Checkmate 26 was a book that could have become a great jumping on point to the series. I believe it may have ended up being a jumping off point instead.
The plot of the soldier-turned-experiment has been done to death, but that isn't what bothered me. The pacing seemed off, and the cut-aways to plot B (or is it A? Hard to tell at this point) of the monsters/animals attacking the men in Venezuela and Antarctica was distracting. And the fact that the Chimera soldier was quick to adapt to his powers was also too fast for me.
All this, and the soldier's girlfriend/religious student was something I really didn't care about. I'm sure she's intregal to the plot, but the minute I saw their trashy matching rose tatoos on the NECKS, I was out. We didn't need to see that--we get it. They love each other. What we really needed to see was a member of Checkmate in the book, not just one panel of General China, or whatever he's called. See, we really do need the roll call panels every month.
To me, this should have been part two of the story.
Story: 1 - Poor
Art: 2 - Average
