Sat Aug 2, 2008 — by Van Jensen

Review: This Week in 'Trinity' - Part 9

Your weekly dose of DC's big three

This ridiculous villain thing has officially gone too far.

First, we have the "evil trinity" of Despero, Morgaine Le Fey and Enigma. Then there's been Howlers galore and a trio of baddies headlined by the Eraser or White Out or whatever his name is.

And now? Swashbuckler!

He shows up amid the chaos of the bombed mall and lays a kiss on Diana's gubmint pal (also stealing her ID), and then later fails to steal Nightwing's mask. Both while offering B-movie banter.

He's apparently another villain in league with Le Fey, who along with her cronies is amassing more goodies that "define the essence" of key people. It goes back to the continued theme in this series of objects being instilled with a mysterious energy force of the earth.

Elsewhere, Bruce fights off attacking Howlers with Clark's help. They apprehend a few without being branded like Diana, but we don't know what happens with that yet.

As Clark is inner-monologuing about Bruce forgetting an earlier encounter with the Howlers, Diana comes over the shortwave to let them know the Crime Syndicate was responsible for mass kidnappings.

Two things here: The Crime Syndicate? And, wait a second, when did these kidnappings happen? Off-panel, I guess.

The backup begins with Dick facing Swashbuckler, and they fight to something of a duel, though you couldn't tell from Scott McDaniel's confusing page layouts, which make it look like Dick and 16 clones are fighting Swashbuckler (who, unfortunately, does not dress like a pirate).

Elsewhere, a floating hand steal's Lt. Gordon's pipe. Yes, really.

Then the owner of the hand, Trans-Volitional Man, steals the Joker's laugh. Yes, really.

Is this Trinity, or is this the Official DC Guide to Lame Villains?

I'd go into some analysis, but there's nothing worth talking about this issue. Until next time...

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van's blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.

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