In the sense that it doesn’t promise significant lasting changes to our heroes or their universe, I suppose that Trinity could be described as “inconsequential.” To me, however, that’s a rather narrow measure of its success. I found this issue to be fairly exciting, even though I knew what the outcome had to be simply by virtue of the amount of story left to tell.
Naturally, we’re getting into the meat of the issue, so …
SPOILERS FOLLOW
* * *
LEAD STORY
“We’ll Finish Things Here” was written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert, colored by Pete Pantazis, and lettered by Pat Brosseau; Rachel Gluckstern, assistant editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
In Brief: It’s Trinity vs. Troika … ‘til the end of the world!
Page 1
– Fighting Morgaine’s Howlers, zombie knights, and gargoyles, and Enigma’s AIM knockoffs, are Wonder Girl, Starfire, Robin, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Metamorpho, Power Girl, Citizen Steel, Donna Troy, Damage, and Cyborg. All are holdovers from last issue …
Page 2
– … as are Flash, Grace, and Supergirl.
Page 3
– What was the gas supposed to do? Only Wonder Woman and Batman seem that concerned about it, and judging from their dialogue it doesn’t seem to have affected any of the Troika.
– (If it’s just for effect, might I suggest “The Final Countdown” as accompaniment?)
– I do note that Wonder Woman has no dialogue (presumably because she’s holding her breath) from the time the gas is released in issue #15 until she comments on being able to breathe again here.
– “[A]void confronting our own natural counterparts”: I may have mentioned it before, but part of the familiar Silver Age Justice League story formula involved the heroes switching opponents in order to throw the bad guys off their rhythms. In JLA Classified #21 (Late June 2006), writer Gail Simone had Wonder Woman call this the “Fox Defense,” after original JLA writer Gardner Fox.
Pages 4-5
– Superman and Wonder Woman have fought in this sort of environment before. George Pérez redesigned Mount Olympus as an Escher-esque violator of physical laws, and the pair defeated Darkseid there in Action Comics #600 (May 1988).
Page 6
– No annotations.
Page 7
– “They’re probably enchanted”: maybe, but I always thought Morgaine’s magic came from within.
– Morgaine’s withered appearance is a result of Merlin’s stealing her youth and beauty.
– I take it Enigma is hitting Superman with radiation from the anti-matter equivalent of a red sun?
Page 8
– Finally, confirmation of Enigma’s identity!
– “His heart’s on the wrong side”: as described in the JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel, this is a distinguishing characteristic of every Anti-Matter Earthling.
– “Shouldn’t he be a…”: assuming Superman was going to say “hero,” I have speculated already that since our Riddler has reformed, his anti-matter counterpart must necessarily have gone bad.
Page 9
– We don’t see the person on the other end of Firestorm’s conversation, but I am guessing it’s one of the Atoms. Every other active Justice Leaguer seems to be at Castle Branek. (Where’s Zatanna, though?)
Page 10
– “Someone stole the egg with him in it”: yes, and as we’ve seen before, it wound up in Despero’s hands after he fought off Kanjar Ro.
Page 11
– No annotations.
Page 12
– Looks like the Trinity isn’t the only trio who’s heard of the Fox Defense.
– Batman’s new sigil is either the Magician or the Moon, so I’m guessing Magician.
* * *
SECOND STORY
“Scattered To The Winds” was plotted by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, scripted by Nicieza, pencilled by Mike Norton, inked by Jerry Ordway, colored by Allen Passalaqua, lettered by Ken Lopez; Rachel Gluckstern, assistant editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
In Brief: Hawkman tries to save the Trinitarians, and Tarot doesn’t take their defeat very well.
Page 13 (story page 1)
– “Shuffle the Arcana … shuffle the world …”: the Emperor, the High Priestess, and the Magician are all “Major Arcana,” or “Trumps” in the Tarot deck. For that matter, so are the other six appellations with which the Trinitarians have been tagged (Justice, Strength, the Devil, the Moon, the Sun, and the World).
– (Notice how I avoided the cheerleader joke?)
– “Let me … out!”: shades of Krona in issue #1, naturally.
Pages 14/2 and 15/3
– No annotations, but I will say that this spread reminded me of JLA/Avengers #3′s sequence involving the dying Grandmaster’s revelations of the altered heroes’ “real lives.”
Page 16/4
– “Mar Vista”: Tarot and Gangbuster’s Los Angeles neighborhood, first referenced in issue #3.
Page 17/5
– “Tasers work on stone”: well, why wouldn’t they? Bullets apparently cause stone to bleed, as seen on the previous page.
Page 18/6
– No annotations, although I wonder whether Hawkman (the alien), Gangbuster (the street-level vigilante), and Tarot (the one connected to the Earth) have become their own trinity.
Page 19/7
– “[D]oused in the ichor of supernatural beasts”: another way for Hawkman to say, as he did last issue, that his sword was “consecrated in the blood of dragons.”
Page 20/8
– No annotations.
