Nemesis: Reloaded

Nemesis

by Mark Millar (Writer), Jorge Jiménez (Illustrator), Giovanna Niro (Colorist)

The world's most evil comic book character is back! Who is Nemesis and why does this eccentric billionaire who dresses up in a mask and cape want to terrorise people instead of helping them? Isn't that how this is supposed to go? Trigger warning: Too violent and just too cool for some! Don't say we didn't warn you. Collecting the entire arc by superstar creative team Mark Millar and Jorge Jiménez.

Collects NEMESIS: RELOADED #1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2023

About the author

Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.

His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.

Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Snuff storytelling, sufficiently severe schemes (sadism, slaughter, shame), still, somewhat sanitized supervillain stuff.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-2 ◦ Issues #3-5

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

RELOADED IS REBOOTED.



To be perfectly honest, I thought the ending for the original was lame. Not the ending so much as the big reveal behind Nemesis. Millar wipes all of that out and gives this character some depth.
Don't worry, he's still cunty Batman, but now there's at least a story behind it instead of just various rich guys paying to live out their fantasy of being a villain for a day.



This has new faces and a new origin. Along with that comes a little less meaningless juvenile shock and a bit more of a real storyline with actual stakes.
Plus, you see some crossover action with other characters in Millarworld. <--one in particular will make longtime fans squee like little girls. Or maybe that was just me?



Either way, I felt it was worth my time this go round.
Recommended. <--for fans of violent comics

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty fun read and took me a while to finish it.

This sort of reboots the character of Nemesis and we see who he was aka Matthew Anderson and how he is going after a police cop named Joe costello whose gonna become Mayor next and how he puts a hit out on all the cops and it's just crazy seeing how he is causing mayhem and Jorge shines here, as his art is so awesome and next level basically!

And then as the story goes you see how it all relates to the death of his parents To whom Joe and all his co-workers are linked, and I love the twists and it plays on real world themes so well and also like gives him such a kick-ass origin you can't help but sort of like him and the ending was so awesome, it's like such a classic superhero origin except it's a villain.

I really liked it and it's one of the superheroes stories you will like lgp just keep on reading and I love how Mark shows the preview of what's to come.. Crossover year.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 2 out of 5]

More cynical, empty edgelord rambling from Mr Millar. He tries to give our main "character" some kind of depth, but he just isn't up to it. What stays the same: the shit eating grin is still there, the story still has zero stakes as Nemesis (or whatever he's called, it'll probably be retconned for the next book) will never make a mistake or lose at anything, the art remains excellent.

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hated the ending- really did not need this story to be a world builder

The story is fun and dumb- it reminds me crank 2 which is a little better than crank and I think crank is pretty good (so you’ll probably stop reading here). If you like silly levels of violence and depravity mixed in with some cheeky humor this is your type of fun. It’s an evil Batman but it works well enough.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nemesis by Mark Millar was a entertaining but extremely stupid and violent edgy as fuck comic. Reloaded is far better paced, with less edge, but still kind of hollow.

Like most of Millar's work in the last 10 years or so, these feel like movie pitches. Some better than others. Here we have Nemesis get a full on background, which does help make this character's motives shine through a bit more and you can understand his way. Saying that, he's also a fucking psycho piece of shit hellbent on causing death to so many people for no other reason than pure pleasure. What a terrible dickhead, and hard to care about a character you hate.

Saying that it's fast paced, breezy read, with solid art. But nothing I'll remember in a couple of months.

[Wesley Fleure · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know what I expected from this…maybe that in 2023 Millar would have something more interesting, nuanced, novel or mature to say…but no, Mark Millar, sadly, seems to have stopped growing (or caring?) as a story teller since 2010.

I have read both Nemesis now and I got strong Wanted vibes - ultra violent, 2D characters, superficial plot, decent enough if uninspired art and undercurrent of edgy nihilism. I didn’t like it 15 years ago and I don’t like it now.

It’s ironic that millar who was so fresh and original and transgressive when he first broke onto the scene and yet now it all feels so hackneyed, cliched and stale now. Nemesis might have been interesting I guess from a shock value sense in the early 2000s but reading it now I find it a bit embarrassing tbh. It’s just a nasty, dull, lazy comic that I imagine I’ll forget as quickly as I forget the first nemesis.

