Mark Shaw took over Leviathan which then took over every spy organisation in the DCU. Now, Checkmate reforms to take on Leviathan.
Was anyone champing at the bit for a sequel to 2019’s Event Leviathan? I wasn’t and I was surprised to find out that Bendis’ version of Checkmate turned out to be that unwanted follow-up. Maybe put a subtitle, or some reference to that previous book rather than just “Checkmate” on the cover?
As underwhelming as Event Leviathan was, Checkmate manages to be even more dull. Bendis has the uncanny ability of turning a relatively straightforward story - this group vs that group - and somehow making it seem unfathomably convoluted. I guess Leviathan is bad because… we’re told that? And Checkmate is… a chess-themed group for… reasons? And they’re trying to take out Leviathan because… chess-themed reasons…? This is also a story where Superman pops by and can’t immediately fix these non-problems single-handedly for contrived non-chess-themed reasons.
It’s such an uninteresting story. The Checkmate line-up is a collection of dreary people - Steve Trevor, Manhunter, Director Bones, The Question, Robin/Damian Wayne, Talia Al-Ghul, Lois Lane, Green Arrow, and “The King” (because chess) - who stand around just talking waaaayyy too much (ie. the Bendis special) or just punch stuff to seem like they’re doing something.
I couldn’t tell you what happened by the end, I was so numb from boredom (though I could guess that it’s probably: good guys won, bad guys lost). All I know is that I don’t want to read any more of Bendis/Maleev’s ultra-boring Leviathan story or anything featuring this Checkmate group ever again. Checkmate had me checked out long before the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment