Ліга Справедливості: Війна Трійці

Justice League (2011)

by Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes

Всесвіт DC вирушає на війну!

Смерть героя породжує жорстоке протистояння між членами Ліги Справедливості, Темної Ліги Справедливості й Ліги Справедливості Америки!

Битва Ліг розкриває таємниці Трійці Гріха, загадкової Пандори та її скриньки у формі черепа.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Batman, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 2014

About the author

Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.

His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.

Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Scenically circuitous, it’s a lot of foe-and-friending, often struggling in all its juggling, but bigly buoyed by its ending.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I actually like this event. Yeah, that's right, I'm not scared to admit it.
Ok. A little scared. I have this vision of Sesana (in her winged Thor helmet) coming down to wreak righteous judgment on my bad taste.
But I can explain! I wasn't all that thrilled when I was reading this event originally.
Truth is, I thought this was the continuation of the cliffhanger that happened in Justice League, Vol. 4: The Grid.
It's not.
But since I never seem to bother researching what I'm about to read, I end up getting screwed like this fairly often.
Surprise, Idiot! We tricked your dumb ass again!
This is just a collection of shit you've ALREADY read!

Anyway. I'm normally a little annoyed when I get snookered into re-reading stuff for these crossover events. But this time around, DC actually did a pretty good job putting this collection together.
GASP!
In fact, this was what I wish I read to start with. It cut out all the boring stuff from Justice League: The Grid, and Justice League Dark, Vol. 3: The Death of Magic. Plus, it added in several other titles that I hadn't read, like Constantine, Pandora, and The Phantom Stranger.
Maybe the event itself isn't 4.5 stars, but this really is the best crossover volume I've read in a while.
If you're interested in what's happening with the Trinity War, this is what you want to go out and grab.

[Bookwraiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

Trinity War was another of DC’s “Big” events in The New 52 universe. Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire, and Ray Hawkes bringing together all the clues and hints that had been incorporated into DC books for quite and while, promising to give readers lots of DCU character cameos, tons of information on shadowy people in the DC universe, and setting up the DCU for great stories going forward. So, with all this build up, it had to be great, right?

Well, there were tons of characters in this one. That lore about shadowy denizens of the New 52 DCU was definitely there. The ending left everything in a huge limbo, where you could see more stories organically growing from it. And it was all presented in stellar fashion by the art team, who rendered every DC character in beautiful detail, conveyed real emotion in the talking scenes and pulled off every pulse-pounding brawl.



Unfortunately, the artwork could not save Trinity War.

I’m not one to just say a book sucks and let it go. Not my style. I like to understand and explain why something didn’t work for me. The problem here is that it boils down to the writing not being very good. At least, in my opinion, it wasn’t.

Now, to be fair, there were moments when the story held promise. Not every page of this was bad. There were times I thought Trinity War had hit its stride and was going in the right direction. But then the narrative would run off the rails again, leaving me grimacing as I tried to understand why an immortal woman trained in every form of combat ever invented had to have the help of the Justice League, or why the DC heroes actually asking the help of other heroes was a damn epiphany? These type of head-scratching moments coupled with all the points of view and too many dead end plot lines ruined the lead up to the conclusion.



Honestly, the conclusion of Trinity War could have been great. How the writers managed to screw it up boggles my mind, because the Pandora’s Box idea was a good one. I mean, this creepy dude above manipulating everyone to open the damn thing and see what happens was pretty cool. Even a casual fan like myself wanted to know what the hell was going to happen. Instead of seeing all the Pandora’ Box foreshadowing lead to something coherent, however, it turned into yet another brawl-fest, which seems to be the ending to everyone of these big DCU events.

You know, I really wanted to like this comic collection, but it left me feeling like I’d wasted a couple hours of my time. If you try it, I really hope it suits your palate more than it did mine.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"But all of this is just noise . . . " -- Madame Xanadu, a mystic who is a Justice League affiliate

You've go that right, Madame Xanadu. The aforementioned 'noise' - as in the 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' variety (thanks, Bill Shakespeare) - is Justice League: Trinity War, one of those 300+ page bloated crossover-event graphic novel collections (say THAT phrasing fast three times), with the story segments culled from a number of different titles, that features a large cast of super-heroic characters doing . . . stuff. Well, Pandora shows up on modern-day Earth with her evil box - and that was NOT a euphemism, folks - and Superman is accused of a murder (if you really think he of all superheroes would actually do such a thing, then you've probably never read a comic book before), the Justice League starts having internal staffing conflicts and severely turning on one another, blah, blah, blah, snore. By the time of the weird developments began occurring in the odd final chapter I pretty much had no idea what the hell was happening. Not even a somewhat good supporting role by Zatanna (one of my favorite of the DC heroines) can help save the day for this book.

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, I'm a little slow right now, but I think I figured out how this is working. This is called a cross-over event where they take threads of stories from many lines of the other players like Justice League Dark and Pandora and other and they thread the story together into one whole story. It seems like most of the DC universe was here.

