Justice League: Trinity War

As mentioned in previous posts, DC comics had been giving the Justice League a hard push to spearhead their New 52 initiative in late 2011, and they quickly recognised the potential in expanding the franchise. A nice idea in theory, but it lead to some of the most contrived, and least accessible comics in the publisher’s line. It’s a testament to the quality of the characters that the end-product was still very readable!

A month after the big relaunch (see Vol 1. Origin), DC also brought out Justice League Dark; a team-up of the publisher’s magic-oriented protagonists. This was initially written by Peter Milligan, which is fitting as the roster included the likes of John Constantine, Madam Xanadu and Shade the Changing Man, which Milligan had recent history of writing (he had closed out Contantine’s 25 year run of Hellblazer in 2011). It’s a nice idea in principle, as each of these characters are more recognised as solo-acts, and multiple plot-lines intertwine in order to bring the team together over the first 6 issues. Unfortunately, Milligan’s pacing here is drawn out and un-engaging; none of the characters are given proper introductions, and their power sets are poorly explained and interchangeable. This is a long-winded way of saying that for a fantasy/horror superhero blockbuster, it was a pretty boring read. An interesting bit of trivia is that the initial reason for the team to form was to combat the Enchantress, whose powers were running amok as she lost her grip on reality. This same antagonist was used in the live action Suicide Squad movie, which may explain why that seemed like such a poor fit for those more grounded antiheroes. By the end of the first arc I still had no idea who many of the characters were, or why they were sticking together, other than to plug a gap in the publisher’s line-up.

Faring a little better was Justice League of America (JLA), which was launched a year and a half into the New 52 initiative, and fed off of some plot strands writer Geoff Johns had been planting in the main title. Throughout Vol 2 of Justice League (Villains Journey) it was suggested that over their 5 years together, Superman and his chums had soured relations with a number of other heroes, including Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Steve Trevor (Wonder Woman’s ex). The first 5 issues of JLA saw these characters being brought together by CIA-type bureaucrat, and director of ARGUS, Amanda Waller, in order to investigate rumours of a Secret Society of super-villains, who had also been previously alluded to in the main title. Little did the heroes realize that Waller had actually hand-picked them, along with such dangerous team-mates as Hawkman, Katana and Catwoman, in order to form a strike-force to take down the Justice League should they ever act outside the best interests of the USA.

I didn’t really enjoy this arc when I first read it, as it features very little pay-off, and is almost entirely set-up for the bigger conflict to come. But on re-reading, I did actually find myself being quite gripped by the super-espionage tone, and it does a good job of beginning to pull together apparently unrelated sub-plots and Easter eggs, along with some nice character moments for the new team, into a relatively coherent whole. Note that although the new Green Lantern (Simon Baz) appears front and center on 3 of the first 5 covers, he isn’t really part of the team yet, and has the briefest of cameos at the end. If you do read this run, I would recommend afterwards jumping immediately over to the main Justice League title for issues #18, #19 and #20, which occur concurrently, and see that team expand their roster with some new faces. Again, these issues feel like a series of set-up scenes without a particularly strong driving narrative, but writer Johns does build a nice sense of the unseen forces closing around our iconic heroes.

If you had made it through all the comics above, along with Shazam, and the 2012 New 52 Free Comic Book Day Special, and the first issue of the Trinity of Sin: Pandora ongoing series, then you would be all set-up for Justice League: Trinity War, which was published in 6 issues across the JL titles from September 2013. I won’t get into the specifics of the plot, except to say that a particular macguffin, Pandora’s Box, has a corrupting effect on anyone within it’s vicinity, and so serves as a useful device to bring the 3 Leagues (cool Original, Dark and America) into conflict. Pandora is a mysterious character that had been floating around the background since the start of the New 52 relaunch in 2011, so her presence here tells you that Important Stuff is about to happen.

This is a story that was literally 2 years in the making, and without having read almost all of the preceding arcs I think you would have trouble making sense of the events or actually caring about any of the characters. Speaking of which, this tale features approximately 27 different heroes, taking part in frequently shifting alliances and squirmishes as they jump around various global settings, so it quickly gets pretty hairy. I only read the story a few hours ago, and I’d have trouble recounting the exact ins and outs of the story even now. But Geoff Johns’ plot cracks along at such a pace that you don’t really have time to realise how confusing it is at the time, the action is spectacular, and there are some nice twists built upon all the writer’s carefully laid foundations.

This is more spectacle than story, but it’s still enjoyable to see unfold, like a super-powered Royal Rumble. Trinity War marks the point where Geoff Johns’ Justice League run stopped being a series of adventures that could be enjoyed individually, and started to form a giant narrative that the reader had to invest entirely in. As a result, most of the characters got lost in the chaos. And yet, just like the wrestling, it all leads onto the next big pay-per-view; which happened to be one of DC comics biggest gambles yet: Villains Month!