Termight! Captial planet of a cruel galatic empire... Above ground it is a strange, desolate world, destroyed by nuclear wars, where only a few poor Overlanders grub a living. But beneath the surface, it teems with life. The inside of the planet has been hollowed out into a system of travel tubes and vast cities.

Through one such tube, Overlanders Elmer and Mabeline attempt to get to grips with the tube system and visit their daughter in Necropolis, all the while keeping one ear open to the radio broadcasts. The DJ, keeping all the tube travellers informed with traffic news, has an urgent message from the chief of the Tube Police, the man who made Termight what it is today: Torquemada. Speaking from his official Gundola, Torquemada warns all drivers that the so called freedom fighter, Nemesis, is about to break their most sacred traffic laws again. He warns that punishment for helping this road hog will be severe - probably fatal.

As Torquemada's outriders, The Terminators, maintain a constant vigil for the deviant, a Tube Tumbril, transporting condemed prisoners to the vapourisation vats. However, in an inspection tube, a sinister shape awaits the convoy - Nemesis, the mysterious leader of Credo, the resistance movement sworn to destroy the tyranny of Termight.

Gunning his engines, Nemesis thrusts his famous Blitzspear forward and slices through the centre of the Tumbril. Hundreds of free prisoners flee into the tubes as the Tumbril crew attempt to shoot Nemesis. Seconds later, Torquemada appears from a 'police only' ramp connecting tube levels. The chief of the Tube Police barks an order to destroy Nemesis before he reaches the Blackhole Bypass, but the Blitzspear suddenly heads into the city, closely followed by a Terminator. The outrider lands on the roof of the Blitspear, only to have Nemsis slam on the retro-skids and send the Terminator flying through the window of a local cafe.

The other Terminators follow Nemesis, only realising at the last second he's leading them into the main ventilation shaft. The pursuing Terminators fall to their death, as Nemsis heads down to the Blackhole Bypass. He's spotted by the occupants of a watchtower and rack beams are ordered to be switched on to capture the escaping ship. The beams hold the Blitzspear. Normally, they would kill an ordinary man, but Nemesis is no ordinary man; he slams the Blitspear into over drive, leaving the beams to swing wildly and tear the watchtowers apart. Nemsis escapes at the speed of light through the artificial black hole and into the stars beyond. This is an artificial black hole, mans gateway to the stars, and from it, Termight, mighty Terra, has controlled a thousand planets.

Nemesis makes good his escape, but he will return to strike another blow against the forces of Terra!

COMMENTS:

A blistering start for the series, and a near text book example of how to produce a six page comic strip.

Mills essentially creates an entire world for (what was then) a simple one-off story, and O'Neill brings it to brilliant, anarachic life.

Deep within Termight, the Grand Master, Torquemada, is travelling by tube liner to an important meeting in Necropolis. As Torquemada poses with a baby for his fan magazine 'Torque-In,' the liner makes a brief detour above ground, only to be suddenly attacked by a strange creature, a bizarre mutation of bird and machine, known as a Gooney Bird. Squawking triumphantly, the bird takes the liner back to its nest in The Petrified City, to feed to its young.

The passengers plead with Torquemada for help. He fills the air with incense and strange incantations to ward off evil, but with no effect. One passenger takes the only available life bag for himself, but is quickly relieved of it by Torquemada. A mother believes it is for her and her baby, but as the Grand Master points out, his life is more important. Taking his leave of his fellow passengers, Torquemada escapes the birds and, seeing some teleport wires, heads to the nearest transmitter station to be beamed the rest of the way to Necropolis.

The old attendant at the station informs Torquemada that he can't beam directly to Necropolis until he's through 'The Sea of Lost Souls.' The old man shows Torquemada the 'Shockwave Express,' warning him that it's peak rate now, and the commuters are beaming home now. Torquemada, losing patience, jumps aboard the Shockwave Express and has the operator connect him. However, there's more the old porter than meets the eye. Once the Grand Master is gone, he calls Nemesis and tells him what's just happened.

Torquemada, unaware he's flying into a trap, heads over the ghostly Sea of Lost Souls, where an accident has caused people's bodies to become entangled forever in nightmare sea of neutrons, and where Nemesis waits beneath the waves...