I have not read all of DC New 52 so most of this was new information, but some things I have read. One of them was Pandora. I read Vol. 1 and I really enjoyed that story and I wanted to get more into that. And all 3 of the people in the trinity were also in this = the Question (who I really like that character for some reason) and the Phantom Stranger.

So, this Trinity war was really good. We find out why Superman got sick and why it looks like he killed someone. We find out what happened to Madame Xanadu and we also find out what Pandora's Box is and does.

I thought that this is one of the better things I have read from DC New 52. I can understand if you have already read all this in the different funs and put it together in your head, but I liked having it all in one place. It was entertaining and I liked that it was full of all these characters of DC. We get to see everyone. I thought it was entertaining.

I have decided that I like these little crossover books between the numbers. I'll be sure to get them in the future.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh.

You know when you go to Denny's, and you feel guilty when you walk in, but you go sit down anyhow? Even though the last few times you've eaten there, it wasn't all that good? Then you say, I'm just going to get a Coke...but you look at the menu, and end up ordering something that looks good on the menu picture?
However, when it shows up, you're thinking uh-oh...this is a bad idea; but your brain tells you "You've already come this far, you idiot; might as well eat".
Then you eat it, and there's a few tasty bites, but mostly not? Then you finish, just because, your mom told you kids are starving in Africa, so you don't want to feel guilty.
You pay the bill, and before you're even out the door, your stomach hurts and you feel bloated and nauseous, and you're thinking "Why the fuck did I ever come back here?"


That's this book.



The worst part is? I know I'm going to fuckin' eat at Geoff Johns' Denny's again. I honestly don't want to discuss this colossal negative meh anymore.

Get this review and more at:

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK DC, I gave you another chance with your Big Event, and how do you reward me? With a premise founded on a ridiculous (I mean, retarded) conceit: an immortal woman, who has trained herself in every form of physical and spiritual combat known to men, somehow can't defeat her antagonists without the help of a bunch of whiny, irritatingly powers like the Justice League, who spend more time arguing with and punching each other than just fixing shit?

Hah. Hah, I say. It is to laugh.

And what kind of fucked-up tarot deck has pictures of the Justice League members on the cards? Or for that matter, introduces new characters into the tarot? Do you have someone create this deck, and just keep it around to randomly pull cards when you think your client might be mixed up with superheroes? What kind of obsessive stalker has a deck of custom tarot cards made up in the images of these ridiculous people?

The one thing they do right in this book is that when shit hits fan, they start calling in other heroes that aren't part of the core JL team. Thank Christ - they've finally heard of each other, and have somehow repaired the brain damage that led them to forget there were other people around to help!

"But I need your help. I need the Justice League Dark." Yes, it was as dorky in context as it sounds.

Strangely, this book taught me something I never would've come up with on my own: Jeff Lemire is a worse writer than Geoff Johns. Wooden, emotionless and commits the most retarded sin of comics, where one character addresses *all* of the others in the scene by their codename - like no one does, ever.

Congrats Jeff! You pulled off the Canadian dream - you were better at something than a famous American! Too bad it was sucking hard at the job.

Ugh, even worse - my fellow Canadian commits the mortal sin of having Constantine (a fine Brit) shorthand Zatanna's name to "Zee" not "Zed". Fuck this, I name a $10,000 price on Lemire's head, double that if you bring it to me preserved in Quebec maple syrup.

Wow, and right next to him, Ray Fawkes (whoever he is) stands out like a ray of cynical sunshine, writing a fine little Constantine. Next to Lemire, Fawkes looks like an old master, even though he's just decent.

I don't care how "edgy" it is that Billy Batson's a snot-nosed brat. I just don't believe for a second that (despite a shit job writing the scenario) any centuries-old magician would ever hand over this power to such a little turd. Makes me think Johns is yanking our chain, waiting to see who finally has the balls to call him out. "Just kidding, Billy Batson's actually imagining this from his shit-smeared rubber room."

The plot veers wildly around but of little consequence until we actually find out what the damned box is and how it came to be. Massive plot spoilers to be discussed here: Geoff Johns must think he's pretty clever with words, to lace the finale with such toxic stinkers. "The butler did it." "It was the number...the true number of evil. Three. EARTH THREE." And what the actual fuck is the point of a "science" box that makes everyone who touches is evil? Science? Really Johns, did you fail fourth grade science class? Because this is atrocious. The only redeeming thing about this whole tome is that it gives us a chance to see the bad versions of our heroes have some *real* fun for once in this whole fucking morose series.

This isn't Savage Hawkman bad. It's the kind of mediocre bad that says, "oh dear, I may have shit my pants for the third time this week, but what do you expect with loose bowel control?" Its core sin is laziness, just the sense that most of the writers couldn't really work up enough energy to care exactly why or what it going on.

And I'm with Sims and Wilson on this point: we have had twenty-odd issues of JL and they've spent 90% of their time fighting each other, not a single good villain in ages. I really truly hope the next book gets good miraculously and against all Johns' "better" judgment.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read worse. But not by much.

