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Trinity Vols. 3 and 4: Dark Destiny and The Search for Steve Trevor

Trinity Vol. 3: Dark Destiny

by Rob Williams, Guillem March, and V Ken Marion

Collects #'s 12-16 and Annual #1

What? No more Manapul on Trinity? I guess it was just going to be a spotlight run all along. Fair enough. Rob Williams takes over on the writing duties, while Guillem March and V Ken Marion split art on this trade paperback. Guillem does the endcap issues while V Ken gets the main story,

the 3-part "Dark Destiny." "Dark Destiny" is a continuation of issue 7, where Circe gathered her own "Dark" trinity so to speak, to destroy the Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. It leads to a host of magical guest stars, including the "mystical" trinity of Zatanna, Constantine and Deadman, as well as the "arch" trinity of Red Hood, Artemis, and Bizarro, along with ~~the "stooge" trinity of Larry, Moe, and Curly~~ Jason Blood, the host of the Demon Etrigan. So many Trinities.

Guillem has this dynamic, sinew-y, shaded style that translates pretty well to the heavy mystical focus of the trade paperback. V Ken Marion is a part of the "house" style of art so not much to remark on there. The story itself is pretty color-by-numbers, with a small twist by Circe at the end but it goes pretty much the way you'd expect. Only if you're into the mystical corner of DC would I think you would enjoy this story. And then for whatever reason, Annual #1 features a team-up between the Trinity and Deadshot. The Trinity fight off a group of terrorists to help Deadshot find his daughter who, apparently, is missing. I'm all for introducing new characters in media res, but it just seemed like a shoehorned introduction for an annual issue, what should have been a celebration of the main characters.

Trinity Vol. 4: The Search for Steve Trevor

by James Robinson and Patch Zircher

Collects #'s 17-22

The mystical storylines continue in this final collection of the 2016 series. The Trinity investigates a mysterious whirlpool forming in the ocean and are whisked away to the magical land of Skartaris, where there's a war going on between the native magician Deimos and the incoming Warlord.

The pacing is somewhat unique in that you're only receiving morsels of the truth at a time. You're discovering just exactly what's going on along with the Trinity, and you're not always sure who to trust -- who's a good guy and who's a bad guy. Multiple narrators all telling their version of the story in the past tense helps to cement this feeling. A reread is also valuable once you finally learn just what's going on and who's up to no good. Kudos for all the unique writing techniques here -- they turn what could have been standard super-fare into interesting super-fare.

Turns out this war in Skartaris involves some shady dealings on Earth, and it's up to the Trinity to stop them. All things told, it just felt like there was too much plot with not enough characterization. There's so many side characters that they just feel like chess pieces. For a story that's subtitled "The Search for Steve Trevor," there's really not a lot of page time given to the relationships between Steve and the three members of the Trinity. You're expected to just know that he means a lot to them. It's that kind of story expectation that rings flat. A mystical conclusion to the series, and a muted one as well. At least we got to see Batman riding a unicorn.

Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year -- Dark City

Collects Batman (2011) #'s 25-27, 29-33

by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

Batman's adventures continue in his so-called "zeroth" year of existence in Gotham City. This collection includes two storyarcs, the "Dark City" storyline which dovetails into "Savage City." Dark City introduces Dr. Death to the New 52-niverse, a mad scientist responsible for a bone growth serum meant to repair physical trauma. It's titled "Dark City" because of the Riddler's takeover of the electrical grid and subsequent blackout. Savage City sees the fallout from Dark City after a superstorm, in which the Riddler completes his takeover of Gotham City and isolates it from the rest of the world. There's a lot to unpack in the 8 issues, but that's the bare bones of it. Add in some prevalent flashbacks of Bruce Wayne as a child, and Bruce Wayne as a teenager, and there you have "Zero Year -- Dark City."

It's kind of outrageous how far they go in so few issues. The Riddler has an army of drones, a secret base that's jamming communication with the outside world, and even a pit of lions to dump his foes in. I know it's no less absurd than established narratives like Arkham City or No Man's Land but talk about scope creep -- the Riddler's done more in Batman's zeroth year than the Joker did in Volume 3, supposedly year six of the Batman's career! I know I complain that some storyarcs take too many issues to tell, but I think a huge storyline like Savage City would have benefited from more than 4 issues. To me, it was a Planet Hulk style story, and that story took 13 issues to tell.

Both stories are wrapped within the theme of "zero." It's here that you learn that the two featured villains are foils to Batman. There's a long exposition-y action scene where Dr. Death explains what the moon meant to him and his son, who tragically died on an army mission in the desert. Previously he pretended that the moon would watch over them both, but when his son was killed, he adopted a nihilistic view. The moon in the sky is empty, and the thought that it offered protection was an empty promise, giving Dr. Death a tragic origin. In his mind, you have to seize your own means of protecting yourself. This is at odds with what Bruce Wayne as Batman eventually learns over the course of the two stories. He gains allies in both Alfred and Lieutenant Gordon, knowing that he can't do what he wants for Gotham, alone.

