Checkmate #13

This March 1989 issue of DC's spy-action series promises exactly what its cover delivers: three distinct panels of high-stakes tension, each crackling with a different flavor of danger. On the left, a blue-and-yellow costumed agent dives clear of a crashing car amid flying debris; the center panel plunges vertiginously downward past a figure trapped in an elevator shaft toward a rooftop scene below; and on the right, a man in a shirt and tie levels a gun while a looming blue-tinted figure closes in from above. Cover art by Rick Hoberg keeps every moment kinetic and purposeful, and the cover's own bold promise — "Three Times the Action! Three Times the Thrills!" — sets the tone perfectly for a globe-trotting Checkmate! adventure written by Paul Kupperberg.