Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2 Review

 

Story: Zach Snyder

Writer: Gail Simone

Artist: Federico Bertoni

Colorist: Fares Maese

Letterer: Andworld Design

Cover Artists: Cathy Kwan, Federico Bertoni, Dev Pramanik & Claudia Ianniciello

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 20, 2025

 

When her father left Tatan at Gwanggeato's monastery, he gave his daughter a journal. But the priests stripped away her individuality, leaving the girl nothing to write about. Now, Tatan opens her leather-bound volume. The names she writes inside define her pain. Tatan has visited the refuse planet Aradas, the pleasure planet Kalois, and the mausoleum planet Triausel. Not even her last stop at the garden planet of Eden could bring her joy. Where will she seek justice next? Let’s grab our swords, leap into Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2, and see!

 

Story

Tatan returned from the monastery with a husband. She resumed life with her father and mother and started a family. Among the skills the monks taught her, Tatan had a gift for wood carving. This came in handy when the Imperium requisitioned all the fish from their world, and her father defied them by poisoning the water.

 

While she hunts down the people who destroyed her life, Tatan remembers the one she chose. She left the monastery with one of her fellow pupils to have a family. After being sent away by her father and indoctrinated by the priests, Tatan embraced her new life fully. At least she did, until her father defied the Imperium, forcing her to become the sole provider.

 

In Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2, Zach Snyder and Gail Simone draw a parallel between her father’s decision to poison the lake and the Imperium’s rapacious actions. Yet the storytellers also compare Tatan with Ana Desdemona, the woman who carried out the Imperium’s wishes. Like Tatan, Ana was forced into a mold not of her choosing. Yet while Tatan rejected others’ dictates, Ana embraces them. And while Tatan’s father regrets his actions, Ana delights in hers.

 

Art

A woman trudges through the driving rain on an outpost moon of Falun. Her sandaled feet disappear beneath flowing streams. The tattered edges of her cape suggest birds’ wings as heavily armored soldiers steer her through the storm. Inside a Nissen hut, a doctor in a blood-splattered cape lights his pipe, attended by an armed guard. The instruments arrayed on his tray are likewise coated red.

 

As Federico Bertoni shows a purple dreadnaught speeding past colorful planets and suns, Fares Maese shows the red and pink energy propelling it. Yet the interior of the Marauder and the soldiers’ attire is as gray as the people and buildings on Falun’s moon. The colors clash with the verdant land surrounding a lake bordered by reeds and coated in floating lily pads. Then orange obliterates all the green in Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2.

 

Andworld Design fills white dialogue balloons with uppercase black letters and brown boxes with white uppercase narration. Larger white letters on transparent banners locate us in time and space. Looming white numbers follow Nemesis' countdown to Ana. Sound effects accompany rifle fire and explosions. Hand-printed white letters hover over logographic symbols on tan paper aging with brown and red. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2 compares two women who had to make hard choices to survive. They’re more alike than they would care to admit. Yet one delights in becoming a monster, while the other wishes things could have been different.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Rebel Moon: Nemesis #2. 

 

Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1 Review

 

Story: Zach Snyder

Writer: Gail Simone

Artist: Federico Bertoni

Colorist: Fares Maese

Letterer: Andworld Design

Cover Artists: Kael Ngu, Danny Earls, Reza Afshar, Alice Meichi Li & Chris Christodoulou

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 16, 2025

 

Nemesis may be an assassin. But everyone comes from somewhere, and we all change as we grow. Long ago, Nemesis lived a different life. She gazed upon the world in wonder, questioned what she saw and thought, and told her parents she loved them. What tragedy befell the little girl with a heart of gold? Let’s grab our swords, leap into Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1, and see!

 

Story

Nemesis grew up in a fishing village. Her parents named her Tatan and called her sister Gahbi. As much as Tatan enjoyed life with her parents, fate drew her away from them. Her new masters instructed the little girl in their ways. Every day was a punishment and a trial of endurance. Her new masters beat the exuberance for life out of young Tatan. Surrounded by others, she was alone.