Page 21/9
– Here are some of the “past lives” about which Hawkman is always yammering. Clockwise from the center, and excluding the silhouetted figure, they appear to be
- Prince Khufu, Hawkman’s original life (Flash Comics #1 (January 1940));
- Gabriel, a Christian in ancient Rome (Hawkman vol. 3 #25 (October 1995));
- The Shining Silent Knight, a/k/a Brian Kent (Hawkman v. 3 #26 (November 1995));
- An unnamed 15th Century Japanese man (Hawkman vol. 4 #18 (October 2003));
- Peter Abalard, a French writer (1079-1142) (Hawkman v. 4 #29 (August 2004)), or possibly Koneraad Von Grimm, a blacksmith (1483-1514) (Hawkman v. 4 #37 (April 2005));
- Captain John Smith, leader of Virginia’s Jamestown colony (1580-1631) (Hawkman vol. 4 #18 (October 2003));
- Nighthawk, a/k/a Hannibal Hawkes (Hawkman v. 3 #26); and
- the Golden Age Hawkman wearing a later version of his costume.
Now, I said “appear,” so I’m open to being corrected by more eagle-eyed (ha!) Hawkman readers.
– The Silent Knight and Nighthawk both existed independently of Hawkman. The Silent Knight, created by Bob Kanigher and Irv Novick, first appeared in The Brave and the Bold vol. 1 #1 (August-September 1955). Nighthawk, created by Kanigher and Charles Paris, first appeared in Western Comics #5 (September-October 1948).
Page 22/10
– We first heard the term “worldsoul” in this context in issue #4.
* * *
Next week, we’ll close out September (and the series’ fourth month) with … well, I’m not sure what. Maybe some Konvikt, maybe a radically different DC-Earth; but whatever happens, it’s been a good ride so far.
+++++++++++
September 18th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
>> We don’t see the person on the other end of Firestorm’s conversation, but I am guessing it’s one of the Atoms.>>
It’s Gehenna, the “other component” in Firestorm. Firestorm is created by merging Jason Rusch (whose mind stays in conscious control) and his girlfriend Gehenna, who becomes a telepathic hanger-on/floating head, the way Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein used to.
But for any readers who don’t know this, it’ll become more clear over time.
kdb
September 18th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Thanks, Kurt — I was wondering that myself. And thank you, Tom, for all the work you put into these!
September 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
>>(If it’s just for effect, might I suggest “The Final Countdown” as accompaniment?)<<
They’re *illusions*, Michael!
September 18th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Gehenna — d’oh! I am used to the old “Prof. Stein” convention of seeing Firestorm’s backseat driver as a ghostly floating head, so without that (and with a techno-looking speech balloon) I figured he was talking to someone over the comm system.
The latest Firestorm series (which I quite enjoyed) portrayed the relationship in a few different ways, but honestly I can’t remember whether the floating-head device was one of them.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:27 am
I think i have a theory about Enigma: he seems to try to stop Superman from saying “hero” as if to keep it a further secret from those who wouldn’t realize it, namely his allies; perhaps Enigma actually is still a hero and is going to betray the Troika? Of course, this was before I realized as you mentioned that our Riddler had reformed and thus Enigma had to turn villain to balance it out. Still, it seemed suspicious of him hold the matter close to the vest.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:08 am
>>Pages 4-5
– Superman and Wonder Woman have fought in this sort of environment before. George Pérez redesigned Mount Olympus as an Escher-esque violator of physical laws, and the pair defeated Darkseid there in Action Comics #600 (May 1988).<>Of course, this was before I realized as you mentioned that our Riddler had reformed and thus Enigma had to turn villain to balance it out. Still, it seemed suspicious of him hold the matter close to the vest.<<
I almost wonder if the Riddler will go bad again and Enigma will go good and betray the Troika in the long run. It’s not like The Riddler is known for his loyalties or anything … and makes you wonder what the real motivation behind Eddie’s trip was …
September 19th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’m just curious if the Earth-2/Anti-Matter Earth counterpart of Zatanna [Anna Taz] speaks regularly to cast spells?
September 19th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Shouldn’t that be “SILENT KNIGHT” instead of “Shining Knight?” Sir Justin was a totally seperate character and a member of the “All-Star Squadron” alongside the Golden Age Hawkman, as well as a memember of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Wait…one of Hawkman’s incarnations was the ancestor of Superman’s Kents? The Briank Kent connection to the Kents was heavily implied in Brave and the Bold #10 the current run.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
@dchart: Yes, sorry, it should be “Silent Knight.” I always get those two confused (mostly because you see Shining Knight a lot more often). I have to check myself with regard to Damage and Atom-Smasher too.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
is there a reason why this book is so important that it gets a weekly play by play on this site?
September 19th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Carter Hall is an alien? Katar Hol was. But Carter/Khufu? Not so much.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
>> is there a reason why this book is so important that it gets a weekly play by play on this site? >>
It’s a blog entry.
Presumably, Tom enjoys doing it, and the readers enjoy reading it. I know I do, but then, Im’ biased.
Still, does it require any more than that?
kdb
September 19th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
>>Carter Hall is an alien? Katar Hol was. But Carter/Khufu? Not so much.>>
this is debatable as Carter was reincarnated in Katar body. the rub is Katar was revealed to be half Thanagarian(his Father)and half Human (Native American mother)
September 20th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
IIRC, the body was declared to 100% human and had Carter’s face. Carter had some of katar’s memories and his hair went from blond to brown, but that was about it.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Regarding Carter Hall as an alien … okay, it’s not a perfect analogy. Besides, upon further reflection, cultural background doesn’t seem as important. If these three were another Trinity, I’d switch around two of them: Gangbuster = Superman and Hawkman = Batman.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 am
>>Still, does it require any more than that?
kdb<<
no..was just asking is all =D
Bring back Power Company!