Checkmate #1 is an issue of the series Checkmate (Volume 1) with a cover date of April, 1988.
Synopsis for "Opening Gambit!"
A domestic terrorist explodes a suitcase bomb in the Chicago Board of Trade. Harvey Bullock meets with Black Thorn at a beach. Some of Bullock's compatriots knock Thorn out with a syringe and they kidnap her. That evening, Harry Stein and Amanda Waller, the two heads of the organization Checkmate discuss Black Thorn's status. Waller thinks Thorn is too much of a loose cannon to have anything to do with Checkmate and Stein thinks Thorn would be a valuable asset. Waller agrees to let Stein handle things. Black Thorn awakes and Bullock shows her around Checkmate's compound, telling her more about the organization, which sends field agents, called Knights, on missions against terrorists and crimes of state. Bullock leaves Thorn with an underling and attends a meeting, where he is briefed on Checkmate's first mission: To infiltrate and take down the American Supremacist Party, determined to be responsible for the above mentioned bombing. After the meeting, Bullock is told that Black Thorn escaped from the compound. Later, a Knight is surveilling a house where the ASP is about to kill a federal agent. The Knight breaks into the house, saves the agent and takes down all of the ASP men who do not flee. As some of the ASP men flee, a Pawn arrives in a convertible, the Knight hops in and the give chase. During the chase, the ASP car crashes into a streetlight. The Knight kills three of the men in self defense and captures the fourth. The Knight returns to base. Later that night at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center, a bomb detonates.
Appearing in "Opening Gambit!"
Featured Characters:
- Checkmate
- Harry Stein
- Amanda Waller
- Harvey Bullock
- Grace Guiness
- Phil Kramer
- Scott Jameson
- John Reed
- Gary Washington
- B.J. (Stein's secretary)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- American Supremacist Party (A.S.P.) (First appearance)
- Kevin Maxwell (First appearance)
- Larry (First appearance)
- Dave (Single appearance; dies)
- Moose (First appearance)
- William Cross (Single appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Gilroy (Single appearance)
- O'Connor (First appearance)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles: