CHEETAH versus WONDER WOMAN

Blood Debt (DC)
Where: Wonder Woman #222 When: December 2005
Why: Greg Rucka How: Cliff Richards

The Story So Far...
Responsible for fatally snapping Maxwell Lord's neck before the eyes of the world: Wonder Woman must answer to international outcry in response to film of the humanitarian and philanthropist's apparent murder.

Submitting herself to the International Court of Justice; the superhero and Amazon ambassador willingly agrees to residence  in an adjacent detention facility while the terms of her trial are arranged. Alas, death has followed Diana to The Hague.

Watching her plea of "Not Guilty" was the merciless Cheetah, who leaves a pile of court guards' corpses in her wake as she stalks her ultimate prey. Emergency lockdown merely serves to cage the beast as she lies in wait!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Wonder Woman 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Wonder Woman 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Cheetah 5 (Super Speed)
Stamina: Wonder Woman 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Cheetah 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Wonder Woman 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)
Total: Wonder Woman 29 (Metahuman)

Cheetah is arguably the most identifiable arch-enemy in Wonder Woman's rogues gallery, so it's about time we took another look at this classic rivalry.

Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva was an anthropologist seeking the secrets of an esoteric African tribe. She hoped for the gift of immortality, but was instead cursed when she submitted to a ritual to become the cat-god Urzkartaga's bride.

For desiring the pleasures of the flesh, she was doomed to survive only by consuming it. With this animal instinct came feline physical attributes, including enhanced strength, agility, reflexes, senses, a tail, and super-human speed!

Her greatest assets fighting Wonder Woman are speed and agility, coupled with feline ferocity -- and claws to match. Extra speed enhancements acquired from Zoom helped almost secure a win in Wonder Woman (Vol.3) #29. A tense stand-off with Wonder Woman in Justice League of America #15 ended when Firestorm delivered a knock-out blow.

Cheetah's also come up short against Catwoman, developing a rivalry over two noteworthy battles. In Catwoman: When In Rome #4, her tail was used against her to efficient effect. Catwoman #78 promised a vicious rematch, but again the fighting technique and desperation of Catwoman turned the tables.

Wonder Woman's no slouch in the arena of combat, but will often forego finesse for a brawling warrior's style that suits her incredible strength.

She used power and brawling to clobber Marvel's Juggernaut in Unlimited Access #1's tag team crossover. She tenaciously endured against the unique magic of Genocide in Wonder Woman #32, as well! She even bested two feral foes in Vixen and Tasmanian Devil during JLA: Classified #3! Impressive!

The record certainly favours Wonder Woman, but we still have more ground to cover before Cheetah can be written off. It must be noted that she successfully sniffed out an invisible Phantom Lady, and slashed up Uncle Sam, contributing to the domination of the Freedom Fighters in Infinite Crisis #1.

Could today's featured fight be the one to finally see Cheetah overwhelm her arch-nemesis? Wonder Woman is waist deep in controversy at this time having just fought Superman and killed Maxwell Lord. Let's see what happened...

The Tape: Wonder Woman Ranking: Wonder Woman (#15)

What Went Down...
From the rafters she watched Wonder Woman's immediate fate be decided with spite and resentment. The tribunal hearing determined she be held in the Hague detention facility, where Cheetah effortlessly follows, hidden by shadow.

Wonder Woman takes advantage of a spontaneous visit from Donna Troy and Supergirl to usher her legal council, Peter Garibaldi, on a safe travel home, then she returns to her quarters to confront the enemy she knows is hiding there!

Stepping into the light -- Cheetah revels in the fruits of her imposed bloodlust and then she launches herself at her sworn enemy with reckless abandon!

Her incredible speed allows her to tag Wonder Woman with the sharp edge of her claws, even as she contends with the mighty swinging fist of the Amazon!

Cheetah hits the wall with her feet and springs back in the direction of Wonder Woman. The warrior for peace is ready, but there's little she can do to prevent the momentum of Cheetah's returning charge. They smash through the wall!

Cheetah slashes at her downed foe, anticipating the taste of her flesh. She pounces into the air -- striking back down at Wonder Woman's cheek with the relentless whipping of her feline tail!

By now, armed guards have rushed to respond to the commotion -- but they're helpless before Cheetah's speed and agility. She darts between their bullets and effortlessly disarms them with a flick of her tail, and slash of her claws!

Before she can devour their flesh -- a gleaming projectile slices through her tail!

