Daily Breakdowns 028 - Nexus: Space Opera

Nexus: Space Opera #1-4
Written by Mike Baron
Pencils and Painted Art by Steve Rude
Inks by Rude, Gary Martin, Bob Wiacek and Al Milgrom
Published by Rude Dude Productions. $14.95 USD

My path to this comic was not just the usual path of a consumer finding a product to consume. It wasn't just a nostalgic old fan catching up with old friends. It was about a man taking a cautious step into another level of maturity, perhaps only momentarily, while paradoxically becoming more of a childlike believer than ever. Heady stuff, eh?

Nexus was part of my very first purchases of independent comics. I was probably 13 at the time and on vacation in Washington, D.C. with my parents. Shopping in an underground mall, I found a comic shop, but either they didn't have any Marvels or DCs or I just decided to leap headfirst into this world I'd seen glimpses of in ads in comics magazines. I remember being struck by an ad for Nexus #3, of the Capital Comics era, because it promised a flexidisc of music included in it, and the cover had these weird floating heads on it, I think. Curiously, the current issue, my first, was #23, one of a couple years' worth of issues not to feature Steve Rude's artwork. I like Giffen, and it was still good, but I knew I wasn't quite getting Nexus the way it was meant to be seen. I checked back in when he returned to the book, and stayed on through another round of guest artists, various miniseries and one-shots, but although it was one of my favorite series of the '80s and '90s, and Rude was an artist I followed from project to project, I somehow dropped out somewhere along the way, perhaps during one of the two or three times I basically dropped out of collecting comics. I know I caught up on some of the later stuff with an eBay purchase, dismayed that the final story at the time was published in black-and-white. Surely Baron's and Rude's creation deserved better treatment than that!

But somewhere along the way I developed some negativity towards Rude. In meeting him at his booth at one of the CCI:SD's, he let his wife Jaynelle do the talking and didn't even look up. In retrospect, he was probably just concentrating on a sketchbook, trying to make the most productive use of his time. I felt bad that he kept trying to sell this VHS Nexus cartoon pilot, the footage shown looking cheap and outdated. I wanted more Nexus comics, not expensive sketchbooks, and the Spider-Man and Thor miniseries he did looked good but maybe too much in the styles of their inspirations Jack Kirby and John Romita, Sr., and the stories as well were fine but unexceptional. Add to that that with those projects, and X-Men: Children of the Atom, which Rude exited quickly, Rude was starting to give off an impression in interviews that he was uninspired by the comics of the moment, and had a hard time connecting with writers aside from Baron. That was my impression, I should stress.

Luckily, somehow Dark Horse saw fit to start publishing Nexus Archives, handsome if pricey hardcover collections of the series from its previous publishers onward. The first volume reawakened my love for the character and series, and that and an artbook about Rude, Artist in Motion reawakened my appreciation for his art and the tremendous drive he has to constantly improve. Still, there was no new Nexus.

From about 2006 until recently, I started paying much less attention to comics "news," sticking with a few blogs, and ordering my comics from an online retailer. And frankly, looking at dozens of pages of solicitations on a cumbersome screen, it's easy to miss out on some stuff. I had no idea that Steve Rude had started his own self-publishing venture, nor that he and Baron had reteamed to publish a four issue miniseries there. It was only a month or so ago that I noticed a few bloggers bemoaning a press release from Jaynelle Rude on behalf of Rude Dude Productions about the trade paperback of Nexus: Space Opera being the last Nexus project for the foreseeable future, as Rude needed to devote more time to commissioned artwork in order to pay the mortgage and bills. Some of these bloggers were complaining about the state of the comics industry, where a great book like Nexus wasn't selling. Well-intentioned though they undoubtedly were, I noticed how long it had been between the publication of Nexus #100 and this combined #101/102. Miniseries always suffer horribly when there's that much of a wait. I also thought about how I had written a nice review about the Archives--why weren't I and other critics approached about reviewing the latest issue or even just to buy it? Don't you have to beat the bushes and call on every sympathetic critic and blogger when you're self-publishing?

Filled with this righteous indignation, I considered blogging about it. You know, putting out the cold, hard truth, in classic Comic Book Galaxy style. And then, fortunately, I thought of another tack. I wrote to Jaynelle Rude, expressed my sympathy that the book wasn't doing as well as expected, expressed my admiration for Rude's art, and gave some of my suggestions in a nice way. She wrote me back the same day, and it was then it really hit home with me that this was a pretty tough woman--she's the soccer mom putting dinner on the table and finding what little time she can after the kids are put to bed to work on the publishing business, putting the latest newsletter together, putting together mail orders, etc. It's got to be stressful when your main source of income is a man making his living from his hands, having to produce beautiful art on a consistent basis with a fast turnaround. Oh, and I'd already ordered the four issues rather than wait for the trade before I contacted her. I'm not a total ass. But by the end of our email exchanges, I was offering to help her get the word out, work on the newsletter, whatever she needed. It wasn't so much that I was a believer in Nexus again as it felt right to do, and I would feel terrible if the book, and Rude as a comics artist, went away and I didn't do anything to help.

