a bad pick too. Kurts Superman run was full of crazy cool ideas and I just don't get the feel of that with Trinity. I'm sorry to be so negative. I normally give a book with characters and writers I like 6 issues to win me over. But due to this being a weekly, I have to drop off at 4 because my comics budget is getting tighter. I dropped Final Crisis after one issue.

The only thing I did like was the conversation between Bruce,Kal and Diana (in issue 1... i think) as they discussed and slipped in and out of their public personas.