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Nexus (comics)
Encyclopedia
Nexus is an American comic book
series created by writer
Mike Baron
and penciler Steve Rude
in 1981
. The series is a combination of the superhero
and science fiction
genres, set 500 years in the future.
took over publication.
On the creation of the series, Baron notes that they had originally pitched a series called 'Encyclopaedias' to the Capital Comics but the company rejected this saying they were looking for a superhero title. Over a drink at a restaurant, Baron outlined his ideas for Nexus to Rude,
In addition to the ongoing series, First reprinted the original mini-series as a graphic novel
and later reprinted the first two years of the ongoing title in the Nexus Legends series. The ongoing series was also supplemented by The Next Nexus, a four-issue miniseries that followed Nexus #52. Following the conclusion of the ongoing series with #80 (May 91), seven miniseries and two one-shots were published by Dark Horse Comics
. The last of these mini-series was printed in black-and-white as a cost-cutting measure; low sales led to the series being discontinued. Although each mini-series had its own issue numbering, Baron and Rude added a sequential number to each, as explained in the back of the first issue of Nexus: Executioner's Song:
This numbering excluded Nexus: Liberator (which neither Rude nor Baron worked on) and crossover specials with Magnus: Robot Fighter and Madman
.
Baron and Rude discussed plans to revive the series and/or release a movie, possibly in animated form. (A brief animated test clip was shown at comics conventions.) July 2007 through July 2009 they published the miniseries Space Opera, which culminated in a double-size issue #101/102.
The creators' canonical publication list includes 105 issues:
ers per "cycle". When the Merk selected a target, Nexus would receive strong headaches and maddeningly anguished dreams (which in extremely intense episodes can cause physical injuries to Hellpop's body that to a degree emulate the violence in the vision) of his target's victims until he did his duty. Horatio was reluctant to act as the Merk's tool, but continued seeking out mass murderers to maintain his power and his sanity so that he could defend his homeworld, a lunar
refuge of Ylum (a shortening of the word "asylum," thus pronounced "eye-lum").
Horatio's father, Theodore, was a communist
general and ruler of the planet Vradic. A religious uprising led by his brother-in-law threatened to overthrow the Sov government, which he had been ordered to uphold "at all costs." General Hellpop chose to detonate a bomb and destroy the planet, killing ten million people, then piloted an escape capsule with himself and his wife into a black hole. Surprisingly, it was a wormhole
which ejected them near Ylum, where Horatio soon was born.
As Horatio grew up, the Merk influenced him through apparently imaginary friends named Alph and Beta. However, when Horatio's mother died becoming lost in the tunnels of the planet, Horatio blamed them for her death and killed them in the first use of his power. Shortly afterward, Horatio began to dream about his father's crimes, causing himself inescapable torment. In this agony, Alph and Beta mysteriously appeared to reveal the duties of Nexus necessary to end the ordeal: the execution of his own father. With considerable personal agony, and unaware that his father was on the verge of suicide on his own, Horatio carried out the execution.
Left alone for two years, Horatio began to dream of the murderous oppressors of the Thunes, led by the Manager, and set out to deal with them in costume as Nexus for the first time. After the execution was carried out, Nexus agreed to take the Thune prisoners to Ylum to protect them from reprisals. Ylum thus became an asylum world, with the Thune prisoner, Dave, becoming both senior manager and Horatio's closest confidant.
Nexus would often find himself in the painful position of assassinating someone who had repented their former days of infamy, and desired only to be left alone with their guilt while several of his targets were completely ignorant that their short-sighted actions had inadvertently caused the deaths of others. Fortunately, at least one such target was allowed to commit suicide when confronted by Nexus and death by that means is sufficient to end the relevant dream. For the most part, however, his targets were unrepentant murderers, a number of whom had enslaved or otherwise taken advantage of their victims before causing their deaths, thus allowing Nexus to execute them with a clear conscience.
in their work on Nexus, including use of the battle cry "This calls for hyperspeed!" Jan, Jayce, and Blip have several uncredited cameos in the background. Rude was later hired to create a Space Ghost comic for Comico
with writer Mark Evanier
.
Steve Rude has cited a number of influences on his clean, distinctive style, including the Space Ghost character designs and other work by Alex Toth
, and commercial illustrators of the 1940s and 1950s, particularly Andrew Loomis
.
Baron's Nexus stories responded to the world he was writing in; competing merchants overwhelm media channels (and telepathy
) with advertising
. A great computerized library, perhaps presaging the Internet
, controls the universe's memory of history. However, some of his early 1980s references have become outdated, such as the menacing Sov empire
.
draws energy from the cores of stars (or other large sources on rare occasions). Many innate fusionkasters (the Merk and the Heads) can bestow their potential upon other individuals. This transference is said to fade over distance, but fusionkasters have been shown hundreds of light years from their sources with little decline in power. However, the link apparently cannot cross into other dimensions
.
