Welcome back! We had a slight schedule change-up, but we’re getting back on track with this double-up. Let’s get to it.
Trinity #7Newsarama: For those unhappy people that missed JLA/Avengers,
and despite the fact that you do touch on it in the second story, can
you give a bit of background on Krona and the Cosmic Egg? What’s your
take on Krona, in particular?
Kurt Busiek:Well, I don't think we just "touch on it" in the
back-chapter -- it's pretty much a dossier on who Krona is and why he
matters to this story, so I'm not sure what to add.
But beyond the factual stuff -- like Krona being an immortal Oan
scientists who wants to learn everything there is to know so he defied
his society's taboos and caused a disaster but is unrepentant and still
driven (deep breath) -- I'd say he's kind of DC's Pandora character.
Driven by curiosity, he unleashed evil, and while Pandora did so out of
thoughtless curiosity and realized her error, Krona just doesn't care
how much he wrecks in the search for more knowledge. So he's going to
keep at it until he's learned everything there is to know or he's
destroyed everything trying. Which makes him a pretty good villain.
Last we saw Krona, in JLA/Avengers, he'd just had some
major revelations about how universes worked, and been put into a
position where he could experience the birth of a universe directly.
The JLA assumed that was kind of a win-win situation (he's not a
problem any more and he'll get what he wants), but they've been keeping
an eye on him just in case.
But as things seem to be working out, he's still not happy and they
didn't have the eye on him they thought they had. And the bad guys are
playing with greater power than they're aware of. What'll come of it?
What does Krona want now (aside from "out!") and will he get it? Stay
tuned...
NRAMA: I love that the JLA has a “wolf-men” database. I also
love the Jimmy Olsen gets an entry. At this point, is there someone in
particular in charge of maintaining JLA case files? Batman? Oracle?
KB: I assume they take turns, and everyone updates the files in
turn, so Flash is going to keep the Mirror Master file updated, while
Superman's the guy who wrote up the entry on Jimmy.
And I also assume that Batman updates everything, correcting other members' entries, and annoys people doing it.
Sometimes, I figure the notes they leave behind as they update things read something like this:http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.htmlNRAMA: Speaking of Batman and case files, he demonstrates some
of his familiar detective flair by connecting the thefts, the tarot
elements, the creatures and Wonder Woman’s brand pretty quickly. Is it
difficult to apply the detective flair to Batman, in terms of giving
him a challenging case at this point in his fictional life?
KB: The trick to writing someone smarter than you is, as Mark
Waid has said, that you get to think for four days about what Brainiac
5 is going to do next, and then you have him come up with it in a
split-second. It's the same with Batman -- he often figures things out
the minute he has all the evidence, so the suspense comes in trying to
line up the evidence.
Although in this case, I'll note that Wonder Woman figures it out the
same time Batman does, and other characters are right up there with
them. He's smart, but they're no dummies either.
NRAMA: Have to ask: is the single rose in front of the dead
civilization a reference to the Dark Tower? We are talking about worlds
upon worlds and the end of all that is, after all.
KB: Fabian plotted that bit in, so he might say otherwise, but I
don't think so. It's just a way to show the cycle of things growing,
dying and renewing.
NRAMA: I liked the way that you portrayed the John Stewart/Young
Firestorm interaction. Would say that John’s a natural mentor for the
younger heroes?
KB: He probably could be. In this case, though, it's more that
Firestorm sees him that way, or at least sees him as someone to talk to
-- Firestorm's new to all this, and doesn't want to look stupid. So he
goes to one of the other black men on the team privately, rather than
say something in a group setting; it's probably easier for him to admit
he feels vulnerable to someone who's been a success as a black man in
avery high-profile situation.
Had he gone to Black Lightning, that would have likely worked too, but
Jefferson Pierce hasn't been around the League as long or had personal
experience with Krona, so it'd have wound up a drier story. And this
way, we've started off a Firestorm/GL relationship that'll lead to
stuff in later issues...
Trinity #8NRAMA: So, Despero and the Egg. Bad news, eh?
KB: Oh yeah. All the power of a gestating universe with an angry
nutball in the middle, in the hands of unscrupulous villains? It
doesn't sound good.
NRAMA: Meanwhile, at stately Wayne Manor . . .and yes, great to
see you use the words “stately Wayne Manor”. Actually, I was intrigued
by the brief scene with Dick, Tim, and the two female party-goers. Tim
in fact compares the ladies to Killer Croc. Keen detective skills
aside, are the boys just naturally skeptical of any woman that shows an
interest in Bruce, given his mission in life and the, er, frequent lack
of depth of his party companions?
KB: I think they both have the ability to read people well, so
they're not going to make blanket assumptions. But someone who just
wants to get close to Bruce because he's rich, handsome and famous --
well, they'll have seen a lot of those, and endured a lot of attention
from people who see them as nothing more than a doorway to Bruce.
NRAMA: The party scene segues into other moments with Clark and
Diana in their civilian identities. Diana’s return to “Diana Prince” is
a somewhat recent development, after many years of Wonder Woman having
no “secret identity”. How crucial is the Diana Prince construct to the
current reading of Wonder Woman?
KB: I think it's pretty interesting. Diana's spent years without
a secret identity, so she needs to adjust -- even back when she was
slinging tacos, she was still a princess first and foremost. Now she's
got a civilian ID who isn't a princess, so she's got to figure out how
that works, and for all that she said in #1, she's not as used to it as
Bruce and Clark are.
It's just one more way the characters are different, so it's fun to
explore. Of course, if she still didn't have a secret ID, that's be
another way they're different, and we'd be exploring that. But I like
her having a secret ID, and enjoy writing those scenes.
NRAMA: On the mystery of Enigma . . . he says that he has
“familiarity” with the operatives committing the robberies, he refers
to his abilities as a riddle, and his half-mask covers obvious
scarring. The things suggest connections to Batman’s Rogues Gallery in
general, and the Riddler and Two-Face in particular. You’ve also
suggested that this might be someone we already know. My first take
would be that it’s someone amalgamating the gimmicks of various
Bat-enemies, maybe even a version of the Riddler from the future. Is
that anywhere in the neighborhood of the right track?
KB: That's...hard to say. At least not without giving stuff away.
I will say that you'll know more about Enigma by the end of the first
act of this series, and learn more about him still in Act II. And the
back-chapter to #12, beautifully-drawn by Mike Norton and Karl Kesel,
stars the Riddler.
NRAMA: Out-of-left-field question . . . we just found out that
the Milestone and Archie characters will be back in the DCU. If you had
the ability to do so, given your schedule, are there any of those
characters that you might like to see run into the Trinity? Any
particular favorites among them?
KB: I wouldn't want to rope them into TRINITY, because this
series is all about how the Trinity fit into and work with the rest of
the DCU, so characters who are complete newcomers to them don't have as
much to say about that. But outside of TRINITY, it might be fun.
I'm a big fan of Static and Icon, and I like the goofy Sixties
treatment of the Mighty Crusaders way too much to be healthy. Though I
doubt DC's going to go that route, with the Web being a henpecked
husband and the Shield being a chronically-fired guy in love with the
woman at the employment agency. But I'll be very interested in what
angle they do take...
Incidentally, I'm attaching some art that DC says I can share, and here's all I'll say about it at the moment:
This is someone who turns up in #18. She's a hero, and you've seen her before. And boy, Bagley draws nice, don't he? Newsarama Note: Click the right arrow up top to see the image Kurt is talking about.
