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Shakaranon
2000AD - Nemesis the Warlock 2017-07-05 03:40:20 Post No. 54166975
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2000AD - Nemesis the Warlock 2017-07-05 03:40:20 Post No. 54166975
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BE PURE! BE VIGILANT! BEHAVE!
The British anthology 2000AD started life forty years ago this year in February 1977. Its earliest stories were spins on traditional favourites of the genre: war stories, exotic adventures in faraway places, sport strips, and the classic science fiction hero Dan Dare. But even at that point it had a streak of midnight black humour and social satire running through it, as shown most clearly by the comic’s most celebrated star, the man with the iron chin, Judge Dredd.
The début of Nemesis the Warlock in 1980 brought with it a lot more weirdness.
Starting in Prog 167, this demented sword and sorcery sci-fi story of a harpoon headed alien’s war against a xenocidal religious maniac owed more to continental comics like Métal hurlant (which itself appeared only a few years earlier in 1974) than traditional British ones. Set in a nightmarish future where the promise of technology has given way to stagnation and superstition, the cruel humans of the Terran Empire are the masters of vast galactic empire made possible by an ancient piece and mysterious device built into a former Emperor’s tomb. With it, they may guide their ships far from the mighty hive cities of Terra to anywhere in the galaxy in order to purge it of alien life. Even death cannot stop their leader, the tyrannical Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada.
Only one creature can hope to stop Torquemada: the alien Khaos Sorcerer NEMESIS THE WARLOCK!
If you are even a tiny bit familiar with Warhammer 40,000 quite a lot of that description will seem really familiar. Many of the details of 40k’s Imperium in particular and the setting in general can be traced back to Nemesis, and the stories and characters featured in the comic can in turn be fed into games set in Games Workshop’s Dark Future very easily. The author of Nemesis, Pat Mills, has even done so himself – his character Klovis the Redeemer is essentially Torquemada with a slightly different hat.
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Technically, Nemesis didn’t start as its own series. Comic Rock was proposed as an ongoing series of stories based (loosely) on pop songs, in much the same vein as the already established Future Shocks or Tharg’s Terror Tales.Nemesis proved so absurdly popular so quickly that the idea was dropped.
If you’ve just found this thread, you can read some other zarjaz 2000AD stories here
Dreams of Deadworld and The Fall of Deadworld: >> 54051703 >>54077830
Sinister Dexter: >>54133945 >>54142109
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Curses, Dreams of Deadworld 1 >>54051703
The Jam - Going Underground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ct5yEuVY
The bearded man on this page is Kenny Everett is intended to be, a radio DJ, comedian and TV personality who very popular in the UK at the time this was written.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VImPLTpOnkY
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James Cameron's film The Terminator came out in 1984. 40k's first edition was released in 1987.
A Tumbril is a two wheeled cart usually pulled by a farm animal of some kind. It was infamously used during the French Revolution to transport the condemned to to the guillotine.
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>>54166975
>shakaranon dumping nemesis
today is a good day
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As far as I know the music the next Comic Rock episode, Killer Watts, was allegedly based on, or what it had to do with this strip, has never been identified. The best guess is this compilation
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various_artists_f2/killer_watts/
The Gooney Birds are based on Concorde jets, supersonic passenger airliners which had entered service in 1976. A marvel of British and French engineering and design, Concorde was retired from service in 2003.
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A year later, as promised, a new full-length serial began, again with Kevin O'Neil on art duties.
NEMESIS THE WARLOCK: BOOK ONE - THE WORLD OF TERMITE
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As well as the obviously draconic and demonic features, the Warlock's characteristic grille mouth and sweeping head was based on motorcycle parts.
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There's a cameo appearance by two other 2000AD stars in the background of one of these panels which eventually grew into a whole thing.
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Notice how much Torquemada's spirit has begun to change since his first apperence.
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Mr. PURE
Voted least likely to deviate
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Our hero.
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Nemesis is easily my favourite 2000AD property. Doing God's work, shakaranon.
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>>54167901
Did you know thatit made a special return for Prog #2000 back in September?
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Look at those borders, holy Tau.
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>>54168004
I did not. That's good to know, I'll have to hunt it down.
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>>54168051
Prog 2000's worth it on its own, but this'll save you a bit of time at least.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/z79lmp84x7qxxxl/2000AD+%232000+Nemesis+the+Warlock+-+Tubular+Hells.cbr
Everyone else DON'T READ THAT UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED NEMESIS. MAJOR SPOILERS.
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CREDO!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/tiqjrxnb5x7d054/Book_0_-_prologue.cbr
http://www.mediafire.com/file/s4c9tireggpenj6/Book_1_-_Termight.cbr
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I'm out for the next few hours but I'll be back later to do the second book. I'll also try and find an amusing anecdote by Kevin O'Neil that might as well be called "Nemesis the Warlock and the Dick Bridge Editorial".
>pictured: Writer Pat Mills and artist Kevin O'Neil c. late 70s.
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>>54167459
It's an interesting choice to wait so long to actually show the title character
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>>54168982
pat mills don't give a shit about your blue balls
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>>54167083
>Torquemada, Chief of the Tube Police
>Sacred traffic regs
The series was chasing this high for the rest of it's run. There are few awesome (and I mean it when I say it) moments in it, but it's mostly hur dur evil religious racists in space, getting their butts kicked by much antihero, sword of such sinster, wow wow. Nothing bad in it- apart from feeling of wasted potential.
Still worth run, even if it's only for hilarious masness of Torquemada. Nice to see you going strong still, Sharkanon.
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Topic termination delayed.
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>>54169703
Are you serious dude?
