A trinity of trinities! Zatanna, John Constantine and Deadman have been called to help Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman with a possessed Red Hood, and when possessed Bizarro and Artemis show up too, there are more than enough darker contrasts to our main cast in this issue. Come and see how ‘Dark Destiny’ manages to juggle all these characters, but notice that there are some spoilers in this review.
Written by Rob WilliamsCover by Clay Mann
Pencilled by V Ken Marion
Inked by Ray McCarthy
Coloured by Dinei Ribeiro
Lettered by Josh Reed“DARK DESTINY” part one! Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman must turn to the mystic trinity of Dead Man, Zatanna and John Constantine when Red Hood, Artemis and Bizarro are sacrificed into the depths of the Pandora Pits by Circe and Ra’s al Ghul.
While it’s exciting to see all of them interact, the problem with having all these trinities in the same comic is that the titular trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman doesn’t have much to do in this issue. Then again, this is still setup for the ‘Dark Destiny’ arc, so it’s understandable that a lot of elements are being brought in and the time for them to shine will hopefully come later in the story.
Red Hood being possessed seems to serve as a plot device to make him want to finish Batman off again, now that their relationship has become less antagonistic in the last five years or so. When Jason stopped trying to kill Bruce after his initial emergence as Red Hood, there seemed to be a bit of a confusion about what to do with his character before giving him his own Outlaws team. In this story arc writer Rob Williams goes back to the tried-and-true setup of Jason trying to kill his past mentor, even if it’s only temporary and (somewhat?) involuntary.
Out of the many full-face mask designs in superhero comics that behave in ways they quite couldn’t in the real world, Red Hood’s helmet having a mouth that can be opened is a strong contender for the one that makes the least sense. It’s a different thing to make a full-face mask have expressions, but what was originally just a helmet with eye slits being depicted as having full lips even when it’s off Red Hood’s head is just off-putting to see. “Trinity” #12 takes this concern to a whole new level.
What I mean by that is that Red Hood has a mouth with huge fangs which Superman grotesquely stretches wide enough that a man could fit inside and reveals… a staircase down his throat. Then John Constantine steps inside the mouth to rescue Deadman and Zatanna who already had been sucked inside. These are definitely some very weird pages for a standard DC title, but it’s also kind of amusing to see cartoon-like physics mixed with dangerous demonic forces.
The little demons at the beginning of the book don’t really look threatening but have that nice classic demon look. The red-eyed Jason Todd does look creepy with his giant teeth and claws, especially on the last page. The art is readable at all times and mostly looks nice but there are a couple of wonky-shaped faces too. Dinei Ribero’s colouring is shiny without going overboard with it. The colour scheme is dominated by red: characters, fonts and entire scenes have a blood-red hue, which fits a story about bloodthirsty supernatural beings. The layouts fit a story dealing with dangerous mystic powers. When Red Hood’s eyes and mouth start shooting out the demonic force, the panels are tilted the same way as the blast and the panel borders get even wonkier as the issue goes on.
Some of Constantine’s remarks feel a bit tired or overly sleazy, but some work better and bring in humour to contrast the grave mood of the rest of the characters. He gets to shine in this issue since most of the other characters either aren’t in control of themselves or don’t get to do much. Deadman and Zatanna are only really there for the beginning of the issue before disappearing inside Red Hood. The character interactions and dialogue mostly work well with the rather short time they are given.
After a slower start the issue gears up more, but then a flashback about the Outlaws meeting the villains of the story and getting possessed by the forces of the mystical Pandora Pits halts the action. This flashback could have been placed at a different point of the book. Now it feels to be in the wrong place since after the flashback the main story resumes only for one page before the issue ends and it feels clunky.
Final verdict: 6.0 You can give this issue a shot if you like the more mystical aspects of the DC universe, but don’t expect anything too great.
