Trinity, Vol. 1

Trinity

by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

DC's hit weekly series arrives in its first collected edition from writers Kurt Busiek (ASTRO CITY, JLA, Marvels) and Fabian Nicieza (X-Men, ROBIN) and a legion of artists including the sensational Mark Bagley (Ultimate Spider-Man)! Features TRINITY #1-17 as a devastating cosmic force targets Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman! Featuring stunning covers by Carlos Pacheco, Andy Kubert and Jim Lee and Scott Williams, this is the first of three volumes collecting the series.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Batman, Superman, Comic Book

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Kurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.

Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.

During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).

Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.

In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.

In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.

In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.

Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.

Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three Things About Trinity

1) there is only one 52. i understand that success at a particular thing will often make a company want to do more of that particular thing. the weekly spectacular called 52 was a brilliant concept that was brilliantly enacted (well at least in those issues dominated by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka; Geoff Johns: ugh, hack). but perhaps DC should have laid the 52-issue mini-series idea to rest after 52 because various follow-ups have been uninspiring. and long-winded. and often just plain tired. such is Trinity, or at least the first volume. it suffers from a grinding busyness: overstuffed, overblown, overbearing. it is all over the map and has a real whiff of desperation to it. not hot! and all the mystical tarot magical magick became wearying. as far as mysticism goes, this is definitely a far cry from Alan Moore's infinitely superior Promethea, despite the similar symbology. on the very, very small plus side, i did appreciate the use of the formerly (?) heroic Quizmaster Enigma, Counter-Earth's answer to The Riddler. pretty cool.

2) Kurt Busiek disappoints. i'm not used to being disappointed by Busiek because he's so often an innovative and brilliant writer. just as 52 cheekily tapped the cheeky talents of Waid & Morrison to cheekily reconstruct the entire multiverse, Trinity attempts to put Busiek's specific talents to work in re-imagining its trinity of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman as universal super-archetypes. should have been a perfect fit: the three are already mythic icons and Busiek's stock-in-trade is the revisiting and deconstruction and often reconstruction of various comic-heroic archetypes. his series Astro City accomplishes that to expert and often moving effect. unfortunately his voice is quite lost in this mega-series. doltish dialogue. doltish villain Despero returns. even worse, page after page of doltish fight scenes involving doltish new character Konvikt (sweet Jesus, even that name is doltish). i understand what Busiek was trying to accomplish - he's revisiting the Golden Age through a modern lens. it worked a couple times but those sweet moments are lost in the flood of d'uhlt.

3) just as 52 elevated a lot of b-listers into characters of interest and worth (particularly The Question: Lady Edition), Trinity attempts the same with b-listers like Gangbuster and Enigma. the results are mainly lackluster. i was rather surprised at Trinity's elevation of continuity-cursed Hawkman. this is the perpetually reincarnated Carter Hall Hawkman but for some reason his passionately lovelorn and vaguely mystical personality is gone, replaced by the rough, tough, hairy-chested brutality of the Thanagarian policeman Katar Hal version of Hawkman. in Trinity, we witness (and also read various supporting characters regularly comment on) this typically dour Hawkman's tough love approach, his rough justice, his brutal relentlessness, etc, on a constant basis. at one point, eccentric villainess Primat mentions how much she appreciates Hawkman's musky man-smell: "...a heady mix of anger and passion--". huh. well, okay.







a more sensitive Hawkman + hawkpackage:

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy Watchmen, Batman! This thing is long! I have the other two volumes, and I kinda wanna finish them...and yet, I kinda don't care.
I'll give it this, toward the ending the pace picks up enough that it is pretty fun to read. The beginning and the middle...eh, not so much. I can see why several of the other reviewers didn't finish it. I must have picked this up and then put it down about a hundred times. It's never a good thing when you get a sense of accomplishment just because you managed to finish a comic book.
After reading this, I'm reminded of one of the reasons that I usually gravitate toward Marvel. *cough Alternate Universes cough* DC seems to have a love affair going with the idea of time-travel and alternate dimensions. Personally, I find it annoying. Now, not only to I have to keep up with Superman, but I have to keep up with the seemingly endless list of other Supermen. Honestly, how many time-traveling clones and evil/good alternate reality twins can one guy have?! Does anyone remember when there was only Bizarro? I say Bizarro was enough. Alright, end of rant.
The other thing I thought was a little off was the mysterious origins of the character Enigma. I don't get what was so mysterious about him. Cause, as soon as he introduced himself I thought to myself, "Hey, isn't that...?". However, I have to say he wasn't exactly who I thought he was, because (wait for it...wait for it) this one was from and alternate universe. Hmmmm. How did I not see that one coming?

