Nemesis 20: B&B #186

 #20

Brave and the Bold #186 (May 1982)

Synopsis: 

Nemesis not only failed to weasel his way into mobster Jay Kingston's meeting with his goons, in his attempt to escape from the crime boss' palatial home he has re-opened the wound he received from Greyfox. Hiding in the darkness of Kingston's garden, Nemesis is shocked to see a lion preparing to pounce on him. He literally sees no way out of this situation! 

Suddenly, Kingston's men light up the yard with a searchlight in their attempts to find Nemesis. Seeing the lion's movement, they shoot at him, not knowing that he is mere feet from their target. They scare the lion off, and Nemesis then shoots out the spotlight and manages to climb a tree to get over the outer wall. 

With death literally staring him in the face, Nemesis has no choice but to leap from the wall to the ground. The landing nearly causes him to blackout from the pain from his wound. Only half-conscious, Nemesis manages to stumble into Kingston's parking lot. Meanwhile, Kingston has his men cage the lions, and as he is supervising the hunt for Nemesis, his butler tells Kingston that a Mr. Brewster has arrived to see him. 

Meanwhile, Nemesis successfully steals a car, but the goons are hot on his trail. After a dramatic car-chase around Houston, Nemesis finally loses his pursuers by out-racing a passenger train. He then rushes off to a hospital to get his wounds looked at again. 

Kingston meets with Brewster, who we learn had worked for the previous Head of the Council. Brewster tells Kingston that the Head learned that Marjorie Marshall has some connection to Nemesis, and he recommends Kingston kidnaps her to get to Nemesis.  

  

Commentary: 

This is another great installment in the Nemesis saga. Last issue we saw that the remaining members of the Council are not idiots, and are aware that Nemesis is a master of disguise. Kingston instigated a password policy that revealed Nemesis, and he is almost killed because of his hubris. Although I'm sure no one really expected the lion to attack Nemesis here, I did wonder HOW he would get out of his predicament. In a clever twist, writer Cary Burkett has the bad guys save Nemesis by accident. Fantastic! 

I also like (?) the ending, where the Council members share information in order to try to take Nemesis down. Of course, his connection to Marjorie Marshall is going to come back and haunt him. Clearly Kingston knows what he is doing, which means there is more suspense and excitement to come. 

The art is as good as always. I can't say much more in praise of Dan Spiegle, but I'll try. He and the colorist, Carl Gafford, do a fantastic job this issue. The majority of the story takes place in the darkness, so Spiegle is heavy with dark black and thick shadowy lines, and Gafford is a master of blues and grayish purples. The effect is awesome.  

Nemesis Fact File:  

• The team-up in this issue is between Batman and Hawkman. "The Treasure of the Hawk-God's Tomb!" is by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn and Jim Aparo. This is a fun story featuring the return of the Fadeaway Man, a villain created by Len Wein but designed by Dave Cockrum. 
• However, the lead story does not feature Hawkgirl/woman in any way. Unfortunately, Shayera ended up being the only then-current Justice League member to never team-up with Batman in these pages. (Martian Manhunter never appeared, either, but he was not on Earth at this time.)  
• There was one letter printed in The Brave & The Bold #191 mentioning this Nemesis installment. Mark Lagasse commented on both the lead and back-up stories (he liked them both).     

This story has not yet been reprinted. Therefore, I gladly reproduce the eight-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