A Long Way To Go For The Next Major Comic Event: Justice League: Trinity War!

The Good: Generally decent artwork, Good coloring
The Bad: Fidelity to issues as opposed to story, Failure to resolve
The Basics: Justice League: Trinity War sees the three Justice Leagues from The New 52 come into conflict when Superman appears to kill Doctor Light and all forces on Earth converge on Pandora.


This year, I've been expanding my trading card business and I've been moving away from just Star Trek trading cards. I've been beefing up my stock of trading cards based on comic book franchises and when I got in the DC Comics Epic Battles trading cards (reviewed here!), I came to realize how out of touch I was with the newer comic book releases. The truth is, the whole concept of The New 52 from DC Comics put me off: I am a fan of Wonder Woman and after a few years of alternate universe type scenarios, The New 52 completely reworked the character. But reading the Epic Battles trading cards, I figured it was time to check out some of the major DC events since I stopped reading the books regularly. I opted to start with Justice League: Trinity War because it seemed like an important crossover event.

It's not.

Justice League: Trinity War is little more than an elaborate set-up for the more encompassing "Forever Evil" event. To wit, Justice League: Trinity War is supposed to be the story of the Trinity War, yet where the book ends, some of the major actions and characters remain unresolved. Justice League: Trinity War explains everything, but it does not resolve the storyline and while I enjoy the aspect that the story is part of a larger continuum of story in the character arcs of the major characters, it is hardly a complete or compelling story. As well, like virtually all comic book anthologies, Justice League: Trinity War shows fidelity to the original issues, as opposed to the story. This is problematic at several key points in the story because elements come out of order and the momentum of the story gets absolutely killed.

In the near future, the psychic Madame Xanadu sees the Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League Of America at war with one another. Pandora breaks into the A.R.G.U.S. facility that holds her recovered box, believing she has figured out a way to use it to undo the damage she did millennia ago when she first opened the skull-shaped box. Billy Batson, as Shazam, makes the decision to return the ashes of Black Adam to his homeland of Kahndaq. Entering their territory draws the ire of the Kahndaqi military and the Justice League moves to intercept Shazam. Amanda Waller uses the incursion to Kahndaq to move on her plan to have her Justice League Of America try to discredit the Justice League. The two justice leagues converge on Shazam and when Doctor Light comes into proximity of Superman, his powers unexpectedly erupt. Between Doctor Light inadvertently attacking Diana and the after-effects from an encounter with Pandora, Superman gets angry and accidentally kills Doctor Light.

In the wake of the unintentional murder, the heroes and the Justice Leagues splinter. Superman turns himself over to A.R.G.U.S. so he cannot hurt anyone else. Wonder Woman is convinced that Superman's eruption is a result of his exposure to Pandora's Box and she marshals a force to hunt for Pandora. Many of the detectives are convinced that appearances are not what they seem and that Superman could not have actually killed Doctor Light. Their search takes them to heaven's basement to interrogate Doctor Light's soul and to the lair of Doctor Psycho. But all the machinations in play come to a head when Pandora tries to use Lex Luthor to open the box and its true nature is exposed!

Justice League: Trinity War spends most of its time developing the character of Pandora and setting up its own premises. The book is very much for those who have a love of the whole DC Comics Universe, not amateurs. As a result, those of us who are unfamiliar with secondary characters like the whole Justice League Dark - though Constantine has recently had more mass culture appeal - and the New 52 concept (I was at a loss to understand how there was a Justice League AND a separate Justice League Of America until context clues midway through the book made it clear) are likely to find the book overwhelming.

Some of the issues are a result of the artwork and/or the way the issues compiled into the anthology work. The Trinity War comes to a head a chapter early, so the story backpedals to explain Pandora's final epiphany, which kills the momentum. As well, the artwork features Shazam in a black outfit making him appear virtually identical to Black Adam, which is problematic for those who neither follow Shazam (last I knew, the character was still called Captain Marvel!) or are hoping for an in-volume explanation. The only other major conceits from The New 52 in Justice League: Trinity War are the relationship between Superman and Diana and the inclusion of Frankenstein and S.H.A.D.E.