For the life of me I just can’t see the appeal in reading about a completely unlikeable and boring superficial Gary sue protagonists who is unstoppable and for whom every single aspect of every single plan goes off perfectly. It’s just boring, unless maybe you are 15 and this is your first non marvel comic

Edit: I started writing this review before I read the final 5 pages (I had long switched off and stopped caring by then) and having no finished just adds credence to my points about being stuck in the past and similarities with Wanted.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the original Nemesis graphic novel over a decade ago, and my lasting impression was "meh." This reboot does nothing to shift that opinion.

Mark Millar tries to shock with a bit of the old ultraviolence and an over-the-top cop-killer plot. He wants his villain, Nemesis, to be a dark mirror of Batman -- a billionaire who trains from childhood for revenge . . . but against cops, not crooks -- but he has none of Batman's intellect or independence, spending most of the book dancing on the strings of a mysterious master who collects him, directs his training, and points him toward his revenge plot. And that plot is thin and predictable.

Still, this is all just a prelude for the first Millarworld cross-over event, Big Game, and I'll probably be checking that out in the coming year.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nemesis: Reloaded follows the same premise as its predecessor, in which the eponymous supervillain, dressed all in white with gadgets similar to Batman’s with the addition of heavy artillery, is targeting police officers. In terms of a specific narrative, Nemesis AKA Matthew Anderson is targeting the ex-cop Joe Costello, now the newly-elected mayor who is determined to clean up the streets of Los Angeles, as well as the former cops who have ties to Costello.

Please click here for my full review.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely on the side of some of Millar’s best work in this one. I enjoyed the original Nemesis story, but this one was something else. I loved this one. Jiménez’s art was incredible in every single panel in this one. Millar used the momentum of the previous book (and others) to elevate this story in a big way. The training arc was much better in this. The backstory was better. The motives of Nemesis and the twists in this book were huge and were so much better. This one was too much fun and a huge hit in my book.

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Masomenos. Zafa por la bestia de Jorge Jimenez, el resto es un meh que sirve de excusa para Big Game, el mega evento del Millarverse. La serie original está mejor.

[Naseef]

While the original Nemesis was fun to read until it kinda squandered the ending, this was the opposite. It was an alright read until the very last issue where everything fell into place better.

I'm not really sure if I'm too keen on the crossover, though. Maybe.

Also, were the Flash's rogues gallery here before the story? Cold gun, heat gun, boomerangs, and mirrors.

[Vist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tipikal karya Mark Millar, ringan & enak dibaca sedangkan lemah di akhir

[باسم الخشن · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I prefer the original Nemesis book with the original origin and I wished Millar had built on the original ending

The idea of a Super Villain batman was perfectly executed in Nemesis and it was not the same with the new origin in this reboot

[Dakota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Panel/page layout on this volume was fantastic. Still relies a little too much on shock value but I thought this was a clear improvement on the original. Also felt like the Batman parallels worked far more effectively in this volume.

[Jalen the Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

You guys aren't gonna believe this, but Nemesis reloaded his gun. They toned down how bad of a person he is in this one, but he is still worse than me.

[WillBrit · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine read but I think I preferred the old Nemesis graphic novel.

However the twist ending leading into Big Game has captured my interest a little more, so now I'll look into reading Big Game

[Lightwhisper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good art and ok colours, hated the story. A pyscho killing everyone, from cops to everyday people and succeding :( Only good point is he solved the mystery that got his drug dealers parents killed.

[Dustin Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ronald Esporlas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much gore, violence and hopelesness. The villain triumphs in this story which I rarely reads.

[Davie Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like a real trashy and scuzzy concept of the original which was entirely what made that series in the first place.

While the artwork is good, this really just plays like another Netflix TV show/Film pitch.

[Cheong Hyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good comic but not as good as the original Nemesis. Nemesis Reloaded feels like Millar took all his leftover ideas, that weren't good enough to make the cut on the original Nemesis comics, and put them in Nemesis: Reloaded. In some ways Nemesis Reloaded is worse than the original and in other ways it's better.

**Spoilers Ahead**

What made the original series so great was the cat and mouse game between Nemesis and Blake Morrow. You didn't know who was going to come out on top. Blake Morrow could stand toe to toe with Nemesis. Their battle against one another is what made the the original series a masterpiece. This time around, we have Joe Costello who is only introduced towards the end of the first issue. He has less "screen time" and constantly gets his butt kicked by Nemesis. He does not come across as a worthy opponent for Nemesis. You know that Nemesis will come out on top. With Blake Morrow, you get the sense that Nemesis has met his match. The original series also had a much faster pace with added to the tension. Unfortunately, Millar recycles some ideas from the original series (the airplane crash, etc.) therefore the reboot doesn't have the shock factor of the original.

