Be pure , be vigilant... b.s. - Rated 
The sparkling reviews on this page are, I suspect, from nostalgic throwbacks or young teens. I found the typical serialised comicbook story arcs in this stretched my patience and the plot substance to annoying extremes. And the fact that each installment is only four pages and then comes a recap made it even harder on me. It's alright, nothing spesh.
Credo! - Rated 
Pat Mills loves anarchy. Like most British writers of any importance over the last thirty years, he is anti-authority, loving to satire modern life in its vacuousness savagely. Sometimes the satire is so brutal and over the top it overtakes all else in the story he's telling. But that's good. And that's why he is so important.
Interestingly the two most powerful satires Mills has written, Marshal Law and Nemesis (you may disagree, but that doesn't mean this review isn't helpful), are drawn by Kev O'Neill, a strong stylist who is distinctly unsubtle in his art, which some people may not find to their taste. More fool them. Nemesis is like a science fiction version of a Steve Bell or Gerald Scarfe political cartoon.
Nemesis is an alien warlock. His design is surely one of the most unique and endearing in popular culture, horselike with a torpedo nose. He travels the universe battling the forces of Torquemada, a descendant of the Spanish Inquisitor, who runs the Termight (Earth) Empire with a right wing fist, committing genocide on anything outside his view of normal. Torquemada is pure evil, and he just keeps coming back, no matter how many times Nemesis kills him.
This might sound tiresome, but there is a very British sense of humour at work. Like Monty Python, or an episode of Dangermouse, you get a view of a universe cast in the British class system, with chirpy working classes and chinless fops. The sense of humour even feels a bit nostalgic these days which adds to the fun.
The first four books of a ten book cycle are presented here, including the original stories that introduced Nemesis. The writing is anti-authority but playful with it. Kev O'Neill's work is wonderfully overdetailed and matched only by the brilliant Bryan Talbot on the Victoriana parody the Gothic Empire which introduces Nemesis' son and adds the ABC warriors to the cast.
This is a big book and you'll need time to digest the fantastically overdetailled art and bombastic plotting. But if you like things a bit larger than life, if you think the world is a stupid place run by idiots, give it a go. It's an important part of British comics history.
Classic British Comic Storytelling - Rated
Nemesis the Warlock is unquestionably one of the more esoteric stories to ever grace the pages of 2000AD. Growing out of the frankly ludicrous "Comic Rock" stories, where a popular song of the day would be transformed into some kind of weird tale within the pages of the comic, bizarrely, Nemesis' roots belong to the Jam's "Going Underground". Quite what this has to do with anything, I'm not sure, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Pat Mills has created so many great stories and characters, but Nemesis is one of the strangest, and the most successful. These early stories collected here capture exactly why the British comics industry of the late seventies and early eighties were so successful. The unbridled creativity that flows through every panel is simply staggering, and one gets the impression that Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill were just throwing everything they had at the page, regardless of whether it made sense or not. They seem to be just lost in the moment, going at it with reckless abandon. And by god, it works!
Ignoring for a moment that the `hero' of the story is a cloven hoofed demon, Grand Master of Terra, Tomas de Torquemada must be one of the greatest comics characters ever created. Malevolently evil, delightfully unhinged, and terrifyingly grotesque, there simply isn't another character like him in the comics world that I can think of. Defying the laws of physics, and dying in almost every story, he best exemplifies how thrilling it is to read the early Nemesis material. As evidence of their unrestrained artistic explosion, Mills has Torquemada repeatedly killed on these pages, but never once decides to give a coherent explanation as to why this can happen. He just assumes that the reader is caught up in the story as much as he is, and also allows us the freedom to try and think about it for ourselves. Nemesis is a comic which treats the reader with a great deal of respect, and never panders to them. Sure it's violent, disgusting and ridiculous, but it's also thought provoking, well written, witty, exciting and smart enough to revel in the whole ridiculousness of comic storytelling.
This volume is an absolute treat, and just shows how easy it is to preserve the history and heritage of these stories. All the archival material is included, covers, interviews, supplementary stories, etc, and nothing is left out. When the last of these books comes out, we really will have the COMPLETE Nemesis collection.
Blurs the line between sci-fi and fantasy - Rated
These days, I grab any 2000AD collected editions I can find in the US, as the opportunities appear to be dwindling. Considering the love affair American comics readers have with British writers and artists, you'd think we'd snatch up these books, but unfortunately, that's not the way it goes. In fact, several years ago, DC began reprinting select storylines of various characters, including several I'd never heard of before. These reprints featured work from such big names as Alan Moore, Simon Bisley, Brian Bolland, Frank Quitely, and Chris Weston: creators who are no strangers to American audiences. Unfortunately, the line was cancelled after a year or so. On one hand, I can understand that DC wouldn't want to continue the line if the books aren't selling, but did they honestly expect that they would fly off the shelves without heavy promotion? The unfortunate truth is that most American readers need to be spoon-fed when it comes to British comics, and we few enlightened fans suffer the consequences.
In any case, I am happy that 2000AD/Rebellion is following the black-and-white "phone book" trend of Marvel's Essentials and DC's Showcase by releasing their Complete collections. These are available through US distributors, and my local shops order them regularly, so I can finally read the original adventures of my favorite 2000AD characters - and at this point, I don't care if they're not in color. THE COMPLETE NEMESIS THE WARLOCK BOOK 1 collects the first 4 stories of my favorite horse-faced demon, plus some nice extras. Nemesis leads the fight against the evil Termight Empire and its emperor, Torquemada, whose goal is the elimination of all alien life in the universe. All of the stories are written by Pat Mills, and they kept me on the edge of my seat. The pacing and character development are amazing. What begins as a couple of random stories based on rock songs gradually metamorphoses into an epic of amazing scope. While it could be argued that the stories are formulaic in the repeated confrontations between Nemesis and Torquemada, Mills infuses them with inspired takes on politics, racism, divine right, sociology, and alien biology.
The art is in a class by itself. Nemesis is certainly a uniquely-designed character, and the unsettling grotesqueries established early on by Kevin O'Neill are ably carried onward by Jesus Redondo and Bryan Talbot, before returning to O'Neill towards the end of the book. The art is perfectly suited to the stories, making a combination that is rarely seen elsewhere. I can't wait for Book 2!
The best is yet to come - Rated 
Nemesis the warlock astounded me when i was young - it seemed so 'deviant', to have a demon as the hero and a religious zealot as the enemy. The artwork here is fantastic from Kevin O'Neill whose vastly intricate artwork is compelling. The book, to be fair, does not have the best Nemesis story lines - Terror Tube and Killer Watt are not exactly structurally complex but they do set the scene and give us a great view of 'Termight' from the inside out. Book I and Book II are sort of adventure stories with big spiders and the like.
However, Book III (with the return of O'Neill in the artists chair) is where things start taking a darker turn and develop in complexity. For me, this is where the great stories begin. Unfortunately this collection stops at the end of Book IV with all the really dark stuff still to come. Also, Bryan Talbot's artwork in Book IV ( and later in Book V and VI i think) is not as compelling as O'Neill's.
I'm pleased at how thorough rebellion have been with this collection as they have included all nemesis stories from the era i.e. the ones that appeared in special editions and annuals etc., as well as the first two stories in which Nemesis isn't seen!
This is essential stuff even if only to set the scene for vol 2 which will have The Two Torquemadas and Deathbringer with the unnerving artwork of John Hicklenton.
Also, be sure to check out The Meknificent Seven and The Black Hole collections of ABC Warriors as they are tied in with these stories.
Be Pure, Be Vigilant, Behave!
Spread the word.
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