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Checkmate (1987)
Checkmate (1988-1991) #1
Bombs are going off in Chicago…and that's only the start of a terrorist plot to tear America apart! Exploding from the pages of VIGILANTE and ACTION COMICS comes the ultra-secret organization Checkmate, whose Knights are the country's heroes of last resort!
- GenresDc Comics
24 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1988
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Paul Kupperberg
745 books54 followersPaul Kupperberg is a nearly 50-year veteran of the comic book industry as a writer and editor for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Marvel, Bongo Charlton, and many more. He is also the author of more than three dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, as well as of short stories, articles, and essays for Crazy 8 Press, Heliosphere, Titan Books, Stone Arch Books, Rosen Publishing, Citadel Press, Pocket Books, TwoMorrows, and others.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 24, 2025
What an absolutely fantastic start, this issue really rocked. You got a problem with terrorism and don’t know who to call? Well don’t worry because checkmate is already on the case. And this issue has the organization set their sites towards a white supremacist group that bombed a Chicago exchange center. But who exactly is checkmate? Well if you read all 50 issues of vigilante…you already know them. Seems that once Val left and joined back up with the doom patrol…there was a bit of restructuring at the old organization. And now Harry Stein of all people is the king of checkmate with Waller acting as his “Queen” that oversees him and his organization. There are a few things that she isn’t happy about though, namely his choice of personnel…especially Bullock who acts as a bishop and who was sent to try and recruit Thorn!! It’s good to see Thorn again, but she doesn’t share the same condolences when Bullock tries to tell her to knock off the vigilante business or they may cross paths…and then uses some of his agents to drug and knock her out and bring her to checkmates Koning industries building for a formal intro.
What thorn can’t say is how impressive their facilities aren’t, Bullock brought and showed her what they call the dome. An entire indoor training facility that acts randomly which their knights have to pass in order to be field ready. Currently they have THIRY KNIGHTS?! Which is just so wild to me. Above the knights are the rooks who actually know their identities and help with deploying them in the field. Bullock acts as a bishop and one of the higher ups of the organization, and below the knights they have field operatives called pawns which help with normal field operations. It’s a really intricate system and it’s really cool to see in action.
Bullock ends up dropping thorn off with a lackey so he can run to a high up meeting for a new mission, one thing that kind of confuses me is each persons role. Obviously Stein is the king and Bullock is a bishop, but in the meeting we get introduced to Grace, Kramer, and Jameson. Grace is introduced as the rook for this mission which I assume means that there are other rooms who weren’t invited? Does that mean that Kramer and Jameson are other bishops like Harvey, or are they also rooks…but just not assigned to this mission? Nonetheless the mission ties back to Chicago bombing. Turns out the bomber was not such a normal guy and ties back to an organization called the American Supremacist Party, which is an offshoot of the Nazi Party and is lead by a man named Kevin Maxwell. The group has gone unusually active recently and they think they are planning something big and the bombing was just a precursor. And with that the mission is a go, but as the mission comes to an end the alarm suddenly goes off. Seems that thorn made her way for the door and took around 6 agents down along the way. Hahahahah, she’s perfect for checkmate!!
We now jump into the field itself as an operative of checkmate looks in on a house in a residential neighborhood which acts as a front for the ASP. Seems that a federal agent infiltrated the group and was discovered right as our Knight made his way to spy on them, which gives him only a few minutes to save him before they execute him. Plenty of time to spare, lol. Surprisingly right as the group is about to execute the guy their leader, Maxwell, makes his way downstairs me begins to berate the agent. The agent claims that the people will never buy genocide, but their leader sees it differently…and claims they’ll buy his message because deep in their hearts it’s also what they believe…sound familiar? (2025 right now btw) Right as rheh are about to blow the agents brains out, the agent from checkmate busts through the window and begins to take them on. He is able to quickly disarm Maxwell with the element of surprise, but this leaves him open for a group in the other room, all armed, to bear the commotion and bust in. This forces the knight to change his direction and take them on…which gives Maxwell and his higher ups a chance to slip out the back. It’s an interesting parallel in the first issue to immediately see another organization using the same tactics as checkmate…higher ups with all the info that can easily throw away the pawns at the bottom who know nothing. Sucks that it’s a Nazi party using the tactics as well, but it’s a constant war against terrorists like this.
