Trinity #5 – Review

By Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza (writers), Mark Bagley, Mike Norton, Mark Farmer (artists), Art Thibert (inker), Pete Pantazis, Allen Passalaqua (colors), Pat Brosseau (letters), Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino (cover)

Well, it’s about time. That’s all I can really say about this issue of Trinity.  Not only am I finally getting a sense that these stories are connected, but both halves get a few highlights. The question still lingers, can the creative teams keep it up? Issue #5 is the first since the debut issue to make me think it’s possible. Consistency is key, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Kurt Busiek’s story has been the same for the last four issues. It’s taken so long for The League to put down Konvikt (which feels unconnected to everything else), I’m finally starting to feel some progress. A definite plus is the fact that the Trinity is aware of Le Fey, Enigma, and the “something” larger looming above. Fabian Nicieza’s story on the other hand continues to be the more consistent – maybe it’s the human element. Rita’s analysis of the villains attacking Gangbuster by relating them to tarot cards is very cool.

It’s getting harder to properly critique Mark Bagley’s portion of the artwork. Page after page of the same fight (small portions of it, at that) are hard to judge. The positives are still the same – good collateral damage and a cool shot of Superman blocking a double-axe handle from Konvikt. A lot of the panels for the fight have a very “anime” style background with the “speed-lines.” It comes off a little lazy to me, but it does a good job of showing how quickly Superman and Konvikt are moving. Mike Norton’s art still looks better close up, but there really isn’t a particular panel that came across as striking in my mind.

With Konvikt out of the way, it finally feels like Trinity can move forward. The League has been fighting him since week two, and he just feels like a plot device to establish what each member of the Trinity brings to the table. At the end of the day, it’s taken Busiek and Nicieza five weeks to establish these characters without giving a real sense of what’s going on. With that out of the way now hopefully, we can start to see this team (and the creative team)  cash in on the promise of issue one. (Grade B-)

– Ben Berger