The agonizing pain clears her mind. She turns, finding Wonder Woman receiving her golden tiara as it arcs back to her hand like a boomerang. The perceived arrogance of her posture inspires a second wind. Cheetah dives at her prey!

This time Wonder Woman catches the charging Cheetah with a straight hand to the throat and slams her into the ground!

In her mind, Cheetah pleads for mercy from the jealous god who supplies her power, but the real negotiation is over. Wonder Woman slams her powerful fists into Cheetah until she's unconscious in a pool of her own blood.

The Hammer...
A decisive victory for Wonder Woman that takes her further down a path of violence.

She may have stopped the murderous Cheetah, but her bloody victory raises further questions as she awaits trial for the killing of Maxwell Lord.

The next issue deals with the fallout of the battle, with the International Criminal Court left with no choice but to revise the conditions of Wonder Woman's parole.

Diana agrees to the now mandatory imposed detention at The Hague, but quickly breaks the conditions when Themyscira comes under attack from an army of OMACs.

"Omni Mind And Community", or the OMAC Project, is a collective of nano-tech converted humans who were used as programmable soldiers by Checkmate, under the directive of Maxwell Lord.

Even in death, he continues to have his revenge against Wonder Woman, attacking her island home, and her international standing.

This all happened as part of the tangled web of events that built toward Infinite Crisis. An interesting time in DC history, when escalating mini-events created an interconnected foundation for an ultimate mid-decade blockbuster.

At the time, I very much enjoyed the unfolding, controlled chaos of it all, but looking back after years of repeating blockbuster events, it does start to feel a little bit bogged down and exhausting.

The strands of Infinite Crisis would define much of the 2000s, but in some ways it feels as if Wonder Woman was the most permanently effected by it.

These 2005 issues inspired part of my Totem of Justice: an attempt to categorize and define a scale of violence and attitude in contemporary super-heroics. Using the DC heroes of the time, Wonder Woman personified Level 7 of 8: Longstanding Solution, or lethal force -- "a life for a life". Echoes of this time still seem to resonate within most versions of the warrior princess.

This period wasn't the first time Wonder Woman had been shown to be an uncompromising warrior in the ancient sense. It did seem to serve as a lightning rod for rethinking her characterization as an Amazon Princess, though.

Refining the definitive status of icons was one of the pleasures of DC Comics in the early to mid 2000s. There seemed to be a genuine effort to reflect upon the past, searching for the truest aspects of various iterations to inform (and reform) a modern classic take.

Even after sixty years Wonder Woman still seemed to lack that type of enduring touchstone. Lynda Carter could only offer the character so much, and even the post-Crisis period by George Perez seemed to be most fondly referenced for its visual exploits and classic riffs.

At the time, it seemed like an uncompromising Wonder Woman was a good way to differentiate her from counterparts like Superman and Batman. It expanded upon and honored the spirit of the Greek Amazon tradition that remains one of the most unique reference points for the character. The friction it created with her tradition as an ambassador for peace supplied interesting circumstance for drama, as in today's featured issue.

The execution of Maxwell Lord ultimately created a single memorable moment Wonder Woman could hang or hat on. That's probably why aggression is still a part of the character, and why Maxwell Lord will soon appear as a foil in the Wonder Woman theatrical sequel, Wonder Woman 1984.

Some time soon we'll work backwards to take a closer look at that defining moment. In the mean time: if you'd like to read today's featured battle you can find it collected in Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka Volume 3: War in Paradise.

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Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured 650 battles and ranked well over 950 characters! If you like what it's all about and want to keep up the good fight: Patreon contributions will get you additional updates, extra polls, and custom articles as a thank you.

You can also subscribe to Twitter and Facebook for free daily links to fights inspired by the topic of the day! That's where you'll also find voting for The Contest: Cheetah vs Wolverine! Be sure to vote, like, and share!

Winner: Wonder Woman
#13 (+2) Wonder Woman
#423 (-1) Cheetah

BANE versus TOMMY JAGGER
Corvalho: Part Two (DC comics)
Where: Checkmate #12 When: May 2007
Why: Greg Rucka & Nunzio Defilippis How: Steve Scott & Cliff Richards

The story so far...
Political tensions are mounting in the South American state of Santa Prisca. With an impending election, Bane retaliates against a cocktail of corruption and election tampering with his own hard tactics of independent militia and stern curfews.

The International agency of Checkmate responds to the distress call of Colonel Computron, who has information regarding the mastermind behind the election tampering he aided.