I've kind of fallen out of reading New 52 recently, and this is telling me that maybe I had the right idea. I know, it's terribly wrongheaded to judge books by how they shake out during an editorially decreed crossover event. But I'm going to do it anyway.

The worst thing I can accuse this book of is being boring. And it can be horribly dull. The Pandora plot is totally uninteresting to me, but it's far from the only boring thing. I'm bored of heroes attacking each other because of Reasons, and that's pretty much every scene they show up in. I'm bored of "misunderstandings" so trivial and so dumb that they look intentional. There is, at least, a small attempt to have it all make sense: the JLA was actually formed as a counter to the JL. But since none of the members of the JLA know that, much less the JL, it doesn't make sense that they'd be on such a hair trigger. Or maybe that's just the way everybody acts in the New 52? I don't know.

There's an awful lot of flat dialog, flat scenes, and flat characters. Like I said, I've read worse. This isn't Savage Hawkman terrible, or Katana terrible, it's just dull. I read this out of a kind of sick sense of duty (I've read every other DC event!) and because I've heard that the follow up event, Forever Evil is better. Kind of wish I'd just read the synopsis now.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

2024 Review - I'd probably bump this to a 2.5...maybe a 3. The opening is actually pretty good with Superman killing someone by mistake and the heroes unsure of what to do. And I liked Pandora here. But by the end the convoluted mess of having all the "Dark" titles come together and just shit out some bullshit magic to stop the big bad felt forced as hell.

Overall just not great. I'll keep the rating cause it is one of the weaker events.

2016 Review: A mess.

Yeah that's all I could think about when reading this. This very long, over-bloated, sometimes incoherent book. So Pandora released all the evil in the world, and not this skull contains the evil of it? Or something. Honestly I was having trouble following because it seemed stupid. Especially the parts with the heroes fighting each other...for no reason...like no reason at all.

Don't even get me started on the filler arcs. There's a whole thing with going into the afterlife, but it's really for nothing, changes nothing, you could have taken out 60-70 pages of this and made it more enjoyable because the pacing wouldn't be nearly as bad.

I mean there are great moments. I enjoyed the ending because it leaves a sweet cliffhanger. I also enjoyed the art for the most part. However, the rest of it is a gigantic mess, not all that fun to read, and better to just skip.

However least with the cliffhanger I'm excited for Forever Evil.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was quite good!

It starts off with the prelude to this event as to what happened with Pandora, Question and Phantom Stranger and then the big battle and then the thing with JL, JLA and how their battle starts in Kahndaq, Superman vs Dr Light and the thing that happens after, him being imprisoned and then accused of doing something and then Batman and his team finding some stuff regarding Argus and trip to afterlife, Wonder Woman teaming with JLD and finding their secrets but when all of them come together for a massive fight and secrets are revealed as to what this Pandora box is and a prelude to the coming of Crime Syndicate from Earth-3 and thus Forever Evil!

Its an epic story with so many moving parts and has great moments for Superman and Batman and shows the secrets of Amanda waller and does a nice job of tying multiple plots and showing that there is something sinister underneath everything. I love the way it happens and the way Johns and Lemire write them as heroes who can fall when exposed to evil even the best of them, is awesome and then the struggle of Pandora and seven deadly sins was just so well done and the art by Reis in the end was the highlight and the ending..holy shit! Must read!

[The Lion's Share · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another average story from DC and Geoff johns. He's making a career out of making mediocre comics.

You've lost me completely DC. You've no imagination anymore. This story felt like a rehash of every other justice league story ever told.

This story is about the legend of Pandora's box. She makes some strange appearances in the justice league comics at the end, completely unannounced, all to give some kind of back story for this Trinity event. More bullets, more characters, more shit art, more fighting each other, more magic, more fighting, more fighting, more Batman keeping his head on his shoulders, blah blah blah, there are so many clichés it just becomes boring. The interesting part is her backstory and the fact that she is linked to the stranger and the question which I find strange and would question!

If DC went under I'd only miss Batman.

[Lono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up Trinity War on a recommendation after posting an interest in Forever Evil. I can see why this is probably required reading for anybody interested in trying on John’s next big book. This does come off a little like an extended prologue to Geoff's Forever Evil. Have a few friends (Anne's review , Mike's review) with dramatically different opinions about this one and I sort of fall in the middle I guess.

I wasn’t sold on Pandora. She is a central figure in this one and I just never bought into her or her curse. I feel like Johns, Lemire, and Fawkes could have put this together somehow without needing to introduce a new character. The “magic” thing has just never really done it for me. A little here and there is just fine, but it’s really a big part of this collection. Probably why this version of the Question bugged me too. Not enough Rorshach and too much Harry Potter in his back story. Could have done without the trip to Heaven or purgatory or whatever. Again with the magic, spirits, and angels. I like Constantine. Just not mixed with my Batman. This is why I never had an interest in the Justice League Dark title. I was also a little unclear as to why everybody wanted to kick each other’s ass at the end. I was never really sure if it was me or that the time line between the different titles collected was disjointed and didn’t flow smoothly.



