Review by Luke Williams
Nemesis The Warlock, the story of an alien resistance fighter’s struggle against the xenophobic crusade of a human empire, thousands of the years into the future, is possibly the most repackaged strip in 2000AD’s history, with the obvious exceptions of Judge Dredd : America or Slaine The Horned God. Or maybe it just feels like that.
These “definitive” volumes are the second attempt at a hardback collection of the strip, but Rebellion’s third collection (excluding the Ultimate Collection). There were the “phone books” editions, three smaller than originally printed paperbacks, on lower quality paper. Then there was the collection of the Eagle comics remastered coloured editions of Book 1 in a hardback as the “Termight” edition. Most recently, just over six years ago, the first of three handsome hardback volumes of the “Heresy” Series were released.
Now, finally(?), there are the definitive editions, and with the release of this collection, up to Volume IV, there is just the one to go. These volumes promised better reproduction and binding, and a handsome hardback cover design, although only if you were buying the webshop exclusive cover. The softcovers have a reprint of existing, albeit equally handsome, artwork.
It started well with volumes I and II, but volume III committed the crime of having Bryan Talbot’s awesome double page spread of Satanus battling forces of Termight in the terror tubes split over a page turn. Frankly, that kind of error is pretty unforgiveable, and hardly merits the “definitive” description.
Compounding this aberration was that Rebellion had since launched a Slaine Definitive Edition, which should have been a great package, oversized art from the much-celebrated early days of the woad warrior. But the reproduction on some of the Belardinelli pages was woeful, with faded blacks and poor imaging. Again, hardly definitive.
Sadly, these mistakes have harmed the integrity of the series. Fans asked: if the reproduction quality is poor and double page spreads are split pages, how can they possibly claim to be definitive?
Putting these errors aside for the moment, this volume repackages post Bryan Talbot Nemesis books drawn by John Hicklenton, Two Torquemadas and Death Bringer, alongside David Roach’s sole contribution to the series, Purity’s Story, as the rose between two thorns.
This was a strange period for the strip. Deathbringer heralded a 10-year break in the main storyline, when it returned in 1999 for Book X, to be reprinted in Volume V of this series, with just the odd (and I mean odd) and half-hearted and short lived attempts at reboots through much of the 1990s. Two Torquemadas marks a significant stylistic shift in the strip, with the introduction of the aforementioned late John Hicklenton as series artist, whose grotesque, marmite art brought a sense of horror and revulsion to the proceedings.
Book VII, The Two Torquemadas, sees Nemesis and Purity continuing their pursuit of Nemesis’s son Thoth through the time wastes as he systematically kills each of Torquemada’s past incarnations. They finally catch up with him during the Spanish Inquisition, where the Torquemada of Termight, meets his first incarnation. Plot threads are tied up, characters arcs end, ready for the final phase of the strips life.
Following the events of book VII, Nemesis and Purity are now in hot pursuit of Torquemada through the timewastes. Book VIII, Purity’s Story, is beautifully drawn by David Roach. As noted, his first strip for 2000AD marks a lull in the main storyline and details Nemesis’ human sidekicks origin story, plugging some gaps in their history and spinning new plotlines, which set up Book IX Deathbringer.
Potentially the most interesting of the four strips presented, Deathbringer is set in an alternative Earth, present day (as in 1989). Mills channels his work on Third World War with Nemesis and Purity arriving on an authoritarian, near fascist Britain where Torquemada is well established and influential in governmental circles.
Alongside a series of covers and pin ups from the prog from the likes of Liam Sharp, Mick Austin, Simon Bisley, Nigel Dobbyn, Garry Leach and Jim McCarthy, and cover sketches by co-creator Kevin O’Neill, there are two shorter strips that make up the package.
Warlocks and Wizards is a crossover between Nemesis and Deadlock from the ABC Warriors, one of the attempted reboots for Nemesis, painted by Carl Critchlow. An interesting curio is the Mills and O’Neill Nemesis / Ro – Busters one pager from the Food For Thought charity book.
The main stories in this volume lead to significant shake ups in the world of Nemesis, but by now, for me, the strip had started to drift and lose its way. At the time, Hicklenton’s art jarred with what had gone before: Bryan Tabot’s clean lines and strong page composition a world away from Hicklenton’s chaos. Early on, Hicklenton occasionally had trouble telling a story, his imagery was disturbing and he had an “imaginative” take on anatomy; nevertheless, putting him on the strip was a bold and brave decision by editorial. It made the strip stand out and was a wonderful interpretation of the character. David Roach’s more conventional style acts as a palette cleanser between the two Hicklenton books, but is all the more remarkable for its beauty and the contrast with what precedes it, and what comes afterward.
Hicklenton’s return in Deathbringer sees a less densely packed art style, more assured than the earlier book. The significant shift in tone and the contemporary setting is an interesting twist. Mills and Hicklenton introduced some minor characters and sub plots, but the main story was progressing at a snail’s pace, resulting in the inevitable slug fest between Nemesis and Torquemada, which makes Deathbringer hard going.
Warlocks & Wizards acts as a prologue to the series Nemesis and Deadlock – “The Enigmass Variations”; and seems to throw the baby of out the bath water, returning to the sword and sorcery themes that were the origins of the strip. However, it feels like a knee jerk reaction to the direction the strip had been taking since Bryan Talbot came on board and a significant step backwards. Sadly, worse was to come. But that’s for Volume V.
There are no Slaine Volume I repro disasters here or Nemesis Volume III page goofs. But there are pages where Hicklentons’s highly detailed art becomes (even) more indistinct, particularly in Two Torquemadas. However, admittedly, scanning Hicklenton’s work was always going to be a challenge, unless it was from the original art. Roach’s art fairs far better, with its cleaner lines and neat layouts, although occasionally some of the blacks have faded.
In theory the set of volumes should be great. They certainly look the part on the shelf. However, some of the reproduction in this volume is good rather than excellent. For the completists amongst us, the damage has been done prior to the release of this volume with a split DPS. As a individual volume or a collection, “Definitive”? Not quite.
Luke Williams
Nemesis the Warlock – The Definitive Edition, Volume 4 by Pat Mills (Writer), Carl Critchlow, John Hicklenton, David Roach and Kevin O’Neill (Artists) | Out Now | Paperback | 192 Pages | ISBN: 978-1837865659
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Head downthetubes for…
• Iconblast: Pat Mills on Substack
• Wikipedia: John Hicklenton (8 May 1967 – 19 March 2010), aka John Deadstock
• Comic Art Fans – John Hicklenton Art
• Insights From David Roach – A SHIFT Magazine Interview (2022)
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Brought up on a diet of Commando, British Boys Annuals and Asterix, Lucas Williams’s day job limits his reading time. Luckily for everyone else this also restricts his writing time.
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