On the other hand, the art is a huge improvement over the original. Jorge Jiminez's incredible art is a huge improvement over Steve McNiven. He was able to capture Nemesis' personality with subtle facial expressions, a feat that not many artists can pull off. Not only that he had some really great creative layouts. The original Nemesis had some of the most bland, basic page layouts. Colorist Giovanna Niro also did an incredible job. She was able to enhance and elevate Jiminez's already amazing artwork and make it better.

Overall the best way to describe Nemesis: Reloaded is better art, worse story. It's still a great comic but for me it just wasn't as good as the original.

[Matthew Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jorge Jiménez is hands down the best comics artist at displaying panel to panel action and he absolutely shines in the newest volume of Nemesis. The character and idea of Nemesis on the other hand, struggled to capture my interest in his new, Netflix-friendly introduction to the Millarverse.

I’d like to preface by saying the last (first) volume of Nemesis was released almost 14 years ago, I was a teenager at the time and I am in my 30s now. Hated the comic. It was mean and cruel in ways I had never experienced prior and the idea of “what if Batman was the Joker” was executed to the highest degree. Nemesis was violent, edgy and unapologetic about the boundaries that it would cross to show that Nemesis wasn’t just a villain, he was unending evil. Could not connect to it, even as a fan of Millar and McNiven, but I did respect that it was fresh to what was being published at the time and people had fun.

If Nemesis (2010) was a horror, summer blockbuster, Nemesis Reloaded is certainly a Netflix movie. It’s a hollow action movie without the sharp teeth of its predecessor. Reloaded is a predictable revenge movie that goes beat for beat with a movie that drops on streaming to be watched on release and never to be heard from again. Jimenez fires on all cylinders making this visually breathtaking but despite the interiors, it’s just boring. With a backstory and a tie to the MillarVerse, Nemesis becomes less of a high octane boogeyman and just another crazed villain. “Batman but bad” down to the origin just does not translate to an interesting main character, I’m not rooting for him or against him. Yeah, bad people create worst people but at least make it fun.

Read Ambassadors right before this and was blown away, still can’t wait to read Big Game. I’m okay without reading another Nemesis title for another 15 years. Hopefully, he gets his teeth back in 2039.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

The wrong book at the wrong time, for me.
Millar apparently feels his original Nemesis wasn't 'Edgy' enough, so he amps up the violence, cruelty, and stakes in this "reinvention" of the character. So now Nemesis is moustache-twirlingly evil as he terrorizes the whole of Los Angeles because its newly elected 'Law and Order' Mayor isn't a perfect candidate. It feels like it's 'both-sides'-ing the crime spree. Yes Nemesis kills literally dozens of people directly, and hundreds of more indirectly, but the Mayor falsified evidence in a case and got his parents the death penalty . No, neither action is good, but to try to equate them at all is outlandishly simplistic, and the latter doesn't justify the former. At least Nemesis is never portrayed as heroic; he's always a force of destruction. But the book does set him up to be the protagonist in a follow-up crossover.
The art is done well, but really seems to enjoy focusing on chopped heads - whether cleanly decapitated, stabbed with blades, or just having slices cut off. It was nearly nauseating.
There was a time when I might have enjoyed this more. If it were a unique concept, maybe. But reinventing a character because he wasn't cruel enough doesn't sit well with me. I think it may be time for me to stop reading anything Millar writes.

[Jeremy Blum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the original Nemesis. This reboot refashions the title character for the 2020s by making him still really awful but slightly less of a repugnant shit. Don’t get me wrong, reading Nemesis Reloaded is still akin to watching a snuff flick, but at least there are no plot developments involving abortions or incest. Instead, we get violence and threats centered on an always-online, post-COVID world, with Nemesis blackmailing a pilot over her sex tape and urging citizens of a riot-filled Los Angeles to livestream their cop kills for money.

It’s still shock and nonsense, but less edgy than the first volume, and I suppose it’s topical stuff in this day and age. The series also ends with a few interesting twists that flesh out Nemesis ever so slightly and tie him to a wider world of superheroes bound to collide in Millarworld’s upcoming Big Game crossover. I have no idea if I’ll actually read that, and the pacing of this series gets screwy as Mark Millar jams all of the Big Game reveals in the last issue without spacing anything out. But hey, I’m glad to see Millar embracing one of the most prominent features of comic books - the mega-event - instead of continuing his habit of treating comics like screenplays for inevitable Netflix production.

