DCU Comic Book Reviews

CHECKMATE #22

La Vie En Sang, Part Deux

March 2008

Written by Greg Rucka

Pencils by Chris Samnee

Inks by Travis Lanham

Cover by Kalman Andrasofszky

Synopsis

In 1944, the German soldiers kill Mademoiselle Marie.  that night, the commanding officer is killed by the new Mademoiselle Marie.   Present day...Saleh pretends to lead Josephine Tautin (aka Mademoiselle Marie) to the location of 8-year-old Madeline Desmarais, who has been kidnapped in effort to get the UN to withdraw from Bialya.  He springs his trap for her, but she effectively counters and is able to get the location from him.  At Checkmate Castle, the new White Queen introduces her new knight:  Captain Maks Chazov (aka Red Rocket 1).  Meanwhile, Tautin arrives at the refugee camp where the girl is being kept.  She is able to free the girl, but not before killing a number of people.  Nine year ago...Tautin rejects Thierry Desmarais offer for marriage in order to become Mademoiselle Marie.  Present day...Tautin returns Thierry’s daughter to him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This issue gave me a feeling of deja vu.  As I reading this issue, I though there were a lot similarities between Tautin and Tara Chace.  I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later, especially given the similarities in the basic storytelling engine between this book and Rucka’s creator-owned Queen and Country.  The problem, I think, is that as a fan of both of these books, I was annoyed reading the actions of a character that are eerily similar to what I would expect from another character in an entirely different book (and universe, for that matter).  If the writer wasn’t the same person, I would chalk it up to coincidence or perhaps even homage, but Rucka is the writer for both.  As a result, I get the feeling that Rucka is writing less about an individual person and more about a type of individual. 

Having said that, however, I did enjoy the basic plot for the story and I really like what Rucka has done with the role of Mademoiselle Marie.  He manages to work it into the DC universe with surprising ease.  I also loved the ending and Sasha’s “reprimand” of her actions.  Finally, it was great to see the rest of Checkmate filled in after the fall of the wall.  It is a great background story that Rucka adds to the book without having it overshadow the main plot.  In fact, the new selections to Checkmate seem like an afterthought more than anything else, which shows just how much things go even as other things go on.  It also gives us a chance to get to know these characters before they start to scheme and plot, like all Checkmate characters are prone to do. 

Comic Connection

The new White Queen’s Bishop is Zviad Baazovi (aka Bad Samaritan), who first appeared in the first volume of Batman and the Outsiders, issue #3

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