DC recently wrapped up its mini-event, Trinity War, which featured the three different Justice Leagues investigating a mystery and having severe disagreements along the way. Marketing around this event was centred on seeing the Leagues fight against each other, making fans weary of yet another hero vs. hero conflict. Geoff Johns approached this idea a little differently by incorporating a mystery within the story each League worked to solve. In fact, it was a very nice development to see each League splinter into different factions that were a mix of all three rather than strictly seeing each League working only within itself. The mystery factor was a pleasant addition to the story, providing much more depth than a simple misunderstanding launching them into conflict. After the initial fight in issue two, the Leagues focused on solving the problem at hand and did not come into physical conflict again until issues five and six. The mystery was also a great way to showcase character interactions not seen before in the New 52. The most notable addition was fan-favourite The Question, who one-upped Cyborg's detective/Google skills in a memorable scene. That being said, though, The Question and the other two members of the Trinity of Sin, Pandora and Phantom Stranger, did not get much time in this story, Pandora especially. As the instigator for the entire New 52 as well as Trinity War, one would think this event would finally focus on Pandora and answer lingering questions surrounding her character. While some answers were given, many were left up in the air to be solved at a later time. The Trinity of Sin were hardly featured in a title that directly referenced them.
This lack of resolution extends to the final issue. Just as everyone discovers what Pandora's Box actually is, including who the real antagonists are, readers are told to read the upcoming Forever Evil to find out what happens next. This is a cheap trick as it makes Trinity War a lead-in to an even bigger event instead of its own story with a solid beginning, middle and end. There is just no proper resolution as it rushes to prepare for the next big thing. Another aspect where Trinity War fell a bit short was the debate on the nature of evil in humanity as discussed between Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in issue two. It is a very good debate and one which seemed would be the driving force to solving the mystery of Pandora's Box, but it wasn't really mentioned again after that. This is probably because the debate on the nature of evil is going to be the main theme of Forever Evil. A positive for the series was the art. Doug Mahnke and Jeff Lemire did a great job with their respective issues, but Ivan Reis' art was the most visually stunning due to his splash pages and the attention to details on pages where heroes fought each other. It sometimes felt a little inconsistent due to their different styles, but ultimately each artist did an excellent job in telling the story. It may sound like I didn't enjoy Trinity War, but that is not the case. I enjoyed it and was surprised it didn't focus solely on heroes fighting each other for whatever reason, as with Civil War or Avengers vs. X-Men, but I did hope for a bit more. The fact it is essentially a lead-in as well doesn't sit quite right with me as I would have preferred Trinity War to focus completely on the story it was telling rather than setting up the next event. Overall it was an entertaining and sometimes thought provoking read, moving characters into interesting positions and developments. My hope is these threads will be continued in Forever Evil.