Demythify: A Fourth Justice League DC Comics Title & Five Trinities For 2013’s New 52 Trinity War? (Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire, R. B. Silva & More)

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Thanks for popping by and checking out my weekly Monday Demythify column.

This week marks the one year anniversary of this column. While I’ve been writing various columns over my decade plus as a blogger, this one is… the least jaded. I want to thank all of our regular readers for checking us out weekly. I also want to thank our topic-specfic visitors for their patronage too. In addition, those of you who have gone the extra mile and taken the time to provide feedback also deserve acknowledgement. Your feedback here, on Facebook and/or Twitter (my coordinates are located at the end of this column BTW), have always been passionate and insightful. I also want to thank the head honcho here at the site Jonathan Widro and the Nexus EIC Graham Scherl for letting me do my thing. You all make it easy to come to work. Ok, with the thank you’s out-of-the-way, if any readers have ideas for future columns let me know.

Before I get into this week’s column, I’d like to bring to your attention three other regular features here at the Comics Nexus.

On Mondays, along with my Demythify column, James Fulton brings us The Weekly Round-Up where he dissects the best of the best comic books from the week that was. On Wednesdays Mathan Erhardt brings us Wednesday Comments where he puts his wealth of comic knowledge to good use plus provides a unique analysis on today’s industry. And, our EIC Grey Scherl does a column called The Gold Standard that gets published whenever he wants. Currently Grey is counting down the Top 50 comic books of 2012.

Ok, now onto this week’s Anniversary Edition of Demythify. Instead of doing a retrospective of the last year, I’ll do what we’ve done for the last 40 columns, and that’s move forward. With that, this week, we discuss the DC Comics New 52 “Trinity War” promised for 2013.

Enjoy.


What is 2013’s Trinity War?

It was in last year’s DC New 52 Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) issue where we were introduced to something called “Trinity War” from DC Comics. As part of that free comic book we had a 3-page gatefold Jim Lee spread showing heroes vs. heroes and a strange new Green Lantern who we would later know as Simon Baz.

Since last year, and with 2013’s FCBD coming up on May 4, 2013, we have not heard a lot about Trinity War. Since last year, there has been a lot creative changes on DC titles with cancellations and new books popping up too. While there are rumors that DC is still finalizing Trinity War, we know there have been a few changes already with the original 2012 FCBD Jim Lee popping up on the internet (see below).

With the original plan seemingly having Hal Jordan and not Simon Baz in it as Green Lantern.

So, despite a lack of any new formal information on what Trinity War is, there were teases in some books and comments from creators that point to at least five “trinities” that could be part of the Trinity War together, in part or singularly.

Here they are.


5. A Multiversal Trinity of Worlds

Now this trinity only came to me this past week when I started reading how CW Arrow’s Andrew Kreisberg, and co-writer with Geoff Johns on the DC New 52’s new Vibe series, started talking about the Multiverse. The hispanic hero Vibe gets his vibrational powers from the mutliversal vibrations that spring from the weakness between worlds that resides in Detroit. Almost like TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Hellsmouth. Detroit on Prime Earth is where Darkseid punched through to tangle with Justice League on Prime Earth and seemingly on Earth 2 when he and his New Gods decimated that world’s “Wonders”. Earth 2 has its own New 52 series, two refugees from that world in Power Girl and Huntress anchor the Worlds’ Finest series from Prime Earth, and now we have Vibe a character who acts as the Guardian of the Multiverse Gateway.

Perhaps Huntress and Power Girl in their efforts to get back to Earth 2, as has been established in their series, get past Vibe and pop up on another Earth, one we haven’t seen, and trigger the War? Then the Justice League of Earth Prime get pulled in?

And, could Grant Morrison’s Multiversity maxi-series play into all this?


4. Trinity of Timelines

In the last issue of Flashpoint we had Pandora appear. She was instrumental in deconstructing the Flashpoint world into the New 52. Interestingly it wasn’t three multiverse worlds she pulled together, but three timelines as she noted herself. Despite Wildstorm being established as part of DC’s Multiverse as Earth 50, it seems it was retconned to a timeline not a world that was merged with the Vertigo “timeline” and the main DCU timeline into the DC New 52 timeline. Retconning this kind of stuff is not surprising. DC did something similar confusing the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, an evil Justice League. There were two iterations floating around the DCU pre-New 52: one from an alternate multiverse Earth and another from the Anti-Matter Universe. They were virtually the same, except for where they came from based on editorial and/or writer whim.

Anyhow, three timelines into one when we have a Trinity War on the horizon does seem too convenient to be coincidental.