[Stratospherus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your standard Millar unleashed entry (maybe Unleashed should be your next Nemesis title?). After the original I cannot say I longed for another Nemesis. It was perfect stand-alone story with nicely wrapped up final twist, yet Millar does it again. Infantile, stylish, brutal, balls-to-the-wall, politically incorrect, wicked fun. Millar goes for the reboot here and we get to see Matthew Anderson origin story. Although I have a bit complaint at the time wasted on him and secondary characters which ruin the momentum of the story, whereupon original Nemesis ran almost at frantic pace. Plus the story itself while full of shock is somehow less edgy and more in the line with topical issues, but it doesn't squander the experience.
Millar never lacked the shortage of artists who'll keep up with his zany writing and Jorge delivers the goods no less. And it really would do disservice to him if I would attempt to compare him to Steve MacNiven. True to the spirit of the first Nemesis, we still get a Batman-type supervillain and some nice twists along the way with some healthy touch of sexism as expected for average fanboy consumer. Although this and previous comic obviously weren't intended for the opposite gender.

[Harry Sabs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nemesis (NOT this one) is one of my favourite graphic novels, but this one just grated on me.

Not only did Millar make fans wait a sodding age for this, moving the release date again and again and again, but (and I think he would secretly admit this) he phoned this story in, in a big, sad, marvel-inspired way.

He pimped out one of his best original characters only to reinvent him as just another gormless joker rip-off.

Damn near all the dialogue was needless exposition. It jarred. No one talks like that. It’s weird. Millar has never done this before, again, making it feel like a rushed time-saving exercise rather than meaningful story telling.

I have never known a writer to actively bastardise their own work, and to such god-awful effect! It was the literary equivalent of watching a child cut the corners off puzzle pieces to ‘make them’ fit somewhere they were never meant to. Storylines tend to become less impressive the more they’re used.

Not every character needs to be part of a f**kin universe, and good stories can be allowed to just end - (with any luck before the writer shamelessly wrings a malnourished reboot out of it).

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Millar's attempt to re-write the background of his asshole "evil Batman" is not a success. I'd say this is even worse than the original Nemesis. He's the son of serial killer (meth addicted? I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining that) parents and wants to get his revenge on the police, who rightly, arrested them, leading to their deaths by lethal injection. I think this was better with an unexplained background for the evil Batman character, though it is very hard to sympathize with someone who is outright evil, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, no matter how they got to be that way. The artwork throughout isn't bad. But I'm kind of worried by the introduction where Millar says this has been one of his most popular characters and, given the chance to rewrite him, he's glad to get a second chance. There's absolutely nothing redeeming about this character and I'd be a bit suspicious about anyone who chooses to cosplay as Nemesis at any comic con going forwards...

**Note: 1 day later and I couldn't even remember how this ended or if I'd even finished reading. I had, of course, but that ending just didn't stick with me.

[Roman Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one’s a lot better than the original Nemesis miniseries and I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. The art by Jorge Jiménez is gorgeous, and the story is decent. Not one of Millar’s best works, but miles above his worst. Nemesis Reloaded is essentially a soft reboot of the original Nemesis series by Millar and McNiven. The purpose of this reboot is to re-establish the Nemesis character in the wider interconnected Millarworld universe and set up the “Big Game” miniseries that crosses over all the previous Millarworld titles (Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kingsmen, Chrononauts, Empress, Prodigy, Night Club, etc).

Whereas the original Nemesis left a bad taste in my mouth after reading it, this was really enjoyable and succeeds in building hype for the Big Game. I appreciated the additional characterization Millar gave to Nemesis to flesh him out, and while he’s thoroughly despicable, there are times where you root for him. Highly recommend if you’re a Millarworld fan.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iniziamo dal principio questo è un reboot del personaggio ......almeno credo? Perché in effetti partiamo esattamente dalla città da cui il volume uno "finiva", quindi non sono sicuro ci sia/o non ci sia continuità fra i due volumi...

sta di fatto che questo Nemesis ha una back story più solida, un disegno più dinamico e psichedelico, ma, si porta dietro dei difetti intrinsechi, i colpi di scena sono tali perche lui è più intelligente e superiore, fine; non vengono spiegati minimamente, e dopo un po' sai che qualsiasi cosa succeda lui se la caverà perché ci sarà un colpo di scena che non verrà spiegato.

La psicologia di tutti i personaggi di contorno è ridicola, qualcosa di davvero banale.

Il primo aveva il merito di portare freschezza, questo secondo volume ha idee buone ma sviluppate frettolosamente, non da spiegazioni su praticamente niente, giusto un po' di trama base, resta un miscuglio narrativo perdendo i meriti del primo.