Nemesis blasts the Shockwave express as it passes overhead. Desperately, Torquemada calls on his Terminators to send a Kill-Tracker team quickly. Within minutes, the team arrive on the scene and 'tap' the fallen teleport cables that have caused The Sea of Lost Souls. The team leader informs Torquemada that if they electrocute Nemesis now, they will also kill thousands of innocent travellers. This is a mere technicality in the eyes of the Grand Master, but he realises that Nemesis is too close, and his own life would be in danger. Torquemada pushes the vehicle to its limit, outrunning Nemesis.

The Kill-Tracker team are monitoring the situation. The powerman waits expectantly to commence the electrocution with 20,000 Killer-Watts, but he acts too soon; Torquemada is still in the danger zone.

Both the Grand Master and Nemesis have only one chance: to outrace the electrical storm and then dial out of the teleport system. As the Blitzspear and the Shockwave Express roar foward, Torquemada dials the Royal College of Terminators. However, to prevent improper use of the system (such as tramps suddenly materialising in your apartment), the caller has to be accepted at the other end.

At the Royal College, the principal is in the middle of a torture, and tells his assistant he'll call Torquemada back. However, this is too late for the Grand Master, and the storm catches him, killing him instantly.

Nemesis, meanwhile, continues to outrun the Killer-Watts. He travels at speeds that would kill most men, but whatever is inside the Blitzspear is not an ordinary man. With danger drawing closer, Nemesis dials a number, and finds himself materialising in the apartment of one the resistance movement in Mausoleum.

However, inside the teleport system, the ghostly figure of Torquemada materialises. Although his body is destroyed, his id is whole. For a brief moment, the black sky of overland is lit by this apparition, making a solemn promise:

"I will return!"

COMMENTS:

Inspired by the album 'Killer Watts,' this is those rarest of things: a sequel which actually surpasses the original.

Both Mills and O'Neill are on fire, and produce one of the best stand alone stories ever to appear in 2000AD. Building on what they laid down in Terror Tube, they make the world of Termight more fully formed and three dimensional, all the while dropping hints that Nemesis may be something more than a simple man hiding himself in the Blitzspear.

An imprisoned alien tells the tale of Sir Olric and his great quest to find the Sword Sinister for Torquemada to some captured resistance fighters.

Learning that Olric is the only descendant of the warrior M'stron, who fought the deviants in the first alien war, and destroyed them with Excessus, the Sword Sinister, Torquemada searches out Orlic. Because of his genetic code, Orlic is the only human who can wield the sword.

Beginning his quest into the Fringe Worlds, Orlic stops in Star City and helps defeat a band of space mercenaries, and after four years of battle, is finally free to continue his quest. Sixteen months later, Orlic's ship reaches the planet Novala, the rumoured home of the sword. Capturing a local creature, he travels the planet, facing more dangers, before finally finding the sword.

After his long quest, Orlic rests for a moment, only to have Nemesis steal the weapon and slay him.

COMMENTS:

An excellent little tale with a blackly-comic ending. Mills and O'Neill carry on showing the power of their creative partnership.

The people of the planet Thrum await the arrival of the Terminators, led by Brother Behell. Upon their arrival, the inhabitants shape-shift into the likeness of humans, but the Terminators suspect foul play and have a female put to the test. Once she has failed, Brother Behell orders the slaughter of all the aliens. On his triumphant return to Termight, Behell prepares to proclaim himself Grand Master, only to be foiled by the phantom of Torquemada. With the true Grand Master's return, the inquisition is re-inspired, and the war continues.

The Terminators lay a trap for Nemesis, and, as expected, he falls into it. After a brief battle, Nemesis' ship falls towards the planet Earth's End. Some of the locals from a nearby village see the crash and go to investigate, and discover the wounded Nemesis a short distance from the wreck. Failing to free his ship from the rock it crashed into, the villagers beat Nemesis, to prove their lack of fear, before chaining him to a truck and dragging him back to the village. Unsure of what to do with the alien, the villagers take his armour and hang him in the village square.

On the third night, strange things begin to happen in the village, and all the people who vent their wrath on The Warlock meet with nasty ends. The rest of the village plead with the 'dead' alien and are spared.

