Comics Review: "NEMESIS: ROGUES' GALLERY #2": Cop-Killers and Sidekicks

NEMESIS: ROGUES' GALLERY #2 (OF 5)

DARK HORSE COMICS

STORY: Mark Millar

ART: Valerio Giangiordano

COLORS: Lee Loughridge

LETTERS: Clem Robins

EDITORS: Sarah Unwin; Daniel Chabon

COVER: Valerio Giangiordano with Lee Loughridge

32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (August 2024)

Age range: 14+

Nemesis created by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven

Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery is a five-issue comic book miniseries from writer Mark Millar.  It is a sequel to the miniseries, Nemesis Reloaded (2023) and Big Game (2023).  Published by Dark Horse comics, the new series finds the super-killer, Nemesis, on a mission of revenge.  Rogues' Gallery is drawn by Valerio Giangiordano; colored by Lee Loughridge; and lettered by Clem Robins.

Nemesis: Rogues Gallery finds Nemesis, once the world's greatest super-villain, with a plan to be just that, again. Now, bent on a mission of revenge against everyone who wronged him, Nemesis must rebuild his empire and his fortune.

Nemesis: Rogues Gallery #2 opens in the Tribunal de Justica in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Six counts of murder; 27 counts of aggravated assault; 3 counts of burglary, and four counts of antisocial behavior:  that is Pedro Hernandez.  He has been in and out of detention centers since he was six years old, and he shows no signs of rehabilitation or remorse.  This is the day of reckoning for Pedro.

Or this is the day he can become Nemesis' new partner-in-crime, “Rookie.”

Meanwhile, Andy, the security guard betrayed by Nemesis, is a new man... and a new weapon of vengeance.

THE LOWDOWN:  This is the second time that I have been on any kind of list that provides PDF copies of titles published by Dark Horse Comics.  I mark my return with Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery #2.

Mark Millar continues to deliver the ultimate modern super-villain comic book.  The Nemesis line of comics offers something like Batman as a deranged killer.  However, I must point out that when it comes to Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery, the artist drives the narrative with the most power.

The artists of the earlier series, Steve McNiven (Nemesis) and Jorge Jiménez (Nemesis: Reloaded), offered art and graphic storytelling that emphasized the crazy, the sexy, and the cool of showy super-villain.  Nemesis was a bad ass and a murderer, and the storytelling of the earlier series captured the exhilaration of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's Daredevil and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  In the first series, Nemesis was like the Batman of DKR, and in Nemesis: Reloaded, Nemesis was like Daredevil's killer dude, Bullseye.

Valerio Giangiordano of Rome, Italy takes Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery down a different path, both visually and graphically.  No longer is Nemesis a sexy killer.  Valerio captures all the darkness, vileness, and evil in Nemesis and places him at the heart of some nasty, hard-hitting storytelling.  In a way, Valerio turns Rogues' Gallery into something like one of those gritty 1970s crime movies.  Tonally, all three Nemesis series are different, but in this third series, Valerio takes charge and takes Nemesis down a more sinister and edgier path than any comic books that feature Nemesis have previously done.

Colorist Lee Loughridge, who knows how to deal with “the dark,” perfectly accentuates Valerio's storytelling with colors that suggest murder, both muted and glaring.  Letterer Clem Robins captures the darker wasteland of this new series.

Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery promises to be a good time.  It may also end up being the best evil Batman comic book in ages.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Mark Millar's comic books and of Valerio Giangiordano's art will desire Nemesis: Rogues' Gallery.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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