Pick of the Week
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Story by Greg Rucka & Eric Trautmann
Art by Chris Samnee
Colors by Santiago Arcas
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover Art by Kalman Andrasofszky
Published by DC Comics | $2.99
As it turns out, we didn’t have to wait until 2009 to get the next installment of Queen & Country! What a super holiday treat! I can’t believe it… I… excuse me, I’m being handed a note.
….
Okay, so apparently, this was not the newest issue of one of iFanboy’s favorite series, Queen & Country, rather it is the latest issue of Checkmate…
I… um, how embarrassing. Uh, for me. I’m sorry.
You’d forgive the mix up, since Greg Rucka is the man behind both of these excellent series, and artist Chris Samnee was responsible for some of the best art in Queen & Country, drawing the most recent four issues of the series. Also, there is the whole solo female badass spy angle, and (for the most part) complete lack of super powered characters.
What we have here is a spotlight issue on Mademoiselle Marie, who is currently the Black Queen’s Knight but who has also been a French national hero throughout the ages. Checkmate #21 opens on a quick scene introducing us to the Mademoiselle Marie of the French Revolution, before jumping ahead to modern day Ira– er, Biayla where insurgent members of Al Qaed– er, Al-Bialyii stage a violent kidnapping of a relief effort VIP’s daughter. The kidnappers want the UN out of Biayla or they are going to kill the little girl. Enter Checkmate. Enter the current Mademoiselle Marie.
Greg Rucka loves strong female leads. Tara Chace, Rene Montoya, Wonder Woman. That’s his wheelhouse. He’s got a few of them in this book — Sasha Bordeaux, Fire, and Mademoiselle Marie. Even Amanda Waller, evil as she may have been, was a strong female character. There aren’t many shrinking violets found in a Rucka book. If they do show up, they are usually shamed by the hard drinking, hard loving, gun-toting badass female lead.
Of all the female leads in Checkmate, Mademoiselle Marie is easily the one I knew the least about so this issue (and I assume this arc) focusing on her and the history of the name is most welcome.
Here we bounce between three stories in three different timelines. The main story follows the current Mademoiselle Marie as she completes her rehab training and starts out on the secret mission to rescue the little girl hostage. We also flashback to her younger years (when she was sleeping with the father of the girl she is rescuing in the present!) when she was a new agent and is not yet known as Mademoiselle Marie because the World War II era Mademoiselle Marie didn’t think her worthy of the title. We also continue to follow the adventures of the Mademoiselle Marie of the French Revolution all the way up to her untimely end – it involves a blade but it’s not a guillotine, thank god. *Shudder*
Also in the this issue we meet the newest White Queen. Valentina Vostok, formerly the Doom Patrol member known as The Negative Woman, was apparently tapped to replace the last White Queen, the evil and corrupt Amanda Waller, who was bested by Mr. Terrific and Sasha Bordeaux and made to resign her post in last month’s issue. I have never been much of a Doom Patrol fan so I know next to nothing about Vostok. Wikipedia tells me that she was a member of the original Checkmate, so she’s got that going for her. Time will tell if her ascension to White Queen status is good for the team and/or good for the comic, because Waller might have been evil but she led to good stories.
What’s so great about this book is that there are basically two main story types – the action, adventures and spying (both straight up and super powered) and the behind the scenes political intrigue and they are both equally exciting because Rucka excels not only at the shoot ’em up stuff, but also the backstabbing politics. It’s not hyperbole to say that last month’s issue of Checkmate when Amanda Waller was ousted from her post was one of the most exciting comics I had read in months and it pretty much took place entirely in a meeting room at the United Nations.
My gut tells me that Checkmate is not long for this world, if for no other reason than because “little”, “off-beat” books like this that I love from the Big Two never seem to last (see: Gotham Central, also by Greg Rucka). I’m honestly astounded it has gotten as far as it has. If you like Queen & Country you should be reading this book. If you like spy movies or novels or TV shows you should be reading this book (and Queen & Country). Hell, if you just like good comics you should be reading this book.
Did you read Checkmate #21? Add a comment and tell everyone what you think about this week’s comics!
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Been awhile since Checkmate got a POW. But right on, Conor.
I thought it was a pretty “meh” week for comics. Nothing really stood out for me. Lots of average and blandness all around.
Finally picked up Dan Dare. Awsome
Thanks for letting me know about this.
Good review that changed my mind.
I was considering not picking up any books this week because the selection looked weak (for my taste anyway).
Checkmate is one of my favorite series but I was going to skip this issue because it seemed like too much of a side-story (like the one about Checkmate’s security guy).
