COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Checkmate #4 (DC Comics)

In my review of Checkmate #1-3, I covered my initial and, somewhat underwhelmed, impression with the caveat that I should wait until the story arc was completed before making a summary judgment on the merits of the series. After reading Checkmate #4, I was correct to include that out for myself and wrong to be so cynical of the first three parts.

Checkmate #4 is fast and furious fun. It balances the geo-political reality that Checkmate navigates and pure superhero fun quite masterfully. Checkmate’s excursion into China and the match-up with the Chinese meta-humans works so well if only because of the forceful personalities of these newly introduced super-powered bunch. Greg Rucka handles the interaction between Checkmate’s expressed (and covert) duties and the Chinese’s responsibilities to country with superb fluency. This could have quickly played like a hackneyed cold-war era confrontation. Instead, with a few detours, we see shared respect and mutual admiration between the factions. The Chinese heroes also have fun names like Physician, a stately and sage looking man, and The August General in Iron, an imposing, hulking figure donned in an iron shell. The artwork of Jesus Saiz creates a beautiful tableau for all these characters to act on. And the devil is in the details: the Physician’s hands nobly behind his back during his confrontation with the dubious Count Vertigo; a glean in the eye of Black Queen Sasha Bordeaux during her conversation with the Celestial Archer. We see and hear the fullness of these persons through the words and art.

Perhaps, the only slight level of disappointment that remains is Green Lantern’s naivety. Is he this noble? And if he is, why can’t he work some political finesse into it? He overplayed his hand it seemed when he didn’t need to. Couldn’t he bring about the same resolution to the problem without letting White Queens Amanda Waller in on what he wished to achieve? But one bright spot is the newfound comradely respect between Alan and Sasha. That’s an important collusion for the health of Checkmate.

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Checkmate #1-3 (DC Comics)

The bulk of my comic reading was done between, say, 1985 and 1995: ten strong years of Marvel, DC, and plenty of crappy Independents (this was, remember, during the B&W explosion). I tailed off since that time, buying the odd Vertigo title, and, perhaps, a trade paper back collection of Miller or Moore or Gaiman’s latest. Rare is the new monthly series that compels me to purchase.

I remember the original Checkmate vaguely. I remember enjoying it. It had an alluring mix of international spy story and superhero goofiness. In other words, I had hoped it would use superheroes in espionage stories and not vice versa. Mostly, though, it was vice versa: the broad strokes of the waning years of cold war reality laid the groundwork for broad international intrigue with entertaining results. I should invade my parent’s basement and dust off those old issues and see if they hold up to the above description as I’m hard pressed to recall even one plot point of the series. In the meantime, there’s a new Checkmate series written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Jesus Saiz. I’ve read a few of Rucka’s Queen and Country TPBs and enjoyed them immensely (I’ve not yet waded into his novels). Based on my memories of the old Checkmate and my admiration for Q&C, I looked forward to Rucka’s Checkmate. So far, after three issues, the result has been middling.

Let me begin by saying that the “From the Pages of Infinite Crisis” blurb on the cover of #1 made me nervous. I know nothing of the current DC universe. I don’t read any current comics. In fact, it was the absurd and poorly conceived crossover “events” every year that led to the curbing of my comic reading in the mid-90s. Fortunately, no storylines elsewhere in the DC Universe interfered with the first three installments of the premiere Checkmate story arc, “The Game of Kings.”

In a nutshell, Checkmate is an arm of the United Nations. Their UN charter renewal is blocked by China. Checkmate now has a week before it closes up shop. So, they need to 1) find out why China opposes their existence and 2) convince/blackmail China to allow another vote on the charter resolution so that Checkmate is not disbanded. There’s also a group of bad guys called Kobra that may or may not have some influence on China’s decision. A higher-up of Checkmate is also Chinese and his patriotism may outweigh his allegiance to Checkmate. And the Chinese may or may not be wary of the American influence in the top echelon of Checkmate – a worry that seems not without merit to others inside of Checkmate.

An interesting aspect of Checkmate’s charter is that for every super-powered member of Checkmate there must a non-powered member. There’s also clever use of chess jargon (keep in mind I know little of chess. What’s clever for a chess novice – and here I’m being charitable with myself - may be viewed as pedestrian by a seasoned player). We have White King, White Queen, White King’s Bishop, White Queen’s Bishop and so on. The corresponding Black counterparts exist as well. The White squad deals with the politics. The Black squad deals with the tactical operations and field maneuvers. There’s some nice play between the White King, Alan Scott (Green Lantern) and the Black Queen, Sasha Bordeaux. Scott doesn’t like Bordeaux’s body count on missions. Apparently, he’s laboring under the misapprehension that everyone is in possession of a green ring that can foil people without killing them. (In issue 3, Kobra also sends an assassin after Scott wielding nothing more than a stake dipped in poison. Kobra doesn’t have better ways to deal with a Green Lantern? And yet they’re the main organized threat to Checkmate?)

Perhaps, it’s unfair to call the story average in the middle of its first story arc, but for all that is described above, there’s no real gripping storyline yet: Checkmate v. Kobra: not really fleshed out yet; Checkmate v. UN: so far, it’s convoluted and boring; Checkmate inter-squabbling: predictable. Hopefully, once the story progresses the twists and turns will prove to not be convoluted or predictable. I’ll stick with it until the conclusion of this first arc and decide whether this series is a keeper or not.