SPREAD THE WORD!
Few sane minds could truly stand millennia of war. After the Volgan War, after the conquest of Mars, after the rise of the Termite Empire and the endless wars against the alien, after border conflicts and assassinations, after purges and pogroms, the endless evidence of man’s inhumanity would grind down even the stoutest heart.
Sanity, however, is an overrated concept.
The ABC Warriors started life in a comic called Ro-Busters, detailing the exploits of a robot search and rescue squad. The Ro-Busters eventually found new life in 2000AD under new branding in stories that gave details of their violent pasts and even more violent futures. The comic became one of the iconic serials of the British weekly, joining the ranks of Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, Slaine, and Nemesis the Warlock.
Between 1983 and 1984 the Warriors began, one-by one, to be introduced into a crossover storyline in Nemesis. Set in a demented future of xenocidal terminator crusaders, alien sorcerers and centaurs, neo-Victorian obsessives, time travel, poorly understood but highly advanced technology and maniacs of every creed, colour and species, Nemesis the Warlock formed one long story made up of several chapter-like Books, which we’ve all been along over the last few days.
Prologue and Book One >>44307075
Book Two and Three >>44328117
Book Four >>44347421
Book Five >>44363321
Book Six >>44388740
Over the course of the story, Nemesis recruited the ABC Warriors to fight for him: the long-suffering hero Hammerstein; the cold, calculating sniper Joe Pineapples; the pea-brained destroyer Mek-Quake; the savage, bestial Mongrol; the pathological traitor Blackblood; the disgusting kludgy cleaner Ro-Jaws; and the mysterious sorcerer-knight Deadlock (sort of – its complicated). Over the course of years, the Warlock’s war against his arch-enemy Torquemada escalated into ever more bloody reprisal attacks. Following the betrayal of a jealous rival, Nemesis’ wife was murdered by Torquemada’s assassins and his baby son, Thoth, lost. Raised like a cuckoo by human parents, Thoth swore revenge against the species that had murdered his mother and the father that had abandoned them when he was needed the most. Thinking his son dead, Nemesis launched ever more ferocious attacks on Torquemada and the Termite Empire, eventually leading him to the murder of Torquemada’s own children.
Soon afterwards Thoth revealed himself. With the aid of a mystically empowered Tyrannosaurus, he aimed to travel to the Black Hole Bypass at the centre of Terra that allowed humanity to travel the stars and destroy it by crashing the black hole and white hole at its core into one another. This would not only utterly destroy Terra, but would also scour the habitable systems of the galaxy clean of life, eradicating the human race and rendering Nemesis’ life work utterly pointless.
After an adventure to the end of time which revealed that Torquemada had used the tang-like organic soup humanity would evolve into as a fuel source for his warmachines, inadvertently transforming their souls into a psychic monster called the Monad, Nemesis and the ABC Warriors split up. Nemesis would pursue his son Earth’s past, where Thoth meant to murder Torquemada’s soul by destroying every incarnation of the man throughout history. The ABC Warriors, meanwhile, would go into Terra’s core to attempt to repair Black Hole Bypass itself.
Inside the complex., the Warriors encountered many different tribes of humans and robots descended from the original repair teams. One of them, a woman named Terri, joined them after falling in love with Hammersteinand losing her baby son to an overseer robot. Terri knew the complex better than any of them, and was a strong and fearless warrior to boot. Things were looking up!
But the Monad had followed them back from the future and attacked the Warriors, possessing Hammerstein. Although it was eventually driven out, the physical and psychic wounds proved too much, and Hammerstein succumbed to death.
You can't keep a good robot down though, and after reliving ancient and long-buried memories Old Red Eyes dragged himself to his feet...
This story started here yesterday >> 44393355
Last page>> 44394998
I had intended to finish this yesterday, but real life got in the way (don’t you hate it when it does that?). Sorry about that.
Damn spaces
start >>44393355
end >>44394998
If you've not read any of this before, this isn't necessarily an ideal jumping on point as its in the middle of the first part of The Black Hole. The start of the story does have a good summary of the story so far.
Huge chunks of Nemesis and the ABC Warriors was stolen for Warhammer 40k. See how many you can spot!
Oh no!
If anyone is reading along could you bump the thread from time to time?
>>44411826
Yeah, at least one of us is here. The ABC Warriors are at least more interesting than Nemesis's usual activities.
>>44411858We're actually going back to Nemesis shortly
I know what you mean though, most books
Whoops.