[Molly™☺ · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the longest and most convoluted Trinity plots to disgrace comics. It's bloated to the point of incomprehensible. With a billion different characters and plotlines, Busiek struggles to execute even one of them to a good standard. Is your favourite DC character in this? More than likely. Will they be done justice? For the most part, no. By the end, you're just left feeling empty, numb, and wondering where the last few hours of your time went.

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trinity addresses the concept of arguably the three most famous superheroes of all time as archetypes for a trinity. I happen to really like Kurt Busiek's work on anything he has written to this point and that hasn't changed after reading Trinity.

Trinity possessed everything I like in a graphic novel: fine artwork, a compulsive and adrenalin filled storyline and finally the characters that I love. As for what the storyline is: well it follows a mystic plot by three lesser known DC villains to assume the powers from Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman (the three most famous heroes I talked about earlier) and become Lord of the Universe. In typical DC fashion this story is delivered with a whole lot of fun, complexity and colour - but mostly fun.

The whole idea of the three heroes each being part of a mystical trinity is interesting as I've always noted the differences and similarities in how the three heroes complement each other. You have Day and Night with Superman and Batman and then Wonder Woman exists as the balance between those two. You have man of the future, man of the present and woman of the ancient mythological world. As also mentioned in the comic you further have different forms of hope, truth and justice represented by the three characters - ideas which represent America, and they are heroes who fight for America traditionally, but also ideas which represent humanity.

Either way if you want a comic featuring any of the three big DC heroes, particularly with a few screen adaptations of the heroes having been released and due for release in the next while, I recommend Busiek's work here. It is colourful, fun and wacky in several different ways.

[Sesana]

Yeah, this just isn't going to happen. Not enough story development in the part that I read, and not enough interest for me to soldier onward. I'd honestly rather attempt Countdown to Final Crisis again. Maybe DC just needs to step away from the 52 format (weekly issues with multiple storylines) for awhile.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd be hard pressed to characterize this as anything other than a colossal mess of a story that is long on promise, short on the goods. Who wouldn't love a tale of the symbolic significance of the titular trio being turned against them by their evil counterparts? And with magic and wacky pseudoscience to boot! Sounds awesome, right? Remaking the multiverse in the image of a corrupted superhero triumivirate? Sign me up! Too bad this mostly sucks. For one, volume one write large could easily be halved: there are way too many superfluous other characters and meaningless runnings-about that detract much from the ongoing story arc. For another, the characterization of the Trinity is incredibly poor and Bats, Supes, and WW are shallower than is needed. They all just kind of go through the motions and even when their personalities start to overlap, they remain largely bland and stupid. On top of it all, a good, basic storyline gets bogged down in insane amounts of complication and convolution so that by the end this reader hadn't a goddamn clue what was going on.
High hopes dashed like so many Kryptonite enemas...

[George (Abandoned Places) · Rating 2 out of 5]

First things first...this gets 2.5 stars.

Second things second...I wanted to like Trinity. I have a fondness for Kurt Busiek, whose run on the Avengers is my favorite for that title. KB doesn't play favorites and is good at showcasing his characters' strengths, giving them all something to do and making sure they all have a moment. This is very important in good team books (unless you stick your company's franchise characters on the team, in which case you can do pretty much whatever you want).

So...I wanted to like Trinity. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. KB's weaknesses are on display, here: I kept on noticing his dialogue, which is sort of pokey. Also: tThe pacing was glacial, there were too many characters, and I had to stop reading before my head exploded. Great art, though; maybe someone with more patience with me will enjoy this.

I'm not sure if we're meant to have 52 issue storyline. I think the DC title that came closest to succeeding is 52, which in my opinion is still the gold standard.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordinarily enjoy Busiek's work, but I found this a little lacking. It may be because it is only the first third of the story, or because the comic was written in a weekly format, which kind of dragged out the plot. I'm going to read the next two to see where this goes before making a final judgement.

