Previewing ‘Nemesis The Warlock: Definitive Edition’ Volume 3 — More Of One Of 2000 AD’s Greatest Series

by Richard Bruton

One of the BIG 2000 AD series, alongside Dredd, Slaine, Rogue Trooper, Zenith, and Strontium Dog as the biggest characters in the comic’s history, these Nemesis Definitive Editions get to the halfway point of the five-volume series…

This really is one that looks so damn great on the bookcase, whether it’s the softbacks or the Gemma Sheldrake-designed hardcovers. But it’s an even better read, one of the most iconic and legendary characters ever to have come out from 2000 AD, with this five-volume collecting absolutely everything of the Nemesis saga (which, as we’ll find out, might not be the best thing occasionally). The reproduction and presentation of this essential bit of 2000 AD history is top-notch, each volume published in large-format size of 307 x 231mm.

If you didn’t already know – and dammit, you should – Nemesis the Warlock, created by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill, is an alien freedom fighter, pursued by and pursuing the vile Torquemada, the ruler of the human empire based on Termight. Torquemada wants to do is keep humanity pure by conquering and killing all deviants. Nemesis is everything Torqumada’s not, the anarchist revolutionary and freedom fighter. Although, as we’ve seen, Nemesis is no angel either, leaving everyone wondering just what his final goal will be.

Bryan Talbot art from Nemesis Book Six: Torquemurder

Nemesis: The Definitive Edition Volume 3 is right in the middle of the five-volume saga, with some really incredible artwork from both Bryan Talbot and Kevin O’Neill making up the lion’s share of this particular definitive edition, with Book Five: The Vengence of Thoth and Book Six: Torquemurder by Talbot, and Torquemada the God and Torquemada’s Second Honeymoon by O’Neill.

It’s also got a few of the oddities we’ve had along the way in the Nemesis saga. There’s the couple of tales, one drawn by Talbot, one by O’Neill, from Fleetway’s mid-’80’s Diceman comic, a very strange thing created byMills and tapping into the whole choose-your-own-adventure gamebooks that were so popular at the time. If you get the chance, do have a look at them (there’s a preview of the collection here) – it might have been a strange concept, but still damn good strips because of all that Talbot and O’Neill art.

Even stranger, you also get ‘Forbidden Planet’ and ‘A Bedtime Story’, two short Fumetti/photo comics. Yes, badly-costumed and muddily-photographed versions of Nemesis, Purity, and Torquemada feature in two shorts. You’ll soon see what I mean about how sometimes the whole Definitive Edition idea of collecting absolutely everything doesn’t quite work.

Nemesis: Forbidden Planet – sometimes there’s a blip, even in Nemesis

Anyway, this third volume, bar the photo comics, is, as you’d expect, just sublime comics. It all opens up with Book Five and The Vengence of Thoth, set 10 years after the death of Nemesis’s arch-enemy, Torquemada, where things have settled into domestic bliss in one way or another. Of course, this doesn’t last, as Nemesis’s bloodthirsty son Thoth wanting his own vengence on the now dead Torquemada. The obvious solution for that one? Well, bring earlier versions of Torquemada through time just to get the chance of vengence. Of course it is. This is exactly the sort of brilliant madness of Nemesis you’re going to adore.

Bryan Talbot art from Nemesis Book Five: The Vengence of Thoth

By Book Six, Torquemurder, Nemesis is in pursuit of Thoth, attempting to stop him destroying Termight and the galaxy thanks to the Torquemada time loops, alongside the ABC Warriors, for Talbot’s swansong on the series.

After that, there’s the return of O’Neill in Torquemada The God and the full-colour Torquemada’s Second Honeymoon. Two very different, yet always stunning, bits of art from O’Neill, but both just sublime bits of beautiful chaos featuring the series’ villain. Torquemada The God has Tomas headed back to Termight, exulted as a deity, his seeming immortality coming as a result of Thoth’s meddling. It’s full-on Torquemada, O’Neill’s line so fine, his imagery so nightmarishly perfect. And Torquemada’s Second Honeymoon… well, it’s just bizarre in all the best ways.

The visionary Kevin O’Neill takes Torquemada to Godhood – Torquemada The God

All in all, whether you’re coming to it for the first time – where these are just perfect first volumes – or, like me, you’ve already read it and have multiple versions of the books already, this is both definitive and essential, more magnificent craziness from one of the greatest 2000 AD series of all time.

Now, here’s the 2000 AD PR for this volume…

‘The Definitive series of the Nemesis the Warlock saga continues with Nemesis’s continuing battle against the wicked forces of Termight’s mad tyrant Torquemada, alien freedom fighter Nemesis The Warlock is joined by his bloodthirsty son Thoth and war robots, the A.B.C. Warriors, for a nightmarish adventure across the terrifying Time Wastes.

‘Written by Pat Mills (Marshal Law) and drawn by Kevin O’Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Bryan Talbot (The Adventures of Luther Arkwright), this edition compiles the entire series in order, with the colour centre-spread pages reproduced in their original form. Definitive Nemesis the Warlock is the ultimate way to read one of the most important sci-fi sagas published in the pages of 2000 AD.’

More Kevin O’Neill art, the hideous and the beautiful in equal measure, as we have to deal with Torquemada’s love life in Torquemada’s Second Honeymoon

NEMESIS THE WARLOCK – THE DEFINITIVE EDITION, VOLUME 3 –

Written by Pat Mills. Art by Kevin O’Neill, Bryan Talbot, Tony Luke. Letters by Steve Potter, Mark King, Gordon Robson.

Published by 2000 AD on 26 March 2025

Originally serialised as…
Book Five: The Vengence of Thoth (Art by Bryan Talbot) – 2000 AD Progs 435-445 (1985)
The Torture Tube (Art by Kevin O’Neill) – Diceman #1 (1986)
Trapped in the Garden of Alien Delights (Art by Bryan Talbot) – Diceman #3 (1986)
Book Six: Torquemurder (Art by Bryan Talbot) – 2000 AD Progs 482-487, 500-584 (1986-1987)
Torquemada The God (Art by Kevin O’Neill) – 2000 AD Progs 520-524 (1987)
Forbidden Planet (Co-written with Tony Luke, art by Tony Luke) – 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 1987
A Bedtime Story (Art by Tony Luke) – 2000 AD Prog 534 (1987)
Torquemada’s Second Honeymoon (Art by Kevin O’Neill) – 2000 AD Annual 1988