Checkmate #2

The second issue of DC's spy-thriller series Checkmate! arrives with a cover by Gil Kane that wastes no time setting the tone: a chaotic, glass-shattering brawl sends bodies flying as a yellow-armored figure bursts through a wall, a woman tumbles through the air in an orange jacket, a suited man levels a pistol, and a fallen figure sprawls across the foreground clutching a gun. It's a tightly packed composition that captures the espionage-meets-action energy that made this 1988 series stand out from DC's superhero fare. With "A House Divided!" as the story title and the creative team of Kupperberg, Erwin, and Vey on the interior, this issue promises exactly the kind of high-stakes tension its cover delivers so vividly.