[Rihards Husko · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting venture into mythbuilding focused on DC’s Big Three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) that can’t help but feel a little meta. Not in a negative way, though. The first of three collected books does a good job setting up the mystery at their core and ratcheting up the tension as it goes along, culminating with a rather explosive finale. The way there can feel a little needlessly long-winded and meandering, however.

I also love Bagley’s overall style, even if all of his women kind of look the same. Very eager to see where this series goes.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know how I feel about this, overall. I liked some of it; it was an interesting premise, I guess, to have DC’s “Big Three” tied together like they are in this series, to have the series focus specifically on them like it does. The artwork was very hit-and-miss for me (which makes sense, since there was an issue being released every week, so they would need to rotate the work among different artists in order to keep up). This first volume felt slow; the story felt dragged out and the narrative flow as choppy (they would leave parts of the story ‘out’ [so to speak] like, when Superman is rushing to fight an alien ‘antagonist’ at what must be the end of one issue; the ‘next’ issue shows Superman on the ground, stunned, as Wonder Woman leaps to the attack. I do not know if some pages are missing or if the reader is just supposed to ‘picture in his/her mind’ what happened to Superman in the ‘missing panels’). It was weird – it felt bloated at points and other points felt like there was not enough information given to the reader.

The artwork really bothered me – it was distracting enough that it took away from the story for me. One thing that really bothered me was Bruce Wayne. I really did not like how they made Bruce’s face look when he, Diana Prince, and Clark Kent are having a mild meal together to discuss dreams that only the three of them have had (pp. 11, 15). He looks nothing like how Bruce should look (at least, in my mind); it really detracted from the story, that moment in the story, in my opinion. There were other moments in the story where the artwork reminded me of some of the ‘garbage’ that was produced in the 90s; it was pretty bad. I think what bothered me the most was that it was so inconsistent (for each individual artist; I realize with three different artists at work, the artwork is going to be different from issue-to-issue. I just did not like how a specific artist’s work was not consistent between each issue on which he worked). I have liked Bagley’s work that he did for other books, other stories; this one, though, not so much, overall. I did like some of the stuff he did; I will not deny that. The work from the other artist(s) did nothing for me, at all.

There was one really ‘bad’ moment in the story for me; it occurred towards the beginning. It was the whole “who’s going to tell me to see a doctor to get my wound checked” bit (pp. 110 – 111). I felt it was incredibly stupid; just asinine. Wonder Woman is asking (teasing) Batman and Superman who is going to tell her she should go get her injuries/wounds checked out by a doctor and accuses both of them of worrying about being either patronizing to tell her to do so because she’s a woman or holding back from telling her she should get checked out because she’s a woman. That had to be the most idiotic line of reasoning . . . well, one of the most idiotic lines of reasoning I have read in a long, long time. I have read other stories, even books about real events, real battles, where a man is hurt and another man tells him he should get his wound checked out. I do not understand or see what the big deal is if either Batman or Superman (or, any other male hero, for that matter) tells Wonder Woman she should get an injury checked out. She is one of the strongest members of the JLA and if something is able to injure her, to cause her to bleed or bear a scar, she should be checked out! It is in no way denigrating for either of them to tell a female teammate to get an injury looked at.

I also found myself growing tired of the whole “search for items of power that can be used by the villains in their master plan of success.” I felt like Busiek had really done that one to death in the JLA/Avengers crossover, to be honest, and it also felt a bit like the first few issues of his run of the Avengers (when they had to defeat Morgana La Fey after she changed reality; that also involved certain items of power being seized by Morgana for her to change reality like she did). This series was crazy in the number of items either being sought or actually stolen. I don’t know if some of the items were decoy items of some sort to throw the heroes off the scent, as it were, but it seemed like a lot more items were stolen than were actually used by the villains during the ‘initial stages’ of their master plan taking place.

