So here we are again, a week older and 22 pages wiser. Thanks to all who commented last week on the main site, including Kurt Busiek himself! (By the way, I can only remember the old Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage and Law-enforcement Division acronym. I just liked how the movie never abbreviated it.)
Just a few words before we get started on issue #2: despite having volunteered for this 52-week project, I don’t think you should need annotations to enjoy any artistic work. I also believe that Trinity stands on its own pretty well, without much need for specialized knowledge of the characters or situations. However, if it ever gets to the point where there are no Easter eggs to find, and Waldo’s come out of hiding, I may just offer some pithy thoughts on (gasp!) the work itself.
Still, we’re not there yet. Beware of SPOILERS.
Onward!
* * *
LEAD STORY
“A Personal Best At Giant Robot Smashing”; written by Mr. Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert, colored by Pete Pantazis, lettered by Pat Brosseau; Elisabeth V. Gehrlein, assistant editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
In Brief: Superman stops a miniature solar system from destroying Metropolis. Wonder Woman defeats a squad of giant robots. Batman escapes from an alternate version of Gotham City. However, there’s a distress signal from Green Lantern….
Page 1
– Castle Branek, Morgaine le Fay, and Enigma are all picking up from issue #1.
– I thought comics shops had it bad here on Earth-Prime–!
Pages 2-3
– For once, the Daily Planet globe isn’t the big explodey sphere.
– The miniature sun can’t help but remind me of Solaris the Tyrant Sun (created by Grant Morrison and Val Semeiks), a future foe of the Superman Dynasty who first appeared in DC One Million #1 (November 1998). The All Star version of Solaris made his first real appearance just recently, in All Star Superman #11 (July 2008), after being referenced in issue #2 of that series. Of course, Solaris is sentient, and so far our little sun isn’t.
Page 4
– This magic-influenced version of Gotham City has “carrier bats” (shades of Hogwarts) and organic streetlights. In the post-52 Multiverse, Earth-33 is supposed to be magic-based, but I don’t think this is it.
Page 5
– The “Techno-Hive” appears to be new with this issue. If they had more limbs, I might even have been tempted to call them “iron spiders.” Still, why would a spider need a suit of armor…?
Page 6
– Well-established Superman lore (going back at least as far as Action Comics #262 (March 1960)) holds that Kryptonians’ powers are fed at least in part by the rays of a yellow sun. The Earth-1 Superman also benefitted from Earth’s weaker gravity relative to Krypton. However, since the character’s 1986 revamp, yellow-sun radiation has been the dominant factor. In John Byrne’s The Man Of Steel #1 (October 1986), Jor-El notes that his infant son’s “Kryptonian cells will become living solar batteries, making him grow ever more powerful.” Indeed, Superman has been “overloaded” before, including Superman vol. 2 #10 (October 1987) and vol. 2 #89 (May 1994).
– “Not from this universe”: of course, check your local listings. For example, as Busiek explained in JLA/Avengers, certain fundamental forces of one universe don’t work the same way (or may not even exist) in another. As we’ll learn later, though, that’s not quite the case here.
Page 7
– The “ecliptic” is the path of the Sun, so Superman has pushed the little star out of harm’s way.
Page 8
– “Runes of ash and thorn”: as this article explains, “ash,” “thorn,” and “wynn” were three new runes added to the Latin alphabet by “early English scribes” to accommodate English sounds that didn’t otherwise fit the Latin letters. “Ash” corresponded to “ae,” and used the a-sound of “cat” (or “bat?”). “Thorn” represented “th,” and “wynn” represented “w.” Naturally, the particular runes also represented ash and thorn. Once again, though, here are two parts of a trinity….
– “No” reminds me of the venerable Justice League villain Doctor Destiny (created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky for Justice League of America #5 (June-July 1961), who could manipulate reality through dreams. One Justice League (including the Trinitarians) was brought together by a being called Know-Man (”no” — get it?) who was using Destiny’s powers to make everyone else on Earth “super.” (Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare #s 1-3 (September-November 1996)).
– “Tannin” has a bitter taste. I don’t think Batman drinks alcoholic beverages, but there are plenty of other ways for him to taste it.
– “Alfred” is Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler and Batman’s chief assistant. The “subway rocket” is a high-speed vehicle which uses abandoned subway lines to run between downtown Gotham and the Batcave. Although developed by Bruce Wayne, it was introduced during Jean-Paul Valley’s brief tour as Batman, ’round about Detective Comics #667 (October 1993).
Page 9
– No annotations.
Page 10
– Once again, the lead story’s title is a bit of Wonder Woman-related dialogue.
Page 11
– “Clearly connected with the dreams we’ve all had”: remember, as per issue #1, Superman saw “a cosmic, extraterrestrial intelligence, enraged, warping the fabric of space-time.” Wonder Woman saw an “ancient angry god,” chained like Prometheus. Batman saw “a prisoner … intent on escape.” Beyond the reality-warping, though, none of this issue’s menaces seem to have much to do with the Trinitarians’ perspectives on their dreams.