Plus, in relation to the Superman / Wonder Woman duo (read on), in Justice League International Annual #1 a Booster Gold from the future came to the past to avert a tragedy. He starts to dissipate at the end of the issue and wonders if SuperWonder (a la Brangelina) is what he came back in time to unmake.

Trinity War may have an impact on the trinity of timelines that lead to the creation of the New 52? Could it somehow play into the Vertigo imprint (and/or “timeline“) 20th anniversary celebrations of 2013?

I know many fans think DC has a backdoor plan to bring back some of or all of the old DC Universe. I don’t share that view, but “three timelines” coming into one New 52 timeline does seem interesting in light of this upcoming war involving a trinity or “three”.


3. Trinity of Sin

As part of 2012’s FCBD we saw the debut of the Trinity of Sin. We saw the mysterious Pandora also seen in Flashpoint, as noted earlier, and in all of 2011’s New 52 #1 issues. On FCBD we came to learn more about her and the other two that make up the Trinity of Sin.

All three committed transcendent sins and were punished by the SHAZAM pantheon. We have Pandora, joined by the Phantom Stranger and a mystical Question that appears a lot like Vic Sage pre-metamorphosis. Poor Renee Montoya.

This Trinity likely will have a large role in Trinity War since the 2012 FCBD cover featured Batman holding “Pandora’s Box” and he also has it in that Jim Lee Trinity War spread above.


2. Battle of the Trinity of Justice Leagues

In the recent Justice League #16 we had a call for reinforcements by Cyborg to assist the League in the War with Atlantis. Many of those faces were on the Justice League #1 teaser cover from 2011.

Slight spoilers below. You have been warned.

Not sure who Goldrush is, but everyone else are known quantities to fans of DC Comics.

End of spoilers.

Interestingly, when looking at the 2011 Justice League #1 Jim Lee spread, we see the core Justice League in the middle bordered by other heroes with the ones on the left in red and the ones on the right in blue.

Could those bordered heroes actually represent other Justice League rosters yet to coalesce? Deadman on the left is clearly one of writer Jeff Lemire’s Justice League Dark heroes. Could the rest on that side represent the JLD? The Atom, as Dr. Ray Palmer, on that side has appeared sans costume in the now cancelled Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. series. While DC creators has said that the Atom in the JL #1 Jim Lee picture is not Ray Palmer, but Ryan Choi a younger Atom, we’ll see.

On the right we have Hawkman, Green Arrow and others. Could this side represent Justice League of America? It even has Mera it seems at the bottom and we know she is as aggressive as the rest of the “heroes” on that side.

In addition, that 2012 FCBD gatefold Jim Lee spread has Black Adam in it instead of Shazam. Could Black Adam be joining the JLD or JLA or JL?

We’ve had four Justice Leagues in the New 52: Justice League, Justice League of America, Justice League Dark and the recently cancelled Justice League International. However only a trinity of Leagues exists today. Could another JLI emerge from a Justice Leagues Civil War?

Well, it does appear that R.B. Silva is on such a project featuring Shazam, Nightwing, Black Canary, Batgirl, Red Tornado and a previously spoken for Hawkman. Check out the pic from Silva’s Instagram below.

BTW, did you notice the Justice League International hashtag in the second pic above? Hmmm. With that, here are some of those JLI heroes as drawn by Silva on his instragram: Shazam, Booster Gold and Black Canary.

Fun times ahead.


1. DC’s Traditional Trinity

Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. These characters have been referred to as DC’s Trinity for decades. Two of them are now a couple and the other one knows and knew the moment the relationship started. In Justice League #14 Superman and Batman Wonder Woman embraced with Batman looking on from the Justice League’s monitor.

In a tease of things to come in 2013, we see that Superman and Batman come to blows. Could this be a key part of Trinity War? Is a plausible scenario that Batman and Superman exchange blows over Wonder Woman? Is there a super-break-up in the cards? Superman and Wonder Woman have gone toe-to-toe before. What happens when that kind of battle is loaded with emotion?

And, why are Superman, Wonder Woman and Shazam fighting in the earlier teaser?

In that same teaser, Pandora hands her box to someone. Is it Batman who has it as per the many other images we’ve seen or did he steal it from whomever Pandora gave it to?

Lastly, in relation to the preceding Trinity section of this column regarding a Justice Leagues Civil War, the teaser above also includes Cyborg noting that their core JL membership drive let in a traitor. Who among the newbies are a traitor to the League? That doesn’t mean they’re evil. Maybe they are doing it for JLD or JLA? A distrust of the powerful Justice League does seem like a motivation for the creation of the new JLA. Interesting.

Whatever it is made up of, I’m looking forward to Trinity War. Any other theories that YOU have to share?

Thanks for reading. All feedback welcome. :)


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John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!