My mission to review random issues of random old titles begins with Checkmate! issues #2 and #3 from 1988. Obtained for free in a goody bag at Hero Conventions’ Toy & Comic mart in Edinburgh back in April, these books have been sitting gathering dust in my spare room ever since. Now I have an excuse to take a proper look, so, having done no homework on the title, let’s open ’em up…

First impressions are that this is actually a pretty decent comic! This is a 3-issue arc that began in issue #1 (which I don’t have), but the writing is solid enough that you don’t really feel like you’re left out of the loop, as most of what went on in #1 is referenced and explained pretty clearly.

Checkmate! is clearly a more grown up book (no Comics Code badge on these covers, folks!). This story arc involves white supremacists and terrorists looking to create an annexed ‘Union of White States’ (UWS) within the USA. The violence here is not over the top, but is certainly a little more graphic than I was expecting, and the title does not shy away from bulletholes-in-the-head. Nor does it avoid racial slurs, although honestly these don’t really feel forced at all. It would be difficult to tell a story about racists without showing your main antagonists actually being racist, so we get two ‘N-bombs’ over two issues, but it really doesn’t feel like they were added for shock value.

The one thing that did feel a little forced is that this arc introduces Gary Washington. Washington is one of Checkmate’s frontline soldiers, or ‘Knights’, who also happens to be black. There is one scene in issue #2 where his emotional involvement in the mission against the UWS is briefly touched upon, but that emotional involvement never comes into play at all for the rest of the arc. It feels like either the writers either missed an opportunity to inject some emotion into the story, or they just threw a black character into the mix because they felt they should. Unfortunately, it feels like the latter.

Overall though, I’m glad I read these issues. it’s a decent story with some decent characters. I probably won’t hunt down the rest of the series, but the real point of these pieces is to get the opinions of others who may be more familiar with the title and to see what you all think. Have I completely missed the point? Am I totally wrong, and do you hate this title? Please sound off!

The writer of this piece was:
Alan Shields aka (Al)
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