However, since Rucka is also continuing the Royals thread in this issue and replacing the White Queen, I can see I will have to run out and buy this issue tomorrow.
I wasn’t crazy about Checkmate this week but I thoroughly enjoyed all my other books. My POW would’ve been Superman/Batman. For some reason I really enjoyed it. It sorta read like a tv episode. And yes I am aware that the writer is a tv guy so that’s probably why. I really dug his take on Superman, Batman, and the Flash. If he can put together a good run on S/B then maybe he can take on the JLA book after McDuffie. Yeah I know I’m getting way ahead of myself. Time will tell but he’s off to a good start.
Read this issue and didn’t like it anywhere near as much as I liked the last one. Not a bad story, but it didn’t do it for me.
Of course, what do I know? Every Messiah Complex book is my POW. 🙂
I didn’t read this— I dropped Checkmate a few issues back. I recognize the great craft that goes into the book, but the book just doesn’t interest me.
However, none of the few (5) books I read this week really stood out, so I can’t argue with this as POW.
Oh, I should say that Special Forces #2 was pretty good this week– don’t know how many folks here are picking that up. I have an autistic son, so I appreciate the autistic kid being at the center of that book.
nb. Dan Dare has pretty much sold out in the UK.
“Specialist comic shops have done brisk business on the first issue of the new title and Virgin reports some disappointed fans of have been paying five-times the UK cover price to have copies flown in from the USA.”
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2007/12/dan-dare-uk-sales-success-review-round.html
Ahh…a Checkmate POW–long overdue. Good choice Conor
Yeah, Checkmate was good. *nods approvingly*
I don’t read many of the Batman books these days (only Detective) so I am not that experienced with post Infinite Crisis Bats. In the Outsiders, did Batman concealing the OMAC from the Justice League seem a little too much like the dark and paranoid Bats that was supposed to go away after Infinite Crisis? Maybe not.
So did anyone else fall for What If Civil War? I thought moments of it were decent, but I probably could have spent my four dollars better.
This sounds great. Does anyone know if it is a decent jumping on point. I’ve been meaning to get into checkmate for a while.
This would be an excellent point to jump onto Checkmate. The Waller stuff that wrapped up last month would have been the most confusing plot line to anyone who hadn’t been reading from the beginning. With that out of the way, for now, the title is very accessable to new readers. It is entangled with characters and events from some of the DC Universe’s less popularly travelled corners, but the title holds up even if you don’t have a command of all things DC.
Oh, I should say that Special Forces #2 was pretty good this week–
Oh, I missed that somehow. Thanks for the reminder.
This is as good a jumping on point as you’ll get for Checkmate, btw.
No “meh” about it, always a thrill to read the new Mighty Avengers. It just looks so cool.
Absolutely this was a “meh” week.
Did anybody else think that Justice League was horrible? I thought this book was going to get better with Dwayne McDuffie, but its gotten way worse.
Mighty Avengers may have been great, but the lateness really affected it importance.
And with Detective #839 was okay, but I don’t think this story needed 8+ (with the prolouges) issues to cover.
Nate:
I have to agree with you about Justice League. I dropped it after the last issue– the end of McDuffie’s first story arc. I did enjoy some of the character moments he had, but thought the overall plot and direction was just completely played out. And, to make matters worse, I found Benes’ art– T’n’A pinups every other panel, with not a lot of sequential storytelling going on– quite distracting.
Jim-
My favorite moment of Benes’ art last issue was the panel where Black Canary had her chest and her butt facing the reader. How is that even possible? They can’t seriously think that their readership is predominately 12. At least it was entertaining that way.
I am probably going to catch some flack for this, but I prefered Meltzer’s first arc on Justice League to McDuffie’s. Meltzer’s may have been steeped in Silver Age muck, but I think that area of continuity could be a resource to mine new story ideas and character development. McDuffie’s first arc felt like the same old good guys v.s. bad guys throw down story that has been done a million times already and not much more. Not exactly the kind of JLA story I am in the mood for right now. I don’t mean to start a McDuffie v.s. Meltzer thing. I am just saying.
Justice League is still awesome in my opinion.
It sucks that they decided to focus on Mademoiselle Marie in Checkmate, but its still a good book.
Right now, Justice League, Checkmate, and Batman are the only titles from DC that I enjoy at the moment.
My pick this week was definitely Iron Man: Enter the Madarin. I don’t normally read Iron Man stuff, but I’ll be damned if Joe Casey just isn’t hitting a homerun with this story. Also, the art was awesome, and fits the mood of this book perfectly. It’s kind of fun to read a super hero as he tries to protect his secret identity.
That said, Immortal Iron Fist was really, really great as well this week.
