Nemesis the Warlock is a comic strip created by writer Pat Mills and artist Kevin O'Neill which appeared in the pages of the weekly comic book 2000 AD. The title character, a fire-breathing demonic alien, fights against the fanatical Torquemada, Grand Master of the Terran Empire in Earth's distant future, and his attempts to exterminate all alien life. Grotesque, hyperbolic and violent, the series possesses a dark wit and biting satirical intent. IPC Media is a large British publishing company, mainly producing consumer magazines. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to the date or issue of a characters first appearance. ... Pat Mills, nicknamed the godfather of British comics, is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. ... 2000AD#387 featuring Nemesis the Warlock Kevin ONeill, born in London in 1953, is a British comics illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock and Marshal Law (with writer Pat Mills), and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (with Alan Moore). ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Pat Mills, nicknamed the godfather of British comics, is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. ... 2000AD#387 featuring Nemesis the Warlock Kevin ONeill, born in London in 1953, is a British comics illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock and Marshal Law (with writer Pat Mills), and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (with Alan Moore). ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... 2000 AD logo 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction oriented comic. ... The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ...

Series history

The series began in 1980, in issue 167 of 2000AD, with a story called Terror Tube, in which a freedom fighter called Nemesis escaped from Torquemada, the chief of the Tube Police, after a protracted chase through a complex travel-tube system on a planet called Termight, later revealed to be Earth. All that was seen of Nemesis was the outside of his car/spaceship, the Blitzspear. The roots of the story lay in an episode of Ro-Busters in which the heroes escaped from the police in a car chase through a tube network, which IPC management objected to. In Terror Tube the police were portrayed as a cross between the Spanish Inquisition (Torquemada is named after the notorious inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada) and the Ku Klux Klan, making it easier to position them as the bad guys. Ro-Busters is a comic strip written by Pat Mills and drawn by Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon and Kevin ONeill among others. ... IPC Media is a large British publishing company, mainly producing consumer magazines. ... Pedro Berruguete. ... Grand Inquisitor Torquemada Tomás de Torquemada (1420, Valladolid, Castile (present-day Spain) - September 16, 1498, Ávila, Castile (present-day Spain) was a fifteenth century Spanish Dominican, and an Inquisitor General. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...

Terror Tube was the first of a planned series of one-offs inspired by popular music, called "Comic Rock" - in this case The Jam's "Going Underground". The series never got going, but did produce a second Nemesis story, a two-parter called Killer Watt, in which Torquemada chased Nemesis through a bizarre teleport system based on telephone lines. The Jam were a British punk rock/new wave band active in the late 1970s and early ’80s. ... Going Underground was the first UK #1 chart single by British band The Jam, released in March 1980. ... It has been suggested that Materialization (science fiction) be merged into this article or section. ...

These stories proved popular, prompting Mills and O'Neill to develop a regular series, Nemesis the Warlock, which combined the early high-concept science fiction with fantasy in the "sword and sorcery" mould. Torquemada was promoted from chief of the Tube Police to Grand Master of Termight. Nemesis was revealed as a demonic alien with a face based on the nose of his car, fighting to protect aliens from Torquemada's genocidal tyranny, although his inhuman attitude and anarchic "Khaos" philosophy made his motivations ambiguous. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ...

Written at the height of Margaret Thatcher's grip on the British public, the fiercely left wing Mills depicts anarchic anti-heroes violently railing against a bullish, intolerant authority. That the authority in question is the human race thousands of years in the future adds a further dimension: a heavy-handed condemnation of human nature. Particular targets for Mills's ire were imperialism and religious fanaticism. The ABC Warriors and Satanus the black tyrannosaur, both Mills creations, were reintroduced as supporting characters, and a time travel element was introduced with left the series's timeline extremely convoluted. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (b. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms that refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially but not exclusively in the American sense of the word... The stars of a long running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, The ABC Warriors were a team of seven robots that had fought in the Volgan War (which also appeared in Invasion, featuring Bill Savage and Ro-Busters, featuring Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws) and been brought together... Binomial name Tyrannosaurus rex Osborn, 1905 Tyrannosaurus rex (ty-RAN-o-sawr-us) meaning king tyrant lizard because of its size and large teeth and claws (Greek tyrannos = tyrant + sauros = lizard; Latin rex = king), also known colloquially as T. rex and The King of the Dinosaurs, was a giant carnivorous...

Book 9 concluded in 1989, and the character barely appeared for ten years. Finally, in 1999, Mills and artists Henry Flint and O'Neill wrapped up the series with Book 10: The Final Conflict. Artist on British sci-fi comic 2000AD, Flint has established a cult following for his hyper-detailed and wildly inventive work on series such as Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, Shakara and Aliens. ...

