DCU Comic Book Reviews

CHECKMATE #21

La Vie En Sang

February 2008

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Chris Samnee

Inks by Travis Lanham

Cover by Kalman Andrasofszky

Synopsis

In 1791, Mademoiselle Marie saves a family from the guillotine.  In 2007, in Bialya, 8-year-old Madeline Desmarais, the daughter of Thierry Desmarais, who is leading the relief effort in Bialya, is kidnapped.  The kidnappers demand the UN leave Bialya or they will kill her.  The UN refuses to leave, so they ask Checkmate to rescue her.  The assignment is given Josephine Tatutin (aka Mademoiselle Marie).  Ten years ago, Tautin and Thierry Desmarais were lovers, but it ended when Tautin was chosen as the next Mademoiselle Marie.  Now, Tautin must rescue her old lover’s daughter.  In 1830, the Mademoiselle Marie at the time dies to save France and protect the king.  Now, in Bialya, Tautin calls an old contact, Saleh, for the whereabouts of the kidnapped girl.  However, Saleh leads her right into a trap.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

While this is issue was fairly straight forward tale, without the usual back stabbing and double crossing usually seen in this title, it is still good.  Rucka and Trautman instead focus on fleshing out the details of one of the supporting characters.  More than that, however, the duo keep the story ground in the current state of the DC universe (Biayla after the destruction by Black Adam) while at the same time hinting at some potential shenanigans down the road with the UN involvement.  Plus, there is a romantic entanglement, which usually does not bode well for anyone in Checkmate. 

I also must give props to whomever (Rucka?) conceived of the idea of having multiple Mademoiselle Marie’s throughout the history of France.  The only Mademoiselle Marie was briefly seen in the World War II series Sgt. Rock and even then I think she was only there as the love interest.  By having a lineage throughout time, it strengthens the title and the character while not altering any of the continuity of the older stories. 

The second flashback, the one where Marie dies, appears in an odd place at an odd time.  I am not sure what it was supposed to add to the narrative, other than the fact that sometimes the current Marie will die in the line duty.  Yet, that is something that seems obvious given the tomb Sabine showed Tautin. 

Comic Connection

New White Queen Valentina Vostok (aka Negative Woman) first appeared in Showcase, issue #94 (August 1977) and was a member of Doom Patrol.  After losing her powers to the first Negative Man, Vostok became a member of the original incarnation of Checkmate.

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