More of the same isn’t always a good thing
We are now officially month into DC’s year long Trinity event. Issue 4 proves Superman is the saviour, Wonder Woman wants victims to save themselves, and Batman can still scare the crap out of people.
This will probably be a shorter review than normal mainly because not a lot happens in the issue that needs to be discussed in detail. The main story still focuses on the battle between Konvikt and the Justice League. Last week I wrote that I like seeing the appearance of other members of the JLA, but this week Busiek reduces one of the greatest superhero teams to bit players. This is actually a great move if the point of your series is to focus on the big three of DC.
Superman’s actions prove he still wants to be the saviour of everyone by essentially pushing everyone away as he takes the brunt of the beatings from Konvikt.
For whatever reason, Wonder Woman is more than willing to back down from the fight in order to lend aid to the victims of the battle. If Wonder Woman is as close to, or as powerful as Superman, why not tag team against the big bad? Two against one would make this battle a lot shorter than it needs to be.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Konvikt is a weak villain and drawing the battle out this long is already boring me – and if it is boring me, it is probably doing the same to the tens of readers who are buying the series. If the three cover spread is any indication, this battle is going to last at least two more issues before readers are given something new.
Batman has the best line of the week when he scares the crap out of people he is trying to rescue. There’s nothing better than Batman cranking the Bat-Dickness Meter up while attempting to lend assistance.  As Enigma points out however, Batman is the master sleuth, and when the rescue mission looks like it is under control, he follows the path of destruction back to the crashed ship Konvikt escaped from, leading to the cliffhanger of the week.
The only weird, let’s expand upon this in the future, item is seeing Wonder Woman getting marked with an Omega symbol – a possible tie with Final Crisis.
This week’s backup story follows Tarot Girl as she falls asleep and dreams of Despero trying to open a portal to somewhere.
I think the biggest failing of any weekly series is trying to make each week as good or better than the rest. Granted, it is impossible to keep the story building week after week, without some down time, or moments where the reader can catch their breath, but having that down time happen in the fourth issue – one that features a major battle mind you – does not bode well for the series. On the plus side, Busiek is still building themes, and that is probably more important than any Biff! Bam! Boom! action.
This week was a rather ho-hum week for the series, earning Trinity #4 2.5 out of 5 Stars.
2 Comments
Although drawn out (and kinda boring), it is well drawn and is way better than Countdown as far as weeklies go. And isn’t everyone glad that they don’t have to worry about this story failing to fit into continuity of CRISIS 4: CRISIS FOR YER ARSE when it drops next year?
Looking at the first three covers, I think DC blew an opportunity to just continue expanding on the image over the whole 52 weeks, so that you would have this really long montage of what took place over the year, rather than just building 3 issue wide images…it would have been something different and unique.