One of the very few notable achievements made during the 1980 & 90s in heroic fantasy comics, in Nexus Baron & Rude created a wholly original concept and proceeded to put together one of the most elaborate and fully fleshed out comics universes, one that is both fully engaging on its own terms, but that also allegorically corresponds to the history of the twentieth century in many instances – particularly where totalitarianism is concerned. This 424 page edition collects the rare three issue original black & white run published by the short-lived Capital Comics Imprint, and then the first eleven issues of the full color series, the first six issues of which were published by Capital Comics, before handing the series off to the (then) newly formed First Comics, who published the remainder of the original 80 issue run, after which point Dark Horse Comics took over. If you've ever been curious about this series, now is the time to check it out. Volume 2 is already on the schedule for April 2013, so there's plenty of SF flavored heroic fantasy on its way; and Rude's steadily improves along the way, as Nexus slowly but surely develops into a one of a kind epic.
This 424 page full color softcover collects the entirety of 14 consecutive issues – #12 - #25 – of the one and only Nexus, arguably the best classic science fiction heroic fantasy comic book series of the last thirty years. These are the issues where the Nexus backstory is built up and up-to-then-secret origin is revealed. Also introduced in these pages are General Loomis and his daughters, who came to be known as the Loomis sisters and went on to play a large part in the long running Nexus saga, which continues to this day. With one or two exceptions, all the Nexus stories are pencilled by Rude, who is relaly on a roll here. Also included are the numerous "Tales of Clonezone" back-up short stories scripted by Baron, most of which have art by Mark Nelson. Anyone who enjoys heroic fantasy, should give Nexus a try, and these value priced omnibus editions are the best way to do so.
From J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell, George Bridgman and Andrew Loomis, Hal Foster and Alex Raymond, Noel Sickles and Milton Cannif, Jack Kirby and Will Eisner, Alex Toth and Russ Manning, Jim Steranko and Paul Gulacy comes... Steve "The Dude" Rude! Yes, The co-creator of Nexus continues to hold high the ideals of fine comic art illustration and he's still at it! Here in this 176 page, full color softcover yearbook, you'll come face to face with roughs, sketches, work-ups, drawings, studies and paintings, almost all executed by Rude in the past year (2023). He's still got it! This book will, of course, primarily be of interest to long time fans of Rude's work, but any working comics artist or illustrator will come away from studying this volume with an appreciation of Rude's dedication and hard work – and, more importantly, a greater understanading of "how it's done."
