I confess to not being super-organized, but look, sometimes it feels like these weren't reprinted in a coherent manner, either. From 1989,
Nemesis the Warlock #6, written by Pat Mills, art by Kevin O'Neill. Cover by Sam Kieth!
We actually saw part of this before, reprinted in color in Quality's
Spellbinders #1. The GCD didn't give reprint credits for this black-and-white one, but "The Gothic Empire" started in
2000 AD #387: the Goths were at war with the Terminators (not
those ones--oh, never mind) but couldn't fathom why. The Goths were maybe just as xenophobic as the Terminators, and thought they were figuratively, on the same team; at war against 'aliens.' Unfortunately, the Goths didn't quite realize, they
were aliens! They had received early earth radio broadcasts, and patterned themselves after early 20th century Britain; so they were kind of patronizing, colonizing bastards too. They also had a Jack the Ripper-type problem, in the person of serial killer "the Phantom," who is really series big-bad Torquemada! His various deaths and returns, had left him forced to suck the life-force out of aliens to maintain himself.
Nemesis wants to convince the Goths' ruling "Ion Duke" that Termight was a threat to them; but the Duke refuses to listen, instead taking potshots at Nemesis's messenger/familiar, Grobbendonk. Despite the fact that the Goths' space navy was outgunned and outclassed by Termight; the Duke refuses to even acknowledge that as a possibility: partially their faux-Brit superiority complex, the rest poison poured into his ears by his daughter and his aide, who were plotting against him. They wanted to upgrade Goth society from early 20th century Britain to late, and were willing to side with Torquemada to get their way; even if Torquemada is ridiculously untrustworthy. Kinda feels like they wanted to believe him, more than him convincing them in any way. Nemesis is accused of the "Phantom" murders, and telepathically discovers the plot to murder Queen Victoria; so under psychic disguise he takes a train with his new companion, Ro-Jaws--unaware that Torquemada, in a new body, is on the same train! (I do like how Nemesis seems to immediately take to this weird, smelly little robot.) There's also an aside to Ro-Jaws's old teammate from the ABC Warriors, Hammerstein; who was now fighting for Termight, until his conscience makes him question orders and refuse to massacre innocents.
has a surprisingly long bibliography; not quite to the length of Dredd or Anderson, but I wonder if he hasn't made more appearances than say Strontium Dog or Rogue Trooper? I think he's made more than Nemesis; if someone would sit down and count, that'd be swell.
That is a hell of a twist at the end there, that the alien Goths originally looked nothing like the human versions they later transformed into. I wonder if this is an intentional bit of social commentary on immigrants adopting the customs of their new home country only to lose their original identities in the process and take on the prejudices of said new home.
ReplyDeleteThat part about Duke’s family willingly & blindly believing Torquemada despite probably knowing better anyways just so they could advance their own lives, is pretty much on brand for not just the current situation with Trumpers & the GOP, but throughout human history.
Definitely more than Nemesis- he hasn’t appeared outside of his own series. Rogue and Strontium Dog had long, nearly continuous series throughout most of the 80’s though- so no way does Hammerstein come close. Nemesis stuff was all he did for about 10 years there, and ABC Warriors has never had a long run (possibly because Pat Mills kept getting bored and reinventing them).
ReplyDeleteI think only a bit of this one is Kev O’Neill- Bryan Talbot took over the story pretty early on, and those last two images are definitely his. The story dips around with themes and artists, so it’s kinda hard to reprint coherently and chronologically. In a way, it’s lucky that they put it out when they did- things get even more incoherent and there are bigger gaps between stories after what they reprinted. Most of the 90’s was recaps and side stories.