'Trinity War' breaks out amid a trio of Justice Leagues

Brian Truitt, USA TODAY | USATODAY

Two's company, but three Justice Leagues are an explosive crowd.

This summer, DC Comics' signature supergroups enter into a combustible situation when a hero's death causes sparks to fly — and not in a good way — among the three teams in the crossover event "Trinity War," which runs six issues over three different Justice League comic books in July and August.

The action starts in issue 22 of Justice League, the title by writer Geoff Johns and artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado and featuring A-list heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash.

For "Trinity War," Johns and Jeff Lemire are co-writing Justice League of America (with art by Doug Mahnke), starring Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Catwoman and others as part of a government-sponsored outfit to hunt down the Secret Society of Supervillains but also take out the Justice League if the need arises.

Lemire also pens the third comic in the crossover, Justice League Dark (with artist Mikel Janin), which features a motley crew of DC Comics' more interesting supernatural types, including the ghostly Deadman, magician Zatanna and their con-man leader, John Constantine. (Movie fans may recognize him as the guy played by Keanu Reeves in the 2005 film Constantine.)

"We really want to find and carve out the Justice League corner of the DC Universe," Johns says. "It is a universe all itself with these three teams, and it feels big enough to be worthy of a Justice League story."

The crossover is also the first time many of these superheroes will have met since DC Comics' relaunch of its entire superhero line in the fall of 2011.

"It's going to be really interesting when these characters do come together, because some of them haven't met, some of them have, and what happens and unfolds in this is going to force them to choose sides," Johns adds.

"Trinity War" is a big deal for the heroes within but also for DC as a publisher, since the Justice League books are among the most popular in the industry. ccording to Diamond Comics Distributors, the first issue of Justice League of America was the best-selling comic book in February, and both it and Justice League have been mainstays in the top 10 comics of the past two months.

"The cool thing about Justice League is if you're a DC fan but you're on a budget and you know you can't buy Green Lantern's book and Wonder Woman's book and Batman's book, it is the one place you can get the best of what DC has to offer," says Jermaine Exum, adding that readers of all types — from kids to hard-core geeks — pick up the title at his Acme Comics store in Greensboro, N.C.

Johns promises some heavyweight battles in "Trinity War" but also a lot of character-driven personal drama that both he and Lemire have been seeding in their titles. For example, Superman and Wonder Woman began a romantic relationship that isn't pleasing everybody — including Steve Trevor, the field leader of the JLA who also is Wonder Woman's ex.

There's also some ongoing tension between Zatanna and Constantine, Lemire says, as well as someone trying to undermine the Justice League from within, as Cyborg discovered in a recent issue.

Johns calls "Trinity War" at its core an "action mystery," and part of that is the involvement of the Trinity of Sin, three characters — Pandora, Phantom Stranger and the Question — who were slapped with eternal punishment centuries ago by a secret circle of wizards but play important roles for each of the three Justice League squads.

While the Question is still a question mark in the DC Universe and a "bit of a wild card," Lemire says, comic fans have begun to learn about the Phantom Stranger in his own title, and Pandora gets her own series a month before "Trinity War" starts.

Pandora witnessed the rebirth of the DC Universe in Johns' Flashpoint series, and she and the mysterious box she opened eons ago are central to the story of "Trinity War."

"She's an enigma, completely," Johns says. "In a lot of ways, she's been a pawn for most of her existence. She was tricked into using the box and she's being tricked into doing something now, in a way. The Justice League, that becomes another part of it."

While Superman, Batman and Green Arrow get plenty of screen time, "Trinity War" puts a lot of new and breakout characters on a big stage, including Shazam ("He's got no allegiance to anybody," Johns says, "and you'll see him come into conflict with Superman in a very big way"), new Justice Leaguers the Atom and Element Woman (who are both updated female versions of classic DC characters) and Dark team member Frankenstein, a sword-wielding, secret-agent take on the old horror monster.

"Frankenstein is my favorite," Lemire says. "Getting to see him interact with the larger DC Universe during this event is going to be a lot of fun."

The central mystery, conflicts between the teams and assorted plot points of "Trinity War" are all part of one big impending danger that is approaching the DC Universe, says Johns.

"It's not going to end wrapped up in a bow," he says. "Something really, really major happens that kicks off some pretty crazy stuff at the end of August."