Meaningless Fights of the Week- 11/26/08

In the lead: Tarot and newcomer Charity O’Dare take a mindtrip through time. Turns out that Tarot is the one woman chosen in this generation to be connected to the Worldsoul, which is the living spirit of the Earth. And apparently she can talk to her former (and deceased) Worldsoul connectees. Or something.

In the back-up: Morgaine Le Fey and Enigma finally work up the balls to ask Konvikt to join their team. There’s more back-story trying to make Konvikt seem like he’s just misunderstood instead of evil. That’s pretty much it.

My take: This is without a doubt the worst issue of Trinity so far. It was just plain terrible. The only interesting aspect of these twenty-two pages is that the lead ended with Tarot standing in front of ghostly apparitions of past Worldsoulers, and the back-up ended with Le Fey standing in front of the same ghostly apparitions of past Worldsoulers. So apparently Le Fey is also attuned to the Worldsoul. So that probably won’t help the good guys too much.

The whole thing about “one in every generation” seems to me like a blatant rip-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Except instead of slaying vampires, all Tarot can do is feel the living spirit of the Earth. I guess that’s almost as exciting, though. Even the bit about connecting with past Worldsoulers in dreams seems a lot like Buffy having dreams about past Slayers. Oh yeah, and they’re both always women, apparently. Lame. (more…)

In the lead: Morgaine Le Fey forms an impenetrable barrier around Europe. Gangbuster shows up at JSI HQ and gives Carter Hall the Khufu scroll. Enigma and Le Fey get in a fight because Le Fey is just killing everybody, but Enigma wants the power to revive people (namely, his wife and kids). He tries to convince Le Fey to use Konvikt as the third of their bad Trinity to complete the spell. The Khufu scroll returns Hall, Jay Garrick and Alan Scott to their youthful forms and convinces Hall that their world has been altered. He frees Firestorm and tries to convince The Flash (who was captured earlier in the issue) to help set things right. Meanwhile, Freddie Pennyworth, super spy, pays a visit to Lois Lane.

In the back-up: Despero’s fleet attacks Kanjar Ro. Jon Stewart saves Ro and attacks Despero’s fleet. Despero jumps into the vacuum of space (without a space suit and holding his breath) to attack Stewart. Krona steals Stewart out of the situation because he’s curious about his Oan/Qwardian hybrid energies. Despero takes Ro onboard his ship, intent on killing him, but Ro convinces Despero to seek revenge on Le Fey and Enigma, who tried to cheat Despero out of his share of the power. And Ro’s discovered where Owlman, Ultraman and Superwoman were sent in issue #13.

My take: This would all be so much easier if this series sucked. It’s easy to go on and on about something you hate, but it’s hard to talk about why you really like a series without blowing a fanboy splooge all over the blog.

I’ve said many times in these reviews that the pacing is probably the best part of Trinity. The World Without a Trinity storyline started out a bit slow and disjointed, but in the last few issues everything has really come together in a great way.

Ooh! I thought of something bad! Colorist Pete Pantazis seems to have mixed up Jay Garrick and Alan Scott this issue. The thinner, runner-like character has Scott’s blond hair, while the stockier, more Lantern-like character has Garrick’s brown-with-white-temples. Carter Hall even calls the guy with Jay’s hair Alan at one point. Even stranger, when they trio opens the Khufu scroll, the colorist gets Hall and Garrick screwed up, even though it’s obvious from the dialogue and action which is which. (more…)

In the lead: Commander Hall supervises all the disturbances around the world from the JSI HQ in NYC. Ragman’s dealing with a feline Catwoman in Gotham while Green Arrow’s in Star City…just where he’s always been? Also, Black Adam’s mysteriously shown up in Washington D.C. and taking his frustration out on Ares’ invading minions, while Tomorrow Woman is defeating the Ultra-Humanite in Metropolis. Brainwave reads Firestorm’s mind and sees a world where the Trinity existed, but Hall still doesn’t believe it. Gangbuster and Tarot split up outside of the JSI HQ; Gangbuster is going to deliver Khufu’s scroll to Hall while Tarot has business in Opal City. And while the JSI is distracted by all these changes in the timeline, Enigma and Morgaine Le Fay have conquered most of Europe.

In the back-up: Jon Stewart is in deep space trying to gain control over the Void Hound that he’s been infected with since the start of the series, but ends up accidentally opening a wormhole to Earth. As Kanjar Ro flees Earth to regroup, it’s revealed exactly when he replaced Despero (issue #4). But he didn’t finish off Despero, who’s formed an army and is headed to Earth to take revenge on Ro. GL, Ro and Despero all converge on the wormhole, as Krona looks on: “This is…interesting.”

My take: Boy, Busiek & Co. sure managed to squeeze a lot into this issue. Pretty much every existing plot thread got a bit of play this week. I’m especially glad to see the real Despero back in the picture, as it’ll probably throw a wrench into just about everyone’s works. (more…)