Trinity #3

In the lead: Konvikt beats up the entire JLA, including Superman.

In the back-up: Tarot gets attacked by some local thugs, who in turn get attacked by a mysterious werewolf-like creature, who mentions that Tarot “is meant for the three who are to rise.”

My take: Oh crap, this isn’t a good sign.

Quite frankly, this issue sucked. Someone needs to remind Mr. Busiek that this series is called “Trinity,” and that said Trinity should appear on more than four pages of the issue. If I wanted to read a story about the JLA, I’d still be reading JLA.

The Tarot back-up was boring, but at least that’s obviously leading somewhere. We saw in the debut issue that Tarot will be involved with the Trinity at some point, and Busiek wanted a chance to introduce the character to those who are unfamiliar with her (myself included).

The art in the back-up was the best yet, which I was sort of anticipating. Mike Norton is by far my favorite of the three back-up artists announced, although this really didn’t resemble his recent work on Green Arrow/Black Canary much at all. That just goes to show you how much of a difference an inker can make. The art here looks a lot more like inker Jerry Ordway’s (The Brave and the Bold) than it does Norton’s.

Things to keep an eye on: Tarot’s friend Jose apparently used to be a superhero (or villain, I guess). I’m not familiar enough with DC lore to figure out who it is, though. Anyone have additional insight?

My first guess as to Enigma’s alternate identity? Two-Face. Enigma’s half-mask does cover the half of the face that Harvey Dent is scarred on, and it looks to me like Mark Bagley was drawing Enigma’s face a little scarred underneath. Also, Dent has a more personal relationship with Batman than most of Batman’s rogues.

Tarot “is meant for the three who are to rise.” But does that mean the good Trinity or the evil Trinity? Or perhaps a third trinity that’s yet to appear? That would certainly seem fitting, after all.