DC has gone ahead and unveiled their new weekly title that will replace Countdown. The comic book is titled “Trinity” and will focus on Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Trinity will begin in June of 2008. Trinity will consist of a twelve page lead story by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley followed by a ten page back-up story by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza.
At first blush, I was less than thrilled with the prospect of this title. Countdown has been a disappointment as it gave us such a sharp drop in quality compared to the excellent work that we got on 52. I thought that maybe DC would finally put to rest the weekly title at least for a while.
Evidently, I was wrong. Despite the fact that almost everyone that I know agrees that Countdown is an inferior product compared to 52, clearly DC is happy with Countdown’s performance. Obviously, both 52 and Countdown were profitable and as long as DC is making money from running a weekly title, then it only makes good business sense to continue to crank out weekly titles until they cease to turn a profit.
Now, I’m in the middle of the road when it comes to Trinity. There are aspects of this title that intrigue me and other aspects that leave me cold. Let’s talk about my reservations for Trinity first. I can’t say that I’m thrilled that DC has selected their three major characters to star in this series. What made 52 so enjoyable and to a much lesser extent Countdown is that those titles centered on lesser known characters and gave them the opportunity to grow and blossom into major players in the DCU. I would much prefer that DC continue that approach and select a roster of minor characters that they can nurture and flesh out during the course of fifty-two weeks.
Instead, we get Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Wondy stars in the fewest amount of titles among these three characters. She only appears in two titles. However, Superman appears in a whopping six titles and Batman appears in mind boggling nine titles. At no point would I ever think that Superman and Batman need to appear in yet another monthly title much less a weekly title. Still, here we are with DC devoting another title to these three characters.
Busiek has gone on record to state that Trinity is not connected with Final Crisis. That Trinity will be its own self contained story. This is a negative and a positive. The negative is that to make a weekly title work properly the reader must feel like they are getting treated to a huge event. Trinity cannot turn out to be just another Batman or Superman title like the rest of the ones that have flooded the market. In order to convince readers to shell out money for this title each and every week, then DC absolutely must make the story for Trinity a very special event. Trinity absolutely must separate itself from the other Batman and Superman titles on the market. This title cannot read just like a weekly version of The Brave and The Bold.
Now, there are several aspects of Trinity that definitely appeal to me. First, I dig the creative team of Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley. I have always been impressed with Busiek’s work and he is certainly one of the more talented writers in the business. And while Bagley is not stylistically one of my favorite artists, I still greatly respect his talent and his ability to crank out solid artwork at a blistering pace. I have faith that Busiek and Bagley can serve up a good read.
I am thrilled that Trinity is going to be a self contained story. That this story will not be leading up to anything and is not spinning out of anything. I dig that if a cross-over is to be done that it will be done within the issue by using the ten page back-up story. Busiek made the example that if they wanted to do a crossover with the Teen Titans then it can be done in the back-up story rather than over on the Teen Titans.
After getting completely burned out on what seems to have been an endless amount of Countdown tie-in issues, I welcome this news about Trinity. The vast majority of Countdown served to be nothing more than a shill for storylines taking place on other titles. DC made a huge error in having the reader feel that in order to fully enjoy Countdown that we had to commit ourselves to the merciless onslaught of never ending Countdown tie-in issues, mini-series and special issues. I am much more likely to give Trinity a shot since I know that I won’t feel pressured into purchase countless other issues just to enjoy the story.
Of course, despite my reservations, I know that I’m going to give Trinity a try. However, unlike what I did with 52 and Countdown, I am not going to lock myself into Trinity for the long haul. If Busiek can’t hook me in the first month or so then I’ll drop Trinity. These weekly titles are expensive and after locking myself into Countdown I am unlikely to do so again.
2 thoughts on “DC Comics’ Trinity”
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I don’t think there’s something I’d like to read less than a title centering around Supes, Bats, and WW. I’m with you on preferring that they go with the lesser known character route. I’ve seriously had it up to my eyes with these 3.
DC has allowed me to broaden my emotional range as a human being. It’s a sad range, but one all the same.
I’m really starting to resent these characters.
On one hand, Trinity has Mark Bagley doing all the DC characters, which rocks. Since he’s doing the main story the entire way through, we know it’ll at least be a great looking title, unlike the abomination that was Countdown’s art.
On the other, it’s about the Big 3 and written by Kurt Busiek. Kurt hasn’t really been interesting since Thunderbolts. He’s nota bad writer, but he’s kind of locked in a Silver Age style of writing that turns me off most books. Also, like you guys have already stated, do we really need yet another book featuring Superman or Batman or the Big 3 teaming up?
I think they should have tried a shorter weekly as well. Maybe a half year or quarter year instead of the full 52 week committment. I’ll probably start off with this, but I feel burnt out thinking about having to pick up another weekly for a year straight.