Advance Review – ‘Nemesis: Reloaded’ #2 And The Seedy, Secret Origin Of Your Favourite Bad Guy

Batman has Joe Chill and in Nemesis: Reloaded #2 we get his own Joe Chill. And, as you’d probably expect, he’s very much the dual opposite of the aforementioned back alley criminal. But, that’s not all. With this soft reboot Mark Millar gets to reveal our titular villain’s secret origin. And, it’s one filled with the usual conventional heartache and lost loved ones. But, all from the perspective of the bad guy. So, no billionaire playboy losing his parents to criminality and using his vast privilege and fortune to travel the world in his obsessive pursuit of training with the very best, but rather a kid born on the wrong side of the tracks and more than happy to embrace that. A man who even as a kid was bad to the bone. 

And, on his path to becoming the criminal mastermind that he is, we witness a training schedule far more sadistic and gruelling than little boy Bruce Wayne’s own. And all interspersed with that wickedly black humour synonymous with Mark Millar. A man who both homages and gleefully wrecks the heritage of traditional and iconic heroes wherever he may roam. This comic ain’t for the faint hearted, that’s for sure. As you will witness quite early on after a particularly successful and scatalogical heist undertaken by Nemesis. I suspect at this point in Millar’s career he is more than happy to be the Marmite of comics. 

And so we get a sophomore issue that cuts between the present day chaos of Los Angeles, where Nemesis has put a hefty bounty on every cops’ head, with the story of an already bad boy breaking bad. Even more so; a comic that’s delivers a full throttle thriller from cover to cover.

Making this hyperbolic superhero satire even more exquisite is the inclusion of current Batman artist, Jorge Jiménez on art duties. An über-talented artist, Jiménez skilfully transforms the energy and tension of a Millar script into one dynamic, high-octane page after another, while colourist Giovanni Niro illuminates the artwork with strong, bright, vibrancy that only helps accentuate the art. Think Bruckheimer and Simpson, but on the printed page. A comic book that revels in its high concept, burning hot bombastic storytelling, with the visuals to match. Michael Bay, but with a brain.

Out this week, Nemesis: Reloaded #2 delivers a smartly scripted second issue with breathless art and a colour palette to match. And out on Wednesday 15th February from Image Comics.