Meanwhile on Termight, resistance fighters Purity Brown and Googly try to reach Sanctuary (the secret base of the resistance) while Terminators chase them. Upon safely reaching the base, the phantom Torquemada rises from the body of Googly; the Terminators take the resistance prisoner and sentence them to death at The Feast of Zamarkand.

Brother Gogol, Executioner of Terminus, realises he has some problems, namely he is a Mandrake - a half human, half alien. Unsure of what to do, he continues his day as normal, hoping his secret will remain just that. On his return home, however, he sees Nemesis waiting for him. The Warlock, knowing his secret, blackmails Gogol into helping him rescue the prisoners.

Nemesis, in need of a spell for the escape, visits his great uncle, Baal. Grobbendonk, Baal's familiar, warns Nemesis that his drink has been drugged. Nemesis switches drinks and takes the spell, then takes Grobbendonk with him to avoid Baal's wrath. Returning to Termight, Nemesis sets his new familiar off to the dungeons to free the aliens due for torture, while he disguises himself as Brother Hades, the Pandemoneum player; he sends a psychic message to Purity, telling her to jump into the pit of flames, where the dimensional portal spell has been set in place.

Grobbendonk frees the aliens, to fight their way to the fire pit. Nemesis, playing the Pandemoneum, manages to whirl the Terminators into a frenzy. Torquemada, realising what's happening, orders a Terminator to take his own life so his spirit can inhabit the body. Discovering Gogol's deviancy, Torquemada decides to deal with him later, and rushes to confront his arch-enemy. Nemesis defeats several of Torquemada's zombie, only for the Grand Master to take over another corpse, and another and another. Performing a ritual over the dead, Nemesis stops Torquemada from taking over another body, and confronts him on the psychic plane. Before The Warlock can defeat the spirit of the ultimate fascist, a crumbling rock destroys the bridge they're fighting on. With Torquemada's spirit already severely weakened by three incarnations, desperately takes over the body of yet another slain Terminator, and spears Nemesis through the back.

Nemesis crawls to the pit and pulls himself and Torquemada into the flames. The Warlock falls through the dimensional portal and closes it behind him, leaving Torquemada to fall to his death. After several days resting, Nemesis resolves to continue the fight against humans until the galaxy is finally safe from their tyranny.

COMMENTS:

The first Nemesis Book gets off on the right foot. From the insanity of the Terminators and their Holy Quest to the selfish attitudes of the villagers when they capture Nemesis, everything smacks of quality, and sets the dark tones that are carried through the rest of the series. Showing the hero of the piece as being almost evil during the early parts is a brave move, but one that pays off well.

Mills seems to take a real joy in writing Torquemada (something which becomes more evident in later books), while O'Neill's anarchic style sits beautifully with the script.

An alien in captivity recounts a story he heard about the young Tomas De Torquemada. Many years ago a 'Children's Crusade' began, where half-grown humans sought to cleanse the galaxy of aliens. The leader of the crusade, however, sold the children into alien slavery, leaving the young Torquemada to facilitate his escape from the aliens, and return to Termight to extract his revenge on the man who sold him into slavery.

In the present, Torquemada makes his re-appearance, and has his Vestal Vampires assist in returning much needed strength to his fading spirit. His archenemy, Nemesis, continues to lead the fight against the Terminator hordes on different planets. Capturing several humans, Nemesis has them packed off to an alien prison on the planet Arachnos. The prison itself, however, is more of a luxury than a punishment. To prove it to an unsure Purity, the Arachnon's leader, Zelotes, invites her and Nemesis to come with them.

Most of the captured humans are happy living in their new environment, but one Terminator, Brother Baruda, plots his escape, and finally manages it with the help of several other still fanatical Terminators. Under the command of the phantom Torquemada, Baruda heads to the local space port in a bid to hide aboard the ship carrying Zelotes and his wife to the meeting of The Cabal on Novala. Capturing the Caretaker of Arachnos, Baruda takes the ship to meet an Imperial Starship, where Torquemada takes control of the body of Zelotes.

Nemesis tries to steer The Cabal toward making peace with Termight, but news that Torquemada is alive sends shock waves through the aliens present. Zelotes is brought in to comment, but urges the Cabal to war with the human race, rather than the much needed peace. Nemesis, realising what has happened goes to confront 'Zelotes,' and once again succeeds in almost slaying the Grand Master.

