Reviews 

“Nemesis”

By | May 28th, 2020
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

In 2011 Mark Millar and Steve McNiven set out to ask a very interesting question. What if you took a character with nearly limitless wealth, intelligence, and resources, like a Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark; but rather than using these things to help those in need of saving, they became the ultimate super villain just for the fun of it? Looking back at this wild and boundary-pushing book nearly a decade later has been a fun and intriguing exercise. Spoiler-Free

Cover by Steve McNiven
Written & Created by Mark Millar
Illustrated & Created by Steve McNiven
Colored by Dave McCaig
Lettered by Chris Eliopoulos

“Nemesis” is a miniseries that is equally brutal as it is bleak, with a sick sense of humor running up its back. By the time you reach page 5, it will be clear that this is no typical superhero or supervillain comic. The son of privilege and seemingly endless wealth, the man behind Nemesis is as ruthless as a sociopath can be. Throughout the entire series, you will feel as helpless, and as terrified as those he sets his sights on.

Using his power to wage war games against prolific leaders in the justice system, he sees each target as a challenge to prove his power and intelligence against. After causing extreme mayhem and death on a grand scale in Tokyo, Japan in the opening of the series – a sequence that is both filled with incredible action movie set pieces and absolutely terrifying horror movie moments – the story moves to Washington D.C. Nemesis has a new toy to play with.

Chief Blake Morrow is a right-wing politician’s dream cop. Middle-aged, white, proud Christian, and is willing to take the law into his own hands to take down criminals. He’s basically Dirty Harry except he knows how to play the bureaucratic political games. Presenting himself to the world as the ultimate good guy, this super cop is exactly the type of person Nemesis relishes in taking down. This isn’t just about killing Morrow, this is about destroying him from the foundation of who he is as a person, causing chaos and death throughout his entire life, and if he dies – as Nemesis promises he will – that will just be the cherry on top of the gore-filled sundae.

Whether your beliefs align with Morrow’s or not, there is no question, he is the good guy here. Mark Millar throws every horrific detail into the mix to show us just how evil Nemesis is. His plans for those he targets are not just aimed at them, but everyone around them, and even those who just happen to be in his path of destruction. Crafting intriguing dialogue, and clever world-building, the story gives us juts enough information to truly understand these characters as the plot unfolds. There are no extraneous details, no puzzle pieces that don’t fit into place by the time you reach the back cover.

One of the best aspects of “Nemesis” is that if you were reading a “Batman” comic and he used his money, tech, and brains to always be 20-30 steps of everyone else, you would be cheering him on, ready for him to solve the crime and throw the baddie into Arkham Asylum. When Nemesis uses his resources, you are sick to your stomach with fear knowing that he can’t be beaten. It is a unexpected experience to have such a feeling when reading a comic. So rarely does a comic book plot take you on this kind of journey, and even though it isn’t a pleasant feeling, it’s an exciting and incredibly interesting experience.

Not only does Millar not pull any punches with his story telling, as if he ever would, he crosses so many lines; “Nemesis” is a shocking read no matter how many times you revisit it. The threads this story follows and multiple twists that get thrown at you from start to finish are simply astounding and will have all readers grimace, gasp, and bug their eyes out.

It is one of the most horribly violent and stress-inducing books I have ever had the…pleasure, to read. It has to be read to be experienced. While Millar’s script is well done and has little to no fat on it, it is Steve McNiven’s art that really brings this book’s narrative and full emotional range to life.

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McNiven’s art is so exquisitely detailed, to the point that every fine detail is in unbelievable contrast with the color work by Dave McCaig. The lines and colors work perfectly together, but the visual contrast comes from the realism combined with the inescapable cartoon side of most comic book art. With the work of these two artists coming together on “Nemesis,” they create the proper blending of realism and surrealism needed to tell this kind of story. McCaig’s colors are something to behold. Bright and flashy, he is able to convey a real weight and depth to everything within these panels. The blood and gore are nothing short of shocking, the likes of which is rarely seen in a film, let alone a comic. Tarantino or Eli Roth would be hesitant to put something like this in a movie.

If you have read this far, then it will be fairly obvious, even without getting into plot details, that this book isn’t for everyone. I would almost go as far to say that it isn’t for most people, but its action, gore, and story are so extreme that I have to give it a full recommendation. Millar and McNiven are cruel to their characters; and it is that cruelty that makes “Nemesis” a must-read. I am not the biggest Millar fan, and for the most part I can take or leave his work, but the fact that I have returned to “Nemesis” more than once says something about its quality.

Millar and McNiven’s sheer audacity to put something like this out into the world, combined with their talent raises this book’s merits across the board.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – A quick and savage read, “Nemesis” will stay with you long after you’ve put it down.


Christopher Egan

Chris lives in New Jersey with his wife, daughter, two cats, and ever-growing comic book and film collection. He is an occasional guest on various podcasts, writes movie reviews on his own time, and enjoys trying new foods. He can be found on Instagram. if you want to see pictures of all that and more!

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