I meant to say, most books end with another "final confrontation" between Nemesis and Torquemada that doesn't go anywhere. I suspect some of that is broad commentary on the nature of superhero comics, but it gets old after a while.
The next chapter is at least interestingly weird.
SPREAD THE WORD
http://www.mediafire.com/download/sl4z9dksb3m61b6/01_-_The_A.B.C._Warriors_-_The_Black_Hole_%28Part_1%29.cbr
I'm quite tempted to try and stat Deadlock for Black Crusade.
>>44412030
How many appearance changes does Hammerstein go through..?
>>44412055
Technically that's Joe Pineapples, but he goes through quite a few variations over the years. All of them do, really, and not just from the changing artist styles. Hammerstein has an entirely different head and a much smaller body in Ro-Busters, for example.
I'd say the Bisley era designs become the default for them from this point, though even then there are changes.Joe gets in touch with his feminine side, for one thing.This is one of the more recent versions.
And this is the original Hammer-Stein in Ro-Busters.
While The Black Hole storyline was going on, Nemesis was running near simultaneously. At the end of the last Book, Nemesis and Purity had tracked Thoth back to Earth's ancient history as he murdered his way through Torquemada's previous incarnations.. Little did they know, but the attacks on the earlier versions of Torquemada were also attacks on his immortal Ka, his spirit, causing the body of the latest incarnation to begin to rot and decay. With the aid of Brother Mikron (>>44390765), the mad ruler of Termite was able to identify the source of his problems and Thoth's next likely target: the original Tomas de Torquemada, dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition!
NEMESIS THE WARLOCK: BOOK SEVEN - THE TWO TORQUEMADAS
The art for this Book and the next was provided by John Hicklenton. Hicklenton originally found work for 2000AD after discovering that one of his friends at college was art-droid Ron Smith's daughter and drawing her a Judge Dredd Christmas card. After providing the art for early Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman "Future Shock" stories, more work failed to materialise. On the advice of his mother, Hicklenton telephoned Pat Mills directly and asked if there was anything he could do. That turned out to be this book of Nemesis. A working relationship developed from there, and the two remained friends for life, Hicklenton's challenging brand of brutal and grotesquely stylised imagery complementing Mills' anger and bizarre plots.
Hicklenton was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, aged 33. His struggles over the course of more than five years with the illness were documented in the film "Here's Johnny". The film premièred in 2008, and received plaudits from critics and medical professionals alike for its honest, brave and often humorous depiction of life with the illness. For the rest of his life, Hicklenton worked to raise the profile of MS in the UK and campaign for better help for sufferers and more funding for researchers.
Hicklenton died in March 2010 at a Dignatas clinic in Switzerland. His final work, 100 months, an apocalyptic parable full of beautiful yet disturbing imagery was published the day before he died.
>>44411826
>>44411858
That makes at least two of us.
I do find it quite interesting how the different artists approach Nemesis' design. Some emphasise the biomechanical dragon aspects, all straight lines and machine like grilles. Others have him more like a knight in costume. This version is much more organic and sinuous looking than all the others
>>44413651
I feel kinda cheated that we didn't get to see Hitler get eaten by a dinosaur that somehow fit into the bunker.
>>44413691
Now I am too. Something to ask for in a drawthread, at least.
>>44413481
>Hicklenton died in March 2010 at a Dignatas clinic in Switzerland. His final work, 100 months, an apocalyptic parable full of beautiful yet disturbing imagery was published the day before he died.
This sounds really interesting, must try and look it out.
*misc
>>44413779
I don't know if its online anywhere, but you can get a Kindle copy very reasonably.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Months-Cutting-Edge-Press/dp/0956544525
I regret not picking up the hardcover when it was easier (and cheaper) to get.
>>44413481
Ah, MS is a sad way for anyone to go.
>>44413892
I'm trying to find a good link to the documentary, it was very good but also so sad. It's an awful disease.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/3353142/MS-I-am-very-angry-about-this-disease.html
>>44414003
Being angry about MS is probably the same reaction I would have if I got it. Fortunately, I intend to live forever somehow and dodge all diseases.
The Telegraph article is an interview with Hicklenton, by the way.
Torquemada's time machine is named after the ceremonies of public condemnation and penance that the Spanish Inquisition presided over and that we've been seeing in the comic so far. Auto-da-fé popularly came to mean the part where heretics and apostates were burned at the stake.
>>44414136
Its a solid plan, can't deny it.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think these instructions are based on the original advice given to Inquisitors.
