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Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Trinity #45

Trinity #45

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 8, 2009

Cover date: April 8, 2009

Main Story: "The Power is Close..."

Main Writers: Kurt Busiek
Main Pencillers: Mark Bagley
Main Inker: Art Thibert

Back-Up Story: "A Single Human Soul"

Back-Up Story Writer: Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Back-Up Story Penciller: Scott McDaniels
Back-Up Story Inker: Andy Owens

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey with Jeffrey Bridges and Barry Freiman

Click to enlarge



The world continues to fight.

Despero unleashes the Crime Syndicate on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, who handily defeat the villains with little effort. They are teleported back to Earth-3 by Enigma.

Despero indicates his fleet is a day away. Morgan promises to talk with Enigma about losing valuable assets.

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman storm the castle. As they do, Morgan realizes her power has been coming from Krona, who is now on the moon. They go to see him.

To be continued...



Back-Up Story: "A Single Human Soul"

Krona and Morgan bargain for some of his ephemeral "creation energy." Krona demands Enigma's daughter sphere, and Enigma goes nuts, as does Konvikt. In response, Krona teleports Konvikt away, after Konvikt becomes so livid he speaks.

Enigma's daughter in the sphere tries to protect her father by sending him back to Earth-3.

To be continued...



Neal's Review:

1Main Story - 1: For a little variation, here's a by the page summation of the failures in the book:

Page 1 and 2: Re-establishing the fighting that's been going on for near twenty issues. Verdict: WASTED PAGES.

Page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: The Trinity fight the Syndicate in a fight that I declared last week to be irrational, because all of the combatants do not approach the power of the gods even slightly. This is borne out here, where we have a fight that has utterly no conflict at all beyond flashy visuals of people punching each other. Which the English teacher in me that might have been urges you to recall, is not "conflict." It's just people punching each other. Which is why the art gets high marks, but the story, not so much.

Page 8: Enigma finally notices that he's working with the Crime Syndicate despite the fact that it's responsible for destroying his world, and arbitrarily at last decides to do something about it. I particularly enjoy how the CSA has waxed about how they'll use their brains to solve this problem despite being nyah villains for most of the story, save in crappy, over-the-top machinations earlier in the run.

Page 9: Despero points out how stupid that is on their end, and Morgan irrationally poo-poohs it, still considering Enigma an ally despite him cold-cocking her and now actively sabotaging her work.

Page 10 and most of 11: Morgan goes to Tarot to ask her for information, and gets the same answer she got a few issues back. WASTED PAGES.

Bottom of Page 11: The Trinity reaches the castle, something that, realistically, should have happened eight issues ago.

Page 12: Deus Ex Machina. Morgan realizes Krona is her power source, and goes to speak with him. Apparently he's been the source of power the whole time. Ergo we are supposed to buy that a being with the power to refashion the Earth to his will (such is his power) can be captured in an egg the JLA keep in their basement.

I will say this for Trinity. It raises the bar every week. The problem is, it's the wrong bar. And now I want to hit a bar.

4Main Art - 4: I was gonna go three, because there are virtually no backgrounds, but the fighting was so pretty, I just couldn't. It's irrational fighting, and the plot is crap, but the visuals are consistently good for me in this one.

1Back-Up Story - 1: So killing millions of people for selfish desires is okay to Konvikt, but one little girl is a sign of not having any honor? Uh, okay.

Krona has the power to destroy universes, walk around and leave big fiery footprints, and yet he strikes a bargain with Morgan to give her some of his power for a Sphere he can (and in fact, in this issue DOES) take without any issues at all.

Despero stands idly by while being insulted repeatedly. That's SO Despero!

The Trinity are apparently tapping Krona's power. And Krona is either okay with that, or ignorant to it, or, who the hell even cares? Apparently, though, they can't sense where Morgan went despite it being relatively close and despite being able to reshape reality. Yeah.

Konvikt speaks, and it's supposed to be a big moment, I would imagine. It's just not.

The lone moment of efficacy in this script is seeing Enigma torn from his daughter, on that gut level where you feel for a parent wanting to protect their child and sacrifice for their child. The problem is, the circumstances leading to it are so utterly absurd and avoidable, you're actually mad at Enigma instead.

5Back-Up Art - 5: McDaniel and Owens rock it out again. Distinctive visually, very strong in the telling, and often the best part of the work. The aforementioned feelings I had for Enigma derive from the rendition of horror on his face by the pair. Great work.

1Cover Art - 1: Symbolically, these three covers represent five actual pages of story over the course of 66, and five of the crappiest in the last three issues. This cover promotes the scene, and in a way that is awkward and cumbersome. Not to mention the WW shield over Bats. They love it!

Jeffrey's Review:

1Main Story - 1: Hey everyone, let's keep talking about what we're doing while we do it!

"I will read Trinity and groan in pain at how awful it is! Meanwhile I will also keep my review open and will jot down notes and you will all feel my pain!"

If I said that out loud people would think I was insane. Or high. Or insanely high.

So how is it Busiek gets away with it? Is anyone else calling him on this? And then throw in a fart joke. Haw haw haw! We're all 12 again.

Ridiculous.

3Main Art - 3: Sorry, I just fail to care at all anymore. This book has destroyed my will to read.

1Back-Up Story - 1: And please explain, as well, before I lose my mind, due to this utter nonsense, how sentences can be written like this, as dialogue, and make it past editors?

Morgaine needs... something only Krona has? She has nothing to offer him, and then he wants to put the kid inside SPHERE into the Earth?

WHAT.

Arrrrgh, my brain.

3Back-Up Art - 3: ...what's going on in that fight? I have no idea, and worst of all, I absolutely do not care.

1Cover Art - 1: So... same cover as the last two weeks, again, and look at that line to the left of Batman's nose. God-Batman still wears a mask? I'm confused.

But mostly just apathetic.

Barry's Review:

1Main & Back-Up Story - 1: Oh no you di'ent. Enigma did not use the phrase "dry fart in a strong wind" in this story. If the writer who, for 45 issues, has written unstoppable drivel wants to use a disgusting metaphor better suited to five-year olds, he ought to try this one on for size: This issue, this series, this very idea is a wet fart in a windless elevator; the disgust just stays and stays.

This issue is focused exclusively on the bad guys. That includes the Trinity who, as long as they are in their godly forms, fall into that category. It's a villain on villain free-for-all with one plot purpose - to get Krona in on the action. Along the way, Busiek is trying to redeem characters like S.P.H.E.R.E., Enigma, and Konvikt. I'm guessing Busiek intends to say the three of them are a trinity too with Konvikt representing Superman's raw power, Enigma representing Batman's deductive skills, and S.P.H.E.R.E. representing Wonder Woman's compassion and humanity. It's bluntly heavy-handed symbolism that really means nothing to the DCU's big picture. With seven issues left (whew!), it would be nice to see this turn back into a Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman book any time now.

1Main & Back-Up Art - 1: Boring issue filled with non-humanoids equals boring non-descript art. The art may be unremarkable but the artists attached to this book generally aren't. I blame Busiek.

1Cover Art - 1: Senator I've met Batman and you are no Batman.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

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