One thing I love about the Knight’s training is how little he talks and how indistinguishable they all are. This is by design and something the Knight points out, he would love to be quipping at the guys he is fighting but he has to remain as unidentifiable as possible. Eventually the knight gets caught up fighting one big guy for too long and a bunch of the ASP’s pawns are able to get away with the agent still in hand. This forces the knight to call on a pawn for a chase car…which immediately prompts a man named Reed to roll up in a lambo….hahahahaha, this organization rocks!! The entire car chase they are able to radio back to the rook in charge to organize more pawns to intercept the car they are chasing, but this knight is also quite crazy and decides to drive up along side them, jump onto their car, and bash their front window in. Although he is thrown off, this makes it all the much easier for the Pawn’s to intercept and crash the car once they catch up. As the knight approached the crashed car, he doesn’t take any chances and unveils a pistol from his gauntlet. Two of the nazis try and pull a gun on him and he takes them down on the spot…leaving one for interrogation. He was able to save the agent, who has a lot of questions, but the best part comes next. When the nazi was taken into custody he began to start spewing a bunch of racist rhetoric about their days coming…only for the knight to walk over and break all protocol to take off his glove and show the man he was just beaten by a black man!! Honestly even though it’s a big security risk…that was the most badass thing ever!! Hell yes!! There are 30 knights, I think our guy will be fine, and seeing any nazi quiver is a good day in my book. As the issue comes to an end the knight is able to check back in at a Chicago safe house where we find out that this knight is none other than former NYPD officer and former partner to Harry Stein from the vigilante series: GARY WASHINGTON!! HELL YES, good to see you again Mr Washington!! Based on that info I am fairly certain that is the guy from action comics who saved Lois. But even with this happy reunion this isn’t the end…as we see at the Chicago convention center as another bomb is set off…this is only the beginning and no one is in check yet.
What thorn can’t say is how impressive their facilities aren’t, Bullock brought and showed her what they call the dome. An entire indoor training facility that acts randomly which their knights have to pass in order to be field ready. Currently they have THIRY KNIGHTS?! Which is just so wild to me. Above the knights are the rooks who actually know their identities and help with deploying them in the field. Bullock acts as a bishop and one of the higher ups of the organization, and below the knights they have field operatives called pawns which help with normal field operations. It’s a really intricate system and it’s really cool to see in action.
Bullock ends up dropping thorn off with a lackey so he can run to a high up meeting for a new mission, one thing that kind of confuses me is each persons role. Obviously Stein is the king and Bullock is a bishop, but in the meeting we get introduced to Grace, Kramer, and Jameson. Grace is introduced as the rook for this mission which I assume means that there are other rooms who weren’t invited? Does that mean that Kramer and Jameson are other bishops like Harvey, or are they also rooks…but just not assigned to this mission? Nonetheless the mission ties back to Chicago bombing. Turns out the bomber was not such a normal guy and ties back to an organization called the American Supremacist Party, which is an offshoot of the Nazi Party and is lead by a man named Kevin Maxwell. The group has gone unusually active recently and they think they are planning something big and the bombing was just a precursor. And with that the mission is a go, but as the mission comes to an end the alarm suddenly goes off. Seems that thorn made her way for the door and took around 6 agents down along the way. Hahahahah, she’s perfect for checkmate!!
