Janus Directive
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[edit] Summary
For an all too brief time during the late 1980s and early 1990s, DC Comics published a number of titles based on superhumans who were either covert government agents or involved with shady government agencies.
Checkmate was the name given to an intelligence agency that dealt with both foreign and domestic threats to U.S. security. It was headed by a "King," a "Queen" and a "Bishop." The "Knights" were the field operatives, and the "Pawns" were the Knights' ground support. Despite the hokey names, Checkmate's agents meant business and came (literally) dressed to kill, with special masks and body armor designed to take a lot of punishment. Although a few characters had recurring roles, all knights and pawns were considered expendable, and often died in the line of duty.
The Suicide Squad was a top-secret project headed by the abrasive but effective Amanda Waller. Its mandate was to do the dirty covert work that no one else wanted to do, because the missions were almost always suicide runs (hence the name of the team). Waller got her agents by approaching incarcerated super-villains; in exchange for their services, their sentences were commuted to time served. Many of DC's more forgettable villains died while on a mission, but several survived often enough to form a close-knit team.
The Captain Atom project began when a soldier who supposedly died during a military experiment in the 1960s re-materialized in the 1980s with new and unexplained super powers. Anxious to keep him under control, the military blackmailed him and concocted a cover story for "Captain Atom," leading the public to believe he was an all-American superhero, and not the government operative that he actually was.
Together, these three agencies represented the core of the U.S. government's superhuman espionage efforts. None of them (except maybe Captain Atom) operated in public, and none of them really knew a lot about what the others were up to.
Unfortunately, the secrecy that came naturally in their line of business caught up with them, when the would-be world conqueror known as Kobra used it to his advantage. Knowing that any of the agencies might interfere with his plan to kill a large portion of the Earth's population and have himself declared ruler of the survivors, he set in motion a scheme that would use the agencies' suspicions against them, decimating their ranks and distracting them from stopping his final preparations.
Of course, the heroes eventually learn who is behind everything, and they band together to stop Kobra from carrying out his scheme. Once he's captured and his weapon is secured, the President holds a briefing with the agency heads and immediately orders a reorganization of the country's superhuman operatives to ensure a little more accountability and openness.
Summary taken from "The Unofficial Comics Crossover Index". Thanks and credit to Mitchell Brown, the original author.
[edit] Reading Order
Event
- Checkmate #15 (early May 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 1: Knight Kill"
- Suicide Squad v1 #27 (Early May 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 2: Scattermove"
- Checkmate #16 (late May 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 3: Shadow Knights"
- Suicide Squad v1 #28 (Late May 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 4: Death Game"
- Checkmate #17 (early June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 5: A Hard Day's Knight"
- Manhunter v1 #14 (June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 6: Misdirection"
- Firestorm, The Nuclear Man #86 (June 1989): "he Janus Directive, Part 7: Home Fires Burning"
- Suicide Squad v1 #29 (Early June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 8: "Heavy Squad"
- Checkmate #18 (late June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 9: Knight Fight"
- Suicide Squad v1 #30 (Late June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 10: Endgame"
- Captain Atom #30 (June 1989): "The Janus Directive, Part 11: Troubles in Paradise"
