Review by Frank Plowright

In the world of Rebel Moon Nemesis is an assassin for hire, and exceptional at her job. She’s aided by using exceptionally sharp ancestral blades that can be heated to red hot temperature via the gauntlets she wears, making for a good visual effect in the films and here as drawn by Federico Bertoni. In Nemesis Gail Simone delivers a prequel to the films showing the titular killer at work, contrasted with her youth as Tatan on the planet Bysol. This is against a background of an all-powerful galactic force known as the Imperium going from planet to planet pillaging all resources with no concern about leaving the inhabitants to starve.

As past gives way to deeper past and then reverts we learn how Tatan came to be Nemesis and that in the story’s present day she has a list of sixteen people she’s hunting down. It’s a clever form of storytelling providing intrigue alongside a relatively standard origin story, one common to martial arts characters involving a temple, training by monks and years of discipline.

Bertoni’s art isn’t attractive in any conventional sense, but his form of extremely stylised people conveys brutality alongside desperation in some appalling conditions. This is also extremely detailed cartooning. Clothing, locations and technology are drawn with an abundance of fiddly bits, which is always a sign of an artist enjoying themselves.

Nemesis shares the narrative with Imperium Commander Ana Desdemona, not seen until the first chapter’s end. She’s a tenacious over-achiever, well characterised by Simone as having a chip on her shoulder about everyone viewing her as a woman before considering her proficiency. She commanded the mission destroying what was Tatan’s home village, and Simone contrasts her with Tatan, considering how circumstances cultivated two equally merciless individuals.

Naturally enough, the whole story builds toward their confrontation, but before then Simone supplies plenty of inventive executions as Nemesis works her way through her list. Just to ensure things don’t become too predictable, the penultimate chapter ends with a shock.

Nemesis is enjoyable space opera considerably bolstering the character from the film, but the art won’t be to all tastes.