We now jump into the field itself as an operative of checkmate looks in on a house in a residential neighborhood which acts as a front for the ASP. Seems that a federal agent infiltrated the group and was discovered right as our Knight made his way to spy on them, which gives him only a few minutes to save him before they execute him. Plenty of time to spare, lol. Surprisingly right as the group is about to execute the guy their leader, Maxwell, makes his way downstairs me begins to berate the agent. The agent claims that the people will never buy genocide, but their leader sees it differently…and claims they’ll buy his message because deep in their hearts it’s also what they believe…sound familiar? (2025 right now btw) Right as rheh are about to blow the agents brains out, the agent from checkmate busts through the window and begins to take them on. He is able to quickly disarm Maxwell with the element of surprise, but this leaves him open for a group in the other room, all armed, to bear the commotion and bust in. This forces the knight to change his direction and take them on…which gives Maxwell and his higher ups a chance to slip out the back. It’s an interesting parallel in the first issue to immediately see another organization using the same tactics as checkmate…higher ups with all the info that can easily throw away the pawns at the bottom who know nothing. Sucks that it’s a Nazi party using the tactics as well, but it’s a constant war against terrorists like this.
One thing I love about the Knight’s training is how little he talks and how indistinguishable they all are. This is by design and something the Knight points out, he would love to be quipping at the guys he is fighting but he has to remain as unidentifiable as possible. Eventually the knight gets caught up fighting one big guy for too long and a bunch of the ASP’s pawns are able to get away with the agent still in hand. This forces the knight to call on a pawn for a chase car…which immediately prompts a man named Reed to roll up in a lambo….hahahahaha, this organization rocks!! The entire car chase they are able to radio back to the rook in charge to organize more pawns to intercept the car they are chasing, but this knight is also quite crazy and decides to drive up along side them, jump onto their car, and bash their front window in. Although he is thrown off, this makes it all the much easier for the Pawn’s to intercept and crash the car once they catch up. As the knight approached the crashed car, he doesn’t take any chances and unveils a pistol from his gauntlet. Two of the nazis try and pull a gun on him and he takes them down on the spot…leaving one for interrogation. He was able to save the agent, who has a lot of questions, but the best part comes next. When the nazi was taken into custody he began to start spewing a bunch of racist rhetoric about their days coming…only for the knight to walk over and break all protocol to take off his glove and show the man he was just beaten by a black man!! Honestly even though it’s a big security risk…that was the most badass thing ever!! Hell yes!! There are 30 knights, I think our guy will be fine, and seeing any nazi quiver is a good day in my book. As the issue comes to an end the knight is able to check back in at a Chicago safe house where we find out that this knight is none other than former NYPD officer and former partner to Harry Stein from the vigilante series: GARY WASHINGTON!! HELL YES, good to see you again Mr Washington!! Based on that info I am fairly certain that is the guy from action comics who saved Lois. But even with this happy reunion this isn’t the end…as we see at the Chicago convention center as another bomb is set off…this is only the beginning and no one is in check yet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2023
I'm so interested in what seems to be a character that will be the main, or one of the main, "Knights."
Outside of the VS card game, I know next to nothing about the Checkmate organization or its main characters. I'm very interested in continuing to read this series and learn more about them.
Outside of the VS card game, I know next to nothing about the Checkmate organization or its main characters. I'm very interested in continuing to read this series and learn more about them.
May 2, 2023
A LOT of text. Especially at the start.
It was also a little distracting that there's a character named Harvey Bullock!
Bullock gives us an explanation via a tour of Checkmate's HQ for Black Thorn, who really doesn’t want to be part of this secret government organisation.
We see a Knight in action on a mission to save an FBI agent from white supremacists.
It was cool seeing how organised this operation was.
I think I'll give this series another issue before I decide if I'll continue or not.
It was also a little distracting that there's a character named Harvey Bullock!
Bullock gives us an explanation via a tour of Checkmate's HQ for Black Thorn, who really doesn’t want to be part of this secret government organisation.
We see a Knight in action on a mission to save an FBI agent from white supremacists.
It was cool seeing how organised this operation was.
I think I'll give this series another issue before I decide if I'll continue or not.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews