Trinity #45 on sale now

"No honor! No honor!" - XorWelcome to TRINGENUITY, CBR's ongoing commentary of DC Comics' weekly superhero series, "Trinity." The title is divided into two features; the first focuses on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, while the second feature portrays background or tangential events that relate to the ongoing lead storyline. "Trinity" is a weekly series that is promised to be epic in scale and help define the trio of heroes' mythical place in the DC Universe.PREVIOUSLYDeep within Castle Branek, Morgaine's Dreambound were present as Despero, Kanjar-Ro, and the Crime Syndicate burst onto the scene. Rather than full-scale battle, Morgaine convinced the invaders that they could all share power. Enigma, faced with the enemies that had killed his family, nearly came to blows with the Syndicate. Morgaine offered the Anti-Trinity -- the power currently held by Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman -- an idea that appealed to the villains. As the feature ended, Enigma and Xor left the castle and the Dreambound followed suit.Confronting the Trinity, the Companions (made up of Trinity, Nemesis, Donna Troy, Supergirl, Lois Lane, Alfred Pennyworth and Nightwing, along with Tomorrow Woman) tried to reach out to the godlike heroes. As they tried to find a way to reassert the humanity now gone dormant within Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the Trinity shunned the Companions, positing that, in their absence, much damage had been done, but now they had access to power that could fix everything. As such, why should the heroes give that up for the sake of mortals?TRINITY #45 The feature opens with the Crime Syndicate enacting Morgaine's plan to steal the power from the Trinity. It doesn't go according to plan, as the Anti-Trinity are quickly defeated by the godlike heroes. The Syndicate, now beaten, is approached by Enigma, who uses SPHERE to banish the villains back to Anti-Earth. Despero and Morgaine witness Enigma's revenge and plot another means of attack: Tarot. Morgaine demands that Tarot supply the answer to her salvation, but the girl refuses, telling Morgaine the power is "close." Morgaine and Enigma argue as the walls of the castle are breached by the Trinity. Morgaine realizes the source of their power and transports Despero and the Troika to the moon, where Krona awaits.Meeting with the godlike being that is Krona, Morgaine offers a deal - The Worldsoul, the cosmic awareness of the planet that Krona seeks, in exchange for the world itself, even though this would mean the planet's assured destruction. However, Krona offers to replace the Worldsoul with another entity, this being the soul of Enigma's daughter, locked away within SPHERE. Morgaine agrees, sending Enigma and Xor into a fury over the deal. Morgaine and Despero battle Xor and Enigma as Enigma desperately tires to convince SPHERE to run away. Instead, SPHERE saves her father and her friend, teleporting them away, but leaving herself to be captured by Krona. COMMENTARYJustin Eger: A demon incursion is but the buzzing of flies to the Trinity. Brian Eason: The cosmic power of the Trinity seems unstoppable. JE: Backed by the combined might of the JSA and the JLA, that's a fair assessment. BE: The other heroes were almost a footnote in this story.JE: Heck, the Trinity was pretty much a footnote for this issue. It's all about the villains.BE: After all the recent focus on the Trinity, I guess the Troika needed stage time. JE: Leave it to Despero to trash-talk his own allies. BE: With Morgaine and Despero, there's a lot of that going around. Not a lot of humility in the room. JE: And neither has yet to live up to the others expectations. I've been curious about this confrontation: the CSA versus a highly-powerful Trinity.BE: They strike first and with surprise.

The Crime Syndicate strikes!

JE: Always confident, the Crime Syndicate's leaders seem to be ready for the godlike heroes. BE: Yes, but really, they're not so successful. The Trinity is composed of gods.JE: Again, I seem to hear more flies buzzing around the Trinity. A quick display of power and it's all over for the villains. BE: Leaving the Syndicate to... JE: Enigma, who picks the perfect opportunity to step in and confront the CSA.BE: And, showing that he's not all bad, Enigma just sends the Syndicate home.

