Nemesis The Warlock: Ep 10

Kev and I came up with more faux religious Termight monumentalism: the Colossus of Roads, the Station of the Crossroads and the Hypogeum, the Holy of Holies

I’m blown away by Nemesis the Warlock: the Definitive Edition, Vols 1 and 2. My compliments to the publishers, Rebellion, and especially their designer Gemma Sheldrake for the truly inspired front and back covers.

Volume 2 is now on sale from the 2000AD store.

Such a Definitive Edition requires a Definitive Commentary, a companion piece for when you’re looking at the beautiful art by art-creator Kevin O’Neill and the other talented artists that followed him. So it’s time for The Secret History of Nemesis the Warlock, an episode by episode revelation of what really went on behind the scenes.

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The Archons stop us from thinking

If you’re interested in such mind-viruses (see last week’s post), you may be familiar with a similar theory in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. And I also touched upon it in Sláine: The Name of the Sword.

To quote John Lamb Lash in Not In His Image, (Page 117):

‘From the outset, the delusional beliefs of an alien mind-set infected the Judeo-Christian religion, but Gnostics saw the infection as it set in. They taught that finding humanity’s true path depends on refuting and rejecting these beliefs, all the way back to their origin.’

I’ve seen this infection in followers of the Abrahamic religions. There’s a glazing over of intelligence and a refusal to question authority, instead relying on the ‘gift’ of faith in their leaders and the reassuring comforts of ‘tradition’, no matter how outlandish. They will talk ‘on loop’, ‘in cliché’, or ‘in (biblical) quote’ rather than consider evidence or engage in genuine debate. Or, better still, they won’t talk at all.

They are mind-slaves of the Archons.

I’m eternally grateful to my Muse that, despite growing up encircled by hordes of Archon zombies, I’ve somehow escaped their mind-virus for reasons I can only speculate about.

If I was writing Torquemada today, I would show how he and his deranged followers are undoubtedly infected by the Archons. It is satisfying to realise that it’s actually an alien mind-disease that causes their hatred of aliens.

Alien intervention was and is infinitely more complex, more subtle and more insidious than Hollywood will ever depict. Hence the simplistic appeal of those three enslaving commands of Torquemada for zombies who choose not to think for themselves: Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!

Episode 10: The Colossus of Roads

The story was designed to end with Episode Ten, tying in with 2000AD’s millennium anniversary. I was surprised and thrilled that Kevin O’Neill agreed to conclude our saga.

We talked about the episode together and came up with more faux religious Termight monumentalism: the Colossus of Roads, the Station of the Crossroads and the Hypogeum, the Holy of Holies. There, Torquemada intends to activate his doomsday device: the genetron bomb that will emit lethal radiation affecting only aliens and those who had truck with the extra-terrestrials.