Checkmate Tp Vol 03 The Fall Of The Wall

I've been following Checkmate in trades because I find it nearly impossible to deal with in single issues.  It has really been Rucka's best work for DC, a taunt espionage thriller that some how manages to meld superheroes with the sort of real world spy work that Rucka's famous for with his indie title Queen and Country and in his novels.  The two worlds seem a difficult fit, and yet work in Checkmate so very well.

Oh I how I hunger for a Rucka written SHIELD book along the same lines of Checkmate.

Of the three Checkmate trades released so far this is the weakest, focusing on the fall of the White Queen Amanda Waller and the fallout of the Salvation Run mini-series that saw Waller and the US government rounding up villains and sending them to the Negative Zone, or another planet.  You know, to the prision that Tony Stark built.  Err.. wait.

The trouble that I had with the trade is that not having followed Salvation Run, I never felt like I had enough information as to why the US was sending the villains off into space, and key turn of events like the Martian Manhunter's arrival in the story did not really surprise or interest me at all since they had more to do with the mini-series than with the book I was actually reading.  An interconnected universe is a grand thing, but not when it lessens the greatness of my Rucka book.

Apart from that this was still really good Rucka spy/cape work.  He's a master at being able to look at the world of the DCU from points of view that are rarely considered, whether that's the cops in Gotham Central or world governments in Checkmate.  Until the concluding action of this arch happens this is a great trade, it's just that once the board is set up and the pieces start moving it's hard not to get the feeling that too much of what's going on has been left out only to appear in another title.