>>44414148
>now neither of us will be virgins, Tomas
>>44414211
Is Torquemada gonna burn Torquemada at the stake?
Certainly give him a good roasting at least.
This is a turning point for Nemesis and explains some of his choices from now on.
>>44414499
Ironically if the first Torquemada had more experience with the heresies he was persecuting he would realise that he could remain a saviour while being the most evil man in the world.
Of course you need power armour to go with your chainsword, how silly of me to forget.
>>44414595
Is this the actual invention of the chainsword?
>>44414678
I suspect so. The first edition of 40k, Rogue Trader, was released in October 1987. The Two Torquemadas was in Progs 546 to 557, or 31st October, 1987 to 16th January, 1988. I don't know if chainswords are in RT, but I know there are very early models for them (and I don't think they looked like "modern" chainswords either).
So its murky. Rogue Trader and Nemesis must have been written some time before publication, but who came first is something I don't know. Then again, if the stories are true and the staff of both GW and 2000AD all used to drink in the same pub its quite possible they were stealing ideas from each other.
>>44414808
It was also before GW became a powerhouse of a company and was still mostly all a out the hobby.
>>44414808
I don't even know about stealing. Wasn't there a lot of crossover between them? Look at Dan Abnett.
That's wild though. The actual, primordial chainsword. You could indeed stat out so many of these characters in Dark Heresy/Black Crusade.
>>44414874
Yeah. I think it may even have been before Ian Livingstone left. Back then they used to make quite a few 2000AD games and miniatures, mostly Judge Dredd related. Their Judge Dredd RPG is basically a precursor to WFRP 1e. I've got a link to some somewhere, I'll have a look when I'm done..
I kinda wanna make Warboss Orkuemada of the Blood Axes in 40k now.
>>44414910
Like Picasso may have said, good artists copy but great artists steal!
Early GW is basically a mish mash of what British nerds in the 80s liked, and while the writers and artists were clearly drawing from 2000AD an awful lot, Tharg's minions were also drawing from a common reference pool of sci-fi, Michael Moorcock, heavy metal (comic and musical genre), prog rock, Tolkien, Dune, all that. There's definitely a lot of related works at the time, and generations of writers, artists and gamers inspiring each other.
Dan Abnett does work for Games Workshop after making his name in 2000AD, although that's close to a decade after this. At the time this was coming out he was doing Doctor Who and Real Ghostbusters tie-ins for Marvel UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Abnett_bibliography#Marvel_Comics
When Warhammer Monthly and Inferno was coming out in the early 00s it was essentially Warhammer flavoured 2000AD with all the same writers and artists - Colin McNeil on Bloodquest, Mills on the Redeemer, all that lot.
>>44415080
What, similar to the Goths in Book Four?
Sounds like foul deviance to me.
>>44415098
I should read Bloodquest and the Ten Tailed Cat again.
>>44415128
I was thinking something along the lines of "Be Mean, be green an' be orky!"
>>44414808
Chainswords existed when Rogue Trader was development and took several forms, including a very early drill-like one.
But that one does look rather familiar.
>>44415286
Keeping the "behave" bit at the end is important, I think. It's mostly the point of the joke. Just misspell it to "be'ave!"
Sounds like the sort of thing a Goff would say anyway. They're very strong on the "no mukkin' abaht" ethos.
>>44415426
Good to know, thank you.
>>44415563
I still can't help but feel that since Nemesis occasionally listens to the pleas of others, he still isn't quite as bad as Torquemada. Though he can be pretty close.
>The ABC Warriors have failed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbusENG6hCE
http://www.mediafire.com/download/2jb429klmkv1944/2000AD_-_Nemesis_The_Warlock_Book_VII_-_The_Two_Torquemadas.cbr
Will the ABC Warriors save the earth? Will Nemesis and Purity survive the time-quake? Tune in tomorrow (hopefully, all being well) for the concluding part of ABC Warriors: The Black Hole and, if I can find the time, Nemesis Book Eight: Purity's Story.
I know I've also got some shorter ones that aren't part of the main arcs, I'll have a look for them. At least one is made up of photographs of people in costume which is a neat historical oddity.
>>44415152
I'm certain I have a link for them somewhere if you want it..
>>44415797
Nah, I got those WHM comics lying around the house somewhere.
>>44415797
Thanks yo. Hope everything's cool with your family.
Thanks for the storytime.
>>44415868
There's the mother of all arguments on the horizon, but we'll see what happens when it gets here. Thank you for your concern, it is appreciated.
