First of all let me start by saying I love Mark Millar. I think he is one of the best writers in the business who knows how to write superheroes and if I could express my love of him any stronger I may as well start performing sexual favours for him. Having said that, one of the most common criticisms thrown at Millar is that his work is all excessive violence and swear words, and unfortunately I can’t deny that this is partly true. However he usually backs these traits up with a geniune love of the superhero genre and likeable, emotional characters that seap through the pages…

Nemesis has none of that.

Nemesis is still as over the top and unlikeable as the previous 3 issues. This is filled to the brink with swear words galore and a level of hyperviolence that makes Tarantino’s movies look like an episode of Lazytown. The character Nemesis also has a big plot reveal comes out of left field and doesn’t really add anything to the story. It’s not necessarily a bad plot reveal nor is it a good plot reveal and is mainly used as a teaser to Nemesis volume 2.

Having said that however I have a feeling this is exactly what Millar wanted. Although the story is poor there’s nothing wrong with the flow of the comic and this is exactly what I would have expected from a story about an evil Batman written by Mark Millar to be like. Also Mark Millar is still an expert at action and it is hard to not go “wooaah” as you read this comic… Even if it is the sound is caused due to your brain leaking out out of your ears.

McNivens artwork is equally weak. I’m not sure if it’s due to the colourist or the inker but his pages don’t have the same dynamic that they used too that makes them jump off the page with energy. His Nemesis pages look stock and unhuman as if a bored husband was in a department store started posing mannequins in awkward positions then proceeding to blow them up.

Sure this comic is a trainwreck. However it seems to be a well executed and planned trainwreck that was designed to kill as many people as possible.