Realising there's no chance of peace with Termight, Nemesis returns home to be with his family.

COMMENTS:

A disappointing second outing for Nemesis. Redondo's art, though serviceable, at times looks as if it's trying to be John Cooper - which in itself is no bad thing, but it doesn't fit well with the more outlandish elements of Nemesis The Warlock. Mills writing seems to lack the punch and menace of Book 1, leaving us with a pretty lacklustre script, peppered with the occasional good scene; the look into Torquemada's past, for instance, is an interesting aside, but really nothing more. The scene in the Cabal meeting takes away quite a lot of the mystery of the alliance, which is disappointing, as is the revelation of the prison in which captured humans are placed.

The battle scenes between the Terminators and aliens admittedly give the piece a grander scope, but seem to lack the same savage glee as those more 'minor' skirmishes seen in Book 1. Also the Terminators themselves don't seem as maniacal as they did before. Possibly more disappointing than anything else, however, is the depiction of Torquemada; he comes across as nothing more than a third rate villain here, rather than the galaxy's most fascistic traffic cone that we've come to know and love.

The whole thing, unfortunately, reads like space filler until Kevin O'Neill comes back for Book 3.

Many times has Nemesis thwarted Torquemada, and always on hand is The Warlock's Blitspear, Seth. Known to few, however, is that Seth is actually a living creature, enbalmed in a strange, alien metal, Tcham, that gives him the ability to fly amongst the stars. But how did Seth become Nemesis' ship?

This is his story...

COMMENTS:

What really should have been a shameless piece of filler for the annual is actually quite an interesting read. It really shows how much work Mills and O'Neill have put into the background of the series; it talks in a surprising amount of detail about the life of Seth.

After learning so much about Termight, it's a nice change to learn something about The Warlocks.

On the planet Gandarva, two female Warlocks duel for the love of Nemesis. One is his wife, Chira, the other is her bitter rival, Manga. The battle is hard won by Chira, and she and her beloved return to their home for the hatching of their new homunculous, whom they name Thoth. The hatching party is gate crashed by Nemesis' Great Uncle Baal and a collection of dancing human skeletons - his party piece. Nemesis leaves after the hatching to continue the fight against Torquemada and his Terminators.

The Terminator forces lay siege to the planet Demotika, using ancient robots to assist their Holy Crusade. Nemesis, making sure the location of Chira and Thoth is known only to other Warlocks, comes to lend a hand. He strikes a deal with Sir Evric, the Terminator leader, to grant him three wishes. But The Warlock double crosses the Terminator and instead of making him young and handsome, turns him into a young Catoblepas, an alien Nemesis regards as the most handsome creature in the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Manga contacts Torquemada and betrays the location of Chira and Thoth. The Grand Master instructs Sir Hargan to lead a party of assassins to the planet and kill them both. Passing on her vastly superior powers, Chira hides Thoth and confronts the Terminators, only to be struck down in battle. Sir Hargan, finds Thoth and is fooled by simple hypnotic spell into thinking the child is actually human. He returns to Termight to show the wedding ring of Chira to Torquemada, and then home to show the new baby to his wife.

COMMENTS:

From here onwards, it seems like there's more of an overall story unfolding, rather than the almost episodic fashion of Books 1 and 2.

The brief look at the world of the Warlocks is an insightful touch, especially the duel scene between Manga and Chira. Also interesting to note is the surprise return of Mek-Quake (admittedly as nothing more than a little comic relief), as is the 'cameo' of Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein from their Ro-Busters days. Chira's death is a pleasant shock, that really adds an emotional intensity to later stories.

The phantom Torquemada orders a Terminator to die so he can inhabit the corpse. Afterwards, he visits Brother Uriah in the scriptorium to collect his wife's birthday present, a bestiary, bound in best deviant skin and padlocked for protection.

Torquemada orders Uriah to be taken away for treatment for his Xenophrenia before heading home to his beloved Candida. He shows her the bestiary and points out the deviant that makes even the Grand Master shudder: Nemesis The Warlock!

COMMENTS:

An interesting little tale by Mills and O'Neill that's really nothing more than space filler.