Checkmate #1

DC's Leviathan storyline continues with a new six-issue mini-series. Mark Shaw has successfully taken control of Leviathan and crippled the world's various spy agencies. Looking for a way to fight back, Green Arrow, Kingsley Jacobs, Lois Lane, Manhunter, Mister Bones, the Question, Steve Trevor, and Talia al Ghul have come together to reform Checkmate and fight back.

The Leviathan arc got a little buried with COVID, as this series got delayed for a year. Checkmate #1 works as a reintroduction to the characters and storylines behind the revamping of DC Comics' spy world and now the reintroduction of Checkmate.

Despite DC's tagline that its greatest detectives are behind the new Checkmate, we see no appearance of either Batman nor Detective Chimp (c'mon, can you really say the "best" detectives without including these two?). The first issue gives us Talia and Damian captured by Leviathan while the other members of the team look to piece together information and form a plan of attack. We also get some flashbacks to Shaw originally working his way into Leviathan as the first step of a master plan.

[DC, $3.99]

• Title: Checkmate #1 (of 6)
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
• Artist: Alex Maleev