Detective Comics was definitely not so good this week. Was it me, or was Ra’s resurrection kind of boring, anticlimatic, and touching on the wrong themes? This is not the villainous master mind that we all knew and loved. This book was about…families? I appreciate the change of pace, but it was not very good. Plus, I think this should have been done in just Batman alone…not all bat books (although, as I mentioned on the forums, Nightwing was particularly awesome during this storyline.)
Due to everyone talking about this book I picked it up this week for the first time and loved it.
Wow, I spoke too soon.
I just got through Justice League and Checkmate and I thought they were both terrible.
Justice League – 2 different half-stories combined and neither one is good. From what I see at DC’s site, the title is going to continue this way for the next few issues until McDuffie leaves and the other guy takes over. I’m dropping Justice League now (along with eating my earlier words of praise for the title, though I still loved the last arc).
Checkmate – no Mr. Terrific, very little Sascha, and the rest Mademoiselle Marie makes for a very uninteresting comic in my opinion. This is the last thing Checkmate needs given its low sales numbers. I still love Checkmate so I’m going to just skip this arc until business resumes with the royals in the next arc.
This was probobly the worst week of comics in 2007 for me. Out of the 3 titles that came out which I normally buy, 2 were terrible and the third, G.I. Joe, I skipped because they upped the price to $5.50 for 8 pages of extra fill-in art, not even by the main artist.
Looks like I should have picked up Joe Casey’s Iron mini-series instead.
You know, this month’s Checkmate was still a really well made comic, I just could care less about the character it focused on.
And Amanda Waller’s replacement is… well… she’s no Amanda Waller is all I can say. Doom Patrol is probably my least favorite DC property, along with Metal Men, and (as I have just discovered) the Tangent universe.
That said, if you dig the change in focus in Checkmate, then it probably was the best thing out this week.
As for Justice League, why the hell would they include the god-awful characters from Dan Jurgens’ Tangent line when they had an excellent opportunity to include characters from the Milestone universe (since Dwayne McDuffie was pretty much the primary creative force behind that world).
And is McDuffie too busy to complete an entire issue by himself, or is DC eager to jump into a mediocre run from Alan Burnett? This issue makes me think that the editor Eddie Berganza is asleep at the wheel and letting DC’s flagship title plummet into middling ho-hum obscurity.
SO funny story, I just started a new job and school just ended, so my biological clock was off or something because i thought yesterday was Thursday, and i was looking on the site and thinking “what the hell Connor? why no pick?”
so i wake up at 5 this morning to go to work and it turns out i was wrong.
It’s another festivus miracle.
After getting stuck with a lower weekly comic budget I cut back my titles, so I only got Iron Fist and Mighty Avengers. Both of which I really enjoyed.
This first arc of Mighty Avengers finished strong, but I keep wondering how much better it would have been if it was on time. The stakes felt greatly diminished because we’ve seen every character in later events completely unscathed. w/e it was still enjoyable.
Iron Fist was really strong this week. The fight with Davos and the chick was Brutal. The end of the fight keeps flashing in my head. My stomach keeps squirming when I think of it. I can’t deny that it was good though. I can’t wait ’til we see Davos get beat the f* down by Danny. I hate him. I guess he’s a good villain.
I only picked up three things this week.
POW = New X-men – just because it was sooo much better than last weeks Messiah Complex.
Mighty Avengers – so is Ultron the girl in Mighty Avengers or the bad guy behind Annihilation Conquest or both? Ultron overload anyone. However, I remember reading that Bendis said the skrull invasion is related to the whole Annihilation business.
Iron Fist – continues to be pretty great
I’m done with Mighty Avengers I think. I did not think this issue was particularly good and the reveal at the end was spoiled by every other on time book. I find the thought balloons pointless and distracting. I appreciate the attempt to bring them back but I feel like more than half the time the statements in the thought bubbles are things that a halfway decent artist should be able to show through facial expression, and Frank Cho is by most accounts halfway decent.
I feel like this book might be better if it was done a bit more like JLA and kind of outside continuity.
Glad the first arc is finally over. Anyone remember when issue 1 came out?
Glad the first arc is finally over. Anyone remember when issue 1 came out?
I’m pretty sure it came out in February. I’m not positive though. I know it didn’t come out any later than March, and even if it did come out in march, that would still make this like a 10 month timespan for a 6 issue story arc. aye dios mio.
Merry Christmas Guys!
I still have not read countdown, but Christmas is looking really merry, so I might add that to the stuff I get with my gift cards.
I thought UMBRELLA ACADEMY was really good this month. CHECKMATE was okay.
Wow. Really glad you liked the issue! Thanks!
Best,
-Eric T.