Justice League: Trinity War balances supernatural elements and a detective story for the bulk of the book and while it's tough not to be put off by the gods, Sins, and supernatural elements in the book. That Batman doesn't seem to object when the Phantom Stranger wants to visit heaven's basement to interrogate Doctor Light seems somewhat out of character. The book's resolution - the way the various competing interests are exposed and revealed - is satisfying in that the key questions raised by the book are answered.

But Justice League: Trinity War is a bridge between the complicated, failed marketing scheme (the reboot The New 52) and its next major conceptual adventure, Forever Evil. The Epic Battles trading cards might be a better way to get the gist of this storyline!

For other Justice League books, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Justice
Identity Crisis
Justice League: Secret Origins
I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Justice League!
New World Order
New Maps Of Hell
The Tornado's Path
The Lightning Saga
Justice League Of America: The Injustice League
Sanctuary
Second Coming
Justice League Of America: Dark Things
JLA: Terror Incognita
Justice League: Generation Lost – Volume 1
Justice League: Generation Lost – Volume 2
Volume 1: Origins (The New 52)

5.5/10

For other book reviews, please check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Bearing The Brunt Of My Gripe With Flashpoint, The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern Still Manages To Be Decent!

The Good: Engaging stories, Some impressive artwork
The Bad: Makes absolutely no sense for the story of the larger “Flashpoint” Universe.
The Basics: I actually enjoyed most of The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern, but it is an utter nonsensical story in the larger Flashpoint.


To be completely fair to The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern, whatever volume of The World Of Flashpoint I picked up first was going to bear the brunt of a rant from me. As it so happens, The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is the first Flashpoint book I got in and thus, the rant that had to come for this crossover (outside the one I present over the ridiculous advertising campaign that preceded Flashpoint) ends up here.

The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is utter bullshit.

There, I said it because someone should. The entire premise of Flashpoint is that Barry Allen makes a choice that saves one life in the past. That single change radically alters the fabric of reality and has such profound effects as to make the DC Universe virtually unrecognizable. I can dig that. It’s a basic time-travel story that illustrates the consequences of time travel. That’s fine. The fundamental problem is that the editors at DC Comics decided to make it a huge universe-spanning event and to do that, they had to create several stories that make utterly no sense in relation to the initiating incident of Flashpoint. The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is a collection of four stories, at least three of which are utter b.s. in the context of Flashpoint. Here is why: the stories of Green Lantern, Hal Jordan and Frankenstein have nothing to do with the Flash or the change he made.

The Green Lantern story in The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is predicated on a very simple premise: Abin Sur does not die in the crash that puts him on Earth. The only possible way this makes any sense as a story is if the Flash, the person he saved or anyone ancilliary to them, had anything at all to do with the crash of Abin Sur, the death of Abin Sur or an attempt to save his life. They do not. In other words, the Flash made a ripple in the pond of the DC Universe; Abin Sur’s story happens so far away that there should have been no effect whatsoever. The change the Flash made to the timeline had nothing to do with anything off Earth, so the backstory that precedes Abin Sur reaching Earth wounded, would not have sparked the rise of Nekron and the Black Lanterns in the time before the temporal alteration. In simpler terms (especially for those who do not know the entire backstory of the Green Lantern Corps), the only changes to the DC Universe that should have occurred in Flashpoint would come from the moment Barry Allen makes the change in the timeline and AFTER. It makes no sense that the timeline of the DC Universe would have events altered prior to the actual temporal event. The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern deals mostly with events that precede the actual change in the timeline and the fleshing out of the alternate present that is Flashpoint.

The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern includes four stories in the Flashpoint Universe: Green Lantern (Abin Sur), Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos, Oliver Queen, and Hal Jordan. And the frustrating aspect of reading most of these stories, even the ones that are good, is that they make no sense in-context. Barry Allen did nothing that would have changed how the Green Lantern Corps and the history of the universe was operating off Earth to make most of these stories make any sense at all.

In the first three chapters that focus on Abin Sur and Sinestro, the Green Lantern Corps is slowly losing ground to the Black Lanterns under Nekron’s leadership. As Abin Sur is tasked with saving the White Entity by recovering it from the war-torn Earth, Sinestro makes the journey to Ysmault where he learns of the prophecy of the Flashpoint from the imprisoned Atrocitus. Heading to Earth on his own, Sinestro gets into a conflict with Abin Sur to unleash the power of the white light. As Abin Sur joins Cyborg in working to save Europe, Sinestro fights him for the power of the White Entity of life.

