With the Wonder Woman movie now in theaters, we have a couple books featuring the Princess of Paradise Island to take a look at this week!
Trinity Annual 1
Written by Rob Williams
Art by Guillem March and Tomeu Morey
The first annual for the book about DC Comics’ Big Three heroes picks up where March’s issue 7 left off, with Wonder Woman villain Circe and Batman nemesis Ra’s al Ghul looking to form a Trinity of their own, but having Lex Luthor refuse to join them – since he’s trying to be a hero now and all. The machinations, however, end up splitting Etrigan the Demon from his human tether, Jason Blood, allowing the Demon to wreak havoc upon the world and bringing Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman to put the two halves together.
The three heroes offered themselves up as a sacrifice to save the world, but Circe and al Ghul want to be the ones to kill them, so they stepped in to reluctantly aid their enemies.
Rob Williams allowed all three parts of the team to shine, while putting plans in motion for a larger battle somewhere down the line between the Trinity and their evil counterparts – and sets up a crossover with Red Hood and the Outlaws, who has his own “Dark Trinity” with the Amazonian Artemis and Bizarro.
While each of the heroes have a lot going on in their own books, it seems as though things won’t be letting up in Trinity, either, despite Bruce, Diana and Clark being able to find some down time to meet at one of Bruce’s restaurants as the issue opened. The annual had a lot of fun moments, and hopefully we’ll see things continue later this year when this story likely picks up again.
Wonder Woman 23
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Liam Sharp and Hi-Fi
Greg Rucka finishes off the odd-numbered THE TRUTH storyline, as Diana and Veronica Cale work with God of War Ares to finally put Cale’s daughter Isabel back together again, reconnecting her body and soul. Ares’ sons have been working a plan to kill their father to take his godhood, and their dealings found a way through Themyscira, which Diana mystically lost when she left Paradise Island.
Diana defeats Ares’ twins by showing them love, but all is not well for her or Dr. Cale, as they learn that if Isabel leaves her prison, she’ll be split off again, which leads her to stay on the island with the rest of the Amazons. We can only assume that won’t sit well with her mother, who fought to get her daughter back only to lose her again. Wonder Woman also shares a moment with her own mother to end the issue, but I doubt that gives her any closure, either.
While I wasn’t a fan at the start of Rucka’s latest run on Wonder Woman – which is soon to be coming to an end – he definitely won me over with his last pair of storylines, running through even and odd issues of the book. I didn’t think I’d say this a year ago, but I’ll be sad to see him go.
The Flash 23
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Carmine di Giandomenico and Ivan Plascencia
In the only issue released by DC this week that isn’t an annual, The Flash gets back to Central City, but is still recoiling from the events that happened in THE BUTTON, his crossover with Batman. We get a quick recap of the events, and see that Flash isn’t necessarily convinced of the death of his rival, the Reverse Flash. Turns out he’s right, but we’ll get back to that.
First, Barry’s friends and coworkers throw him a surprise birthday party, with a guest appearance by none other than Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who gives Barry a model plane that Barry gave to him two years ago. The reunion with an old friend gives Barry a bit of a reprieve from his issues – including Iris getting annoyed with the secrets her boyfriend is keeping – but not as big of one as when Multiplex attacks the party looking for one of Barry’s coworkers. There are probably better ways to get out of awkward situations…
As the issue ends, we see that Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, isn’t actually dead (what a shock) and is coming after Wally, who’s father was known by the same moniker while with the Suicide Squad. It looks like we’re getting another round of battles with Thawne. And we just got rid of him on the DC CW shows.
Joshua Williamson continues to craft a great run on The Flash, though, so this should be a lot of fun going forward.