Written by Rob Williams
Art by V Ken Marion; Guillem March; Sandu Florea; Ray McCarthy; Dinei Ribeiro; Tomeu Morey; Carlos M. Mangual; Josh Reed; Tom Napolitano; & Steve Wands
Collection Cover Art by Clay Mann & Tomeu Morey
SUMMARY:
Published in 2018 by DC Comics under its Rebirth banner, this 160-page collection reprints Trinity Annual # 1 and the issues # 12-16 from 2017-18. Accessing the mystical Pandora Pits, the sorceress Circe and Ra’s al Ghul conspire to sacrifice Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Once their enemies are disposed of, Circe can regain her lost soul. Jason Blood stumbles upon this scheme, only to be relieved of his co-existence with Etrigan the Demon. A fully-evil Etrigan battles the Trinity while Blood’s accelerated aging signals his mortal end has evidently come. Or has it?
Demonically corrupting Bizarro, Artemis, and Red Hood (Jason Todd), Circe & al Ghul send their unstoppable pawns to destroy the Trinity. With Zatanna Zatara and Deadman held captive inside the Pandora Pits, only a mortally wounded John Constantine is left to aid them against Circe’s forces. On New Year’s Eve, Batman recruits Wonder Woman & Superman to help Deadshot rescue his kidnapped young daughter from Kobra’s mutated minions. Simultaneously, the Trinity must defuse a quantum energy bomb threatening to destroy Gotham City, along with their extended families.
Notes: The cover artists are: Annual # 1 (Guillem March & Tomeu Morey); Issue # 12 (Clay Mann & Tomeu Morey); Issue # 13 (David Finch & Brad Anderson); Issue # 14 (Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, & Tomeu Morey); Issue # 15 (Philip Tan & Elmer Santos); and Issue # 16 (Guillem March & Tomeu Morey). For Issues # 12-14, Bill Sienkiewicz handles the variants. Ben Oliver produces Issue # 15’s variant, and Issue # 16’s variant is by Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson.
REVIEW:
Writer Rob Williams conjures up a ghoulishly entertaining adventure that challenges the Trinity’s vast resources. Its glaring detriment is an ultra-contrived ending where Batman’s technological wizardry is as conveniently preposterous as Circe’s magical Pandora Pits, if only to fit the desired end result. By Williams’ dubious logic, instantly resurrecting characters from death (or freeing them from demonic possession) via magic or science is easy. Still, the triple Trinity concept (including Zatanna-Constantine-Deadman & Red Hood’s Outlaws) is stellar throughout the Dark Destiny storyline.
Beyond Deadshot’s effective guest spot, seeing Lois Lane casually mingle with Steve Trevor, among other interactions of Diana, Bruce, and Clark’s loved ones, makes for a terrific sequence. What doesn’t make sense is that this same script conveniently ignores the Justice League’s implied presence during a fight scene between the Trinity and Kobra’s mutant monsters — a few panels of the Trinity’s super-friends backing them up would have made good sense. Capably masking Dark Destiny’s deficiencies are the art team’s top-caliber visuals, including the covers and their variants. Despite its implausible plot twists, Trinity, Vol. 3: Dark Destiny still makes for a solidly entertaining read.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Including the variants, a full-page cover galley is included.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 8 Stars
