Wildcats: Nemesis

WildCATs: Nemesis #Complete

by Robbie Morrison

A stunning new volume collecting the exciting 9-issue miniseries chronicling the life and adventures of Charis Adrastrea as she becomes Nemesis — the only warrior who can strike fear and hatred into the hearts of Zealot and her Coda sisters!

Genres: Comics

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2006

Reviews

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is by far the most annoying aspect of this series. Several artists contributed and I only like one of their styles. The story is more manageable, though why it adds references to other fictional stories is beyond me. Characters like D'Artagnan and Sherlock Holmes were real in the main character's past. Though there are plenty of bloody action scenes, the overall tone is light and accessible, like in the good ol' days.

Nemesis is the codename of Charis of the Adrastea. She was accused of betraying the Coda ages ago and has been on the run ever since. Her ability to sense others' feelings means she can counter even before her attackers act against her. Now her self-imposed mission is to save humanity, though other heroes would never believe her. She must keep a girl called Kara safe for a purpose that is yet unclear.

Charis's accusation of betraying the Coda has always been false. An alliance called the Brotherhood of the Blade framed her. They wanted to take control of Earth away from the Kherans and Daemonites in order build a force of genetically enhanced humans that could eventually conquer the galaxy. Their enhancements are hidden in their DNA, awaiting activation from people like Kara.

Raven, the leader of the Brotherhood, manages to get close enough to Kara to trigger her ability. It mutates millions of humans from New York to Chicago to Detroit. By this time Charis gains allies of her own: Majestic, Zealot, Grifter and Savant. As in many times before, Raven is behind it all. Charis ends their millenia-long chase by finally killing him on his bladeship while in Earth orbit. Then Majestic brings her back to the ground and the two rekindle the love that was denied them so many years before by the Kheran council.

[Jeffrey Jelmeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this series when it was originally launched, and enjoyed it tremendously when I was purchasing it serially. When I found this volume at my local library, and it covered a period after I had stopped reading the series I hoped to find something that took me back to that time, and give me a good story in the process. Sadly I found myself disappointed on multiple levels. In retrospect I find that one element that I found difficult to swallow, namely the treatment of the female characters in the series, both artistically as well as how they were written as characters, is really no different from how it was when I originally read the series. I have grown and matured, and now find this treatment extremely distasteful, and until had not looked back at some of my reading history to see how my impression may have changed over the years. Sadly, I had matured and grown and the story did not do so, thus leaving me very disappointed.

The second issue I had with this volume was really the writing as a whole. I had remembered the series having more of a deeply layered plot that encompassed multiple issues. With this volume, while I found a plot that was overarching, it was pretty shallow, merely proving an excuse for a seemingly unending series of action scenes that really didn't seem to have any purpose other than giving the artists something to draw. I don't remember the series being like this when it started, but looking back I think I started seeing this trend which may have contributed to my stopping reading the series originally.

The only real redeeming value in the book was the artwork. Sure, it was a non-stop series of battle and action scenes, but the artwork portraying those scenes was actually very well done. The lines were clean and clear, and the colors were bold and well handled. Then again, Wildstorm and Image were always really good at providing top notch artwork in their books.

As a whole the book was not exactly great, but it wasn't a complete loss either. I would love to rate it higher, and years ago I probably would have rated it higher, but these days I seem to have different expectations with my reading material. Frankly, this book did not meet my expectations.

[Marc Jentzsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Wildstorm's best teams is at it again, albeit in a supporting role to a new character named Nemesis, Charis of Adrastea.

Overall, I like the treatment of the characters in this book, and Caldwell's art is outstanding as always. The story isn't anything amazing, but it's fun and it works (until the fiat at the end, but if you read it you'll know what I mean).

The flashbacks are the weakest parts of the story, and not all of them needed inclusion. The art for them was so jarringly different than Talent Caldwell's that it often detracted from the overall tone.

Some people will say that the art doesn't matter, but I disagree. Comics are a heavily visual medium and due to that, great care should always be taken with the selection of artists for a given story or title. Horatio Domingues' art was too soft, too cartoony, when coupled with Caldwell's. Yes, it provided a clear differentiator between settings, but in the end I still believe it detracted more than it supported.

Nemesis is a fun character, a different sort of Coda, and the story helps add a bit of myth to the Wildstorm universe, even if it does involve aliens rather than gods and demigods the way a Wonder Woman story might (I use the analogy because in my opinion, Zealot is Wildstorm's Wonder Woman and the Coda their Amazons - even if they aren't explicitly intended that way).

The inclusion of Voodoo, Maul, and Warblade later in the story felt a little forced and not well handled and may be the hardest part for new readers that don't know who they are. Cole is at his best here and feels underutilized, though it's Nemesis' book, not really the WildCATS', so I suppose that's okay.

This book can be had pretty cheaply for the amount of story included and I'd recommend it highly to anyone that wants to give a different set of superheroes a shot.

[Riki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4 stars is mainly given for the art and for Nemesis. The story is meh, it's typical mindless story (which is my cup of tea, but I understand that most people prefer substance), but you can't go wrong with (half) the art. The other half of the art is pretty bad, but at least you get Talent Caldwell's work in half of each issue. Nemesis is one of the coolest character, and her introduction here is great.