Trinity - Daughter of Wonder Woman #2 // Review
A girl wearing exotic armor is looking for a corgi wearing a cape in a mask. In an alley. In Gotham City. In the middle of the night. That’s when she runs into Robin, the Boy Wonder. She just might have.a crush on him. Which is a bit of a problem since this is 1988. That Robin is Jason Todd and this is a brief encounter before he goes off to look for his parents in the Middle East. Things are quite complicated in Trinity - Daughter of Wonder Woman #2. Writer Tom King envisions a fun, little rom-com excursion for the doomed Jason Todd right before A Death in the Family. Artist Belén Ortega and colorist Alejandro Sánchez bring the action to the page with heart and wit.
She’s trying not to laugh. Robin’s costume does look rather silly, but she’s got to be serious about the situation because she needs to find a corgi and the fate of the universe is hanging in the balance. (It’s a long story.) Anyway...she’s totally not attracted to Jason Todd. He looks silly in the costume and he takes himself way too seriously. And he’s way too confident. Buy y’know...he IS helping her out and she IS trying not to tell him how he’s going to die, so..y’know...what’s the worst that could happen?
Trinity’s time travel adventure continues to be a lot of fun. King delivers a clever bit of romantic comedy that breaks a few rules and still manages to find quite a bit of appeal in and around the edges of some particularly dark comedy. There are some overwhelmingly sweet moments in a bittersweet, little corner of DC Universe history. That sweet, little space between the issues of major events can be a fun playground for contemporary retro comics.
Ortega’s passion for manga shows-through as she delivers the awkwardness of a couple of superhero kids clandestinely hanging out together. The nuance of the romance feels particularly well-rendered by Ortega, who also manages some sharply witty comic moments. There are more sweeping ends of the romance as well and Ortega is remarkably clever with them as well. Ortega’s work feels like fresh genius in various places, which is. great. Sánchez’s colors bring that genius to a whole other level. All too often Gotham City can look a bit too...clean on the page. Sánchez delivers the grit, dirt and refuse of Gotham City with great detail in an issue that also features some beautifully added depth to the faces of the two romantic leads.
Once again--Robert Kanigher’s early 1960s idea of having Wonder Woman hang-out with two other versions of herself finds much more sophisticated life in the hands of King. There’s SO MUCH clever potential in a woman hanging out with two other versions of heself from the past. Kanigher’s work never really lived-up to the potential of it as it is mixed-up in the complexities of time travel in the DC Universe. King and company find a cozy space in 1988 to explore a tender moment before a major event. Those last two panels are positively heartbreaking.
