NEMESIS: ROGUES’ GALLERY #1, by Dark Horse Comics on 7/24/24, puts Nemesis on the road to rest, recovery, restoration, and revenge when his life of paralyzed incarceration comes to a quick end.
Credits:
- Writer: Mark Millar
- Artist: Valerio Giangiordano
- Colorist: Lee Loughridge
- Letterer: Clem Robins
- Cover Artist: Valerio Giangiordano (cover A)
- Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
- Release Date: July 24, 2024
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover Price: $4.99
- Page Count: 32
- Format: Single Issue
Covers:
Analysis of NEMESIS: ROGUES’ GALLERY #1:
First Impressions:
We’ve got several #1s on the docket this week, and Nemesis: Rogues’ Gallery #1 is easily in our Top 2. After the massively impressive Big Game last year, Mark Millar continues Nemesis’s story with an equally impressive start, so hang on to your hats. This is a good one.
Plot Analysis:
Nemesis: Rogues’ Gallery #1 begins with a direct continuation of the titular character’s story after he was paralyzed from the neck down in the Big Game finale. Lying helpless in a hospital bed and under the watchful eye of armed guards, Matthew Anderson, aka Nemesis, can only lie still. At the same time, he eats spoon-fed food, including chicken and chicken bones, while scowling at everyone who comes within eyesight.
Mark Millar’s most evil character in human form still poses an intimidating threat, even though he’s incapable of lifting a finger against anyone. The reserved way the staff and guards talk to and about Nemesis, even in his presence, elevates the character’s reputation by feeding the apprehension of the support staff directly to the reader. Let’s call it intimidation by proxy because it’s super effective.
When the staff commences their evening shift change a lone maintenance worker sneaks into Nemesis’s room and rants at the supercriminal about his past crimes. The worker still grieves over the death of his daughter from one of Nemesis’ mass shootings, and he intentionally took a job at the hospital to seek out an opportunity to kill the villain. Unfortunately, the maintenance worker’s night for revenge coincides with the night Nemesis’s allies have come to break him out of custody.
Millar deftly moves past the status quo setup to pick up the pace and jump right into the action. New readers get all they need to know through brief snippets of dialog between the workers, but once the basics are established, gunfire erupts to pull the reader along in a fast-paced thriller.
Nemesis manages to blind his would-be killer with a carefully spat sliver of chicken bone and uses the strength in his neck to topple himself out of bed on top of the maintenance worker to immediately start biting away. When Nemesis’s allies crash through the door, they find Nemesis biting through the maintenance worker’s corpse. The mercenaries ask for orders concerning the lone nurse who cared for Nemesis, and he tells his men to blind the nurse but leave him alive.
Ruthless and barbaric. If you didn’t know how evil Nemesis could be, this scene not only tells you that he could kill under the most impeded conditions, but he’d rather be callously cruel to the only person willing to help him.
The mercenaries whisk Nemesis to a waiting helicopter bound for a submarine that will avoid detection. Their destination? The Temple of Hanpa in Los Angeles, led by Nemesis’ old mentor and trainer, Ensi Ur-Baba. There, Nemesis agrees to pay a steep price in blood (not his) and pain to restore his body, rebuild his network and fortunes, and take revenge against the superheroes who destroyed his life.
The issue ends with a reunion, the start of a new plan, the task of acquiring a new ally, and a second offer to take revenge… but not for Nemesis.
Overall, Nemesis fans will be exceptionally pleased with this issue. Nemesis is as evil as ever, without regrets or misunderstandings. By the time the issue is done, you’ll have no doubt he will succeed in his quest to regain all he’s lost and inflict terrible pain on everyone who “wronged” him.
Artwork and Presentation:
Valerio Giangiordano steps in as the lead artist on the title, and the result is a comic that looks fantastic in every aspect except one. Nemesis glares at everyone with a stare of menace and hate that would make a demon take notice, so on that point, Giangiordano isn’t fantastic… his artwork is practically electric. Pray you never have a murderer look at you like that.
Art Samples:
The Bigger Picture:
Series Continuity:
Nemesis: Rogues’ Gallery #1 picks up almost directly after the events of Big Game #5, but that miniseries, as phenomenal as it is, doesn’t give you a lot of information about Nemesis’s backstory. To get the real scoop on Mark Millar’s most evil killer, check out the Nemesis: Reloaded TPB.
Final Thoughts:
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NEMESIS: ROGUES’ GALLERY #1 sets the world’s most evil killer loose on the world again with a new mission to rebuild his empire and take his revenge on the superheroes who defeated him. Mark Millar’s script is unapologetically fierce in portraying Nemesis as a man who should be feared under every circumstance, and Valerio Giangiordano’s artwork infuses menace and intimidation into every Nemesis glare.
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