Dark Knights – Death Metal Trinity Crisis #1
DC Comics
Writers: Scott Snyder
Artists: Francis Manapul, Ian Herring
One of the most difficult tasks for any writer is deciding what scenes to include and not include in their story. For an editor (in a film for example), their job is to decide what footage makes the cut and what footage doesn’t add to the story. For a writer, this job is perhaps even more difficult. The writer must come up with all of the events in a story in their head and then decide which events make up the story. Do we add a scene showing the heroes on their way to the final fight? Do we cut the scene of the protagonist and his best friend just sitting around and talking? There are an infinite combination of scenes that could potentially make up any given story. And out of all the stories I’ve read, Death Metal has the most baffling combination of scenes.
I didn’t notice this when the story first came out. Snyder’s first big decision of how the reader views the story was to cut Perpetua’s world conquest and begin the story after the heroes already lost. This is a fairly typical away to handle the post-apocalyptic type of story. But in Dark Knights – Death Metal Guidebook #1, Snyder recaps the events leading up to Death Metal #1. Again, this isn’t strange or out of place. But the part that I couldn’t understand was why Lex Luthor just told us about the events instead of actually showing us. As a reader, we now had all of the knowledge about the events leading up to the first issue without ever seeing it. After this choice, I started to take greater notice of the events that were and weren’t included in the main book and tie-ins. Nothing made sense. The supposed main villain, Perpetua, barely existed. The Justice League created a massive rocket-mech only to discard it by the start of the next issue. And Trinity Crisis #1 only adds to this problem.
There are two problems I have with the inclusion of Trinity Crisis #1. First off, some of the information in this issue is way too important for a tie-in. Think Batman Lost #1 for Dark Knights Metal, but even more integral to the story. The issue takes place in between Death Metal issues three and four. In it, our heroes explain their plan to turn the tide against Perpetua by returning to the previous Crises. It’s a lot of information, and certainly too much to re-explain in the next issue.
But after this nine-page info-dump, the rest of the story doesn’t really matter. We watch the heroes on their way to their respective Crises. It was such a strange inclusion that takes up the majority of the issue. We simply watch the characters get to the place where the story happens. I don’t understand why this issue exists at all. The first speech is so important it should be included in the main book and the rest of the issue is so unnecessary we don’t need to read it. Outside of a skirmish with the Robin King and a pointless cameo from Barbatos, nothing of note happens here. The story doesn’t advance. Character isn’t revealed. The heroes just get to the place they need to go.
Overall, the issue itself is enjoyable, it’s just unnecessary. Trinity Crisis #1 follows in a line of strange inclusions of content. So far, Death Metal is all over the place. The story lacks focus. The writing team omits key scenes while rushing the reader between crazy punch-outs. While I love the absurd energy of Death Metal, one thing that needs to stay coherent is the plot structure.
Trinity Crisis #1
Half pointless and half integral to the main story, Trinity Crisis #1 is a bizarre tie-in. Hey, at least Francis Manapul is on art duties.
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