DC’s Event Leviathan left the DC Universe’s political structures in shambles. The Leviathan organization systematically destroyed the world’s major spy agencies in a handful of masterstrokes, with every revelation creating more questions. In the aftermath, a new team called Checkmate has risen from the wreckage to investigate the mysteries surrounding the meteoric rise of Leviathan. In May’s upcoming issue, Event Leviathan: Checkmate #2, Checkmate tackles a looming question: just how did a multinational terrorist group form out of thin air?

During Event Leviathan, journalist Lois Lane formed two groups that followed Leviathan’s trail. One, led by Batman, investigated the major leads in who the group’s namesake leader might be. Then the series revealed a second secret team, including C-listers like Ralph Dibny and Harvey Bullock, who dug at deeper possibilities, including the chance that members of the first team had been compromised. Now that Leviathan has struck and has larger plans in store, Lois has joined a new group that includes some returning members from her Leviathan task forces and some new faces: Lane herself, Vic Saga aka The Question, Green Arrow, Talia Al Ghul, and the new Manhunter.

Event Leviathan: Checkmate #2 is written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Alex Maleev, the same creative team from the original Event Leviathan series. The two creators have collaborated on many books together during Bendis’s years at Marvel Comics, including Daredevil, New Avengers, and International Iron Man. According to DC solicits for May, issue 2 focuses on the question of how Leviathan became so large so quickly without the spy community noticing. In order to determine what the sea-monster-themed villains did to gather its followers, Checkmate will infiltrate as prospective members. But joining Leviathan is a very dangerous proposition, especially because during their time undercover, every other superhero, intelligence agent, and world leader will have to consider the group “not on our side”.

The original Checkmate was a division of Task Force X, the same shadowy US black ops group that created the infamous Suicide Squad. The team was meant to gather the best of the best in the DC spy world to protect American interests. The new Checkmate looks like an all-star group of anti-authoritarians: Green Arrow is infamous for his progressive activism, Lois Lane has risked her life countless times to expose the elite’s misdeeds, and the Question, a “Zen detective”, approaches the world with relentless skepticism. Manhunter is a crimefighter who donned a mask out of frustration with legal injustice, as well as the successor to the Manhunter name that Leviathan’s leader once used. The outlier is Talia, daughter of nigh-immortal ecoterrorist Ra’s Al Ghul and the leader of the previous form of Leviathan that created global havoc in Grant Morrison’s Batman Incorporated. Talia was an early suspect as the one responsible for the new Leviathan, but it was quickly apparent that the organization had been stolen from her. The “Daughter of the Demon”, as she’s known, has a personal motivation rather than an ethical one for opposing the new group.

Readers will have to read the issue when it releases in May to find out whether these strange bedfellows will overcome the truth or be swallowed up by the Leviathan’s seas. Find the full solicitations details below:

  • EVENT LEVIATHAN: CHECKMATE #2 (of 6) Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS art and cover by ALEX MALEEV Variant cover by KODE ABDO Something about Leviathan’s rise to power doesn’t make sense! How did the organization get so big—and so powerful—so fast? How did Leviathan gather so many acolytes to its cause so quickly? As Checkmate digs deeper into Leviathan’s inner workings, what they find is a mountain of lies that could impact the entire world! Checkmate’s only recourse is to infiltrate Leviathan—but once these unlikely allies—the Question, Green Arrow, Lois Lane, Manhunter, and Talia al Ghul—go undercover they are officially… not on our side. From the award winning creators that brought you last year’s potboiler Event Leviathan comes the next surprising chapter in DC Comics’ most dangerous saga.

You can preorder DC Comics’ Event Leviathan: Checkmate #2 before it hits the racks on May 27, 2020.

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