With need of evidence, some of Checkmate agents suspect their own White Queen, Amanda Waller, of being responsible. When each King's Knight is distributed into the field, little do they realise the Black Knight, Beatriz "Fire" Dacosta, has been blackmailed by Waller into destroying Computron.

As if that wasn't bad enough, there's the little matter of White Knight, Tommy Jaggar. Jagger's father, the hero known as Judomaster, was murdered by Bane during the Battle of Metropolis, who was among those representing The Society.

Previous Form:
Bane (#179): Bane was defeated by Captain America.
Tommy Jagger: The son of Judomaster has not yet been featured.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Bane 4 (Steroid Popper)
Intelligence: Bane 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Draw 3 (Trained Athlete)
Stamina: Bane 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Tommy Jagger 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Bane 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy Powers: Draw 1 (None)


We're a week behind again as I continue to enjoy trips to the dentist.
The dentist really isn't an important part of the tape, but I felt like getting some sympathy. Woe is me.

Woe is Tommy Jagger, also! His father was very recently killed in the pages of Infinite Crisis, suffering a lethal version of the move that broke the Batman's back, and very nearly ended his career as Batman! That's right, we are of course talking about Bane, and that means it's all about the back breaker!

These guys are pretty different in most respects, but the only major factor seperating them would have to be degrees of strength. Even without the venom serum, which is what Bane's tape measurement is based on, he is a formiddable, physical presence. You add the venom to the equation, and it gets big time!

Of course, with the venom comes the awfully obvious weakness of a tube dangling from the back of his skull down to his wrist. We've seen it in the film, in the cartoon, and in the comics before, and frankly I'm glad to see it gone.
With the tube in effect, there's the chance anyone could defeat Bane by the shock of withdrawl, or an overdose of the drug.

Taking that out of the equation, Jagger's greatest skills here are speed and agility. Although, despite his impressive muscular bulk, Bane is known to be a surprisingly quick fighter, and his tactical skills are comparable to that of Batman himself.

I guess the conclusion is that Jagger certainly has no reason to fear going up against Bane, but he would certainly have a reason afterward.
Though he's been built up to be a pretty impressive new character in the pages of Checkmate, he just isn't a Batman, or an Azrael. Which, by the tape, makes it hard to pick him against the Santa Priscian behemoth called Bane!

The Math: Bane
The Pick: Bane

What went down...
The green flames of Beatriz Dacosta's attack against Computron ignite his hiding place, alerting Bane and his militia of her presence. Bane, having concerns that Checkmate may be interfering in the election on the United Nation's behalf, makes an explosive entrance.

Jagger, having secured the remains of Computron's floating head in a containment case, he orders Fire to keep them from Bane's grips in the hopes that data may be retrieved from the deceased's computer style memory.

Bane looms over the White King's Knight, disappointed that the "legendary" Brazilian green flame is fleeing, but concedes to make-do with the son of the Judomaster.

Jagger attempts to diffuse the situation, reasoning for an opportunity to explain the presence of he and his Checkmate fellow, and their involvement in the fixing scandal of the Santa Priscan election.

Unfortunately for him, Bane has already made up his mind about the motives and nobilities of those he perceives as unwelcome interferances.
He also explains his explicit knowledge of exactly who he is facing, and the familial resonance his confrontation with Jagger has.

Even affronted with a callous reference to his father's murder, Jagger remains a professional soldier of Checkmate. He declares his desire to resolve the situation peacefully, but as Bane swings his fists in a clubbing axe handle, Jagger is quickly finding himself with few options.

Bane shares more of his anti-UN paranoia, completely unwilling to hear the truths spouted by Jagger.

Intent on resolving the situation with his fists, Bane snatches the far smaller man into the air by the shoulder, and lifts him above his head. He remarks on the final moments of the Judomaster, and finally Jagger is forced to act.

The White King throws his leg out, connecting with a boot to the face of the South American powerhouse. It is enough to free him of the grip.

Jagger berates Bane for his siding with The Society of villains, and proudly boasts his father's heroic death as one of the heroes who stood against them as they marched through Metropolis. He denounces Bane's dishonorable decision to attack kill the Judomaster for little more reason than the fact he stood in his path. This, all while side-stepping a thundering right hand from Bane, which he counters with an elbow strike to the jugular.

Jagger swings the far larger of the two around to face the raging green flames left by Fire, and strikes him hard at the small of his back.
He follows it with a stiff kick to the back of the knee, punctuating his demand for respect for his father.