Now, I did enjoy the different ‘discussions’ about heroic archetypes and whatnot. The ‘fact’ it tended to involve tarot cards, not so much, but there were some interesting ‘moments’ in the book when the relationship between Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman were looked at from various perspectives. It was not something I had thought about, to be honest, when reading stories involving the three of them working together or in their own separate series. In any case, though, I did feel that Busiek made a pretty good case for the three of them being archetypes for the DC Universe, for DC’s ‘version’ of a “Prime Earth.” I also liked how the spell being woven started blending the personalities of the three characters, so that they started ‘thinking’ like each other and were able to turn what could have been a potential weakness (the distraction of thinking differently and not being able to trust their own thoughts/instincts/actions) into a strength (as they found ways to take advantage of the different perspectives and possibilities offered by the blending of their thoughts and minds and personalities). It was an interesting ‘after-affect’ of the spell being cast that nearly worked in their favor.

I also liked the “Escher-like” nearly two-page spread on pages 346 and 347. That was a pretty awesome pic! There were some other pretty cool shots involving multiple heroes, some ‘wannabe splash pages’ of sorts, scattered throughout the volume (especially towards the end) that I really enjoyed. Those were a lot of fun to look at, to see how many of the DC heroes I recognized.

It was also interesting to see Superman take on Morgraine Le Fey after DC’s Big Three find their way into her castle, considering her powers are magic-based and he tends to have the most problems with magically-based (-powered) villains (opponents).

When the villain Enigma showed up, it made me wonder if he was some other-dimensional version of the Riddler; as it turns out, I was correct (even though I did not know which ‘universe’ he was from). I also liked that “this universe’s” Edward Nigma was a detective who was hired by Dick Grayson and Timothy Drake to try and solve the puzzle behind why the majority of the museum heists were by members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. I have not kept up with Batman at all, so I was surprised to see that Edward Nigma now worked as a private detective instead of continuing a life of crime.

I am ambivalent about “Tarot” as a hero or second-tier/third-tier hero. I suspect she is quite a bit more powerful than how she is first presented as being. It will be interesting to see if that holds true, as some characters reacted as if she were some variation of Wanda Maximoff (in my opinion, but that is just how I interpreted things).

I did enjoy the ‘toss-out’ to the JLA/Avengers crossover and that the Cosmic Egg with Krona was re-introduced in this series. I often wondered what had happened to him and his Cosmic Egg; it seemed like both companies had forgotten about him for a time after that legendary crossover. I also thought it was funny how the crossover was referenced (“The League was there. The League and Others. . . “ (163)). Also, I liked how Krona’s backstory was expanded upon a bit further in this story. I don’t know how much more detail it really gave, on the one hand, except that it expressed his emotional state more than the crossover did. I did find myself wondering how Krona’s being defeated by Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) tied in with the JLA/Avengers crossover, to be honest, or how Krona came to be defeated before ‘returning’ to his non-corporeal state and floating between universes.

The whole bit involving the Crime Syndicate’s Universe was . . . both overwhelming and underwhelming. It provided a different look for Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman that I think helped make the characters interesting. It also took up a good chunk of the story (or so it felt like) in the latter half of the . . . second act, I guess it would be. That is definitely a crazy universe! (It also reminded me of the “Mirror-Universe” episodes of the different Star Trek series.) I kept expecting the citizens of that universe to have some kind of ‘goodness’ in them, but it was not to be. They were truly ‘evil/bad’ to the core. It really ‘creeped’ me out to see members of the Church of Lucifer and members of the Church of Satan fighting and killing each other. That was just nuts! I also loved how Superman really unloaded on Ultraman and beat him badly before slamming him into Superwoman and knocking them both unconscious (280 – 282). I also loved Batman’s comment when Superman refused to listen to Bruce’s “plan of action” (Well, that was disappointing. And what do you usually do when I act like that?”) followed by Wonder Woman’s response (“Mostly, we follow along behind you and do whatever we can do help!”) (264).

I know I said this already, but I have very mixed feelings about the start of this series, this volume 01. It has really good moments; it has really ‘bad’ moments. It has some great artwork and some really bad artwork. I will probably rate it three stars; I would say 2.6 – 2.8 rounded up to 3. It did not leave me with an overwhelming desire to read the next to volumes, but I will probably read them if only to see how things play out and to see if Krona plays a part and how much of a part he plays in this series; it will also be interesting to see if he is put back into stasis inside the Cosmic Egg at the end of it all. Overall, I am glad that I read this volume, if only because I have been curious about reading it for a bit, now, but never took the time to read it. Now, I know what I was never missing by not reading it before now. Hopefully, the next two volumes will be better than this first one (but the tone it set is not promising, so we’ll see).

