Trinity (#1-6)

Let's try a multi-issue review to help catch up some.

One-sentence summary: Trinity seems to have good intentions, but thus far has been a bit slow-paced, and the two 13-page stories a week are light fare.

I should put this out there right now: I am a comic book optimist. When I pick up a new book, or an old one, I hope for and look for the best. That's why I never tore apart Countdown, it's why I still read Punisher: War Journal, etc. That being said, I'm worried about Trinity, though not disliking it yet.

It's been 6 issues. I know for a weekly title that's barely 10% of the series, but for the average comic that's an entire arc. That sort of comparison makes the fact that, thus far, the "main" story of Trinity has progressed most of the way through one fight. It feels like these first few issues of Trinity have Dragonball Z syndrome -- a bunch of guys fighting, the dialogue mostly consisting of the characters talking about the fight, the subplot consisting of people watching the fight and talking about it. This is a story-telling style that wore on me in 8th grade, so my impatience is (in my opinion) understandable.

That being said, I'm intrigued by the concept being laid down here by Busiek. Having the three main DCU characters form some sort of mystical trinity fits well with the themes going on in the other mega-title right now, Final Crisis. Whether these are going to intersect at all? I wouldn't bet on it. Final Crisis is Morrison's baby, and come hell, high water, or contradictory mini-series, nothing's stopping Morrison from writing what he wants.

So what does all this mean for Trinity? It means that, at best, we can hope for a long, well-written story revolving around some neat ideas that won't have much of an impact outside of it, which wouldn't be so bad. This will require a swift progression of things from the current stagnant-style of plotting that's occurred thus far, but it could happen. Of course, there's the worst-case scenario too, but, hey -- I'm an optimist.

Ultimate Spider-Man #111

One-sentence summary: A cool departure from the normal format, we have Peter explaining everything to Aunt May one one-half the page while his day goes by on the other half of the page without dialogue, and the whole issue is generally well-done and a good wrap-up of this mega-saga.

Ultimate Spider-Man again doesn't disappoint, giving us a very different issue that succeeds on all levels as a touching moment between Peter and the aunt that raised him explaining the who and why he is, as well as why he will continue to be who he is. This is the last issue for Mark Bagley, who's done a great job, but Stuart Immonen will do a good job too. Bendis continues to do a great job on this title, and this issue's no exception.

This was a pretty good issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. I loved the format, just due to it being novel. The issue served well to segue to the next portion of Ultimate Spider-Man without being too tied to what has already occurred; a new reader wouldn't be too lost in this. This was a good issue of a good comic.