Review: John Byrne’s Trio

Posted on 2:00 pm, 28th August 2012 by Clarence | Email the author

The Trio

Written and drawn by John Byrne. Colored by Ronda Pattison.

Come for the art, but there’s little else to stay for. Two hooves out of four (limited recommendation for fans of Byrne or Silver/Bronze Age comics).

Review of issues #1 through #4 with preview pages below.

Three superheroes, dubbed “Paper,” “Rock,” and “Scissors” by the media but call themselves One, Two, and, Three, face off against threats that are demolishing their West Coast City. They, however, are almost useless throughout the battle to save their city. There’s no time to care about why they’re given powers and why they’re a government team.

Also, Byrne stacks the odds against the heroes in the first three issues. You liked seeing Leviathan and the frightening, kidnapping mer-people in the issue #1? Here, his awesome master and sea lord Nautilus will give Trio a hard time in issue #2. By the way, we won’t see the mer-people again until issue #4.

Wait! Another behemoth emerges from a enormous black ship that’s sucking the water out of as many planets as he can. Only Nautilus and his Leviathan can handle him. Oh, no! Here’s a spooky figure arising from an alternate-universe Nazi Germany making his presence known in the ruins. How can these guys be stopped?

I don’t know, but Byrne’s art is impressive. Some of the art would be worthy of framing on the wall if a poster-size version exists. The character designs of the superheroes and supervillains are cool. It’s too bad they all had to be rushed in four issues. The visuals are a welcome throwback to the Silver/Bronze age stuff I liked when I was little.

But Byrne’s drawings don’t make up for the lack of story resolution and achievement from Trio. Their liabilities aren’t convincing. Why would Rock want to remain part of a government-sponsored superhero team if he can’t hold his stony form for long periods of time? Scissors’ blades are useless against the mega-threats he faces. Thin and stretchy Paper isn’t very durable in battle.

Even the violent dismissal of an important character didn’t make me want to see more Trio. Byrne throws readers a bone with impressive-looking battles, but the meat around it is undercooked and unsatisfying.