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>>54172335
I can see where he's coming from. The comic did make this huge dive into anti-Thatcherism that was quite common among British comic artists (and still is) and did lose itself during the later reincarnation arc.
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>>54172335
I mean, I think that first two were hilaroius and imaginative, next few really good and latter... That whole time traveling buisness was rather meh, latter art direction did not work well for the comic as well.
I readily admitt thatUncle Baal, revelations about the end of humanity or the true motivations of Nemesisare great moments, some most awesome and imaginative from any comic I ever had in my hands. Brother Gogol, Torquearmada and so on were cool as well.
Still, most of the latter arcs is a bit of drag (the '80s UK one was the lowest point in the series IMHO and that comes from a man who honestly hates Maggie Thatcher), with Torquemada hopping in and out of the mortal world to calrify the political statement that was rather obvious from the start. Story would heavily benefit from streamlining.
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Be pure! Be viligant! Behave! Guard the thread with your own bump!
I gota go catch some sleep.
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>>54174878
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. We return with the origins of EXCESSUS, THE SWORD SINISTER!
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BOOK TWO: THE ALIEN ALLIANCE
The art for this book was provided by a Spanish artist named Jesus Redondo rather than series co-creator Kevin O'Neill. He brings a more knightly, fantastical look to the proceedings in place of the deranged level of detail in the earlier stories.
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We begin with Torquemada's backstory, as told by the alien from >>54174971 the Annual story. .
The Children's Crusade was a real event in 1212. While research shoes the participants were not necessarily children, it did involve an awful lot of non-knights attempted to reach Jerusalem.
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Vestal Vampires were mentioned in passing previously as the fanatical battle sisters of the Terran Empire. The name is a play on the ancient Roman Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vestas, goddess of the hearth and home.
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The Terran leader uses arcane, poorly understood machinery to drain the life force of his subjects in order to remain alive in death.
I swear I've seen that somewhere before .
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>>54169703
>>54172510
>>54173124
But the heavy handed allegory is unironically the best part.
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Hmmm, y'think that might have something to do with a vengeful ghost being on the loose?
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Rounding out tonight's entertainment with the Secret Life of the Blitzspear, showing the evolution of Warlocks and their traditional mounts from the same species of trilobite dolphins
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>>54166975
>Terran Empire are the masters of vast galactic empire made possible by an ancient piece and mysterious device built into a former Emperor’s tomb. With it, they may guide their ships far from the mighty hive cities of Terra to anywhere in the galaxy in order to purge it of alien life
Hmm, this sounds kind of familiar...
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Blimey, Nemesis' dad is a big bloke.
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CREDO!
http://www.mediafire.com/file/723p2is45vs5sqy/39.2000AD_Sci-Fi_Special_1981_Nemesis_the_Warlock_-_The_Sword_Sinister.cbr
http://www.mediafire.com/file/u0d4t6axp21ttb8/Book_2_-_Alien_Alliance.cbr
Tomorrow: Book Three - The World of Nemesis, guest starring a 2000AD fan favourite.BIG JOBS!
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>>54167221
>>54167230
>gooney bird
>giant dinosaur-concorde monster
>thousands of years of machine evolution
Fuck me that's terrifying. Bet it has a supersonic scream as well.
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>>54167803
Ugh, why didn't the humans purge the xeno scum like the warlocks earlier in their galactic empire?
I just want to see a pure galaxy unpolluted by demons. *sniff* is that so much to ask for?
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>>54175276
>The Terran leader uses arcane, poorly understood machinery to drain the life force of his subjects in order to remain alive in death.
I'm not super-impressed by the story so far (pretty teenage fedora satire of the catholic church) but man, it's really an education as to the origins of Warhammer 40K. They really ripped Nemesis off in making it, GW should be paying royalties to 2000AD.
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I still don't get why we're supposed to be rooting for the evil demonic warlock but have a bump anyway.
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>>54168135
How many books are there until this isn't massive spoilers anymore?
I'd like to read it, but also don't want to ruin storytime.
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>>54175246
They get used again in Requie>>54175246
m too.
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What the hellphysiology does nemesis's species even have, as it halfway looks metal halfway doesn't
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>>54179781
All the way up to the final book.
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There was a Nemesis the Warlock game on the C64 and it was great
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>>54167926
>In case of deviation, sound the alarm
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>>54183720
mild geiger biotech
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>>54168041
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Evening all.
>>54173124
I had a big old post about this but a browser crash ate it all but suffice it to say that I agree with you to a fair degree. Mills has a tendency to get tremendously self-indulgent towards his pet topics sometimes and the quality of his late 80s and 90s stories really suffers as a result. That said, the 80s one you're thinking of is the second to last one. After it was published Nemesis went on hiatus for more than a decade and the final storyline, the Final Conflict, returns to classic Termite hijinks. The ABC Warriors remains fairly strong throughout the entire period as well, and middle-period Nemesis benefits greatly from reading alongside it. The Black Hole in particular is almost essential.
>>54183720
I will refer you to Magister Deadlock's classic treatise on the subject, "It's Khaos. I Ain't Gotta Explain Shit."
I think you'll really like the next story, you get to see what other Warlocks look like.
>>54181038
Torquemada is in Requiem too as a particularly frothing Werewolf. You could probably argue that its the same Torquemada even, if you really wanted to.
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New thread with BOOK THREE over yonder
>>54185940
>>54185940
>>54185940
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>>54167230
I just love how unflinchingly selfish and evil Torquemada is, all the time
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>>54174878
>Be pure! Be viligant! Behave!
Best tagline
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>>54167901
Even better than Judge Dredd?
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>>54189081
I love Judge Dredd, but I always liked Nemesis more.
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