[Lucas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Peguei pra ler esse arco em 2009, na época até tinha achado ok, mas lendo 10 anos depois vi uma história fraca com pouca motivação e só frases de ação sem sentido

[Jason Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to rate this higher than I did, but it just didn't pass the bar. I liked it, but I didn't *really* like it. Trinity was, I believe, the third year-long weekly series after the groundbreaking 52 and the abominable Countown to Final Crisis. So far, its highs are not as high as 52's highs and its lows are nowhere near as low as Countdown's lows. (Or Countdown's highs, for that matter. Countdown was total shit.) I would rate the first volume of Trinity as flawed, but showing promise.

Honestly, if I were buying this in single issues, I probably would have dropped it. The book has some pacing issues. Busiek and company for the most part are dividing each weekly entry into two parts, but the two parts are pretty deeply intertwined, so it's easy to miss a transition from the A story to the B story unless you are paying pretty close attention to the artist and whether Fabian Nicieza gets a co-writing credit. The first third of the book just kind of rambles. I don't really care about the Konvict plotline, the Trinity meta-stuff is interesting but not subtle, and the Earth-2 stuff, while interesting, seems extraneous.

That being said, by the last third of the book, things are starting to congeal. The intermingling of the Trinity's personalities is an interesting touch. I am also enjoying the buddy-cop interactions between perpetually semiretired street hero Gangbuster and reincarnated warlord Hawkman. Busiek is a master storyteller in that he can write a version of Hawkman that I actually like. Also, the bad guys win in the end. What that actually means won't be revealed until the next volume.

Mark Bagley is the anchor artist of this series, and he does decent work. The thing about Bagley for me is that sometimes his work can look a bit sloppy or rushed, and I don't know if that's him or the inkers. I do think his work improves throughout the series as he gets a better handle on the characters.

Overall, I finished this book happier than I started it, and I'm looking forward to Book 2.

[Dennis G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole:
This is one of those concept stories you find so often in the comic book publishing industry, where the actual story and narrative are beaten, stuffed and shoehorned to fit around the concept handed down from higher up the corporate ladder. If I remember correctly, this was DC's follow up to 52, their successful weekly series following second tier characters after whatever crisis-crossover occured that year. However, this series focuses on the big guns, the trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman(hence the title), with this volume collecting the first 17 issues (at only 12 pgs each). The central idea is that the trinity of characters are the keystone of earth, which in turn is the keystone of the universe, with is the keystone of the multiverse, etc. A bunch of bad guys, including the overused Krona and various done to death anti-matter universe characters, plan on replacing the keystone trinity with themselves, thereby granting themselves immense power over all of creation. Everything in the DCU is crammed into the book, all in an effort to justify the heavy handed trinity symbolism, references and rambling dialogue between characters regarding various groups of three. Adding to this jumble is the rotating cast of artists necessary to meet the weekly schedule, which creates a lack of coherence to the visual identity of the book. All in all, everything from the plot and pacing to the art and dialogue seems forced and hurried. Plus, I've never been the biggest fan of the DCU outside of the Batman titles.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this collection as part of an ongoing effort to catch up with Batman comics. So far that journey has been rewarding, particularly when it comes to Paul Dini’s run on Detective Comics. Dini’s work is fun, dark and reminds me of Batman: The Animated Series in all the right ways.

My experience with Trinity vol. 1 was quite different. Kurt Busiek is not a bad writer, I enjoyed his work on Batman: Creature of the Night immensely and I’ve heard great things about his creator-owned Astro City series. However, Trinity is overlong, meandering and quite frankly tiresome.

A simple plot about three villains wanting to use Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman’s apparently deep connection to the fabric of DC’s Earth-Prime is dragged out over 17 issues. Every issue we also get a short backup story featuring some other character that ties into the main narrative in some peripheral way- which, while pleasantly diverting, adds little to the general fabric of the work.

The plot itself is heavily laden with magical elements that never land quite right and despite three ongoing monologues we get little insight on how these events effect Batman and Superman, despite those characters’ relative lack of experience within the fantasy space.

