Is It Good? Trillium #7 Review

With only this one and one other issue left, what does Jeff Lemire have in store for us with his sci-fi epic Trillium? Is it good?

Trillium #7 (Vertigo Comics)

William and Nika have returned to the sites of the temples, but have found them to be destroyed and in ruins. Both start shifting through the rumble, looking for some sort of answer. Nika finds it though and it’s quite surprising.

Quick! Get high on this so we can start communicating with each other!

Trillium #7 is definitely promising something big happening in the final issue, since this was mostly all setup and moving the characters to their right spots. We learn a few things (like the secret behind the temples), but we still do not know everything and we even get some new mysteries (which pretty much spawn from figuring out the secret to the temples). There is a lot here in the story department and it does leave you wondering if the mini-series will be able to wrap up everything in the next issue.

Otherwise, there is not much to this issue ultimately other than just setting up for the finale. We get some character moments that are nice, like with William and his brother, and the dialogue isn’t bad either. Trillium #7 features some good scenes and things do feel like they are moving along, but there’s just not much else to it otherwise and it can feel a bit empty in some areas. Also, we are seven issues into an eight issue mini-series and I still have to say that the romance between William and Nika is pretty weak. I can see them being friends for sure, but there’s just not enough here or throughout this series so far that would strongly suggest romantic interest.

I have no idea what this ultimately implies, but I hope it makes sense in the end.

Lemire’s artwork is probably the strongest point of the issue. The layouts he uses are similar to the previous issue’s, where one page of the story is the right side up while the next page is upside down. However, about halfway through, the upside down pages disappear, which ultimately makes sense in the context of the story. The visuals are interesting as usual, but not as creative as they’ve been in the past. Does make you wonder what it’ll be like to read this series in a trade format, though.

The rest of the issue looks fine as well. There are different styles of coloring (flat for the past and the future with water colors), though I think Lemire missed out on a great idea with combining the two styles for the big scene in the middle since it’s an area where both the past and future are linked together. The characters are still well drawn and very expressive, the locations are gorgeous looking (again, that big scene in the middle looks great), and the story flows well from panel to panel. It looks great overall.

I told you Billy, you got keep updating to the next model every month; otherwise you get this buggy AI!

Is It Good?

Trillium #7 feels like the calm before the storm. Something big is about to go down and it’ll be shocking, but before then, it needs to take its time to setup and prepare for it. As such, this issue is not very exciting and leaves you questioning whether or not the book will be able to deliver on the ending with so little time left. I have hope for the finale of this mini-series, but it’s going to have to step it up next issue for sure.