Rating: 2/5 – An uninspired origin story
Trinity of Sin: Pandora is the prequel story to this summer’s DC Universe crossover, Trinity War. It goes into the history of the Pandora character who first appeared when the New 52 was launched. From hidden cameos in all of the initial 52 #1 issues of the New 52, to brief appearances in the Justice League book, Pandora’s role and purpose in the DC Universe up till now has been a mystery. This book goes a long way in explaining her purpose, motivations and role she’ll play in the coming crossover between the Justice League books.
Although we finally get to see where Pandora comes from, the reveal was unfortunately not worth the wait and makes her character now seem much less compelling. Writer Ray Fawkes takes us on a thousand year journey from the moment that Pandora’s box is open, until present day where she’s appearing next to modern day heroes. It’s meant to be an “epic” tale, but it doesn’t deliver. Fawkes tries throughout the story to make us feel bad for Pandora, but because of a lack of set up and exploring of Pandora as a character before she opens the box, you end up not really caring. And the manner in which she opens the box..well that’s the biggest let down of the book. It happens in one page and couldn’t be more anti-climatic. Now that the mystery behind Pandora’s character is gone, it’ll be a tough challenge to make her interesting again.
In regards to the art, it’s a bit mixed. Three different artists work on the book. Fortunately the majority of the art is well done with layouts by Zander Cannon and penciled by Daniel Sampre. But there was also 8 pages of art done by Patrick Zircher in the middle of the book that gave it a different tone for each part of Pandora’s history. It all works, but because of the different art styles involved, the overall look isn’t as consistent as it could be. The intention of different styles for different time periods didn’t add to the overall enjoyment of the issue.
Overall what should have been an important book to the upcoming Trinity War storyline, as well to the DC Universe as a whole, turns out to be an insignificant book with an uninspired origin. I still have hope that the Trinity War crossover will deliver, but not because of Pandora and this prequel story.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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