The two stars I do give are for Mark Bagley’s art. It may not be iconic as his efforts on Ultimate Spider-man, but he consistently delivers fun, clear and vivid imagery- no small feat for an artist on a weakly schedule.

While I will finish this series out of a sense of completionism, I do not recommend it to anyone with more regard for their own time.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so disappointed by this book. I really love the idea of it, but the book was too convoluted and it ended up being a chore to read. The multiple story lines were just confusing, not interesting. As is always the case, the one I was most interested in had not enough attention though I think it was a new character designed for this storyline (Tarot). I am only passingly familiar with the minor DC characters and it was very confusing to change artists between issues so each character didn't have a consistent feel. I spent more time than I care to admit trying to figure out who was who. What was consistent was that big action pages with a ton of characters and text didn't have a logical flow and I often read the text out of order and it was not clear who was speaking. They did use the trick of putting the symbol of who was speaking in the first letter of a bubble box, but that only works for the main three or four characters. The others didn't have their own symbol (like Nightwing and Robbin).

In addition this is the 1st of 3 trade paperbacks (should have guessed that from the title!). So after all that effort I didn't even get a good resolution.

[Alex Sarll]

It's easy to think of Ted Kord as DC's Franz Ferdinand, but their universe had a surprising amount of resilience to terrible stories back then, able to snap back to a default of shiny superheroics - something which in part is what this series wants to examine. Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman are DC's keystones, so Busiek makes that mystically true in-universe, too - and then has three villains scheming to supplant them. Some of the occult justification for this is a bit shaky - are fire, air and water really a trinity, Jason Blood? Why always Toth and not Thoth? - but the dastardly scheme has the right sort of logic to it, and the new foes introduced en route all feel suitably DC from the off (especially flirtatious super-ape Primat). There are undoubtedly longueurs - and I won't be reading the next two volumes just yet - but Busiek, Bagley and their back-up team really get how these characters work(ed), which is what then enables them to start messing with the formula as the spell starts binding the Trinity ever closer to each other. A plotline which really felt like it was going to climax with comics' most iconic threesome, but maybe that's just me.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 3 out of 5]

En términos editoriales, el concepto de la TRINIDAD DCita sirve para tener bien en cuenta cuáles son los personajes más populares y/o franquiciables: Superman, Batman y Wonder Woman. Pero dentro de la propia narrativa ficticia de este Multiverso, estos tres personajes sintetizan todos los valores que deben definir a un héroe. Alguno de ellos tiene cualidades únicas a parte de los otros dos, o intercambiables o volubles. Pero estos tres han desarrollado a lo largo de las décadas de publicación también una relación hiper estrecha entre su propio mundo y los lectores.

Kurt Busiek buscó indagar más en el concepto de TRINIDAD. Y esta saga comiquera arranca dejando claro esto en cómo una serie de sueños particulares solo afecta a Superman, Batman y Wonder Woman. Parecen prevenir de una gran amenaza. Y eso parece en cuanto otra Trinidad antagónica se presenta como azuzadora de este evento al marcarse una búsqueda de objetos clave que representan a estos tres héroes relevantes para toda Realidad. Así se presenta una de estas historias que van implicando cada vez más a más personajes más o menos conocidos confeccionando una historia coral de aventura y acción por encima del fondo. El cual es cierto que en este tomo se muestra demasiado reincidente en la misma idea que escuda esa mayor amenaza de fondo. O en personajes tan "ordinarios" como esta tarotisa callejera que ofrece una perspectiva más "a pie de calle" de la gran épica metahumana.

Es un tipo de historia comiquera que entiendo que no epate tanto en cómo se van atropellando situaciones (por ejemplo ese nuevo azuce del Sindicato del Crimen que yo siempre agradezco, pero en cada aparición siguen mostrándose como algo precipitado y sin tino) y dibujantes más "cumplidores" que evocadores. Pero que al menos, con una idea tan marcada como la de Busiek. Ofrece una lectura dinámica muy a agradecer.

[Rajiv Ashrafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the book is epic in scale, it just felt too long. Its meandering first and second acts could have used some tightening. The finale was amazing, especially the last battle, and the reveal of Enigma being an alternate version of The Riddler was something I didn’t see coming.