I did like seeing Superman lose it. The back and forth between Waller’s League and the original League amused. For some reason this collection reminded me of Identity Crisis (which I liked) at times. Maybe because of the mystery angle or the big reveal at the end the tiny woman did it . Despite not being a “magic” fan, it was fun seeing Shazam and Constantine hanging out together at a bar. Diana and Steve’s awkward " we're ex’s" exchange. This one definitely had a couple of moments I enjoyed. I also liked most of the artwork in this one too. Ivan Reis and Doug Mahnke put together some good stuff here.

Awkward.


I have to say it pulled together for me at the very end and left me excited to check out Forever Evil. Bring on the Crime Syndicate! I really think that this was the intent from the beginning of this story. I just think they could have done this without this mammoth crossover, confusing story, and the Trinity of Sin stuff. This is a case where less probably would have been more for me.

Get this review and more at:

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a ride! This was one of the better volumes of Justice League in the New 52 era. This one featured all three leagues and also included Pandora (yes THAT Pandora) as this storyline dealt with Pandora's Box and the Seven Deadly Sins. It was loaded with characters and there was a lot going on. It was a supernatural themed story and had several magical characters involved. I didn't see the ending coming but for any long term DC fans you will probably be blown away by it. The problem being, the ending is also a beginning, which may turn some people off as it leaves you wondering what happens when this volume ends. (The answer is FOREVER EVIL btw.) I really liked the art as well. There were a few different artists on this one, and to me it ranged from great to decent, but overall good.

I had a few complaints. Parts of the story just went over my head, and I don't whether it was just me or whether it really was that confusing. The wrap-up itself still left questions too. The heroes were constantly squabbling which got annoying, but there was a reason for that which was explained. Also, the story just seemed a bit lenghty and meandering at times. I still wonder if some of the subplots were really necessary.

Overall, this is a good one for any Justice League fan, fans of magical DCU characters, or really any DC fan in general as this is quite a sprawling story with repercussions for most of the DC Universe.

[Seba · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

Misleading title. It tried to be super epic but in the end it fell flat. Ah! and also there was a problem with editing. They put Pandora's issue that had information on Evil-Shazam (images and everything) before Evil-Shazam actually appeared. The end was good though.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Since the beginning of the New 52 era of DC Comics, there was one huge event that was being teased with countless plot threads incorporated within every comic book series until it was finally time for it to explode in this epic crossover event that brings together the various Justice Leagues to cross paths, looking for answers through understanding or a show of power. Helmed by Geoff Johns, with the help of numerous writers and artists, a new threat is ready to crawl out of the darkness and wreak havoc on the DC Universe. However, will this epic-scale crossover event know how to handle such an ambitious story without tripping over itself? Will it be able to juggle all these heroes simultaneously without any form of a misstep? If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that things are about to get crazy for our beloved heroes.

What is Justice League: Trinity War about? Long ago, Pandora came across a strange yet magnificent artifact in the shape of a skull that invited her into innocently opening it up without knowing that it would unleash the seven deadly sins upon the world. Thousands of years later, the box resurfaces and corrupts the world as Pandora takes upon herself the task to find the purest or the darkest of hearts to reopen it and undo what she unleashed. Unfortunately, a mysterious and powerful evil manipulates events that pit the three Justice League teams (Justice League, Justice League Dark, and Justice League of America) into going up against each other. What they don’t know is that their brutal war is only the tip of the iceberg as it will conveniently lead to the introduction of a greater evil to Earth. This saga collects Justice League #22-23, Justice League Dark #22-23, Justice League of America #6-7, Pandora #1-3, Constantine #5, Phantom Stranger #11 and The New 52 Free Comic Book Day Special 2012.

This story is essentially structured as a whodunnit. From the beginning, a tragedy occurs where the most unlikely culprit seems guilty of a crime from which it is impossible to come back from. While some remain oblivious to the inexplicable circumstances that lead to this incident, others turn towards hunting down the truth no matter what or who stands in front of them. As the story progresses, the three Justice Leagues find themselves split in their motivations while someone continues to plot the arrival of a greater Evil that is bound to shake things up in the universe. Unfortunately, the idea was interesting, to the extent that it succeeds in keeping you sufficiently intrigued to want to find out what is going to happen at the end but the execution is less than stellar; which is not unbeknownst of crossover events.

Where this story mostly struggles is in the approach with each individual issue. There is an incredible amount of redundancy in each story as several plot points recouple multiple times throughout the volume. These repetitions make the progression a lot heavier to achieve and it is worsened by several subplots that are hazardously shoehorned into the story with the intention of further developing the lore but to only lead the plot to a cul-de-sac. It also doesn’t help when you reach the ending and understand that this event’s real purpose was simply to introduce a new threat for the Justice League without exactly giving the reader the chance to invested in this prospect. As previously mentioned, the 4th volume, Justice League: The Grid, also simply takes this cosmic event and shaves off all the excess fat that allows the story to make some sense, making you wonder what its purpose even was, except to make more money off fans. Hopefully, Forever Evil will be a volume that will make all this chaos worth enduring.