What zero means for the Riddler is that, now that he's culled the weak from Gotham City after the superstorm, they all live in a shared year zero from which they can start the future and model a superior existence for the rest of the world, by....answering riddles. It's a little far-fetched, but if you've ever wanted to see the Riddler get his own terrorist city, look no further.

Compare this to what zero means for Bruce Wayne. He was the man who came back to Gotham City, despite all of the things that's happened to it, and happened to him. Through "Secret City" he learned that he couldn't do it in secret. He needed to be both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Through "Dark City" he learned he couldn't do it alone. He needed to work together with his friends and the city's professionals. And through "Savage City" he put them all together. There's such an on-the-nose climax scene when Batman has to turn the power back on to the city, in order to prevent it from being bombed by the Federal Air Force. The Riddler has a battery pack hooked to his chest that signals the city's power grid. Bruce has to literally attach the battery to his chest and pump 1000V into it, bonding his heart with that of the city's, signaling that the city no longer belongs to the Riddler. He's literally given his heart to the city: it's the bat's now.

BONUS highlight: around the climax of Dark City, Batman has to take a leap of faith to make a 70-foot jump to the Riddler's blimp, when his grappling hook fires only up to 50 feet. He jumps, and the winds of the storm do the rest for him in an epic homage to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns.

One more Miller homage: this time, explaining Alfred's motivations and his new understanding of the man that Bruce Wayne has become.

Volume 5 explores Batman's earliest year in a new way, re-introducing the allies we know he's come to gain, and giving a new take on a couple of his supervillains. It uses homage to legitimize the New 52-niverse and succeeds. I consider the first story stronger than the second but they both have their merits and are worthy additions to the New 52-niverse.

More New 52 Batman:

Read all my New 52 Batman reviews:

Volume 1: The Court of Owls

Volume 2: City of Owls

Volume 3: Death of the Family (bonus: Joker: Death of the Family)

Volume 4: Zero Year -- Secret City

Volume 5: Zero Year -- Dark City

Volume 6: Graveyard Shift

Volume 7: Endgame

Vols 8 & 9: Superheavy & Bloom

Volume 10: Epilogue

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The Mighty Thor Vol. 4: The War Thor

The Mighty Thor Vol. 4: The War Thor

by Jason Aaron, Valerio Schiti, Russell Dauterman, and Mahmud Asrar
Collects The Mighty Thor (2015) #'s 20-23 and Generations: The Unworthy Thor & The Mighty Thor #1

War claims the realm of Nidavellir...the realm of the dwarves! The Dark Elf Malekith the Accursed's so-called war continues in the form of Muspelheim, land of fire, laying siege on Nidavellir. In previous volumes, Malekith conquered Alfheim, the realm of the Light Elves, spurring their voyage to Nidavellir to seek refuge. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out. Volstagg the Valiant and Jane Foster are visiting Nidavellir on a diplomatic trip when fire goblins swarm the hostel, burning all who stand in their wake with Maggot bombs.

The trauma leads Volstagg to claim the Mjolnir from a lost universe to become...the War Thor, a raging God of Thunder who thirsts only for blood. What follows is an all-out brawl between him, Queen Sindr of Muspelheim, and Thor and the unworthy Odinson join in as well.

This is a fun, engaging, and exciting read about war and friendship. Thor resolves it the only way that she can, and it's an inspiration. There's a Generations one-shot collected here as well, tying into the "Marvel Legacy" branding/numbering, and it's a gorgeous, hilarious time-travel story featuring Thors both Mighty and Teenage.

Current plots are respected along with running plotlines, like the ongoing War of the Realms, and Jane's struggle with her alter-ego. Previous stories of Mighty have made the setup so that you can see the payoff here with the War Thor, and I can't wait to read what's next.

More Thor? I say thee...yea!

Thor: God of Thunder -- The God Butcher and God Bomb

Thor: God of Thunder -- The Accursed and the Last Days of Midgard

Original Sin

Thor: The Goddess of Thunder and Who Holds the Hammer

The Mighty Thor: Thunder in Her Veins and the Lords of Midgard

The Mighty Thor: Asgard/Shi'Ar War and The Unworthy Thor

The Mighty Thor: The War Thor

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Original Sin and Wolverine: Weapon X

Original Sin

collects issues 0-8, and part of Point 1 (Watcher Story)

by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato

A murder mystery in nine parts -- who killed the Watcher? He was a hokey character created back in the 60s' and his whole deal was that he watched all things in the universe, never to interfere. The 0th issue gives some background on his race with the context of Sam Alexander, the new Nova of the Marvel Universe. It's a great introduction to Uatu the Watcher with a surprising emotional resonance provided by Nova.

