C.H.E.S.S. #2 - Apogee Comics

C.H.E.S.S. No. 2, March 2019

It is hard to imagine how any creative team could better immerse their audience with so relentless an assault upon their senses as Issue Two of Alfred Paige’s “C.H.E.S.S.” does straight from the start. For whilst the twenty-two page periodical momentarily lulls any unsuspecting bibliophile into a false sense of sedentary security with its opening eavesdrop upon a tense dialogue between Avery and his ‘on the ground’ team leader, Deborah Stewart a.k.a. Heart, the action very quickly ramps up a few notches as the comic shifts focus to Infrared and Footpath’s supposedly stealthy night-time investigation of the Conflict Technology Solutions Headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.

Dripping in atmosphere and an urgent need to be absolutely quiet as the team’s “killer robot” silently sneaks into Nakadai’s building via its roof’s access stairwell, this sequence’s palpable claustrophobic ambiance genuinely makes it difficult for a reader to breath for fear of alerting the establishment’s authorities, and additionally makes Schafer’s verbal reservations regarding the mission’s roster appear all the more irritatingly loud whenever he speaks to Stewart; “And you’d be surprised how stealthy Infrared can be. Hence the text feed, to save him speaking. Maybe you should follow his example, Schafer.” Fortunately however, for those perusing this publication whose lungs were starting to burst for lack of air, the suffocating silence is reasonably swiftly broken when the villain’s criminal cadre suddenly ambush the so-called failed robotic super-soldier, and literally all Hell is let loose in a staggeringly entertaining fist-fight between Rowan Kelly Moore, Infrared and Nakadai’s group of super-powered assassins.

The dynamically-pencilled artwork for this lengthy battle royale compellingly speaks for itself, and gains some considerable gravitas due to the combatants predominantly only having enough time to grunt in effort or groan in pain. As a result much of this mêlée’s dialogue actually stems from Avery’s dislocated team who are ineffectively trying to make sense of matters using their mechanical comrade’s badly disorientated text feed, and their resultant confusion as to what is happening wonderfully adds to the turmoil of the chaotic bout itself. Indeed, even after Footpath is knocked unconscious, courtesy of a cowardly strike from behind, it still looks as if the two “C.H.E.S.S.” operatives may yet come out on top until Infrared has an arm lopped off by the ferocious cybernetically-enhanced Stress and logically determines that “the situation was turning in the enemy’s favour.”

Creative Team: Alfred Paige, Alex De-Gruchy, William Reyes and Jesse Hansen