It’s difficult to tell such an explosive story without conveying it through the artwork. There’s no denying that the epic-scale nature of this event is intrinsic to this story arc that necessarily brings into play every single hero present in the world. To translate the gravity of what ensues in this story, countless artists (pencilers and colourists) put in their own fair share of sweat and dedication. While it might not be appropriate to speak of any form of consistency in the visual style throughout this saga, it can be said that the artwork remains bombastic by not only capitalizing on the explosive moments to keep the tension high but also by illustrating our heroes from ideal angles with great character designs as well. The length of the story and its relatively repetitious tendency also brings you to forget the somewhat obvious nuances in style employed to draw this story, leaving you to rather appreciate the whodunnit as well as the occasional world-building, rather than the details of the artwork.

Justice League: Trinity War is a cacophonic and chaotic conflict of interest where confusion welcomes carnage as the world’s mightiest heroes are introduced to a brand-new villainous and manipulative squadron.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
_______________________

If anything, this proves that Justice League (Vol. 4): The Grid was an unnecessary volume. This crossover event is a great setup for what's to come but was a bloated arc that kept getting lost along the way until the grand reveal.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Jonathan Terrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't been a fan of DC's New 52 label. I felt it was profit, not content based, and the titles to this point had not stacked up against the best in the DC Universe. I also haven't been a fan of Marvel Now that said, so it's not a DC v. Marvel issue (for the record I love both as a sci-fi geek). It's simply that DC's characters have enough heart and mythos behind them to not need a reboot to sell comics - unless that reboot is going to solve continuity issues, and oddly the new 52 has put a lot of continuity issues on the table in its own way.

I say 'haven't' however. This is one comic that has led me to say 'wow - so that's what DC can do with their New 52 label', and it is primarily my respect and love of the DC Universe that leads me to give this five stars. Is it as high in quality as other five star works? Frankly, no. But it is an excellent comic book compilation, with a story across time and space, with segments jumping in and out of the story's running continuity.

Even beyond time and space, this tale covers across all of DC's special key concepts. It tackles alternate dimensions, mythology and scientifically advanced aliens. It also tackles the idea of what makes a true hero and what is the nature of evil. As I have mentioned elsewhere, DC's heroes are - in comparison to Marvel's more grounded heroes - aliens, gods or psychologically damaged freaks; or a mixture of all of the above. But what happens here in this book is a nice blending and reference of all of those characteristics.

Oh, and the artwork - this book is virtually a tribute to the glory of comic book art and is up there with Superman: Birthright in terms of DC glossy art (I exclude Kingdom Come for its more 'paint-like' style). And the art contributes beautifully to the story and worldbuilding all around. I do not regret buying this hardback for my book collection.

When everything is said and done I have to say that there are few comic books I can truly give five stars to, myself. This is one of the few I have decided to do this for. Does it have the objective depth of other works like Watchmen (to which I give 3 stars out of personal preference) - No way on Earth. But it does hold a lot of subjective value to me, and that is what is important when it comes to graphic artwork. So I certainly recommend that anyone who likes DC (or superheroes) check this out.

[Mohamed Metwally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this after finishing the main volumes of the story, it chronicles the Trinity war as the title clearly states.
The plot is quite thick, and thus the book is larger than the normal volumes of JL, amost double the size, there are some pages that are duplicated while crossing over with the main story, and the closing pages are the same as those of Vol.4 as the events of Trinity War comes to an end, and the end here is the entrance of the crime syndicate to the scene.

A very good story, and it was the right idea to read it while the JL reading is still fresh, as the stories are related.

MiM

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my god.

That ending.

THAT ENDING.

OMG THE BUTLER DID IT!!!!!

I seriously gasped after that was revealed.

And what's going to happen to Cyborg??? And The Atom, or should I say ... Atomica? (I didn't like her anyway.) Plus where did Earth 3 come from??? I didn't even realize that was an option!

Seriously.

What is going on.

Wut.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was a rather long superhero comic (at over 300 pages) but it was seriously worth it. So many heroes! I need to read whatever comes after this one.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, I went into this already a little annoyed thanks to the awful way in which DC collected the Justice League Dark portion of this (as my review of that volume will reveal). So, it had an uphill climb.

Unfortunately, it tumbled backwards down that hill pretty quickly. What starts as an interesting premise Pandora, the woman who opened the eponymous box of evil and ruined the world centuries ago, is trying to undo her mistake by finding the box, opening it again, and recollecting all the evils she let out. Why would OPENING a box again somehow recapture all the evils that escaped it in the first place? Unclear! But, she keeps telling us it would, so I guess we have to believe her. At least the personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins are kind of cool.

