Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity

May 25, 2004 | Trades

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Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity
Matt Wagner
DC Comics
$37.95/$24.95 US (Hardcover)
**** (out of five)

They are the big guns of the DC Comics’ universe. Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman.
Together they have just less than 200 years of comic history. Thousands of stories have been told featuring one, two or all three of these icons. To try to say something new about them is difficult to say the least.
When boiled down to its essence, Trinity is the tale of Batman and Superman’s first meeting with the Amazon princess. But acclaimed writer/artist Matt Wagner makes what should be a solid book into a super one by dealing with these icons as people.
While anyone could write a battle-royal super-hero crossover, Wagner chooses to focus on why these people are as heroes by playing off the differences between them and simultaneously showing how alike they are.
Superman and Wonder Woman are similar because of their incredible powers, but different because one was raised in Kansas, while the other was brought up in an all-female environment as royalty. Batman has always been wealthy and privileged, virtually royalty, but is just a human being, with no super-abilities.
Wagner highlights the fact that, most importantly, all of them are good people. Just Clark, Bruce and Diana, three good souls who strive for justice and to keep humankind safe. And against the threat of a quintet of nuclear missiles and the combined might of Batman’s nemesis, Ra’s Al Ghul, Bizarro, the Superman clone and the Amazon warrior Artemis, they’ll need all that inner and outer strength.
Trinity is a story befitting the assemblage of heroes and villains it contains. It is grand in its vision and outstanding in its execution. Let’s hope DC will allow Wagner to play with their big toys again soon.

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