By Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill, Bryan Talbot, John Hicklenton and Tony Luke

Buy The Complete Nemesis the Warlock - Book 2

Review by Alex Frith 

When an artist leaves a series, there can be a sense that he or she has moved on to 'better' things, and doesn't want to stay mired in the past. Luckily, that's not the case with Kevin O'Neill. He may have moved on to better-paid work in America after beginning Nemesis, but he was clearly happy to revisit his most bizarre creation. I wasn't necessarily expecting to see his work at all in Nemesis Volume 2, but it's all the over the place with various one offs and even a short series. Fantastic!

That said, the artistic star of Volume 2 is without doubt Bryan Talbot, with 2 out of the three longer stories, and a delightful Bosch-inspired one-off. Talbot gets his own Afterword in this volume in which he enthuses about the madness he had the chance to create.

One of the great things about Nemesis the warlock is that the whole saga fits together nicely, with characters and storylines progressing with each 'book' and one-off. But this does mean that newcomers can get left behind. I certainly wouldn't recommend launching into the complete Nemesis the Warlock Volume 2 without reading Volume 1 first.

Anyway, Vol 2 kicks off in high gear with the short Ego Trip, a fine reminder of why humans should not truck with the extra terrestrial, and why Kevin O'Neill is an artistic genius. And then we launch into Books 5 and 6, which aren't quite as beautifully conceived as the Gothic Empire, but are enjoyably weird and perhaps better written than the previous books. Mills puts together a plot that involves the return of both Torquemada and Satanus the dinosaur, and then sends his cast of characters off to the end of the world, in the meantime exploring politics, albeit in a heavy-handed way.

In the meantime, Bryan Talbot constructs a Termight that is different to the O'Neill version, being grimier and more earthly feeling, with citizens as much stupid and dull as fearful. His weasly politicians are perfect in their patheticness. Also, in his introduction to Nostradamus de Torquemada, he provides one of my all-time favourite comic panels, dripping with flesh-rotting nastiness.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot of these two books as it's bizarre stuff worth being surprised by if you haven't read them yet, but I will say that we get the chance to explore the psychology of our heroes and villains a little bit more than in the past. To some extent this takes away from the frantic pace of weirdness and fighting that had been the norm up until this point, but it's no bad thing, as Mills's slogan-filled dialogue works perfectly when dealing with archetypal characters like Torquemada (ultimate human evil), Purity (kick-ass freedom fighter), and of course Nemesis (the Deathbringer, Lord of the flies, holder of the Sword Sinister etc etc).

Book 6 in particular reads well in one big chunk, whereas some of Volume 1 was, I suspect, better served on a Prog by Prog basis, allowing the reader to absorb the weirdness of each page to its fullest extent. The ABC Warriors are present for both books, although it was clearly a struggle for Mills and Talbot to give each warrior his due prominence - which perhaps explains why Mills sends them off into their own adventure at the end of Book 6. To continue with their adventures, you'll need to buy the ABC Warriors book 'the Black Hole', which I thoroughly recommend, although it's a different beast from Nemesis the Warlock.

Talbot's departure heralds a new experimental phase for the book. O'Neill comes back for Torquemada the God, bringing with him a newish style. It's all very harsh and totalitarian, as befits the Termight-bound plot. Then there's the oft-vilified Tony Luke, who provides a photo strip story. A real curio that has no bearing on the overall plotline, but it's certainly laudable that Rebellion chose to reprint it. And it's interesting to see how one might realise costumes/make-up for Nemesis and Torquemada. Interesting, mind, not breathtaking.

And then we're into the love it/hate it category of newcomer John Hicklenton, who provides the art for Book 7, the final full-length series in this volume.

I certainly hated his art when I first read the story back in the day, finding it almost impossible to work out who was who and what was going on. Everyone Hicklenton draws is magnificently ugly, almost repellant, and his blacks are so thick in places that his storytelling is as far from Talbot's as you can get.

That said, I love Book 7 now - perhaps because I've read over the story a few times so I know what's going on. Mills once again takes his creation into a new direction, and it really works. Without getting into the whys and wherefores, Nemesis and foe end up in old Spain, and come face to face with the original Tomas de Torquemada, he of the notorious Spanish Inquisition. There's a good bit of preaching against the evils of organised religion, and a rather splendid look into the mind of the two Torquemadas, to discern the difference between their two evils.

But all that aside, the best bit is the way Hicklenton draws his human characters dripping with, I don't quite know how to describe it, but it's as if you can see the sebum coming through the pores of their skin, and it's infected with hypocrisy, fear and desperation. The Holy Torquemada gets some beautiful facial expressions of evil piety, while the unholy Torquemada, who is at this point rotting away, is massive-necked and muscle-warped and noseless and just hard to look away from. Some panels of him actually make my stomach turn, (not always a good thing), a massive change from Talbot and O'Neill, whose work makes me want to get my pencil out and try to copy the delightful detail.

Now, with only 3 full-length books in Volume 2, I had wondered if there was enough Nemesis material to fill it up. That's because I'd reckoned without the dedication to the word 'complete'. After the main event, there's a full helping of extras from various specials and annuals. On the one hand there's another photo strip, in which Nemesis and Torquemada meet in London's 'Forbidden Planet'. Silly, but fun to see if you're old enough and London enough to have gone to the Denmark St store, and it's the only bum note in the book.

Best of the extras are the two role-playing games from roleplaying comic experiment Diceman. I'd all but forgotten the 'Garden of Alien Delights', but one seeing it again I was reminded of yet more intensely disturbing images from my childhood. A pig lady and an armoured dwarf leading Torquemada astray in his own personal Hell - brrr. And then O'Neill gets to return to the Terror Tube. Fans of the old Fighting Fantasy and other gamebooks will be delighted by these comicbook equivalents, although the game play isn't exactly sophisticated. There are a couple of O'Neill strips from Annuals to round things off, all in all a most satisfying collection. The art reproduction on these supplementary pieces is a little off in places, presumably because some were originally in colour, but it's a minor complaint.

Every bit as essential as Volume 1, Nemesis the Warlock Volume 2 is a must-buy book for fans of the series.

Buy The Complete Nemesis the Warlock - Book 2