Most fusionkasters possess the abilities of flight, energy beam projection that can be directionally controlled as desired, and force fields (which can provide invulnerability to sufficiently powerful wielders). Super strength, telekinesis, and/or various degrees of telepathy are also common. Only Nexus and Plexus have demonstrated a substantially wider range of applications, including energy absorption, matter creation, transmutation, and teleportation
.
Hardcover archive editions
Rude Dude Productions
, another Mike Baron character who was also published by First Comics, made several guest appearances in the pages of Nexus. The series also crossed over
with Badger and several other First series (American Flagg!
, Grimjack
, Jon Sable: Freelance, Whisper and Dreadstar
) during the First Comics miniseries Crossroads
. Following the switch from First to Dark Horse, Nexus crossed over with Madman
(Nexus Meets Madman) and Magnus Robot Fighter (Magnus Robot Fighter/Nexus).
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series created by writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
Mike Baron
Mike Baron
Mike Baron is the creator of comic books Badger and Nexus. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.-Biography:Mike Baron broke into comics with an illustrated text piece in the 1974 debut issue of Marvel Comics's Comix Book...
and penciler Steve Rude
Steve Rude
-Career:In 1981, Rude became widely known in the comics world when he and writer Mike Baron created Nexus, an independent science fiction comic book with a large supporting cast. For the series, Rude designed a dozen or so distinctive alien races, including the Thunes, the Amphibs, the Quattros,...
in 1981
1981 in comics
-January:* Capital Comics makes its entree into publishing with the release of Nexus #1.*Frank Miller takes over full writing duties on Daredevil with issue #168, and creates Elektra....
. The series is a combination of the superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
genres, set 500 years in the future.
Publication history
The series debuted as a three-issue black-and-white limited series, followed by an eighty-issue ongoing full-color series. The black-and-white issues and the first six color issues were published by Capital Comics; after Capital's demise, First ComicsFirst Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
took over publication.
On the creation of the series, Baron notes that they had originally pitched a series called 'Encyclopaedias' to the Capital Comics but the company rejected this saying they were looking for a superhero title. Over a drink at a restaurant, Baron outlined his ideas for Nexus to Rude,
In addition to the ongoing series, First reprinted the original mini-series as a graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
and later reprinted the first two years of the ongoing title in the Nexus Legends series. The ongoing series was also supplemented by The Next Nexus, a four-issue miniseries that followed Nexus #52. Following the conclusion of the ongoing series with #80 (May 91), seven miniseries and two one-shots were published by Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
. The last of these mini-series was printed in black-and-white as a cost-cutting measure; low sales led to the series being discontinued. Although each mini-series had its own issue numbering, Baron and Rude added a sequential number to each, as explained in the back of the first issue of Nexus: Executioner's Song:
This numbering excluded Nexus: Liberator (which neither Rude nor Baron worked on) and crossover specials with Magnus: Robot Fighter and Madman
Madman
Madman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by Mike Allred and most recently published by Image Comics. He first appeared in Creatures of the Id...
.
Baron and Rude discussed plans to revive the series and/or release a movie, possibly in animated form. (A brief animated test clip was shown at comics conventions.) July 2007 through July 2009 they published the miniseries Space Opera, which culminated in a double-size issue #101/102.
The creators' canonical publication list includes 105 issues:
- Volume 1 (Black and White) - #1 - 3
- Volume 2 - #1 - 80
- Nexus: The Origin (#81)
- Nexus: Alien Justice (#82 - #84)
- Nexus: Wages of Sin (#85 - #88)
- Nexus: Executioner's Song (#89 - #92)
- Nexus: God Con (#93 - #94)
- Nexus: Nightmare in Blue (#95 - #98)
- Nexus: Space Opera (#99 - #102)
Horatio Hellpop
The lead character, Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, received his powers as Nexus from an alien entity called the Merk. As payment, the Merk required Nexus to seek out and kill a certain quantity of human mass murderMass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
ers per "cycle". When the Merk selected a target, Nexus would receive strong headaches and maddeningly anguished dreams (which in extremely intense episodes can cause physical injuries to Hellpop's body that to a degree emulate the violence in the vision) of his target's victims until he did his duty. Horatio was reluctant to act as the Merk's tool, but continued seeking out mass murderers to maintain his power and his sanity so that he could defend his homeworld, a lunar
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
refuge of Ylum (a shortening of the word "asylum," thus pronounced "eye-lum").
