The Man of Steel is still dealing with the ramifications of what Mxyzptlk did to him, both in Superman and Trinity, while Green Arrow deal with villains who want to reshape Seattle into something else, into someplace else.
Superman 21
Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
Art by Patrick Gleason, Scott Godlewski, Mick Grey and John Kalisz
Trinity 8
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy and Hi-Fi
The aftermath of SUPERMAN REBORN feels like it’s taking longer than the initial 4-issue crossover between Superman and Action Comics, as Big Blue is going around to any book that has a connection to the “S” and explaining what happened. Any story that needs to spend that much time explaining what happened in 4 issues may have been a little too complicated, no?
Honestly, though, I think the Super-crew is needlessly complicating things by going into multiple books to express the potential threat coming from the mysterious Mr. Oz, who has been monitoring Superman for about a year now. Writer Cullen Bunn spends the entirety of the latest issue of Trinity exploring the potential consequences of having someone mess with the fabric of reality, as Superman decides to tell Batman and Wonder Woman what he just went through.
Diana, who is dealing with her own issues with reality, seems indecisive as to which course of action to take, while Batman – who is in the midst of a reality-bending rigamarole as he crosses over with The Flash – says, “let’s keep this to ourselves.” And Superman and Wonder Woman agreed.
I’m all for having a loose continuity structure in your universe, but when your whole comics storyline revolves around this shared continuity, you might want to have a tighter grip on your continuity.
Unless, of course, this whole thing is leading somewhere to explain this seeming discrepancy, in which case I’ll recant my criticisms. But I doubt that’s going to happen.
Over in Superman, Clark, Jon and Damian Wayne are searching for Batman, who got trapped by black ink while milking a cow in the last issue. Damian continues to get Jon in trouble with his parents and Superman decides to investigate an old house in Deadman Swamp that only Jon and his friend Kathy seemed to know about.
Oh, and Kathy and her grandfather are not only the Big Bads of this post-REBORN arc, they seem to be the reason that Jon’s powers aren’t developing more rapidly. It’s a nice little payoff to characters that have been built up as friends and neighbors over the last 21 issues, and it also cuts the Kents’ only real ties to Hamilton County before they relocate to Metropolis.
If you’re keeping track of Watchmen references in these Rebirth comics has we head toward our confrontation with whatever is bending reality, a giant squid, last seen early in Rebirth, attacks the Hamilton County fair. At least it didn’t go nuclear, but it did cause Jon to lose control of his heat vision as he tried to protect the people at the fair.
As much as Trinity drove me nuts with its characterizations, Superman was a really great issue that keeps building on the previous issues to project new twists and turns for our heroes.
Green Arrow 21
Written by Benjamin Percy
Art by Juan E. Ferreyra
The new arc kicking off with this issue of Green Arrow seems to be the start of what writer Benjamin Percy has been building to since the start of Rebirth. The Ninth Circle has been building its forces and getting ready for its ultimate endgame: the total destruction of Seattle and the creation of Star City.
While Star City is the fictional DC Universe locale historically associated with Green Arrow and his compatriots – especially now that Ollie is the mayor of Star City on the CW TV show Arrow – it’s been absent from the comics for a while as the hero has been operating out of Seattle instead.
As the bad guys begin to enact their evil plot, Oliver discovers a hidden base of operations underneath his parents’ tomb.
Ollie doesn’t exactly have the best opinion of his dad, but I doubt he was expecting that, a Ninth Circle robe hiding in a closet among the his father’s mementos.
Percy’s run on Green Arrow has been a great mix of the hero’s eras, bringing in pieces from the past and the present while building to the future. I’m looking forward to what the latest chapter in the story brings to the table.