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Publisher: Marvel/Icon
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Steve McNiven
Cover: Steve McNiven

**Spoilers**

“Nemesis Ch 2”: Where the first issue was just pretty much a lot of straight up action, the second chapter slows down a bit and lets us in on the origin of the man who is Nemesis.  His background is pretty twisted mainly because of his parents, who had been running a hunting club for some time that involved run away children.  In the end, one committed suicide and the other was put to death by the state; but not before telling the young man that he must eventually get revenge on the police officer who had done this to his family.  So twenty years later the plan for revenge is set into motion, and Nemesis is very confident in his abilities to kill officer Blake Morrow- the man who turned his family in.

Morrow has also put together who Nemesis is, and what they have in common, so while he’s trying to track down a few leads, Nemesis has decided to leave several riddles along the way with a very high body count to spice things up a bit. This all leads to a very intense high speed chase and I’m not sure who’s in more trouble here, Nemesis or the cops that have him surrounded!

This story so far is pure Millar and is written especially for the action junkie type fan who loves this sort of story. I happen to be one of those people, and so far I’m not upset with the product.  Yes it’s silly amounts of over the top action and violence, however the all around story is a pretty good one, and the book doesn’t try to be more than what was stated at the end of the first issue. There are quite a few parallels to the Dark Knight’s past and Nemesis’ own, but Nemesis seems to be the other side of the coin in having used his vast money and resources to become the worlds first- and only- super-criminal. The pacing of this issue is a bit slower, but it allowed for expo and a better look into the crimes/riddles being committed; which was needed after the fast paced first issue.

McNiven’s art work here is different from what I’ve seen in the past and I think it’s also the coloring in these issues that also is throwing me off a bit.  I did suggest that maybe he’s trying out a new style in the last review, and that may very well be the case when his work here is compared to his past books. It’s not like McNiven is putting out something that is sub par, it’s just different and that doesn’t automatically translate into “bad”.  There are quite a few panels that are just great to look at because of his layouts and angles he chooses to use. His design for Nemesis’ costume is very simple, but still says a lot about the character himself in that he doesn’t want to be hidden and stick to the shadows like some other villains. He wants every one to see him and take notice, making him a bit of an attention whore. I will say though that I wasn’t too impressed with the cover or the variant by John Cassaday; both were just a little boring if you ask me, given the nature of the book.

There are two more issues to go and right now it’s anyone’s guess how this vendetta is going to play out. Nemesis is a pretty foul guy and right now his body count is through the roof, so you want to see him taken down, but you never know because in the end the good guys don’t always have to win. So here’s to hoping that the series stays fun, entertaining, and ridiculously violent!

Infinite Speech
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