Nemesis the Warlock: Eps. 15-17

Seeing these epic scenes reminded me that a comparison is often made between Nemesis and Warhammer 40,000 and the suggestion that the latter was influenced by the former.

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

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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Episode 15 – the Return of Purity Brown

The frenetic pace continues, ever faster, in this episode. The entire Goth Empire is being destroyed by the Terminators. Only the cabal of alien planets can save them.

Then Purity arrives with news that makes intriguing story sense. ‘The other planets refuse to help. They regard the Goths as imperialists – pseudo-humans, almost as bad as the real thing.’ Nemesis protests that the Goths are sick, contaminated by the humans’ radio signals – an excellent debating point that I would love to have lingered on. But Purity has more bad news: the Warlock’s wife Chira and son Thoth have been murdered by the Terminators!

Intense as the pacing is, it’s a dramatic rule that everything should speed up at the end of a story or movie and I think I may have felt this trumped other considerations, not to mention needing to bring the serial to a conclusion because of editorial or artist considerations.