Enigma confronts the CSA

JE: While Enigma isn't as much a villain, per se, as the rest of Morgaine's crew, he's learned his lessons well.BE: Enigma is the smartest man in the room here. He knows that if the Trinity (even the Anti-Trinity) ceases to exist, there are problems. JE: Absolutely. There could be a lot of damage being done to his home without the CSA's presence. At least until he finds a way to set things in a more orderly fashion.BE: With the balance being restored to our Universe, I can only imagine that the CSA are becoming more powerful back home. JE: There's a scary thought, especially for someone like Enigma. However, I did note something interesting here: Enigma, as he teleports the CSA back to the Anti-Matter Earth, says that he plans on leaving them there until he gets a chance to deal with him. Interesting in light of our closing pages this issue.BE: He's still empowered on a par with the Trinity, so let's see what he can do with it. JE: How often do you see villains sacrificing the plan for the sake of one-upping their "teammates?"BE: The Troika has been divided since day one. They all have an agenda. JE: And only Morgaine is the truly villainous one, in my opinion. BE: And insane, let's not forget insane. JE: Well, I suppose that's a given, yes. Again, Despero wonders what he's gotten himself into. Personally, I never took him for that deep of a thinker.BE: Before he got huge and buff, Despero was a skinny little guy and a brilliant tactician, and he's probably sick of dealing with idiots. JE: There are plenty of those to go around in the forces of darkness. Talking to Tarot reveals the final player in our drama.BE: Morgaine finally figures out where the source of her power lies, with Krona. JE: A smooth shift from lead story to second feature, this.BE: Straight to the moon, with Krona.

To the moon

JE: Sweet heaven, Morgaine is willing to cut a deal with just about anyone. BE: Morgaine's "plans" have been deal-making and desperate guesses all along. I'm not surprised she wants a deal with Krona. JE: But, though it all, you can almost see her planning a double-cross. She's put so many of them into play already.BE: So far, all of their plans have failed spectacularly, so I'm sure she'll keep up that fine tradition.JE: Amazing. She's willing to give up the soul of the planet to win, even though it would toast the whole world.BE: I was waiting to see when the "Worldsoul" was revealed to be a "planetary consciousness." JE: And there you have it. Not surprising, really, and a nice way to tie it all together here in the home stretch.BE: With the central attention focused again on Krona, who started the whole mess back in issue #1.JE: Him and that bloody cosmic egg. Leave it to Krona to find a suitable replacement. BE: Replacing the Worldsoul with the soul of Enigma's daughter.

A bad bargain is made

JE: Enigma reacts appropriately, I would think, and he's got some unexpectedly vocal backup to help him out. BE: Yes, Xor has had enough of Morgaine's dishonorable dealings and, surprisingly, says so.JE: I wonder if it was the power he's been granted or the situation that helped him overcome his enforced inability to speak.BE: Or perhaps his will alone. He has will in spades. JE: That he does. He's quite a mighty character and, I hope, someone that will stick around after the series concludes. SPHERE clears out the room, but gets herself caught. BE: By Krona, no less. JE: She's got the sense of self-sacrifice and heroism down pat, just like her mildly misguided father. BE: As we've pointed out before, SPHERE has remembered and maintained the heroism that her father has sacrificed for what he believes is the greater good. JE: In looking at our last few pages, we have some serious developments, the first of which is the creation of a new trinity.

A new trio takes power

BE: Morgaine, Krona, and Despero. JE: This could get ugly very quickly.BE: Krona alone is a problem, these three together are dynamite. JE: It's probably a good thing that the Trinity didn't hand over their godhood quite yet. Secondly, Xor gets dumped in the middle of nowhere.BE: That should slow him down, for a few seconds. JE: Looks like the arctic, which he visited when he first came to the planet. Finally, Enigma ends up in the worst place imaginable.BE: Anti-Earth. JE: Where it seems very little has changed, and despite the absence of the CSA's leaders, people are no less vile.BE: As a reflection of our world, I'm not surprised. JE: At least it looks like he still has some power. BE: Xor and Enigma definitely still have their power, but will it be enough?JE: In this instance, I wonder how long it all will last, now that Morgaine is cutting a deal to share that power with Despero.BE: Or if Xor and Enigma will join the side of the angels?JE: If nothing else, I'd like to see Enigma get his revenge on the CSA, though that might sound a tad bloodthirsty.BE: In that we are in perfect agreement.