– About that prisoner, though…. Looking again at the last page of issue #1, the angry guy does resemble Krona, an Oan who tried to discover the secrets of creation and ended up becoming a cosmic villain. (Green Lantern vol. 1 #40 (October 1965); revisited in Crisis On Infinite Earths). Krona was last seen trapped inside a “cosmic egg” at the conclusion of Avengers/JLA #4 (December 2003). At that time it was thought that, were the egg to hatch, the universe it birthed would contain Krona’s essence, and he would have his answers about creation by being part of it. In the meantime, the Justice League was studying the egg, as shown at the beginning of JLA #107 (December 2004), also written by Mr. Busiek. That was on the old Justice League Watchtower, though, which has since been destroyed.
– This wouldn’t be the first DC title to take its cue from a DC/Marvel crossover. Besides that JLA storyline, the 1995-98 Sovereign Seven series had some roots in the 1982 X-Men/New Teen Titans crossover (both written by Chris Claremont).
– Busiek says that Enigma has “been seen before,” and not under that name, “but you’ll be learning a lot more about him in Trinity.”
– “Green Lantern” refers to any member of the intergalactic peacekeeping force called the Green Lantern Corps, several of whom have been affiliated with various Justice Leagues. The GL Corps is organized, powered, and overseen by the Guardians of the Universe on the planet Oa. Krona’s actions led eventually to the Corps’ creation.
Page 12
– This Green Lantern is architect John Stewart, created by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams for Green Lantern vol. 2 #87 (December-January 1972). As the backup Green Lantern for Earth’s space sector 2814, he was a reserve member of the original Justice League of America and joined full-time around JLA #76 (February 2003).
* * *
SECOND STORY
“It’s Gonna Throw The Car”; plotted by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, scripted by Mr. Nicieza, pencilled by Tom Derenick, inked by Wayne Faucher, colored by Allen Passalaqua, lettered by Pat Brousseau; Elisabeth V. Gehrlein, assistant editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
In Brief: As Graak provides color commentary, Green Lantern loses a fight with Konvikt.
Page 13 (story page 1)
– The “heliopause” is the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium, ‘way out in the solar system. In smaller words, it’s where the solar wind peters out, and extends past the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. Thus, the “escape pod” might have been coming towards John as it “ripped through” the heliopause.
– A Green Lantern’s main tool is its power ring, which responds directly to its wearer’s commands. The rings have gotten a lot more talkative since the GL Corps was most recently reorganized, around the time of Green Lantern vol. 4 #1 (July 2005).
– The coordinates look to be near the corner of Depot Street and Front Street in Housatonic, Berkshire, Massachusetts … but I seem to remember that DC-Earth is bigger than ours, so of course I can’t be precise.
Page 14/2
– I didn’t notice last issue that the “double-M” on Konvikt’s head looks a lot like an inverted version of Wonder Woman’s double-W.
Page 15/3
– No annotations.
Page 16/4
– No annotations.
Page 17/5
– John’s ring hasn’t heard of Konvikt’s species or Graak’s…
Page 18/6
– … but, not surprisingly, Graak has heard of the Green Lantern Corps.
Page 19/7
– No annotations.
Page 20/8
– John’s “guns” seem similar to powers used by the Vuldarian race and once possessed by John’s fellow GL Guy Gardner. Guy had those powers from Guy Gardner: Warrior #0 (October 1994) to Green Lantern: Rebirth #2 (January 2005).
Page 21/9
– “Blew my concentration”: power ring constructs depend on the ringbearer’s willpower.
Page 22/10
– No annotations.
* * *
Not as much trivia this week, but more to think about. What did I miss?
June 12th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
These are great… glad to seem them, oh and thanks for listing the colorist! I worked hard on my pages and the covers!
http://angryf.blogspot.com/
June 12th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Just finished reading this book, ironically. I actually preferred it to issue #1. Kurt establishes who Wonder Woman is rather succinctly here, and this Marvel Zombie appreciates the effort. He’s clearly setting things up so that WW’s obsession with doing things better and more efficiently will backfire at some point. I like how she’s a cross between the polar opposites that are Supes and Bats. Minor gripe, it would’ve seemed more apropos to me to put her on the cover of this one instead of Bats (and slightly more PC than putting the two men first, and the woman last, in this first trinity of covers). Another minor gripe is how young Bagley’s Superman looks. There are a couple of panels where he flat-out looks like the old Superboy. This is the elder statesman of superheroes, who’s seen and done it all. Drawing him this young gives me a weird Brand New Day vibe.
