DCU Comic Book Reviews

CHECKMATE #7

Rogue Squad, Part Two

December 2006

Written by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir

Pencils by Cliff Richards

Inks by Dan Green

Cover by Lee Bermejo & Patricia Mulvhill

Synopsis

Eleven months ago...Myanmar captured a young kid with meta-powers and then used him as an energy source for their country and for anyone willing to pay for it.  Now...a rogue squad of villains is attempting to infiltrate the power facility to rescue the boy.  Their plan, however, was foiled by the Society, who alerted the Myanmar authorities.  As the rogue squad fights their way to the boy, Punch and Javelin are both killed.  Icicle realizes that the Tattoo Man was the one who tipped off the Society.   Mirror Master freezes him into glass and the Jewelee breaks the glass into thousands of pieces, killing.  Eventually, the rogue squad retrieves the boy, but need the assistance of Rick Flagg and Tiger Mask to reach freedom.  Later, Checkmate is surprised that a team of villains executed a plan originally outlined by Amanda Waller that was not given the green light.  Michael Holt (aka Mr. Terrific) decides he is going to look into it.  Elsewhere, Waller visits Flagg and Tiger Mask and tells them they may be needed again.

Review

This was a good ending to the suicide quad story although I am guessing this may be the beginning of a larger storyline involving Amanda Waller and her bid to become White Queen.  As for the story with the suicide squad, while it was nice, it doesn’t really fit into Checkmate all that well.  Except for a brief cameo here and there, the regular cast was barely seen.  This early in the series, I am not sure this two-part story was a good idea, especially given the extremely large cast.  However, it was only two parts and at least Rucka (and I am assuming this what he wrote given his name on the credits) was able to tie some of the political intrigue to the squad’s mission. 

There were some interesting touches in this story, mostly centered around Jewelee.  While Icicle’s attempts to get her to focus on the job and on her son were nice, Jewelee’s own attempts to replace her dead partner, first with Mirror Master and then with Icicle were a little disturbing.  Since I think that was the point, I have to say it worked:  Jewelee is one disturbed woman.  Certainly the Tattoo man deserved what eh got, but she did it in such a cold manner.  And I liked the way Jewelee and Mirror Master used their combined talents to fool the guards.

I am not surprised that the Tattoo Man failed to make it out of this issue alive.  Geoff Johns in the Green Lantern book had just introduced a new version of the Tattoo Man just last year.  It doesn’t make sense to have two of them running around.  Nor does it make sense to get rid of the new guy.  Hence, Tarrant is killed.