The Green Lantern section of The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is presented with amazing, painting-like artwork. The character designs are identical to the characters from the film Green Lantern (reviewed here!). That is actually pretty cool and the artwork looks incredible (though for some reason, while even the Guardians are altered in this artwork to match the film’s interpretation of the characters, Hal Jordan is not rendered to look like Ryan Reynolds!). Despite the lack of sensibility, it is an enjoyable story.

The hardest sell for me coming into The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern was going to be the chapters of Frankenstein And The Creatures Of The Unknown. This story turned out to be a pleasant and delightful interlude, despite its lack of connection to anything at all pertaining to the larger Flashpoint mythos. It was only as I progressed through the story that I realized that these were the same Creature Commandos that made a very brief appearance in Justice League: Generation Lost, Volume 2 (reviewed here!), which I loved!

In World War II, the Frankenstein monster is employed to fight in difficult battles. Teamed with an amphibious daughter of a military scientist, a vampire and a werewolf, Frankenstein and his team make it to Adolph Hitler’s bunker where they put the dictator down. They are rewarded for their patriotism and service by being put into suspended animation. Released unwittingly by the Flash in 2011, the team is hunted by Shrieve, the granddaughter of one of the officers they worked with in World War II. Blaming the Creature Commandos for her family’s death, Shrieve proves to be a worthwhile adversary working for General Lane until an unexpected ally of Frankenstein pops back up.

The artwork in this story is good, but what sets it apart is that it tells a decent, self-contained story with characters that are interesting and instantly intriguing. Because I had absolutely no expectations for who or what the characters were supposed to be, the story of the Frankenstein monster and his allies as paranormal warriors (though it did tread pretty close to what little I know of HellBoy) was surprisingly engaging and well-presented.

“Green Arrow Industries” is given a one-shot in The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern and that was always going to be a tough sell for me. I have not been wowed by any Green Arrow books that I have read. So, it is not particularly surprising that the story did not overly impress me. However, many of my issues with it come from its abrupt turn. Oliver Queen it talking to Roy Harper on one page and on the next, Roy’s neck is slit and the story becomes Oliver chasing an invader around his private island. That just seemed sloppy and (fitting in with my larger concern about the book) how the Flash helped make Oliver Queen from a weapon’s manufacturer into the bow-wielding hero one recognizes (and thus was altered in this incarnation) is never adequately explored here.

As it is, Oliver Queen has several generals visiting his private R&D island where Queen Industries is deeply involved in weapon’s manufacture. Queen has designed new missiles, the Green Arrows, using technology from super villains. The facility is attacked and a single assailant manages to escape. Oliver chases her, eventually learning her identity and why she begrudges him.

There is a reason the Oliver Queen story is a one-shot; it’s not particularly compelling and it has nothing to do with the war between the Amazons and Atlanteans that makes up most of Flashpoint.

Hal Jordan’s story in The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern has Jordan as a test pilot, not a Green Lantern. After he saves Abin Sur’s life from the crash, Abin Sur lends him alien tech which Ferris Air integrates with U.S. military technology. Following Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris guarding the coast and protecting Coast City from an Amazon attack and their hydra, the new Ferris Air plane is ready. Hal Jordan is charged with dropping the Green Arrow missile on Themyscira and that mission cost more than anyone would have imagined.

Like the Green Lantern story in The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern, the artwork in the Hal Jordan section is similar to the character designs in Green Lantern. This story fits in fine with the overall war story in Flashpoint and it retells the Hal Jordan/Carol Ferris story in this new universe and it is consistent and interesting, if not entirely vital or new.

Ultimately, though, The World Of Flashpoint Featuring Green Lantern is very much a tangent story to Flashpoint and it is good on its own, though the abrupt transitions and odd ways the stories fit together make for a less satisfying book on its own. Still, this is a DC Universe book worth picking up!

For other Green Lantern-related books, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Green Lantern/Green Arrow – Volume 1
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II
Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight - A New Dawn
Green Lantern: Legacy - The Last Will And Testament Of Hal Jordan
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Blackest Night
Blackest Night: Green Lantern
Brightest Day: Green Lantern Corps - Revolt Of The Alpha-Lanterns

5/10

For other book reviews, be sure to check out my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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