NEMESIS 4: B&B #169

Brave and the Bold #169 (Dec 1980)

cover: Jim Aparo (signed)

title: "The Council Calls For Death!"

writer: Cary Burkett

art: Dan Spiegle

letterer: John Costanza
colorist: Gene D'Angelo

editor: Paul Levitz

Synopsis: 

A private helicopter lands on the campus of an upstate New York mansion. Mr. Kingston has arrived, snapping at a man named Brasser. Kingston is late for a meeting of "the Council," the legendary elite who control organized crime in the United States.

We soon meet each member: besides Kingston, who is head of the Southwest division, there is MC Curtis, head of the West Coast Division in LA; Irene Scarfield, head of the Midwest Division in Chicago; Leonard Maddoks, head of the Southern Division in Atlanta; Noel Chesterton, head of the International Division in London; and Samuel Solomon, head of the East Coast Division, at whose home the meeting is being held. Additionally we meet Martin Brasser, head of security for the Council.

Kingston explains to the others how Nemesis infiltrated his local smuggling operation, and would have gotten away with shutting the operation down except when the plane crashed there were only two bodies when there should have been three. Kingston investigated and found the "missing" Clyde Dole was still alive and well in prison. Kingston then ordered an investigation into the "missing" Dole through his entryway, a man named Vanders. Kingston found a mini-bug listening device on Kingston's jacket. His men then found that one of Vanders' goons named Axle had "sung" to Nemesis. Kingston went to his Kingston Construction company and realized that Nemesis had switched materials between two different jobs, causing the run-way for his smuggling flights to be made of low-grade materials and to cause the accident that killed his two smugglers. Kingston is now afraid that Nemesis may have found evidence of the Council's involvement in "the Tresser Case."

When asked about "the Tresser Case" by Chesterton, they explain it for his  (and our) benefit, as he was out of the country (and we might have missed an issue!). They explain that when the Council found out federal investigator Craig Tresser was nosing about in their business, they captured him, took him to Dr. Von Riebling, and brainwashed him into killing the agency's director, Ben Marshall.

Now Kingston is afraid that all of the documents that may implicate the Council may have fallen into Nemesis' hands. Kingston, in his effort to verify that no documents were already missing, took them out of his safe. While he was reviewing them, his butler was coming and going, and it was only after he was finished looking over everything that he found his butler tied up and a small statue of Justice sitting on his desk. So Nemesis, disguised as his butler, most likely has photographic reproductions of all of the incriminating evidence.

As the Council argues about what to do next, a bomb detecting alarm goes off somewhere in the mansion. Brasser stays behind in the conference room as the others rush out to safety.

Moments later, the members of the Council hear glass breaking and return to the conference room to see the helicopter flying off. Scarfield finds a mask of Brasser and another mini-statue of Justice on their table....!   

Commentary: 

I think I said that the "origin" of Nemesis from a few issues ago was my favorite installment of this series; well with this story, I've changed my mind. This story is well plotted, well drawn, and well done. The tension mounts among the bad guys as they become more and more aware of the hunter coming after them. And just as Kingston spills the beans, alerting them that Nemesis is definitely after them, he strikes. Agatha Christie could not have done it better.

What's really fantastic about this story is that Nemesis (as Tom Tresser) never even appears!

The first times I read this story I wondered why Nemesis left behind a face-mask. I figured it was just as a clue to his identity, and to show the readers that he had been Brasser the whole time. But loyal Nemesis readers will know that there are no "face masks." Nemesis' faces dissolve in a chemical gas. Then it occurred to me that this was a "fake clue" to throw the Council off Nemesis' actual methods. And of course, it was as Brasser that Nemesis was able to get away in the helicopter.

This is a great example of creating an eight-page story. Bravo to Cary Burkett and Dan Spiegle, and all others involved!

Nemesis Fact File:  

• The team-up in this issue is between Batman and Zatanna, "Angel of Mercy, Angel of Death" by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo. It was Zatanna's first and only appearance in this book.  
• There were two letters printed in The Brave & The Bold #174 regarding this Nemesis story.  Both of them praised the pacing of this particular story, and looked forward to Nemesis' first meeting with Batman.   

This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the eight-page story here it its entirety, exactly as it appeared in its comic-book form.
Please do not allow it to fall into the hand of the Council!

NEMESIS created by Cary Burkett and Dan Spiegle