Nexus Archives: Volume 1

I've long been a fan of Steve Rude, but haven't read all that much of Nexus. So, it's pretty overdue for me to begin reading Nexus from the beginning. This book began over 20 years ago, and it's held up surprisingly well. This volume starts off with a few black and white issues and end with the last half in color. Rude's artwork blossoms in this volume, and he is truly one of our best living comic illustrators. He's got a keen eye for amazing composition, characterization and clean and clear sequential style. His artwork is a cocktail of the best of Curt Swan, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and Sal Buscema, and Rude holds his own in this esteemed company. Mike Baron's story is engaging and timeless, a SciFi adventure for the ages. Nice volume from Dark Horse. The color seems old fashioned by todays comic book standards of computerized color, but seems to be a good reproduction of the original. Highly Recommended.

For anyone interested in amazing art and well-written storylines, go no further. Nexus is a joy to read, and very easy on the eyes. I originally read these quite a few years back, and I am hoping that I am not speaking through nostalgia, but i think that the stories hold up quite well. I am sorta amazed that these books are not hallowed amongst some of the best stuff that came out in the 80's. Perhaps that it was not a Marvel or DC title, i don't know. I would put Nexus, specifically the Steve Rude issues, in my top 20 comics of all time. Anyhow, I would be quite surprised to find a comic reader who would not enjoy these stories. Take a chance, you will most likely be very pleased.

Horatio Hellpop, the man known as Nexus, comes to life in this deluxe hardcover volume collecting the first 7 issues of... well, "Nexus" by Mike Baron and Steve "The Dude" Rude. The first issues (first published starting in 1981!) are in b & w, the way they were originally printed, but you do get the nice color covers (some are by Paul Gulacy) and then the four-color series kicks in. Along the way Baron's erudite writing style starts to flow and the Dude's art coalesces into something resembling his gorgeous mature work. These are two creators in their formative days coming together to tell the thrilling, philosophical and sometimes hilarious stories of Nexus as he wrestles with his destiny as a man doomed forever to kill mass murderers. You'll meet Nexus himself, then watch as he pursues killer freaks like Zeiffer Meird and the decapitation-obsessed Clausius. As the story progresses, Nexus encounters the reporter Sundra Peale, who will become his lover, and then the nefarious and compelling Ursula X.X. Imada (plus he learns what the X's stand for). It's a sci-fi superhero tale that quotes William Blake and visually references everything from Dr. Seuss to "Star Trek." All those influences (Baron lists a few in his intro), and yet it's like nothing else. "Nexus" was one of the indie greats of the 80s, and some of these stories were later retold more fluently by Baron and Rude, but it's worth it to have them in their original, somewhat rougher, form. Wonderful work that only improves along the way.

Baron and Rude's Nexus remains one of the best science fiction/superhero series ever done and Dark Horse gives it the treatment it richly deserves in this classy archives format. To their credit, they've allowed the three black-and-white issues to remain in black-and-white rather than coloring them, allowing the reader to experience the artwork in as close as possible to its original presentation. The only thing lacking is the classic flexi-disc that was packaged with issue 3, featuring an audio dramatization of that issue's story and with the "unforgettable" Nexus theme song.

Seriously, and it only gets better and better. This is a legendary series, and yet its still under appreciated. Great characters, art and storytelling, just amazing stuff.