Trinity: A Graphic History of The First Atomic Bomb is a graphic novel by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm that presents the history of the project that led to the development of the first atomic bomb in history. An artefact that changed the history of the world after its use in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, shaping the the modern world as we know it. It's a story not only about the events that surrounded one of the biggest scientific achievements of the twentieth century, but about the people who worked day and night to meet the deadline and finally end the war. Oppenheimer and a team of well renowned, some nobel-winning, scientists pursued their passion for physics and science building what Oppenheimer believed was the ultimate power men could ever have in their hands. He studied the concepts and worked long hours around harsh radioactive chemicals to construct what for him represented the beauty of scientific achievement, never to imagine the magnitude of the damage and the loss of human life it would bring on people miles away in the island of Japan.
Fetter presents the illustrations and its transitions with a very movie oriented style. It's easy to follow the action and the events that lay in the white spaces between each box while Fetter plays with time and space. One of the strategies that are prominent throughout is the use of flash back and fast forward due to the amount of time the novel has to cover. It also juxtaposes several actions in the same time frame focusing on the reactions of different peoples to the same event. It's a very interesting play with chronology that adds emphasis to a specific event. In this case the characters surround the site of the first successful test of the bomb in Los Alamos. The moment that changed it all.
In this moment Fetter also brings intensity to the explosion by isolating the bomb from its surroundings while juxtaposing the darkness in the pages to the lone tower in the distance. It gives the effect of immensity in contrast to the small bomb. As soon as the bomb explodes the contrast becomes even more crucial to the effect. The brightness is accentuated and the immensity of the desert dissipates as the power of the bomb takes over the frame. Its power and light reach out from the page to touch you as the words add to the effect of catharsis. Its a magical object of endless power. Its beautiful. "It was not yet a bomb".