Artists

O'Neill's imaginative, grotesque art helped to establish the popularity of the series, but the efforts he put in to creating it led to a low rate of productivity, There were a number of delays in the publication of the Book One, and a second book was drawn by Jesus Redondo. This, and the higher rates of pay available in America, led O'Neill to leave the series after a handful of episodes of Book Four (although he has occasionally returned for short runs since then) replaced by Bryan Talbot. Other artists to draw the series include John Hicklenton, David Roach, Clint Langley and Henry Flint. O'Neill returned to the strip to illustrate its last ever episode. Bryan Talbot (born February 24, 1952) is a British comic book artist and writer. ... Artist on British sci-fi comic 2000AD, Flint has established a cult following for his hyper-detailed and wildly inventive work on series such as Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, Shakara and Aliens. ...

Supporting characters

Purity Brown 

human aide to Nemesis.

Candida de Torquemada 

wife of Tomas de Torquemada and mother of two of his children.

Sister Stern 

second wife of Tomas de Torquemada and mother of his third child.

Grand Dragon Mazarin

Grobbendonk 

alien pet of Nemesis, formerly the familiar of Baal, Nemesis's great-uncle. Deliberately eaten alive by Magna days before her wedding to Nemesis.

Chira 

warlock and first wife of Nemesis, mother of his son Thoth.

Magna 

warlock and second wife of Nemesis. Leaked information to Torquemada that allowed him to locate Chira and Thoth out of jealousy. Swallowed Grobbendonk whole as the first phase of her plan to seperate Nemesis from his allies. Killed by Nemesis minutes after the wedding, when he discovered her deeds.

Great Uncle Baal

ABC Warriors

Nostradamus de Torquemada - brother of Tomas de Torquemada.

Thoth - warlock and son of Nemesis (named after Nemesis' father).

The stars of a long running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, The ABC Warriors were a team of seven robots that had fought in the Volgan War (which also appeared in Invasion, featuring Bill Savage and Ro-Busters, featuring Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws) and been brought together...

Stories

The cover of 200AD#167 featuring the first Nemesis the Warlock story.

Most of the saga was told in 'books', with additional stories told in one-offs, which appeared in annuals, specials, or in the weekly comic. There are a number of collections of the original six-page instalments available, which roughly follow the books as they were originally published. The earlier books were not given individual titles. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (627x768, 149 KB) Summary scan Licensing This image is of the cover of a single issue of a comic book, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the comic book or the artist(s... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (627x768, 149 KB) Summary scan Licensing This image is of the cover of a single issue of a comic book, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the comic book or the artist(s...

Book One

The World of Termight

In collected form this book features the first three Nemesis stories - Going Underground, Killer Watt and Olric's Great Quest.

Book Two

Credo - The Alien Resistance

Book Three

The World of Nemesis

Features Chira, Nemesis' mate and the birth of Thoth, son of Nemesis. Chira is killed by imperial assassins and Thoth is adopted by Sir Hargan, his mother's killer.

Book Four

The Gothic Empire

Originally intended to be the first full-length Nemesis story, other stories were written as an introduction to the character and his world(s), ballooning into the preceding three books. Torquemada is killed at the end of this book, Thoth, still in the 'care' of Sir Hargan and his wife is growing in power.

Book Five

The Vengeance of Thoth

Starting ten years after the end of Book Four, an earlier version of Torquemada is brought through time by Thoth, so that he can punish his mother's murderer. Satanus re-appears.

Book Six

Torque Murder / The Time Wastes

The introduction of the Monad.

Torquemada the God

A five-part story not run under the Nemesis banner, from 2000 AD prog 520-524. Torquemada consolidates his power on Terra, though is affected by a curious malady, which is eventually revealed to be a plot by Thoth to punish Tomas further, by killing his former incarnations.

Book Seven

The Two Torquemadas

Nemesis and Purity go back in time to 15th century Spain to retrieve Thoth. Torquemada goes back in time to kill Thoth and prevent his degradation. Tomas de Torquemada meets his namesake.

Book Eight

Purity's Story

During an interlude Purity recalls how she first met Nemesis, remembering details that had previously been blocked from her.

Book Nine

The Deathbringer

Tomas escapes the time wastes into 1980s Britain, leaking time radiation as he does so. Subsequent side effects of the radiation leak create upheaval, and Tomas seizes on this to become variously a slum landlord and chief of police.

Book Ten

The Hammer of Warlocks

The last Nemesis story, after a protracted absence.

Software

Nemesis the Warlock have been released as a game made for use on Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum computers. The C64 version of this game was made by Martech in 1987, programmer Michael J. Archer, musician Rob Hubbard. For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research. ... Rob Hubbard (born 1956?, Kingston upon Hull, England) is a music composer for several microcomputers of the 1980s, especially the Commodore 64. ...

External links

• Terror Tube-1st appearance of Nemesis and Torquemada
• 2000AD Profile
• Credo! - The History of Nemesis the Warlock
• The Temple Of Terminus - a Torquemada mini-site