DCU Comic Book Reviews

CHECKMATE #25

Castling, Part 3

June 2008

Written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann

Pencils by Joe Bennett

Inks by Jack Jadson

Cover by Kalman Andrasofszky

Synopsis

When the mission to infiltrate a private medical center controlled Kobra goes horribly wrong, the royals of Checkmate send in the rooks, four agents who use alien DNA to link telepathically together so that they can act as one. Elsewhere, Batman approaches Black Queen Sasha Bourdeaux expressing his concerns over the clinic.  Sasha tells him they have it under control.   The rooks infiltrate the center, defeat the Kobra guards, and eventually find a dozen genetically-altered infants, designed by Kobra to destroy creation.  The rooks know what they must do.  Later, Batman tells Sasha he knows what Checkmate did.  Sasha is unconcerned; she knows Batman won’t tell anyone of her plan:  to raise the infants and give them a fresh start.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Outstanding.  The culmination of not only this particular story, but also for Rucka’s run on the entire series, ends on just the right note.  The very first issue of this book began with Kobra reasserting their power and ended with Sasha taking the long view in finding a way to defeat Kobra.  The series began with Checkmate on shaky ground and trying to find its way within the UN to leading the fight against Kobra and gaining some measure of respect from the heroes.  It began with a storyline about the White King (Green Lantern in case you forgot) and ended it with the rooks finishing off Kobra.  In between, Rucka laid the groundwork for Checkmate, not only in terms of the characters and their roles within the organization, but also how those roles interact with each other.  It is a good foundation and hopefully the new writer will be able to build on that foundation and keep the quality on its usual high level.

The rooks were wonderful additions to the book.  One of the things about chess is that rooks (the ones on the back row, in the corner) are more powerful pieces than bishops or knights, usually reserved either as a defensive move (the castling move to protect the king) or at the end to decisively finish off the opponent.  And while Rucka uses them correctly in terms of chess moves, it is the way he uses them that makes them so cool.  I loved the idea of the alien tech and I liked how well they moved, worked, and fought together.  Bennett does a great job with the art and conveying their oneness and how in sync they are.  I hope the rooks come out again at some point.

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