Horatio's father, Theodore, was a communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
general and ruler of the planet Vradic. A religious uprising led by his brother-in-law threatened to overthrow the Sov government, which he had been ordered to uphold "at all costs." General Hellpop chose to detonate a bomb and destroy the planet, killing ten million people, then piloted an escape capsule with himself and his wife into a black hole. Surprisingly, it was a wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
which ejected them near Ylum, where Horatio soon was born.
As Horatio grew up, the Merk influenced him through apparently imaginary friends named Alph and Beta. However, when Horatio's mother died becoming lost in the tunnels of the planet, Horatio blamed them for her death and killed them in the first use of his power. Shortly afterward, Horatio began to dream about his father's crimes, causing himself inescapable torment. In this agony, Alph and Beta mysteriously appeared to reveal the duties of Nexus necessary to end the ordeal: the execution of his own father. With considerable personal agony, and unaware that his father was on the verge of suicide on his own, Horatio carried out the execution.
Left alone for two years, Horatio began to dream of the murderous oppressors of the Thunes, led by the Manager, and set out to deal with them in costume as Nexus for the first time. After the execution was carried out, Nexus agreed to take the Thune prisoners to Ylum to protect them from reprisals. Ylum thus became an asylum world, with the Thune prisoner, Dave, becoming both senior manager and Horatio's closest confidant.
Nexus would often find himself in the painful position of assassinating someone who had repented their former days of infamy, and desired only to be left alone with their guilt while several of his targets were completely ignorant that their short-sighted actions had inadvertently caused the deaths of others. Fortunately, at least one such target was allowed to commit suicide when confronted by Nexus and death by that means is sufficient to end the relevant dream. For the most part, however, his targets were unrepentant murderers, a number of whom had enslaved or otherwise taken advantage of their victims before causing their deaths, thus allowing Nexus to execute them with a clear conscience.
Stylistic influence
Both Baron and Rude pay homage to Space GhostSpace Ghost
Space Ghost is a fictional superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions and designed by Alex Toth for CBS in the 1960s. In his original incarnation, he was a superhero who, with his sidekick teen helpers Jan, Jace, and Blip the monkey, fought supervillains in outer space...
in their work on Nexus, including use of the battle cry "This calls for hyperspeed!" Jan, Jayce, and Blip have several uncredited cameos in the background. Rude was later hired to create a Space Ghost comic for Comico
Comicó
Comicó is a village and municipality in Río Negro Province in Argentina....
with writer Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
.
Steve Rude has cited a number of influences on his clean, distinctive style, including the Space Ghost character designs and other work by Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
, and commercial illustrators of the 1940s and 1950s, particularly Andrew Loomis
Andrew Loomis
William Andrew Loomis , better known simply as Andrew Loomis, was an American illustrator, author, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines; however, Loomis is best known as author a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th...
.
Baron's Nexus stories responded to the world he was writing in; competing merchants overwhelm media channels (and telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
) with advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
. A great computerized library, perhaps presaging the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, controls the universe's memory of history. However, some of his early 1980s references have become outdated, such as the menacing Sov empire
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Fusionkasting
The superpower of the Nexus universe, fusionkasting, psionicallyPsionics
Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.-History and terminology:...
draws energy from the cores of stars (or other large sources on rare occasions). Many innate fusionkasters (the Merk and the Heads) can bestow their potential upon other individuals. This transference is said to fade over distance, but fusionkasters have been shown hundreds of light years from their sources with little decline in power. However, the link apparently cannot cross into other dimensions
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
.
Most fusionkasters possess the abilities of flight, energy beam projection that can be directionally controlled as desired, and force fields (which can provide invulnerability to sufficiently powerful wielders). Super strength, telekinesis, and/or various degrees of telepathy are also common. Only Nexus and Plexus have demonstrated a substantially wider range of applications, including energy absorption, matter creation, transmutation, and teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
.
The Nexus Universe
- The Merk were a race of titan-like First OnesFirst OnesThe First Ones is the collective name of a group of aliens from the television science fiction drama Babylon 5.-Overview:The First Ones are the ancient alien races of the galaxy, the first organisms to achieve sentience and the first to become spacefaring. Of these races, Lorien's was the first,...
who established an interstellar civilization thousands or millions of years ago, and created the role of Nexus. Many (or all) Merk possessed powerful fusionkasting. Most of them have departed our galaxy to points unknown; the few who remain (including Ylum's eponymous Merk) may or may not be typical of their race. - Ylum is Horatio's home, a moon in a distant stellar system with a burgeoning population of immigrantsImmigrationImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. It has a substantial network of underground tunnels and Merk ruins. - The Cohesive Web is the largest human government, some form of federationFederationA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
or republicRepublicA republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
with its capital on Earth. Many of the Web's agencies have used unethical means in their efforts to obtain new energy sources. - Thunes are an intelligent apeApeApes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
-like race. The Thunes were formerly enslaved by a human dictator called The Manager, who became the target of Horatio's first public execution. - Quatros are a brutal cyclopean race named for their four arms. They are superhumanly strong and quick. Very few Quatros are sufficiently civilized to live amongst other beings without bloodshed.
