Review: A Gut-Wrenching, Revengeful Ploy Fuels ‘Nemesis: Reloaded’ #3

And so we get to the point in Nemesis: Reloaded, with this third issue, when we have the gut-wrenching, heart-breaking exposition that reveals the complete shit that Nemesis is, seeing everyone as expendable and simply pawns in his bigger game plan. And, as he did with the first series, writer Mark Millar plays a blinder. This guy is the worst. And then some. Millar twists the knife and while we have been encouraged to somewhat side with Nemesis – simply because of his sheer audacity and brilliance, if nothing else – after reading this issue, it’s hard to continue to do so. Even before this tragic scene we get an opening that illustrates just the kind of mind at work here. Ruthless, merciless, genius. But then, Millar knows his readership. And we know Millar. Part of the fun to had from reading a comic like Nemesis: Reloaded #3 is to witness the levels of depravity our criminal mastermind can think up to absolutely destroy a person’s life. All of these low-handed, destructive dealinsg merely act as foreshadowing for what will, no doubt, come next for both the Mayor and the ass-hat that is Mr. Dubois. If that latter thinks an audacious robbery is where ends, he’s very much mistaken, I’m sure of that. Tense reading, yes, but grimly engaging.

As for the revenge plot driving this sequel-of-sorts is darkly comical when you think about it. Like Bruce Wayne, Li’l Nemesis just wants to avenge his parents’ death. And, like little old Brucie, he too embarks on a severe and gruelling training regime that sees him top of the class in all areas of his own personal twisted and torturous curriculum. The difference being, his parents were criminals and the cops that took them out are nowhere near on the same level as Joe Chill. They’re the good guys, remember. And that makes this a sly, wry, darkly humoured twist on the Batman origin, which informs this series so much, through cutaways and flashbacks.

Legitimising this black comedy is the frantic and kinetic art of Jorge Jiménez. A man who has made Batman his own in recent years and an artist who is an inspired choice to bring onboard for this soft relaunch. The thinking behind his hiring for this project has not been lost on this reviewer, that’s for sure. Who can read this series, knowing he is a dual opposite of the Dark Knight, without making the connection? More so with Jiménez’s artist flair included.

Adding a sense of the bombastic and a sense of the Hollywood blockbuster to it all are the brash, bright colours of Giovanni Niro, who brings the heat to some of the more explosive scenes in this issue. At other times, the darker hues sustain the night-time setting suggesting a scenario lit by street lamps and moonlight.

It’s another action-packed, but darker issue, that perfectly shows Nemesis at his very worst. Which is all the time.

Nemesis: Reloaded #3 is out now from Image Comics