Letters to Checkmate #3

Just like with Hellblazer I’m not too familiar with the characters in this title. But also like Hellblazer I am greatly enjoying these stories. Even though this title is more of a spy thriller with some superpowers, I still think it really screams DC2, which isn’t a bad thing. You’ve woven in so many characters and plots that hearken back to previous stories. I’m really appreciative of that as I have been slowly making my way through the Earth One archives. In conclusion, Checkmate is great.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Steve! I was beginning to feel like this whole Checkmate endeavour was a false start, but then again, we’re still in a phase of the site where it’s quiet on the community front but I hope that with the surge of new and returning titles we have on the slate for the upcoming months will change that!

Checkmate and Hellblazer are companion pieces in a way, showing a part of the DC2niverse that isn’t getting much of a spotlight right now—the geo-political / espionage side of things and the occult / supernatural side of things. They’ll spin in and out of each other as we move forward, but for the most part they’ll be wholly separate.


This book is going to be massively embedded in the mythos of the DC2, and while it’s going to be looking at our established history through the lens of the super spy genre, I’m also going to steep every story into the superhero mould, because that’s what the DC2 is all about. Checkmate police the world’s metahumans, so there’ll be numerous run-ins, be them with villains or heroes.

In fact, our third arc is going to tie into an upcoming Justice League arc. If everything goes as planned, Checkmate #5-7 will run side-by-side with Justice League #81-83, telling the same story from two different angles, so they can be read separately and be fulfilling, or together and tell something even bigger than the sum of the story’s parts.


That’s so cool! I’m going to get into the meat of the site’s history the longer we go on, with events that have happened in the life of the DC2 being reflected in the present day of the book. Not only do we have Roy Harper as a White Knight, but we’re going to have so many cameos and guest stars playing a role in the book.

Also, I’m also framing the site’s history into a cohesive timeline, something I’ve done previously in Green Lantern Corps, but it needed updating.

Anyway, it's going to be interesting. We'll see how long I can sustain it.

Next Wednesday...

Thanks for reading, O! I wanted to build on the concept established by John in the “original” run of the title that unfortunately didn’t go any further than two issues (still available in the archives though), but tie it into events that were running in Justice League.

I guess it goes back to Most Wanted, when Steve Trevor and Paul Kirk were hanging out, and then the latter was kidnapped—and still is MIA—by the Suicide Squad. When I returned to writing that mini, I got an itch to continue writing the characters, and the mythology expanded from there.

I also wanted to pick up some threads I dropped in Justice League and spin them into a different direction, so it made sense to do so in Checkmate. Building up the characters “available” for the organisation was interesting, because you have some obvious characters like Roy Harper, who’s Checkmate in the DC2 and was in the comics as well, but then you can throw in folks like Alpha Centurion and Aviva Metula, who people might not have heard about but who make perfect sense in the context of the book to be there.

Due to the sheer size of the cast, I learned very quickly that I had to juggle loads information in my head, and while that’s easier to do in a book like Justice League, I very quickly created the “ What is Checkmate?” sub-board, so every named character who appears can get identified and be given a brief blurb to sum up their character.

It helped me get a grasp of some of the “original” characters that appeared, such as Kishana and Loretta, along with some of the guys who aren’t so original, but haven’t made an appearance before, like Johnny “Genius” Jones, aka “The Answer Man”, all grown up.

If you’re interested, a pilot for some of the concepts established here was the latter issues of Justice League #71-74, the arc I called "Until The Ends Of The Earth". Steve and Valentina appeared on Laputa, and it was basically the launching pad for what came in Checkmate #1.


Yes! Pulling all the potential inspiration together to make a coherent whole was hectic, but I’ve tried to smash all the above things you’ve mentioned—apart from Batman, Inc, which didn’t initially occur to me but makes perfect sense!—into something serviceable, and I’m glad it’s turned out okay. We’ll get more elements of Spyral moving into “The Widening Gyre”, and I have an odd little story coming out in the next few weeks, pending editorial approval, that also dips a toe into that pool.

The biggest concern is for the rules to make sense. I have a whole essay about the mechanics of the series that I think I’ll write up after the season finale, but it’s been a hectic experience.


There were certain threads that seemed not to fit into the ongoing narrative of Justice League, so it made sense to shift them over into Checkmate. You’ll see more of this as you move forward into the next arc, and we’ll also have something massive occur in the season finale that feeds back into the next chapter of the Justice League ongoing.

The Red Queen and her Red Court are most definitely the big bad for Season 2, and we’ll see her Rook in the season finale next month. Who could that be, I wonder? And how does it link back to characters last seen in “Regicide”?

Oh, and Constantine? Would you believe me if I said there’s a Checkmate / Hellblazer and somebody else (not a team!) three-part-crossover planned for later this year?


Can’t wait to hear what you think!