On his knees, Bane finds himself held by the back of the head, staring down the scalding fire as Jagger receives a transmission confirming his partner's arrival to safety.

Jagger releases his grip, and does his best to finally make it clear to Bane that Checkmate are not his enemy. With the professionalism demanded of him, he releases his foe. By the time Bane turns, the White Knight is already gone.

The hammer...
Well, it looks like the win goes to the debutant - Tommy Jagger.

I'm not going to make any bones about the situation on this fight. If anyone is seeking this particular entry out, it's probably off the back of Bane's stardom as the man who broke the Batman. So, in a way, it's probably a disappointing result to see Bane go down to a relative unknown, and fairly new character. Sorry about that.

On the flipside, hopefully it's been a pleasant introduction to one of the underrated books coming out of DC right now. For a book that's had so many ties to other events across the DC landscape, including characters appearing and involved in 52 and One Year Later, it's surprising it isn't doing better.
Then again, perhaps it's the subtlty of that fact that both makes it an enjoyable read, but gives it no benefit of reaching out to those readers who might be interested.

I was somewhat disturbed to find Checkmate languishing around the 20k sales mark, which for many is a death sentence. Only the likes of Manhunter and Spider-Girl, whose fanbases appear to be minor, but powerful, have avoided the cut of the 20k axe.

I'm not going to claim this to be the greatest book on the shelves right now.
I think that's an over estimation of the materials, which are a simplified political/spy style thriller with a few familiar faces. The casual and simple pace is reminiscent, I feel, of Gotham Central, in many ways. And likewise, the hype could potentially be an over estimation as I felt with that book.
Even so, it has been very enjoyable, and some of these potential critiques are positives, particularly for the less confident reader.

The departure of Alan Scott [the original Golden Age Green Lantern - Encyclopedia Miktanica] may be a turn-off for some, but they should be encouraged to invest in new characters like Jagger, and even the more seasoned like Mr. Terrific [JSA], Amanda Waller and Fire [Justice League International] and Sasha Bordeaux [Batman].

This particular two-part story [issues #12-#13] is a great little yarn that has the superficial fun of a Bane guest-spot, the on-going arc of Amanda Waller's rogue tactics, and also an interesting insight into some of the Brazillian Fire's background, and what drives her to be the hero she is.

All that, plus Fire's father is clearly modelled on Sean Connery, which makes for fun reading. I dare anyone who picks up these two issues (which you all should) to not read his lines like it were Connery's crotchety follow-up role to League of Extraordinary Gentlmen.

I can't say enough to encourage people to get in on this, because the only reason I haven't featured it sooner is that I haven't felt there's been a big enough fight. It's such a versatile read it combines field action with intelligent, interesting and linear story telling.

If there's a misstep in this issue, it's the Bane situation.

Bane, as I mentioned, has the claim to fame as being the man who broke Bruce Wayne's back. It's something most of us know, even if we're the most casual of comic book fans. In fact, there's probably a contingent of people on the street who know nothing of the crunch, but could still tell you Bane broke Batman's back.

Like a Doomsday, who likewise has the claim to fame of killing Superman, he's a character who's never really been free to live-up to anything else.
The powers-that-be, intelligently, chickened out of replacing Batman with a French-Canadian in a powersuit, and Bane was thus reduced to a beatable menace lacking in true motivation or relevance.

Like a lot of popular villains [including Doomsday], Bane transitioned into the anti-hero side of things, and maybe I'm a bit of a sucker for it, but I thought it worked.
I guess you could look at Bane one of two ways. He's a man who served time for crimes committed by his father, so until his release and progression into the life of a mercenary, he never really had any blood on his hands.

Thus he could; A) Have a guilt complex and do the Batman/Spider-man thing and attempt to give his life to the servitude and betterment of others. Or, alternatively, B) he could consider his entire existence one big case of double jeopardy, and live a life of indulgence at the expense of any and all who stand in his way.

Honestly, I guess even that over simplifies the character who is supposed to be a brilliant strategist. And I've enjoyed some periods, like his dealings with weening off of the venom drug, battling counterparts of said drug, and working toward his origins and peace with the Batman.
Of course, things like those just tend to come unstuck when you have events like Infinite Crisis, and the depiction here which suggests venom is back on the agenda. Which really just again throws Bane into a directionless characterization of boobery, which is not befitting of the brilliant tactician who broke the Bat.

In closing, I'm maybe going to rate this issue a bit generously, just because I think it's worth recommending to anyone visiting the site.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 6