Too bad they're pointless! The entire plot quickly spirals out of control, abandoning this premise and just going a haywire, a clear symptom of Geoff Johns and the other DC writers having way too many balls in the air. Things that are set up in one issue pay off completely differently and counter-intuitively in the next, often because they were written by two different people. The motivations of everyone involved start to fray and feel pretty unjustified, and the various twists and turns of the plot feel unearned and at times entirely random.

Also, despite this being billed as a huge crossover event, it doesn't even end. It just segues (extremely clunkily) into Forever Evil, yet another huge crossover event, setting the stage for a sustained bout of Crossover Fatigue. This thing is a mess that seems like it's leading to an even bigger mess, fully abandoning large portions of its plot in favor of pursuing a cliche "The Evil Versions Of Our Favorite Heroes Are Here To Punch Everyone" plot. Can't wait?

Anyway, this is a very weird waste of talent that had a lot of potential. At least the art is OK sometimes!

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great but not bad. Great ending. Setup very well for Forever Evil.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Occurs in parallel with, or may contain, the events of JL(v.2) #22, JL Dark #22, and JLA(v.?) #6. This would be somewhere in vol. 4 of the collected editions of JL & JLD.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Justice League: Trinity War is one of DC's crossover books where they collect issues of separate titles into a single book. I'd seen them do this with Death of the Family, and Rise of the Third Army, but since I had read nearly all of that stuff in the actual series, I didn't bother picking up the collected editions. I'm reading none of the titles in this book, so I thought I would pick it up and see how I liked it.
Trinity War deals with characters called The Trinity of Sin. The characters are Pandora, the Question, and the Phantom Stranger. Pandora had unknowingly opened up "Pandora's" Box unleashing all the great evil's on the world. For this she was punished by a council of Wizards to forever walk the earth and see the hurt she caused. Pandora then spends thousands of years trying to find a way to take down the seven deadly sins. The task seems impossible though, since you can't even touch them.
Eventually the different Justice Leagues(Justice League, Justice League of America, and Justice League Dark) get involved and it turns into a big story where everyone is trying to get Pandora's Box for different reasons.
I enjoyed this more then I thought I would. Even though the story has a few writers it has a nice flow. There isn't much bumpiness when you go from one title to another. I liked that the writers must have put in the time to work out the stories together.
Art wise this book is great. Many of the artist has a somewhat similar style, which gives the book a nice uniform feel. When you get too many artist with too much range it gets muddled.
The characters in the book are handled well. John Constantine was a stand out for me. He is a guy I don't know much about, but I keep wanting to read. As the story goes on and on we see the different hero's spilt off into different groups, which seem to represent the different personality types of the hero's, and how they prioritize. Wonder Woman thinks the important thing is save Superman, while Batman wants to get to the bottom of what is really happening. Ultimately they are both trying to do the same thing but they have different approaches. It was cool to see that acknowledged.
For me the biggest downfall of the story is that it just leads right into another "event". You don't get an ending. It was cool to have the surprise betrayal, and that Pandora's box turns out be something you wouldn't expect, but the entire story is undone by the fact that it doesn't really matter now. It was really just a stepping stone to get you to pick up another comic. It just leaves you with a hollow feeling.

[William Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

So where do I start with this s**tshow?

Let's start with the plethora of extremely confusing character choices and rewrites. Element Girl instead of Metamorpho. I'm assuming we may still see Metamorpho later in Green Arrow when he fights the Outsiders, but I can't be sure. And we don't even get enough of Element Girl to make her worthwhile, so why not just give us a familiar face in Metamorpho and stop pandering. Same goes for the Atom. Where the hell is Ray Palmer? The Nu52 was supposed to reboot. Give me Ray Palmer. The Question is now some sort of mystical figure akin to the Phantom Stranger? Come on. And no one cares about Pandora. Seriously, no one. There's nothing redeeming about her, and she's basically just a plot device. Get rid of her. Steve Trevor is the second least interesting character here, and needs to go. He takes up precious panel space in an already confusing and poorly written crossover. More Amanda Waller, please, less Steve. Hell, kill Steve. I don't ever want to see him again. Black Orchid? Christ. Is this all DC can think to do with Neil Gaiman's creation? Kill her, too. Give the JLD a rallying point. And why can everyone hear and see Deadman? Come to think of it, why is Constantine casting actual spells left and right? Just what the hell is going on here? Where is Hawkman's gauntlet? And ok, why is Shazam acting like a child, like Billy, when he's channelling Shazam? This is absurd. Seeing it is surreal, like a bit of slapstick in the middle of a Kurosawa film.

Ok, so now that I'm done with that and might get some hatemail for my rant about bringing back the male versions of the newly introduced female characters, this book is just a conglomerate of characters with no real story. I'm serious when I say that. There is NO STORY HERE. None. There are 100 characters running around doing whatever the hell it is they do but no plot. And it all leads up to the silliest, most anticlimactic ending you could possibly imagine. I think I liked it better when Geoff Johns wasn't the DC architect and mastermind, but was just a solid writer of books like Hawkman and Teen Titans.