The eight issues show a host of different teams tasked with figuring out who killed Uatu. A police procedural of sorts. There's some headscratchers in there, pairing the Punisher with Dr. Strange, and Emma Frost with the Winter Soldier. A lot of it comes off as playing around with toys in the sandbox. And that's what most of it looks like. Mike Deodato draws pretty much everyone as action figures, and there's only two body types he does: barbie dolls and Ken dolls. Around the middle of it there's a bunch of needless "heroes bickering with each other", but the end result is a shocking -- shocking -- secret revealed about Nick Fury, one of Marvel's oldest characters.

It's a legitimate retcon of the character that sets up interesting new horizons for other characters. While it's like any other crossover event these days, a giant mess of issues that mash together heroes from all corners of the Marvel Universe all to set up a new status quo for everyone, it's this retcon that adds depth to Nick Fury and shines a different light on the character. Not an outstanding event, but it's grounded by this one secret and what it means to his friend, Captain America, when the people around him keep that secret from him. Since it's relatively new, I won't spoil it for people. But if you have a chance to borrow from the library, it doesn't hurt to pick it up. I don't think it needed all 8 issues, and the art isn't amazing. But you could do worse.

Bonus: the (awful) whisper scene that renders Thor unworthy.

If you're curious what he told him... here.

Wolverine: Weapon X

collects Marvel Comics Presents #72-84

by Barry Windsor-Smith

Just think, this story was originally told in 13 parts! Marvel Comics Presents was an anthology titled that was released every two weeks. I wonder how it read in serial format. Reading it all in one chunk, it's kind of hard to see why it needed so many parts. Add to that just how many times Wolverine's origin has been depicted in other media, and it seems almost superfluous to read this.

Still, this remains the definitive origin for Wolverine and I tried my best to read it that way. The plot itself is nothing new, for anyone familiar with the Fox era of X-Men movies. It's the storytelling that makes it unique. We're given Logan's point of view for only maybe a couple different issues. The bulk of the story is through the dialogue between three people: Dr. Cornelius, the man grafting the Adamantium onto Logan and studying him, his assistant Carol Hines, and the unnamed "Professor," responsible for commanding Logan and practicing his killing. They have this unstoppable killing machine, supposedly at their beck and call but really they're just trying to contain him and stay alive. They're meant to contain him, but really they can't. With some bonus gratuitous Logan booty.

While a key part of X-Men history, Weapon X is not really required reading, especially if you've seen any of the past half-century's worth of Wolverine origin stories.

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Batman: Knightsend

Batman: Knightfall Vol. 3 -- Knightsend

Collects Batman #509-510, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #29-30, Detective Comics #676-677, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #62-63, Robin #8-9, Catwoman #12-13 and Showcase '94 #10

There's a few different collections out there for the "Knightfall" saga, the Batman super crossover event from the 90's where Bane broke Bruce Wayne's back, and ushered in the arrival of a new Batman. I don't know if, at the time, they planned for the new Batman, Azrael or "Azbats" to take on the mantle of the Bat permanently, but Knightsend is the story of how Bruce Wayne reclaimed it. The mantle was getting a little too spiky, to be honest.

Jean-Paul Valley, the new Batman, continues to have visions of increasing intensity, of his deceased father and of St. Dumas and he chases a man who he believes is responsible for a gun-running scheme in Gotham -- only it's not that man at all. In parallel, Bruce Wayne hires the expert assassin Lady Shiva to train him and get his body back to what it used to be, to earn the right to be Batman again. Bruce Wayne's story is kind of a kung-fu-meets-urban-jungle kind of story.

It all leads up to a final confrontation on a Gotham City bridge between Azbats, Batman, Robin & Nightwing, Catwoman, as well as the criminal boss responsible for the gun-running. There's a whole lot of explosions, shouting and sharp edges, but the real payoff is the ending. It's a beautiful ending that shows you why Bruce Wayne is Batman. So many times, you see that might makes right. It's with force that you make the world make sense. But Bruce Wayne refuses to take that route in the final battle with Jean-Paul. He chases him down, and hounds him finally to the Batcave, where he leads him to the same tunnel that he fell in as a child. The tunnel is so small, Azbats has to shirk his armor off, and at the end of the tunnel, Bruce opens the way to the outside, blinding Jean-Paul Valley enough that he finally has to take off his Bat helmet. It's a reverse-birth of sorts. Bruce Wayne had to fall down that hole to become Batman. Jean-Paul has to climb up out of it to leave Batman, and his insanity.

Visually, you're finally interrupted from all the colors, the red heat from Azbats' flamethrowers, the explosions and the shouting, when he climbs through that tunnel. It's a return to reality for Jean-Paul and a resolution that didn't need any fisticuffs. Easily my favorite part of the story.

You can binge-read this collection in a couple hours, and the art styles flow from one title to the next. Honestly, there wasn't much variety back then I suppose, but I'm always a sucker for Scott Hanna's inks. I'm not sure it needed so many issues to tell, but it's worth reading this piece of Batman history for yourself. Here's another, supplemental article that kind of gives you some insight into the whole series.

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/i-will-break-you-an-oral-history-of-the-batman-knightfall-saga

Here's the full, 9-page blinded-by-the-light sequence. SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY.