cover: Mike Kaluta (signed)
title: "Endgame!"
writer: Cary Burkett
art: Dan Spiegle
letterer: John Costanza
colorist: Gene D'Angelo
colorist: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Paul Levitz
Synopsis:
The story opens during a performance of King Lear, where Nemesis, Valerie, and Inspector Boches are enjoying the performance of acting legend Sir Lionel Burbage. After the show they go back-stage to ask the legend to help them stop crime-lord Noel Chesterton.
In a different part of London, Chesterton is enjoying his plot as it unfolds. Although concerned with the interference of Nemesis, he is confident in his plot's eventual success.
Suddenly, Boches gets a call telling him that Sir Robert has turned up. He and Nemesis rush off to the address. Although they suspect a trap, they are happily surprised to see that Sir Robert himself managed to call for help. However, Nemesis is suspicious when Sir Robert does not recognize him, even though they have met before!
Later, Nemesis is thinking out-loud as Valerie is deep in study. He knows that the earlier chess notation "BxR" must refer to the Bishop of Winchester. And if "BxR" refers to "Bishop vs Rook," then Nemesis wonders if somehow the Bishop is going to cause the downfall of the Rook (i.e., castle, e.g. Windsor Castle, where the ceremony is to take place).
On June 12, the candidates for Knighthood assemble at Windsor Castle. As Queen Elizabeth II arrives and the ceremony begins, all people except for Sir Robert suddenly fall unconscious. Chesterton had kidnapped the Bishop of Winchester and implanted micro sonic device. Its sound waves knocked out everyone in Windsor Castle. Sir Robert lets in Chestertons' goons, all armed with special ear-plugs, and they kidnap the Queen. 
The goons and Sir Robert arrive at the dock and board Chesterton's yacht to head to France. Once on-board we learn that Sir Robert is actually his twin brother Sidney, who helped Chesterton in order to rescue his still kidnapped brother, and to make some money. Sir Robert, of course, knows that Chesterton will now kill them both. As he and his goons make their move, Nemesis and Broches charge in.
Chesterton threateens to kill the Queen, but she takes him down with an elbow to the face. She is really Valerie in disguise, who was coached by Sir Lionel to impersonate the Queen. Chesterton is angry, and blames the anonymous tipster who called Boches in regard to Sir Robert's kidnapping. Nemesis leaves his calling card on Chesterton's chessboard as they all head to Scotland Yard.
Commentary:
This is the conclusion of Nemesis' take-down of Noel Chesterton, the European Seat on the Crime Council. This take-down started in B&B #173, and the plot kept my attention through the first three issues. When the conclusion promised to feature a character named BURBAGE....how could I not be excited to read it!?! Yes, I was very much looking forward to this story.
However.......sigh.
I will try to be diplomatic about it (for British-American relations, if for no other reason, haha), but this story is a big disappointment.
Generally speaking, I think there were too many pages spent re-telling what had already happened and not enough pages devoted to what was happening! For example, 2 or 3 full pages are used to re-cap the plot and tell us that there is a Bishop, a Knight, a Rook, and a Queen involved. Instead of spending that much time reviewing the past three issues, we should have seen more of the action that ended up being crammed into the last three pages!
Plus, it seems that there was an editing decision made somewhere that fouled up the story flow. The story opens with the good guys asking Sir Lionel Burbage to help them....and by the end of the story we realize that Sir Lionel helped Valerie impersonate the Queen. However, on page 5 (the last page before the action really starts) Nemesis is shown to still not have figured out what the Rook clue meant. So when/how was Valerie going to impersonate the Queen, at Windsor Castle, if not on June 12? Of does Nemesis' consideration of the Rook mean that he and Boches are going to stay OUT of the Castle? It's badly written and not at al clear.
Then is it just me, or does the "I would have gotten away with it if not for the anonymous tipster?!" line strike anyone else as odd? We know that Nemesis was already on the case when someone called Scotland Yard. So what's the big deal? Why does it have to be brought up at the end of the story like a forgotten plot point? Oh, is it because the next issue is going to answer a question that I would guess most of the readers had forgotten about? Not very well orchestrated, in my opinion.
The story is not all bad, of course. Artist Dan Spiegle does a great job making all of the characters look like individuals (except for the identical twins!). And I love the bit where "the Queen" takes down Chesterton.
Writer Cary Burkett did a good job with the set-up and the chess pieces, but in the end the endgame was just a little bit too sudden for me.
- The team-up in this issue is between Batman and Swamp Thing, his second appearance in B&B. "The Delta Connection!" by Martin Pasko & Jim Aparo introduced Selina Kyle's younger sister, Felicia. In the letter column in B&B #181, new editor Dick Giordano admitted that writer Pasko did NOT make the young woman Selina's sibling in the original story; that was a change made by then-editor Paul Levitz.
- There were two letters printed in The Brave & The Bold #181 that mentioned this Nemesis story. Both The Mad Maple and Mark Lagasse enjoyed the conclusion and the series overall. Read for yourself:
This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the eight-page story here in its entirety, exactly as it appeared in its comic-book form.
Please do not allow it to fall into the hand of the Council!
Please do not allow it to fall into the hand of the Council!
No comments:
Post a Comment