DC Comics reviews 6/22/21 – Infinite Frontier #1, Robin #3

Checkmate #1

Remember Event Leviathan? That was the big espionage event Brian Michael Bendis started way back in June 2019 promising to disrupt the clandestine units of the DC Universe. Nothing really came of it the event and in some cases, writers began undoing some of the seismic changes Bendis set up.

With Checkmate, Bendis and artist Alex Maleev look to reset the story they began in Event Leviathan to mixed results. A key problem is the DC Universe didn’t just sit in carbon freezing until Bendis could get around to the story. Too much has happened to act like things have remained status quo from 2019.

As usual, Bendis casually ignores pesky continuity issues like Damian Wayne no longer being Robin.

One of the major failings of Bendis’ dialogue is he wastes so much space on writing characters, be it superheroes, assassins or henchmen, like regular people. Such as Steve Trevor questioning if anyone at Checkmate brought coffee. Or when King says “Ooh, I’m getting the Lois Lane, intrepid reporter experience. Cool.” Or another winner “I’m, like, totally a human person.” It’s Bendis’ way of humanizing his characters, but it often comes off too disingenuous and forced. And worse, the dialogue rarely sounds like exchanges people would have in real life.

This is the main reason Bendis struggles at building a mystery worth unraveling. So many pages are wasted with back and forth going nowhere dialogue that the actual purpose of this story gets lost.

Maleev’s artwork remains a selling point and this is the kind of story well suited for his style. Characters have a realistic flair to them and Maleev makes superhero costumes with a minimum of flair.

As usual, Bendis seems game, but he gets stuck in his mindset of telling a story for an audience of one. Checkmate doesn’t flip the board on Event Leviathan and feels especially irrelevant in the new Infinite Frontier landscape of DC.

Rating: 5 out of 10