Checkmate!

Checkmate
Artwork for the cover of Checkmate (vol. 2) #4 (Sept, 2006). Art by Lee Bermejo.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #598 (March 1988)
Created by	Paul Kupperberg Steve Erwin
In-story information
Type of organization	Intelligence agency
Base(s)	Konig Industries, Shelby, Virginia; NORAD facility in the Colorado Rocky Mountains; "The Castle" compound in the Swiss Alps
Roster
See: List of Checkmate members

Checkmate, a division of Task Force X, is a fictional covert operations agency appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in Action Comics #598 and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate!. In the wake of events depicted in the mini-series The OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis, Checkmate had been re-chartered as a United Nations Security Council-affiliated agency and had its own series, Checkmate (vol. 2).

The Checkmate organization was created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin, first appearing in Action Comics #598 in 1988. The precursor to this fictional organization was known as the Agency, first appearing in Vigilante #36. Harry Stein was appointed Valentina Vostok's replacement in The Agency's command position by Amanda Waller. Stein later sought out the most stable personnel available from the American and international intelligence and law enforcement communities to form Checkmate. His agency would field only the best-trained and well-equipped of agents, working under the strictest rules of secrecy. For the organizational structure of the re-organized Agency, Stein chose the game of chess as his working model.

Stein brought in Gary Washington (Knight One) and Black Thorn as Checkmate operatives, both of whom were his friends, and both of whom were introduced during his run on Vigilante.

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Wikipedia