There is one redeeming issue in this trade. Can you guess which one I'm talking about?

Honestly, have fun slogging through this, or fast forwarding through it, or not reading it at all, which would be the best bet.

Best thing about it is that Moench's art is great as always.
Writing: D
Art: B

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well.. finished... whoofffff... that was a LOT to throw at me.

It wasn't bad... but it wasn't good either. It was ok. Had its moments. I wasn't unaware of what was happening so that's good.

So.. Pandora with her box... Pandora among some others that did terrible things to humanity and whatnot ages ago, had to be punished. Well Pandora opened a box she found and what the hell why would deities and Gods or whatever the fuck them were, would punish a girl for opening a box she found?!
ANYWAY--- COMICS *jazz hands* and Geoff Johns explaining shit *jazz hands*

So, she opened that box and she released ALL THE BAD THINGS... basically the 7 sins, incarnations of the 7 sins that have plagued the world since humans first appeared or what not.

So.. Pandora is searching for someone who's as pure as daylight to open that box and save us all from them sins or as evil as darkness to whatever?! (hmm)-- anyway.. then Phantom Strange appears saying philosophical(pretentious) shit to JLD. And some other shit is happening.

Main thing with JLA here is someone is trying to frame Supes for murder and half of them are trying to figure out what/who it is and the other half are trying to locate that BOX (OOOOH.. CONNECTION!!!!!!) so they can save Supes because Supes is POISONED!

SO...
It was ok.
The problem with everything was... well.. TOO MANY FUCKING COOKS to make some eggs. Too much going on. Too much unnecessary shit. Too many C-D-E-F Listers that NOBODY ever gave a fuck or ever will. And last but not least, too much shit that just gets ignored the SECOND something new and pointless happens to grab onto and move on.

What I DID like, was the artwork mainly, and the story at the beginning, and the story kinda at the end with the whole reveal.

If you're like, SO much into JLA and you have to read everything they do, go ahead, read it. You may like it more than I did. But it's a clusterfuck of characters. I warned ya!

If you just wanna read some superhero trade to pass the time and have fun... then please don't do this to yourself, plenty of other JLA stories much much MUCH better than this one.

\o/

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pandora attempts to have either the best hero or worst villain open her box so that all seven sins might be eradicated for good. The three Justice Leagues (the Justice League, the Justice League of America, and the Justice League Dark) are forced to fight each other as the mystery of the box is gradually revealed.

I liked this considering several stand out scenes with Superman, Shazam and Constantine, and Batman in the land of the dead, but it was all very meandering and unclear considering how many seemingly unnecessary side issues were included. Pandora had potential as an interesting character, but ultimately not much was done with her. The conclusion was a surprise but I'm not sure it was one that made sense; I still don't know how it ties into the magical theme of the whole story. This crossover really shows how confusing things can get and how diluted the teams are when they're all iterations of the "Justice League". The art was probably the best part, with Ivan Reis and Doug Mahnke doing some good work.

[Seth Heasley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd already read Forever Evil, and this went a long way toward explaining the backstory to that (awesome) story. On display in this book we get all three versions of the Justice League: The Justice League, Justice League of America, and Justice League Dark. Very cool.

It heavily features Martian Manhunter early on, and that's something I'm always up for since he's such a cool character. And seeing Constantine with Shazaam powers was incredibly awesome. But the really great thing here was that there's a tie-in to the new Rebirth storyline, and I'm loving anything that fills in the gaps in my previous DC reading. I'm curious to read further about Pandora to bolster that Rebirth connection.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the stories seem filler and were just side shows to main event. I thought the ending chapters were exciting. So Pandora is a little one track and will not learn from any mistake. I was a big fan of the Phantom Stranger when he was just that a stranger, his first series and JLA vol 1:he just appeared in stories to help for reasons unknown.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice crossover/team up storyline. Recommended

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/09/... (Dual Review, Read as Single Issues)


So then – Trinity War. DC’s first ‘epic’ scale event is what the New 52 has been building towards for about two years now. The anticipation has been there, and whilst some may have been disappointed by it, and I’ll admit – it’s not perfect, the event itself may very well give DC another point in their favour when it comes to events, with Rise of the Third Army, Throne of Atlantis, Night of Owls and Death of the Family (unless they’re more crossovers than events) also impressing. Whereas you compare it to Marvel, I’ve had negative experiences with Age of Ultron and Avengers vs. X-Men, although Infinity and Battle of the Atom have got off to promising starts.

The book itself is yet another hero vs. hero battle, something that we’ve already seen before happen in the early issues of DC’s Justice League, although not to this extent. However, to Johns’ credit, it doesn’t come across as a re-hash of that, or Avengers. Vs X-Men, which was basically Marvel’s far weaker attempt. I loved how Johns and Lemire, who was also working on the title, wove in the mystery element of Pandora’s Box, as opposed to yet another clash because of a misunderstanding, which is starting to become a cliché and a weak excuse to pit your favourite superheroes against each other. The arc also introduces readers to characters not encountered before in the New 52, most notably The Question, who I understand is a fan favourite.

