Checkmate

I was expecting a lot from “Event Leviathan,” coming as it was from the creative team of Bendis and Alex Maleev, especially after the solid build-up the writer gave it in “Action Comics.”  The end result of that story was a lot of smoke with no real fire to speak of.  A story that took place in the shadowy margins of the DC Universe hinged on a central mystery:  Who is Leviathan?  A mystery that completely fizzled at the end of the tale when the answer turned out to be Mark Shaw – someone I, and I imagine a lot of other readers, had no idea who this guy was.  “Checkmate” follows up on that story and at least has the advantage of having to beat low expectations.

In addition to revealing that the head of Leviathan was Mark Shaw, “Event Leviathan” ended with Lois Lane revealing the organization’s existence to the entire world.  With its cover blown, Shaw and company now have to figure out what their next move is going to be.  While they’re doing that, a mysterious character named King is going around and recruiting characters involved in the previous storyline for a new organization.  In addition to Ms. Lane, there’s Green Arrow, The Question, Steve Trevor, Kate “Manhunter” Spencer, Mr. Bones, and Talia Al Ghul all working together.  They are Checkmate and they are the first and last line of defense against Leviathan.

If there’s one thing I can appreciate about this story it’s that there’s a lot of struggle on both sides here.  The good guys felt like they were constantly on the back foot against Leviathan in the previous storyline, and that didn’t make a whole lot of sense when you’ve got some of the DCU’s smartest people working together.  While the organization does pull some impressive power moves early on in the story (imaginative ones, even), the good guys are still able to frustrate Shaw and his agenda in a way that generates some satisfaction.

There’s also no denying that Bendis has some interesting ideas on display in this story.  The Snowman’s Ticket.  Precognitive A.I.  The Markovia situation.  The secret shared database between the Batcave, the Fortress of Solitude, and the Hall of Justice.  King’s real identity.  Bendis’ “Superman/Action Comics” run was made up of ideas like these and fun little character moments that endeared you to the cast.  I’ll admit that there are less of those here, but he still writes Superman and Lois Lane as a convincing couple and it’s nice to see that again here.

The problem with the writer’s run on those titles was that he didn’t build on those character moments or ideas towards a clear, coherent goal.  That remains true here in “Checkmate,” to a crippling extent.  What I mean by that is Bendis fails a lot of the time here to do the necessary legwork to get us to care about these ideas that he’s introduced.  I can understand the idea of a shared Batcave/Fortress of Solitude/Hall of Justice network, but how does it actually help the heroes it serves do their jobs better?  There’s also the matter of the Snowman’s Ticket, which feels like a last, desperate gasp by the writer to introduce a meaningful character to the DCU.  I can’t say it works because there’s nothing to this person beyond the reveal of his identity.

Maleev’s art is solid, but I can’t say that it really enhances the storytelling on display here.  While it felt that he was doing his best to conjure a grim and gritty atmosphere of mystery in “Event Leviathan,” it feels as if the artist is playing it safe here.  Maleev is doing his “superheroes in a grounded” aesthetic style here and it works as well as it ever has.  Which is to say that it’s pleasing to look at and delivers some clean storytelling.  There’s no surprise to it, however, as anyone familiar with his style will know what they’re going to get here.

“Checkmate” honestly feels like the work of a couple of professionals who are just coasting.  There’s a level of competency to what they’ve done here that assures what the reader will get won’t be terrible and will even deliver a memorable moment or two.  Yet there’s a sense that neither were willing or able to put in the necessary work to develop the concepts displayed in this story that would’ve taken it to the next level.  Have Bendis and Maleev become so complacent in their storytelling skills that this is the best we can expect from them?  Or have they just been hemmed in by the demands of working within the DCU?  I want to believe it’s the latter, but “Checkmate” doesn’t offer any compelling evidence of that.