The issues arrived promptly, each one signed by Rude, and they also threw in a bookmark. The story starts with no much time having past since last we saw Nexus and wife Sundra. She's in the late stage of pregnancy, so you just know there's plenty of drama and a change in perspective coming. Pregnant Sundra is so lovely one wants to take a break from the comic and knock up a neighbor. Also note how Horatio in the Aughts is looking more Kirklike, right down to the pointy sideburns. And for that matter, catwoman Jil here is so sexy and raw and cool one wonders why Baron never just took over DC's version by coup. Rude tries a lot of nice effcts here--Wally Wood type deep set eyes, facial contours with color handling things without an ink outline. And Baron is similarly concerned with hitting as many good bits from the past as he can for new or loyal readers, including a dream sequence with Horatio and his father, the second time in a dozen pages to emphasize just how big a deal Horatio's impending fatherhood is.

The big plot has to do with the Elvonics, a violent, intolerant cult who have believers all over the galaxy, but who have gotten a toehold on Nexus' moon, Ylum, and are exploiting his good nature to take over, adding riots to Horatio's daddy fears. Add to that hassle a cabal of old foes intent on killing the Hellpops, and Nexus is so all alone in trying to figure out what to do, as his old Thune buddies Dave and Judah are nowhere to be found, leaving him with the competent if cold Tyrone and the jug-eared huckster Vooper. At the end of the first chapter, baby Harry Hellpop is born, and it's a sweet moment but still pregnant with dread, no pun intended.

The first issue ends with a Rude mission statement about how Kirby, Eisner and others paved the way for him, and how he owes it to them to try self-publishing. How can you not want to support the guy now?

The second chapter was the 100th issue of Nexus, and tensions mount, with haggard new daddy Horatio beset by anxiety over the changes coming to Ylum. At its best, Baron's Nexus work doesn't shy away from tough moral and ethical concerns. Obviously, the major one is that Nexus is a murderer, but he kills only bad people, but here the quandary is a stickier one: he set up Ylum to be a haven for free expression, but now the freedoms he bestowed are coming back to bite him with the Elvonics inciting a religious war. If Nexus or Tyrone act, even to protect innocents, they'll still be seen by the many Elvonic supporters as oppressors. It's enough to make Horatio yearn to be as uncompromising as his tyrannical father, a dangerous route to contemplate.

The main story is set aside for the rest of the double-sized issue, as journalist Bill Baker presents a fine history of how Baron and Rude hooked up and got the book placed with first Capital Comics, then First, the Dark Horse, right up to Rude's fateful decision to enter the self-publishing world. There are some great pics of a young, whip-thin Rude in Nexus cover poses, as well as a later one with Rude and Jack Kirby. Then there's the first Rude fully-painted sequential art on a new flashback story set in the first days of Sundra Peale's brief career as a congressional page, with Rude working in a statue of Kirk and Spock as well as a lecherous senator based on the late (though not when he drew him) Ted Kennedy and equally manipulative Hillary Clinton stand-in, Millicent Malachi. Sundra's obviously based on Drew Barrymore for this story. It's a nice glimpse at Sundra's pre-Nexus days, and also a way to show her being shrewd and tough when the main storyline has her on the sidelines more, having just given birth.

The long-delayed final issue is actually two issues in one #101 and #102 under one cover. An unusual move but a welcome one, as it concludes the story with 47 pages of some of Rude's most dynamic action layouts and some mind-blowing color combinations from Glenn Whitmore. By the last chapter, some of the art is a little less Rude-like due to Bob Wiacek's inks, but most of it's so surehanded in the storytelling department it doesn't matter. Rude is a master of using enough black to give depth and weight to every panel. He's also extremely good at knowing when to give space to let a moment sink in and when to compress time for dramatic effect. A good example is page 5 of the second chapter, as a long-time villain dies in four beats, all in one panel. A lot of artists would have given it a full page.

That's not to take anything away from Baron, who clearly still has a great synergy with Rude and a trust that he will interpret his words to best effect. Baron really delivers one of his better stories here, structurally sound with the bookends of birth and death, smart, organic and meaningful turns for the large, much loved supporting cast, and a seamless blend of drama, suspense, humor and morality. A really terrific, if prolonged, reunion for one of the best creative partnerships of the past 25 years. Here's hoping we see some more before too long.

Christopher Allen