However, despite the Question’s introduction, the Trinity of Sin, compromising of The Question, Pandora & Phantom Stranger, the latter two with their own ongoing series (it’ll only be a matter of time before The Question gets one, I think) don’t really get much page time here. However, when they do appear they only get some answers regarding their characters – maybe it’s because two of the three are in their respective series already allowing the writers of those books to answer these questions, but I haven’t read them so can’t really comment. The lack of answers really proves a problem through the course of this storyline, and like Age of Ultron, Trinity War offers more of a lead in to the next big thing, but instead of Hunger, it’s Forever Evil – and the first issue of that book has not really answered all of our questions as of yet (look out for a review soon).

On the other hand, the artwork was superb. The respective artists bring great work to their respective issues with some equally stunning artwork to the books, the standouts being Ivan Reis’ splash pages which mostly feature fighting between DC’s superheroes. The event as a whole really benefited from this awesome artwork, and the plot featuring the mystery behind Pandora’s Box was also quite interesting and I loved how the creative team chooses to weave the narrative over the Justice League, Justice League Dark and Justice League of America titles rather than create a mini-series just for this event, something that DC don’t seem to be particularly fond of.

This also allowed me to check out a title that I don’t normally follow, Justice League Dark – even if it was just for Trinity War, this allowed me to sample the issue and as a result, I enjoyed it. So much so that I went back and found a second or third printing (not sure which one, will have to double check) of Justice League Dark #1 from my LCS today when I had to go back to pick up Battle of the Atom #1. And whilst it didn’t impress that much, I had a brief glimpse at how the team handled well together.

As the event deals with several characters, obviously some are going to get sidelined. I liked how Shazam played a key role in starting the whole thing even if he and Superman seemed to react a little too over the top, if you get what I mean – and when the two came to blows it felt kind of contrived, making Shazam come across as a jerk – something that happens again later on in the event, even though he may have been possessed/influenced by Pandora’s Box. I also want to pick up Constantine #5 at some point to see the showdown between John and Shazam – something that was hinted at in the main events of Trinity War, as well as jump on board the book when I can, whilst the first two issues were less than impressive I’ve been meaning to give it another try and see how it develops, particularly as I have a better understanding of the character.

Whilst we’re on the subject of Constantine, it’s important to note that he also gets a bigger role in the series. I liked the fact that because he was already corrupt, he could touch the Box and not feel the same effects that influenced everybody from Superman to Zatanna. Of course, the more powerful heroes we got to see under the influence of the book longer, with certain characters like Wonder Woman getting time in the spotlight more than say Flash, or Vibe.

However, Flash and Vibe got a pretty interesting confrontation together, and Vibe’s reluctance was a nice touch – he’s clearly, like Stargirl – not used to this sort of thing. The exchange between Vibe and Hawkman as the Justice League of America headed to Kahndaq with the intent of pulling Shazam (who was there to lay the remains of Black Adam to rest) out of the country, which by National Law is off limit to superheroes – added a nice humour element to the situation, where Hawkman suggested that he could handle both Flash and Aquaman for Vibe. The interactions between Hawkman and Vibe seem to be a frequent source of amusement, and although not that frequent, the first meeting between the two was a nice moment of comic-relief as well when Vibe pointed out that Hawkman was covered in blood, but it was clearly not his own.

The Crime Syndicate also get a key role to play in this book, although they don’t appear to til the very end, as evil versions of the heroes that we know and love. With the Sea King (Aquaman’s Counterpart) dead upon their arrival to the present Earth, things are shaping up to be very interesting indeed, with the rooster compromising of Ultraman (Superman) Superwoman (Wonder Woman), Owlman (Batman’s counterpart) Johnny Quick (Flash), Power Ring (Green Lantern), Deathstorm (Firestorm), and Atomica, who plays the role of the Mole inside the Earth-One Justice League. It turns out that Trinity War didn’t really mean the confrontation between the three Leagues after all (although that played a pretty big involvement), but Earth-Three, the world where these characters hail from. It’s a universe that I’d love to discover more about as I went into this book completely in the dark, so the end revelation left me a bit confused, but surprised – as to the whole origin concerning these characters.


In conclusion, then – minus a couple of problems here and there, Trinity War is a stunning success. DC seem to be handling events a lot better than Marvel at the moment (although, like I’ve already mentioned, Battle of the Atom and Infinity may redeem my faith in Marvel to tell strong event stories, and I’m glad that I gave this event a read in its entirety (aside from the tie-ins) rather than just sticking with certain issues. The only major problem that I had was that it didn’t really serve as a closed event with several questions left unanswered, but the fact that we could jump straight into Forever Evil the week after with its first issue lessened the impact a bit. This event is worth checking out regardless, and it’s one worth buying all the issues for rather than just reading the ones from the comics you follow. Top notch stuff.

VERDICT: 4/5