NEMESIS 7: B&B #172

Brave and the Bold #172 (March 1981)

cover: Jim Aparo (signed)

title: "Pirate's Peril!"

writer: Cary Burkett

art: Dan Spiegle

letterer: John Costanza
colorist: Gene D'Angelo

editor: Paul Levitz

Synopsis: 

In the parking lot of MC Curtis' crooked casino, his henchmen toss Valerie into the back seat of their car. Nemesis has passed out from the pain from his shoulder wound, but when he is violently thrown into the front seat by one of Curtis' gang, the shock wakes him up. Nemesis weakly pops the clutch of the standard transmission automobile and and releases the emergency brake, driving it away.

Valerie directs him to her brother, Chris, who was in a medical unit in the Army. He takes the bullet out and sews Nemesis up without asking a lot of questions. When he is feeling better, Nemesis tells them that he is out to nail Curtis, and that he works alone. Valerie insists on joining him.

Thinking that Las Vegas is too dangerous for them, they go to Los Angeles. Nemesis acquires a special bit of film, the first step in his new plan to bring down Curtis. He also teaches Valerie how to pilot the helicopter (which he had stolen from the Council a few issues ago).

A few days later they intercept a delivery of black market films. Nemesis interrupts the exchange and steals the films for himself. He then calls Curtis and, claiming to be a man named George Mead, tells Curtis that he has the films. Curtis rushes over to the address "George" gives him, an office Nemesis has rented for the week. "George" bluffs his way into a partnership with Curtis after showing him a piece of "the new SF spectacular" that has not been released yet. "George" says he has connections in Hollywood, but wants access to Curtis' copy and distribution systems. Curtis agrees, fully intending to kill "George" after he gets his hands on the new film.

A few days later "George" calls Curtis and arranges to give him a copy of the film. He is then led to Curtis' operation. Trailing them in the helicopter, Valerie calls the police. They bust in and capture Curtis and all his men, and the film that Curtis thought was the new blockbuster is actually film Nemesis took of him admitting to all of his illegal pirating operations. Valerie picks "George" up off the roof after he takes care of the men who were supposed to kill him.

Commentary: 

This story is the first time we see that Nemesis may not be able to do ALL the work he needs to do on his own, as he (reluctantly) allows Valerie to help him take down Curtis. As probably all readers at the time could guess, these two will continue to work together. Them working to forge a partnership will be fun to watch.

As for the story, a week after re-reading this story I happened to watch a seventh-season episode of Barnaby Jones (starring Buddy Ebsen & Lee Meriwether) called "Picture Pirates" by Jon Christiansen & Brigitt Christiansen (teleplay by Robert Sherman). In that episode the Jones Detective Agency gets involved with film pirates. The story is very similar to this adventure of Nemesis, in that the "bait" in both is "the newest SF spectacular." That episode would have aired in December 1978, so there is probably no connection.

With the inclusion of Valerie there is now atleast a token woman. There are no people of color in this adventure.

Besides that complaint, the art is very impressive. Check out that scene of the helicopter riding low to scare the gangsters (reprinted above). That's very good craftmanship to position the helicopter flying into the bottom panel like that. And of course, every character in the story looks unique. This time Dan Spiegle also does a great job of drawing a wounded Nemesis. Check out the pages where he is passing out from lack of blood; he definitely looks ill. 

Another great story by the team of Burkett and Spiegle.

Nemesis Fact File:  

• The lead team-up in this issue is between Batman and Firestorm. "Darkness and Dark Fire" by Gerry Conway, Carmine Infantino, and Steve Mitchell is another really BAD story during this run. Firestorm and Batman team-up to fight intelligent nuclear waste that is mentally controlling Firestorm. Yeah, you read that right. We learn in this story that the JLAers do not know Firestorm's secret identity, a fact that always bothered me. 
• There were two letters printed in The Brave & The Bold #177 mentioning this Nemesis story. One letter writer hates this back-up, and the other loves it. As new editor Dick Giordano says, "different strokes for different folks."  

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