Nemesis the Warlock, Deviant Edition

A popular 80s series from 2000AD comic...but this hardback reprint is from Eagle Comics.

Its colourised and that might be less than satisfying.

In the far far future, Earth is ruled by the evil overlord Torquemada, who takes his hatred of aliens to the stars.

Only Nemesis the Warlock, a frightening creature from the Netherworlds dares to defy him.

This is a scifi and swords and sorcery romp, devotees might recognise a similarity with Warhammer 40K (Pat Mills, the writer, worked on `Rogue Trader`)

The art is well imagined and very distinctive, from Nemesis`s familiar Grobbendonk, Nemesis`s clothing (The full gamut from baroque armour to naked to leather jacket and jeans.) the spiky armour of the enemy, the bizzare biology of Nemesis and his fellow Warlocks, some delightfully imagined aliens and his human girlfriend, Purity Brown.

(With a name like that you would have to run off with some alien who thinks G-E-N-I-T-A-L spells V-E-H-I-C-L-E...)

(Puritys clothing ranges from saintly crusader to chaos cultist)

The plot is more than a simple rant against intolerance...Torquemada has good reason to hate aliens, and some aliens are dark and dangerous...Nemesis is an arch anarchist, dangerous and a very grey guy. (And an absolute maniac on the road to boot.)

He is a hero amung aliens and has friends all over...But when we see him at home "Nemesis lives in a cave, spends all his time saving the galaxy from those silly humans, and he has no money." is one dismissal of him...He is a prophet who is not respected.

He has to rethink his aims several times, from the care free road hog at the begining, to the respected leader of the Alien alliance, to the thwarted family man. (Nemesis`s family problems can be heartbreaking, and at the end all he has left is poor Purity, who we suspect has nowhere else to go..."You dont know how much it hurts to be called `Alien lover`" Torquemadas family problems are heartbreaking too, not least because of his obsession with alien killing. This is probably his worst crime. There are times when we cheer for the masked monster too.) and, at the end, Nemesis has to question just what victory means to him.

This is a very good book but its certainly not the whole story...only about the first third...But this series has been reprinted in trade paperbacks several times.

Credo

__________________
"If you think I am a Condor, you may keep that opinion;
Though I am no Condor, my Skylines rusty enough."