 

In Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1, Tatan feared she held the power to destroy. The little girl misunderstood her father, who was tired of Tatan's constant chatter. But, without knowing it, her father also spoke the truth. Tatan and her sister received a special honor. They had the chance to become more than a fisherman's daughter or wife. Despite the pitfalls of her new community, Tatan survived her teaching and training. The resilience she learned in her adolescence would help her survive the tragedy to come.

 

Zach Snyder and Gail Simone's story is about how our youth shapes us. But it also reminds us how one society influences another. Society on Byeol, the planet of Tatan's birth, was founded by a repentant warrior. Tatan's teachers instructed her in their ways. But they also repressed her individuality. In so doing, they prepared her for later life. Not as someone who would repent for dispatching her opponents. But as an unstoppable killing machine, utterly dedicated to her cause.

 

Art

Federico Bertoni’s artwork has a fractal appearance, portraying characters as edgy, sharp, and unforgiving as the worlds they fight over. Locals in ethnic attire huddle in an alley. Soldiers intrude wearing armor, uniforms, and the accolades of conquest. A glimpse into the distant past reveals a battle in a fishing village. Swords and axes clash beneath a stormy sky in Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1. Energy crackles in the air, while a warrior’s glowing sword illuminates the tattoos carved into his subdued opponent’s chest and shoulder.

 

While golden candlelight and glowing red blades light Nemesis' dark path, Fares Maese fills Tatan's youth with blues and greens. The girl rides in a brown boat with a basket of gray fish near her parents' brown and gray house on the water. When her father brings her to her new home, he presses a brown book, a black pen, and a bottle of ink into her hands. Then Tatan trades her pink kimono for a beige, black, and white uniform in Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1. Tatan’s hair, skin, and attire blend with everyone else in her new world.

 

Andworld Design fills white dialogue balloons with uppercase black letters and brown boxes with white uppercase narration. Larger white letters on transparent brown-gray banners located us in time and space, while looming white numbers follow Nemesis' countdown to solace. Sound effects accompany Nemesis' attacks and Imperial cruelty. Hand-printed white letters hover over black symbols above a skull in a brown book. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy. 

 

Final Thoughts

A mission fueled by lofty ideals can become a machine that crushes those it intends to help. Nemesis has seen everything she valued destroyed by the emissaries of civilization. So in Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1, she’s making things right by exterminating wrongs.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1. 

Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1 Preview

 

Cover A by KAEL NGU

 

Nemesis grieves. Most days she cannot recall her name. But she remembers the people who wronged her. And she's found a way of dealing with her grief.

Here's all the info from Titan Comics:

 

REBEL MOON: NEMESIS #1 (OF 4)

(W) Zack Snyder, Gail Simone

(A) Federico Bertoni

Publisher: Titan Comics

FC, 32pp, $4.99, On Sale July 16, 2025

 

COMIC BOOK PREQUEL TO THE NETFLIX MOVIE, REBEL MOON!

 

BASED ON A STORY BY ZACK SNYDER AND WRITTEN BY AWARD-WINNING COMIC CREATOR GAIL SIMONE!  

 

A brand new comic series that recounts the origins of NEMESIS!

 

Taking place before she became the sword-wielding cyborg assassin, this is an action-packed and badass story in the style of a revenge western, in which an innocent woman finds herself in the path of Imperium soldiers who slaughter her family…

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more cover options:

 

Cover B by DANNY EARLS

Cover C by REZA AFSHAR

 

 

Cover D by ALICE MEICHI LI

 

 

Cover E by CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU Poster Variant

Cover F by KAEL NGU Virgin Variant

 

 Thanks to Titan Comics for sharing this preview with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebel Moon: Nemesis #1 Solicit

 

COVER A: KAEL NGU

This project was a wish come true for Gail Simone. She enjoyed watching the TV series with her family, and connected with the character of Nemesis. Then she got a call from Zach Snyder asking her to write this series. Sometimes, the universe gives you what you wish for!