The symbolism of the Trinity was great. I especially loved the way they explored various symbols of the three together and how they complement each other. The alternate Trinity, meanwhile, wasn’t as cool.

[Maythavee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to this series. I've always loved the relationship between the Trinity so it was nice to have a series dedicated to them and their importance to the DCU. While the story had a big cast of characters, the Trinity was always the focus. The plot has me intrigued so far so I hope the second part of the story will be as good as the first part!

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what people are liking from this story other than the art by Mark Bagley. Seventeen issues in to this year long story and its beyond tedious. There are a handful of plot holes but the biggest problem with this is how boring the plot is. Literally everything gets thrown at the wall and nothing sticks. This was not an enjoyable read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

you know what? I'm honestly not bored. I think it can be frustrating to keep hopping from thread to thread and waiting for the main cast to catch up to things the reader already knows with the villains... but still!! I feel like so far this whole thing is holding together a lot better than event comics do these days... It's competent is what I'm saying

[Vail Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gets a little convoluted with all the moving parts going on, but overall a great time that focuses on the big 3 of DC's heroes.
Of particular note is how the tarot imagery has such a big theme on the story as a whole. Makes me wonder if DC got smart and licensed out a deck for purchase...

[Allan Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting
It was good but felt a little bit too long
Will read volume 2 and see if gets better

[Lavell]

Artwork:AverageStory: Average. It was not great but not terrible. Even with another artist, it would have been the same. Note: The alien story at the end had potential.

[Sotofunkdamental · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tres volúmenes excesivamente largos para contar una historia entretenida pero olvidable.

[mayleh · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.5

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this three part series (originally published as 52 weekly installments), Kurt Busiek, [author Mark Bagley], and a group of other writers and illustrators created a story arc in which Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are torn from the reality of the DC Universe. What I really love about the series is how it explores the symbolic role of superheroes. This is really the best element of superhero comics. Superhero's project ideals and fears as they explore in bombastic ways what it means to be human. However, because it is written over the course of a year, by a bunch of different writers and illustrators it is pretty fractured in its story telling which can be frustrating and a bit confusing. There are lots of interweaving plot lines, and not all of them follow through coherently. Regardless, I'm interest to see how it will end.

[Natlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been trying to figure out what to say about this book. It is only half (one-third?) of the story. Volume 2 is due out in August, I believe.

The story has a slow, jumpy start that lasts through half of this volume and is presented primarily through fight scene after fight scene. The characters have little to no spark. The dialogue for the most part doesn't rise above the merely serviceable. When the dialogue does manage to sparkle, the issue usually has been scripted by Fabian Nicieza. Nicieza manages to make the villains' overblown pronouncements occassionally amusing. Unfortunately the heroes do not get even that much and their dialogue and actions are nothing but cookie cutter.

The story may be going somewhere--I hold out hope since I have enjoyed other Busiek titles and number Nicieza as one of my favorite comics writers--but I wish the journey were more entertaining.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of get where this book is going, as it tries to rebuild the Trinity with the new Superman, but at the same time, what a weird way to try to get there. Basically all three spend the entire volume in a shared hallucination as a result of the "love child" of Poison Ivy and a classic Superman villain. I'm a fan of the concept of the Green, but this take just goes WAY out there.
The travails in the book make for somewhat interesting stories that ostensibly flesh out the back stories of these characters, but only Clark's really clicks at all. The other two feel like half-hearted attempts to keep the concept going until outside parties come to the rescue. It's ultimately a lot of nothing that happens here, which seems like an odd choice for the introduction of the Trinity to the Rebirth era.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad art, bad storytelling, and way, way, too busy. I was unpleasantly surprised, as I normally very much enjoy Busiek's writing, but this is missing all the elements that make works like Marvels and Astro City so compelling.

And Bagley has never been one of my favorite artists, but this one was just sloppy. I can't count the number of times characters are missing limbs (particularly Wonder Woman), and there are so many cases of the female characters having impossible anatomy. And it's all painfully unattractive- it reminds me of some of the dregs of the 90s.

I'm annoyed I wasted a couple hours of my life on this, and I'm not even going to look at the rest of the series.