Nemesis 25: B&B #191

#25

Brave and the Bold #191 (October 1982)

Synopsis: 

The Butcher has travelled to Houston in order to kill a man named Sheffield, but Nemesis trailed him and interrupted the assassination. We rejoin the stand-off between them; the Butcher is about to kill him when Sheffield's wife objects, spoiling the Butcher's aim. Their altercation gives Nemesis enough time to revive. Using his mini-razor knife, he successfully scares the Butcher off. 

Nemesis tells Mrs. Sheffield about her husband being the killer of crime boss Kingston on Maddox's orders. She agrees to help Nemesis find him in order to save his life. 

Later, at the Houston Hotel where Sheffield is hiding, the Butcher breaks in and knocks him out. When Sheffield awakens, the Butcher tells him that he has called the police because he is causing Sheffield to take the rap for Kingston's murder. 

Sheffield swears he'll take down Maddox, too, because Maddox ordered the murder. The Butcher walks off, revealing himself to actually be Nemesis. 

Later, Nemesis thanks Mrs. Sheffield for her help in finding her husband and his gun. He tells her that she probably saved his life. However, she is a little bit sorry that she helped save him, just so that he will spend the rest of his life in jail.  

  

Commentary: 

This is a very well-done conclusion to the whole Kingston-Maddox take-down. Initially Kingston kidnapped Tom's friend Marjorie Marshall and invited Nemesis' attention, hoping to take him down. However, not only did this cause Kingston to be killed (by Sheffield) but that murder is now taking down Maddox, too. This only leaves one member of The Council, who we are sure to encounter next time. 

Writer Cary Burkett has woven a terrific tale of intrigue; although Nemesis does not actually pull the trigger on anyone, he is directly responsible for the deaths or capture of both Kingston and Maddox! And the melancholy ending; surely career criminals do consider quality of life over quantity, many preferring to die free rather than spend the rest of their life imprisoned. Hopefully Sheffield will get paroled on good behavior. 

Dan Spiegle does another bang-up job on the art. Nemesis as himself does not appear in the majority of the story, but The Butcher and Sheffield are drawn very well. And that last looks from Mrs. Sheffield and of Nemesis; great stuff! 

Nemesis Fact File:  

• This issue's story is only six pages, the first of only two time the series was not eight pages. 
• The main team-up in this issue is between Batman and the Joker. "Only Angels Have Wings!" by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and Jim Aparo features the Joker offering to help Batman track down the murderer of the Penguin.   
• There were no letters in The Brave & The Bold #196 about this Nemesis installment. All of the letters printed in that issue were about the Joker team-up story.  

This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the six-page story here in 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