It took me a little while to warm up to Checkmate, but I have to admit, it shot up to being one of my favorites after I read the first trade. I blame Sasha for hooking me like a suckah.

Hey Greg,

I don't know, I dropped Checkmate with issue #5 or #6, despite loving the stuff you did with GC and Detective, and Montoya's role in 52. But then, I picked up the bulk of your Detective run after it was finished, and enjoyed it much more in one go, and that's also how I approached the AK novels. Perhaps it's time I did that for Checkmate . . . I don't have any real affinity for the characters, though, so it was hard for me to get involved.

Dude, no need for the nostalgia - you know they're back, right?

Good to leave making them and us all want more, but...I want more!

It's going to be a rough week when an issue of Checkmate comes out and your name isn't on the cover. I hope the new team is at least half as good as the old one.

Edited at 2008-04-25 08:09 pm (UTC)

I can't wait to get my hands on #25 tonight when I go to get my weekly haul. I'm sure I'll be a smidge depressed afterwards that you and Trautmann are no longer on the book, but it'll be SO worth it.

As I said to Mr. Trautmann earlier today, of course it's getting glowing reviews.

Also, I don't know if you can bear to look at Elektra these days without your heart breaking, but every now and then some wonderful person on LJ or GJ makes a batch of beautiful Elektra icons. Like the ones that were posted today. Just gorgeous!

I don't recall if you answered this when last issue came out, but the nerd in me wants to know...

Is ROOK Cinnamon the same person that was in Jen's mini-series?

It is, indeed, the same Cinnamon as was in the El Ciclo mini.

Hey, this seems like a good place to say that CHECKMATE has pretty much been my favorite monthly, at least among superbooks, since it hit stands. There were a lot of things Jim Williams and I got told, ten years ago during CHASE, that we could never do, that the DCU would never do, that simply Would Not Happen (including a return of Checkmate under that name, which we attempted in 2000 and got shot down!) and it's been really gratifying seeing you, Geoff, Grant, etc. gradually turn that wheel around so that now a book like CHECKMATE can do all the things, and more, that we never got to even attempt. The best books to read, IMHO, are the ones you feel like you'd have enjoyed writing yourself.

*beams happily*

Indeed. I really enjoyed CHASE, quite a lot, and that was probably my first conscious exposure to J.H. Williams' work; stellar book. My thanks.