I Am Ready For Batman And The Outsiders

Outsiders (Volume 3) #49
Written by Judd Winick and Greg Rucka
Art by Matthew Clark and Ron Randall

This is the final part of the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover that began here and continued here ,here, here, and here.
This was an action-packed finale to what was a suprisingly well done crossover. Outsiders is a hit or miss for me but this was a hit. I even like the idea that this series is ending and relaunching as Batman and the Outsiders. I love the original Batman and the Outsiders series so I can’t wait. Yes, I miss Halo (Too bad she won’t be back). There were a lot of great one-liners in this issue including Grace telling the Checkmate Agent about Batman warming up to people and the conversation at the end between Batman and Nightwing. I think it is totally in character for Dick to want to leave now and I liked how he says he actually doesn’t like being in the Outsiders anymore. Dick liked the Titans and the Outsider are not the titans. I look forward to the next issue, which is the final one before the relaunch.

Egg Fu’s Torture Fun

Checkmate (Volume 2) #15
Written by Greg Rucka and Judd Winick
Art by Joe Bennett

This is part four of the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover that began here and continued here ,here, and here. The best part of this issue has to have been the very end where Batman says “I don’t work for the Security Council”. That is so bats and I ate it up like candy! Rucka and Winick continue this crossover really well, we get to see Egg Fu who disgustingly tortures Boomerang and Sasha Bordeax just because he wants to know how they work! Not for any good reason! That is awesome. Egg Fu is one scary bastard but at the same time I can’t wait to see him when I pick up a comic. I can’t wait to see him hopefully get his ass handed to him next issue. Probably by the Dark Knight himself.

Eggs And EMPs

Outsiders (Volume 3) #48
Written by Judd Winick and Greg Rucka
Art and Cover by Matthew Clark

This is part four of the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover that began here and continued here and here. This was probably my favorite part of this crossover to date. I have a feeling that Rucka had more to do with the writing of this issue than Winick and that is probably why. The cliffhanger ending was so exciting, especially for any fan of 52. I was wondering when they were going to bring in those familiar faces (Or really just one big giant yellow egg-face) and I am glad they did. Both teams work together really well this issue ignoring the fact that Nightwing, Sasha, and Boomerang get captured. I like that finally Sasha’s status as partially OMAC is finally mentioned. I don’t remember it being brought up in any issue of Checkmate to date. The whole EMP thing with Nightwing was pretty cool. I really enjoyed this.

Gray

Checkmate (Volume 2) #14
Written by Greg Rucka and Judd Winick
Art by Joe Bennett

This is part 3 of the Outsiders/Checkmate that began here and continued here. The interaction between the two teams is still a lot of fun. I have to say that the Checkmate parts of this crossover are better than the Outsiders parts. Probably because the art is a lot better. I am not such a big fan of the cover of this issue though, kinda bland. My favorite moments probably were between Sasha and Nightwing, being a Batman fan I love to hear them talk about Bruce together. The entire mission seems a little screwed up by the end of this issue and it looks like the one doing the screwer is Amanda Waller. What a bitch she is. But you gotta love her. She is the most gray of any DCU character.

Outsiders 45 - 47

Outsiders (Volume 3) #45
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Carlo Barberi

Now, to start off, I did really like this issue. I liked how Roy Harper’s house is so heavily guarded to protect his daughter, I liked how Black Lightning is so noble that he turns himself in for an accidental murder of a pretty bad guy, heck I even liked the budding romance between Grace and Thunder. But is Winick obsessed with Jason Todd and Deathstroke. He uses them in like all of his books and sometimes it seems they are appearing for no reason. Weird.

Outsiders (Volume 3) #46
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Carlo Barberi and Art Thibert

This was another good issue and I look forward to seeing as how this story ends. Unfortunately, it does not take place in this series but in the Outsiders Annual so I will not be reviewing it here. This part of the story was pretty awesome. Grace’s speech was just the best. I love how she calls the rest of the Outsiders self-righteous bastards. This series is a lot better than most people give it credit for.

Outsiders (Volume 3) #47
Written by Judd Winick and Greg Rucka
Art and Cover by Matthew Clark and Art Thibert

This is the second part of the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover that began here. It is one year later again and we are back to the time where Katana’s costume is uglier and Thunder’s is cooler. Oh and I am excited as hell about this storyline now. I did not realize that the Outsiders were recruited by Checkmate to help take out Oolong Island. It is great to hear about the island after 52 and it looks like it is still a haven for mad scientists. There were a lot of great moments in this. Especially the exchanges between Sasha and Nightwing. Nightwing finally figures out just who Sasha is and it is fun to see how they both relate to eachother because of their “batman” past. Can’t wait for the next part of this crossover.

Outsider Hunting

Checkmate (Volume 2) #13
Written by Greg Rucka and Judd Winick
Art by Joe Bennett

And this begins the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover that will run through both titles. DC seems to be doing a lot of inter-title crossover as of late (well, JSA and JLA is the other one) and I like that. I kind of miss them (I know most would disagree with me). And this crossover starts out really well. It was a lot of fun to see how Checkmate goes about catching and trapping the Outsiders and I love how Nightwing is the only member they haven’t caught yet. At first, I was wondering why Nightwing seemed to be so mean to Sasha Bordeaux. I mean he does know her from her days when she hung out with Batman right? But then I remembered that she has gotten plastic surgery (not to mention, she is like what part robot now?) so maybe he doesn’t recognize her. It was also cool to see the Outsiders out of uniform. I am going to have to recommend this.

Checkmate 11 and 12

Checkmate (Volume 2) #11
Written by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Art by Steve Scott

Ya um…I barely understand what is going on in this issue….but I loved it. Rucka (and everyone else, why are there so many writers?)knows how to write these sort of complex international James Bondish plots. I am not sure what Operation Condor is but I suppose it has some connection to Fire’s past. And I wonder why there has been no mention of the new Judomaster (from Birds of Prey) by Tommy Jagger. And of course, The Thinker is still a welcome addition to the cast and Amanda Waller is still a bitch lol. The last issue cliffhanger was very surprising as well.

Checkmate (Volume 2) #12
Written by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Art by Steve Scott and Nathan Massengill

Okay now I get it! This arc was even better when I finally got what was going on. Anyways, Fire Fans are prolly going to get all pissed that she killed Computron, but I think that is stupid. This issue shows that Fire is still the hero she was when she was with the Justice League. She turns against her father, and the moment where the Black King explains that he chose her because of her being a superhero gave me goosebumps. Fire finally realizes that she is not a killer, but a hero, and will always be. This is why no one should complain about the way Fire is portrayed in this issue because they are missing the point if they do. Anyways, I am liking the Black King a lot more after this issue. He is a fully realized character now instead of just a prop. I must say this has been my favorite story arc of the series so far.

Checkmate 9 and 10

Checkmate (Volume 2) #9
Written by Greg Rucka
Art and Cover by Jesus Saiz

This series is brutal and can be incredibly confusing, but it sure is good. Especially this issue, which unexpectedly guest starred the Shadowpact (Who I love). I love how the Checkmate is really no-holds-barred and they do things the JLA or any superhero team wouldn’t be caught dead doing. I am not sure why Sarge Steel and Sasha are so pissed at eachother this issue, but they are at odds through the whole thing. The introduction of the Thinker to the cast is a great move by Rucka, I like the character already even though I am barely familiar with him.

Checkmate (Volume 2) #10
Written by Greg Rucka
Art and Cover by Jesus Saiz

The pulled it off! They got a mole into Kobra! I was worried through the whole issue. This was certainly suspenseful and hats off to Rucka for creating that suspense. I really liked this issue. Maybe it was the magic I don’t know, but it was really cool. Both Shadowpact and Checkmate kicked ass this issue and there was a lot of tension and surprise. The only thing I am worried about is did Sasha say that the Thinker could not be the White King’s bishop? That would suck if he got kicked out just as I was starting to like him. Anyways, great issue. Highly reccomended.

Problems with the Kobra

Checkmate (Volume 2) #8
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Jesus Siaz

I don’t really know much about Kobra, maybe I should do some research on their history, but I really enjoyed the Kobra subplot of this issue. Probably even more than the Checkmate stuff. I still think Mr. Terrific should not be in this series since he is going to be in the new JSA series, and personally I feel like the character is completely overexposed lately. But i can live with it. Hmmm…what else is there to say about this issue? The art was great as usual, Siaz is definitely underrated. Anyways, this was a good issue, I look forward to seeing Checkmate infiltrate Kobra.

Checkmate 3 - 7

Checkmate (Volume 2) #3
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Cliff Richards

This series continues to impress me. Rucka shows us that while in real life, international politics is crazy and dangerous, if you apply it to a world with superheroes and villains, things get a whole lor crazier. I love how politically different all the members of checkmate are. This is certainly not a team of best friends. I look forward to seeing what happens next and if China is really trying to hide the fact that Kobra stole their secrets on metahuman creation.

Checkmate (Volume 2) #4 Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Jesus Saiz

This storyline ends on a sad note. It looks like Alan Scott is being kicked out of Checkmate, for doing the right thing! This issue really showed the difference between Checkmate and the super heroes. Alan breaks the rules in order to save lives. Checkmate never breaks thier rules. It is sad but understandable why Alan had to leave. Now, I wonder who will be the new White King?

Checkmate (Volume 2) #5 Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Jesus Saiz

This is a stand alone story about some checkmate members competing to be the new bishop of the black queen. I did not pay much attention to that part of the story. That bored me. I did like the other parts of this issue. Fire is being blackmailed by the white queen for something. I wonder what this is? It looks like Mr. Terrific is going to be the new white king. That would be great, I think, It will make sure that someone in power will keep Checkmate from being too favorable to the US. Alan knew that Checkmate was a world organization and not an American one and Mr. Terrific shares that view. Unlike Amanda Waller…the big fat bitch.

Checkmate (Volume 2) #6 Written by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Art and Cover by Jesús Saíz

This issue focuses more on the suicide squad than checkmate, and to be honest, the suicide squad is one of the few DCU teams I know very little about, other than the fact they are villains who act as heroes to get out of jail time. This time around, they are led by Mirror Master and are trying to steal Myanmar’s metahuman power source. This issue was okay…nothing too excting unless you are a big suicide squad fan.

Checkmate (Volume 2) #7
Written by Greg Rucka, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Art by Cliff Richards and Dan Green
Cover by Jesus Saiz

This was a little bit better than last issue, although wer still see very little of Checkmate. Rucka is really making sure that the readers hate Amanda Waller. I certainly am buying into it. I can not stand her. I felt bad for the little boy this issue, real bad. He is going to be so messed up when he grows up.