Here's all the order info for the first issue:

REBEL MOON: NEMESIS #1 (OF 4)

(W) Gail Simone

(A) Federico Bertoni

Publisher: Titan Comics

FC, 32pp, $4.99, On Sale July 16, 2025

 

BASED ON ZACK SNYDER'S HIT NETFLIX MOVIES!

 

WRITTEN BY AWARD-WINNING COMIC CREATOR GAIL SIMONE! 

 

COMIC BOOK PREQUEL TO THE NETFLIX MOVIE, REBEL MOON! 

 

A brand new comic series that recounts the origins of NEMESIS!

 

Taking place before she became the sword-wielding cyborg assassin, this is an action-packed and badass story in the style of a revenge western, in which an innocent woman finds herself in the path of Imperium soldiers who slaughter her family… 

 

Here's some other cover options:

 

COVER B: DANNY EARLS

COVER C: REZA AFSHAR

COVER D: ALICE MEICHI LI

COVER E:  CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU POSTER VARIANT 

The Power of a Beloved Name

During our recent vacation, we stayed in St. Pete Beach, a resort town on Florida’s gulf coast.  In order to get anywhere, we had to drive through a number of towns.  The one we passed through most was South Pasadena.  Now, this name is evocative for me, as my grandparents attended a church in South Pasadena, California when I was growing up, and it was a special place, filled with great people.  In my time there, I gained friendships that lasted for years, and a few that still stand today. 

As we drove along, I noticed that most of the signs for streets, hospitals, schools, and businesses had Pasadena in the title, not South Pasadena.  I found this even more evocative, as my grandparents lived in Pasadena while I was growing up, and I remember their house as a place of warmth, contentment, and love.  Despite everything else that changed during my childhood, their home remained my special place, and spending time with my grandparents during the summer the best vacation I could imagine. 

Suddenly, with so many signs proclaiming Pasadena, I thought, “I should take a few photographs to share with my mother.”  Soon I was hunting down any example of Pasadena-this-or-that that didn’t flash past too quickly for my camera’s shutter.  I was smiling as I hunted down any building or signage containing Pasadena.  So what if most of the pictures didn’t turn out: I was having a blast!  Later on, I realized that my mother probably had little interest in seeing these photographs: really, I had taken them for the pleasure of doing so.  While it would be easy to dismiss my actions as temporary insanity (or an indication of a permanently unbalanced mind), I have to think that what really prompted my actions was the tremendous power of a familiar, beloved name.

Like Nicholas Meyer (in yesterday’s blog), I sometimes wonder why TV or movies portray a cherished fictional character in a particular manner.  Occasionally, the portrayal veers so far from the original conception, or my favorite adaptation, that watching this new version makes me depressed or angry.  In the instances that the latter incarnation proves popular, this makes me feel alone and unwanted. Yet, even if the character or story portrayal is the opposite of the way I believe it should be, I try to be tolerant of those adaptations.  For one of the signs that a given character or story is important to humanity is its ability to survive so many reinterpretations, and emerge just as vibrant and popular as the original portrayal.  To quote Zach Snyder, the director of this year’s upcoming movie “Man of Steel:” “Superman is still the greatest superhero, no doubt.  Our job is to make him even greater by finding the version of him that we want and need now.”  (Entertainment Weekly Issue #1242, January 18, 2013)  Or, as Nicholas Meyer said in his article for the Los Angeles Review of Books, each portrayal of a fictional character “is informed by the form and pressure of the age in which he lives, what society values or condemns or overlooks.”

All of us are individuals, and our tastes will occasionally diverge from the norm.  When it comes to a character or story we really care about it, it’s easy to cry, “Please, don’t change it.  Keep adhere to the portrayal I like the best!”  But forms and archetypes don’t exist solely to serve individuals.  They serve societies as well.  As painful as it may be, we sometimes need to step back, look around us, and say, “If that’s what others need to make it through the day, and to empower them to benefit their world, then fine.  Best of luck to them.”

Otherwise, the relentless tide of life will roll over us, crushing and shattering us like statues made of glass. 

Dragon Dave