In 2010, Mark Millar and Steve McNiven collaborated on the creator-owned Nemesis, which was promoted with the tagline: “What if Batman was the Joker?” Published at the height of the Kick-Ass craze, the four-issue miniseries was one of the better titles from Millar, who has a reputation for being edgy for the sake of being edgy, even if there isn’t a lot of substance. As the Kick-Ass series continues with a soft reboot, so has Nemesis as Millar and artist Jorge Jiménez collaborate to reinvent the concept.
Nemesis: Reloaded follows the same premise as its predecessor, in which the eponymous supervillain, dressed all in white with gadgets similar to Batman’s with the addition of heavy artillery, is targeting police officers. In terms of a specific narrative, Nemesis AKA Matthew Anderson is targeting the ex-cop Joe Costello, now the newly-elected mayor who is determined to clean up the streets of Los Angeles, as well as the former cops who have ties to Costello.
Hellbent on revenge for the cops arresting his junkie parents for mass murder that led to them being executed, we see Nemesis’s reign of chaos towards the city whilst flashing back to how he became this sadistic figure. In this trade’s introduction by Millar, he talks about how he wanted to reboot this creation in a similar vein to how Superman had been rebooted over the decades to maintain a sense of relevance. The world this comic depicts acknowledges Covid and the story somewhat addresses our conflicted relationship with cops, but Millar pays lip service to these ideas and ultimately is leaning into his sensibilities.
Given Millar’s love of movies, there is a group conversation that opens the first issue, in which characters talk about the evolution of Quentin Tarantino as a filmmaker, whilst poking fun at his pop culture references. It is one of those eye-rolling scenes that you would expect from Millar’s comics and makes you wonder if Millar sees himself as Tarantino, like many young aspiring filmmakers from the ’90s. Whether or not that is the case, Millar isn’t really reinventing himself here. That said, there are some fun twists along the way, including a set-up for Millar’s upcoming crossover with Pepe Larraz, Big Game.
The argument can certainly be made that Millar prioritizes style over substance, but through profanity and bloody violence, he allows his artists to embrace their unhinged side, and that’s what you get with Jorge Jiménez’s art here. Known for delivering bombastic visuals throughout his DC work, particularly the various times he drew the Dark Knight Detective, Jiménez, along with colorist Giovanna Niro, combines the neon streets of Los Angeles with a grungy aesthetic, all of which collide in explosive and kinetic action sequences where things get gory very quickly.
Although Mark Millar isn’t reinventing himself, let alone this supervillain concept from 2010, but Nemesis: Reloaded has enough grit and dazzling visuals to want to see where this creation will go in future installments.
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