DCU Comic Book Reviews

CHECKMATE #9

Pawn 502, Part Two

February 2007

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Jesus Saiz

Inks by Jesus Saiz

Cover by Jesus Saiz

Synopsis

In Detroit Michigan, the Department of Metahuman Affairs (DMA) has just arrested a Kobra cell.  However, the cell contains a undercover agent of Checkmate.  Angered at the DMA’s interference, Black Queen Sasha Bourdeaux tells DMA director Sarge Steel that they will help Checkmate retrieve their agent and put him back into play.  At the Checkmate castle, White King Michael Holt (aka Mr. Terrific picks his new bishop, The Thinker.  Meanwhile, Sasha informs the undercover agent (Pawn 502) of the plan to get him out of jail and back into the good graces of Kobra.  Later, Black Bishop Jessica Midnight visits the Oblivion Bar to deputize the members of Shadowpact.  The next, during a prison transfer, Pawn 502 escapes, killing several Checkmate officers, all of whom were illusions created by Shadowpact.  As Sasha tells Enchantress their help will be need to a bit longer, Emmet Brown, a participant of Luthor’s Everyman project who can turn invisible, listens to the conversation and learns of the undercover agent. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“...calling you Mister Terrific seems too formal and Mister T, well, that’s absurd...”

Overall, this issue has a lot of what makes Checkmate work so well, but I found that I liked this issue a lot more than some of the previous issues.   It may just be because I happen to read Shadowpact, I liked how the magical team was worked into Sasha’s plan.  Then I wondered why Sasha just didn’t have Shadowpact try to find the invisible guy, which would solve a lot of problems.  Unless of course part of the plan is to allow the invisible guy to overhear what is going on for a larger sting operation.  And this is why I like this title so much; there is so much going on with the main plot (getting a mole inside Kobra) combined with a whole lot of intra- and inter-agency bickering (Sasha and Sarge getting into that verbal spat was great), that the twists and turns are not always predictable.  Like the role of the Thinker as Terrific’s new Bishop.  Reading that scene, it was a “holy cow” moment, first for the sheer surprise and second for being such a brilliant choice.  Who does one of the most intelligent men on Earth pick to be his analyst?  A thinking, living computer.  You just gotta love it. 

When Sasha told Pawn 502 that he would have to kill several guards to make the escape look plausible, I thought Rucka had goofed since the previous issue had a point to show Pawn 502 not killing anyone.  The role of Shadowpact, of course, explained the “killings.”  Otherwise, Sasha’s request for him to kill their own team seemed to be a big contradiction to the characterization in the first issue of this arc.