Those are my only two decidedly minor gripes, though. Everything else about this book works for me, and I’m not much of a DC fan to begin with. Even Fabian’s parts work, especially in #2. I’m sure this backup-story-but-not-quite concept has been done before, but I’ve never seen it done quite this way. I like. Kudos to everyone involved.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
ok, so as a life long resident of Berkshire County….yes, it is a really place, scary as that may be…and if it really is Houstonic….there are some people that really look like the huge monster and his little friend….I found myself stopping and having to look at it all over again…can anyone answer this question for me…why, why, why would anyone choose the setting to be Berkshier County. I feel like Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza may have lost their minds….and olny after two issues…..
June 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Batman partially exploited the flaw in Tower of Babel for his takedown plans of the JLA.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
John’s comments about ‘being sentimental, Pluto was still a planet’ to him was funny. Even the GLC don’t use the term plutoid.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Armored Spiders…sounds interesting!…and not only that but that sounds very similar to the most evil of creatures from the Doctor Who Universe…The Daleks…mutated blobs with multiple appendages (spiderish-like IMO) in “bonded polycarbide armor”
June 12th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Hey, I’m a Berkshire County resident too!
June 12th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
eldar, would you remind me of how batman did that please? i can´t recall the tower of babel arc and i no longer have it with me.
and these articles are very interesting in deed. and completely ad-hoc with a very interesting series (at least so far)
June 12th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Testing 1,2,3…
June 13th, 2008 at 1:27 am
I thought Bagley’s art improved this issue and he seems to be getting a handle on things. I did not like the continued ham-fisted Superman=sci-fi, Batman=dark gothic, Wonder Woman=I likes fightin’. Superman still seems to be getting the top billing and best of each issue which is kind of odd.
Tom’s references to Krona scare me because if that’s where this is all headed I’ll just drop it now. Graak and Konvikt continue to be annoying. I also hope we won’t get to see The Trinity of Heroes make a tour of the DCU Heroes and show why they are better than the rest. Look, Green Lantern couldn’t handle Graak & Konvikt, but I bet Supes, Bats & WW could.
I am ready to see Etrigan pop up and am interested in Bagley’s interpretation. Two issues and Superman hasn’t cried yet, but it’s still a long way to issue #52. Oddly, enough this series just seems to need Lobo to break up the stifling earnestness that seems to linger in the title. Maybe a Lobo and Etrigan appearance together since they really don’t like each other.
Thanks, Tom for your thoughts even if they did include Krona.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:22 am
It should be noted that Pluto isn’t the original Pluto in the New Earth’s universe.
It was destroyed by an Imperiex Done at the start of Our Worlds at War and I think it was Superman or Kyle Rayner who put a new one together with debris from the kuiper belt.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if that really is Krona and Trinity incorporates some follow-up with the cosmic egg. Seems like Busiek lately has had his regular-series work interrupted for one reason or another, and it’d be nice if he got to close these plotlines out.
Besides, maybe the residue from JLA/Avengers would make Enigma some Multiversal iteration of Paste-Pot Pete, and I think that’d be fabulous.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
maybe enigma is the gobbly goocker
June 13th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Good catch, Johnny Zito! Pluto gets no love.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Actually before Our Worlds at War hadn’t Pluto already been replaced by War World which (maybe) got destroyed during that storyline.
June 13th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
You know, after further review, I’m not sure that anything really happened to Pluto beyond it being used as Brainiac 13’s base during “Our Worlds At War.” In Superman #171 (August 2001), it seems like Brainiac makes Superman think Pluto’s been a) transformed into a new Warworld and b) destroyed. In Green Lantern: Our Worlds At War #1, Superman then sends Kyle out to build a new Pluto (oh, the indignity!), but again, Brainiac just lets Kyle think he’s done so. The real Pluto is still there, just cloaked by Brainiac.
So there you go.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Wonder Woman’s philosophy here is similar to the Greek notion of Arete. Essentially, everyone, regardless of their specific vocation, were expected to live up to their potential for human greatness. A soldier would strive to be the greatest at warfare, a philosopher the greatest at philosophy and an artist the greatest at art. Under this philosophy, striving for excellence was a virtue and mediocrity was unacceptable.
In this case, Wonder Woman strives to be the best Wonder Woman she could possibly be. I like that as a character trait for her.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Don’t know why I had to log in after already logging in… and that’s on top of not being able to quote, edit, etc.
Anywho, it looks like I was wrong last week regarding Enigma. He doesn’t look particularly scarred under his mask this time, although his half mask still reminds me of Two-Face.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Funny you mention Enigma’s mask, because I think it kinda looks like a question mark.
And about the additional “login” … basically, although this post is linked from the main site, here at Blog@ we’re using a different box of crayons. JK talked about it here (you may need to scroll down). Sorry for any inconvenience.
June 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Batman’s “No” on page 8 immediately reminded me of the scene in the original Justice League of America #18 when the JLA is transported to Starzl and Batman orders the other JLA members not to say that he can’t bend the bars of a cage imprisoning Superman, Wonder Woman and GL, although the other more powerful JLA members have failed after being told they could not force them. He figured out that on that world, whatever someone was told was believed to be true.