Nemesis The Warlock #2 - Eagle Comics

NEMESIS THE WARLOCK No. 2, October 1984

Predominantly dedicated to the titular character’s rescue of Purity Brown during the Feast of Zamarkand, Issue Two of “Nemesis The Warlock” provides its audience with both a tantalising glimpse of the “fire-breathing demonic” alien’s family, in the shape of his “Great Uncle Baal”, and “the subterranean city that lies, deep within the Central Abyss of the Earth” called Necropolis. Indeed, the thirty-one page anthology genuinely seems to expand the anti-hero’s universe exponentially as Pat Mills’ narrative progresses, with its inclusion of the short-story “The Origin Of The Excessus” proving particularly broadening, on account of “a simple varkherd called Olric” travelling the Fringe Worlds in search of the sword sinister and encountering all manner of exotic planets and savage beasts at the cost of a couple of his limbs.

The British editor’s exploration of the Termight Empire fairs equally as well however, with Nemesis’ infiltration of the “vast Temple of Terminus” not only providing a wickedly detailed glimpse of the Headquarters of the Terminators, complete with its swinging Pandemonium. But also a mesmerising look at the Inquisition’s Aliens’ Cells, which are packed full of all manner of extra-terrestrial prisoners and the outlandish-looking torture devices designed to make their incarceration as unpleasant an experience as possible. The sorcerer’s co-creator even manages to find the time to pen a thoroughly charming scene depicting the relationship between the Torturer General and his new inefficient apprentice; “It’ll be out of my hands, Son! I can’t keep dead wood! I’ll have to let you go!” 

Perhaps this enthrallingly coloured tome’s greatest sub-plot though, besides the introduction of the familiar Grobbendonk and his Gibberish Fringe World dialect, is the very sudden ‘fall from grace’ of the Executioner of Terminus. Known as “the Scourge of the Alien”, Brother Gogol’s discovery that his “mother was an alien” and “she killed my father” soon turns “Torquemada’s right hand man” into quite the pitiable figure, especially when the Mandrake is forced to aid “The Lord of The Flies” murder Brother Hades, the Pandemonium player, and help “every prisoner in Terminus escape!”

Kevin O'Neill's “imaginative, grotesque art” undeniably assists Mills with this saga’s storytelling, and the London-born illustrator’s attention to detail is absolutely phenomenal. In fact, it soon becomes abundantly clear, when one considers the numerous vehicles which are pencilled traversing The Abyss alone, just why the “efforts he put in to creating” his artwork “led to a low rate of productivity.”

Script: Pat Mills, Artist: Kev O'Neill, and Colors: Kev O'Neill