- Heads are decapitated sentients who gained limited telekinetic powers in the process. Slavers and unscrupulous governments have created perhaps millions of Heads for use as energy generators. Individual Heads are somewhat more powerful than most humanoid races, and tens of thousands of Heads linked together (voluntarily or otherwise) can reach power levels comparable to Nexus.
- Headworld is Ylum's formerly uninhabited twin, now home to the many Heads who have been freed by Nexus or Judah. It contains ruins almost identical to Ylum, but in a greater state of disrepair.
- The Sov empire is an oppressive communist regime based on the Brezhnev-eraLeonid BrezhnevLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
Soviet Union. - The Gucci (etymology unknown but probably related to GucciGucciThe House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
fashion) are a multiracial organization of assassins for hire with a strict code of conduct. Their homeworld has a space elevatorSpace elevatorA space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
and a damping field which blocks all forms of power, including fusionkasting. - Alvinites are followers of a popular religion with rituals similar to those of mainstream Christianity. However, Alvinite tenets are left unspecified in the story.
- Elvonics are followers a neo-ludditeNeo-luddismNeo-Luddism is a personal world view opposing any modern technology. Its name is based on the historical legacy of the British Luddites which were active between 1811 and 1816...
religion which is not averse to stealing other people's technology for use in their holy missions. Alvin and Elvon were separate individuals who arose nearly simultaneously; each church believes that the other impugns its good name.
Supporting characters
- Dave is a wise elderly Thune who convinced Nexus to open Ylum as a haven for political refugees.
- Judah Maccabee, alias The Hammer of God, is Dave's brash son, a skilled martial artist and freelance adjudicator. He receives fusionkasting from a group of Heads in exchange for his services, and has an indestructible sword which absorbs energy and amplifies his power.
- Sundra Peale was a human spy from MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
who became Horatio's lover. - Ursula XX Imada was a high official in the Cohesive Web and the master spy who commanded Sundra, now ruler of Procyon. She is skilled in many fields of study and possesses partial mind control effective on most males. She seduced Horatio and bore twin daughters, Sheena and Scarlett, who are unskilled but powerful innate fusionkasters.
- Clausius is a dastardly slaver who commanded hundreds of thousands of beheadings. Nexus has battled him several times, although as a non-human he is not subject to the Merk's bane.
- Jacques Bravo, alias The Anvil, a rotund wrestler and poetasterPoetasterPoetaster, like rhymester or versifier, is a contemptuous name often applied to bad or inferior poets. Specifically, poetaster has implications of unwarranted pretentions to artistic value. The word was coined in Latin by Erasmus in 1521...
who appears sporadically as a foil to Judah. - Brother Lathe is Horatio's uncle and a high-ranking priest of Elvon. Lathe has caused great trouble for Horatio, who is loath to harm his only living relative.
- Kreed and Sinclair are Quatro Gucci assassins. They are masters of all forms of physical combat, undefeated in battle except against powerful fusionkasters (Nexus and Judah). They moved to Ylum and pledged allegiance to Nexus.
- Mezzrow is a young alien who came to Ylum and later started a band. He is a friend of Horatio and Sundra.
- Plexus is a brown-skinned anti-Nexus from Nexus: Executioner's Song #3. He was also a fusionkaster and had his own Merk sponsor. He represented mercy and rehabilitation.
- Clonezone is a comedian Lizigator who claims to have killed with a joke. He is a friend of Horatio and Judah.
- Tyrone is an early member of Horatio's refugees. He has risen to the highest elected office of Ylum, but he has a penchant for ruthlessly violent methods despite Horatio's disapproval.
Collected editions
Dark Horse ComicsDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Hardcover archive editions
- Nexus Archives, v1 (ISBN 1-59307-398-4, reprints Nexus #1-3, v2 #1-4)
- Nexus Archives, v2 (ISBN 1-59307-455-7, reprints Nexus v2 #5-11)
- Nexus Archives, v3 (ISBN 1-59307-495-6, reprints Nexus v2 #12-18)
- Nexus Archives, v4 (ISBN 1-59307-583-9, reprints Nexus v2 #19-25)
- Nexus Archives, v5 (ISBN 1-59307-584-7, reprints Nexus v2 #26-32)
- Nexus Archives, v6 (ISBN 1-59307-791-2, reprints Nexus v2 #33-39)
- Nexus Archives, v7 (ISBN 1-59307-877-3, reprints Nexus v2 #40-46)
- Nexus Archives, v8 (ISBN 1-59582-236-4, reprints Nexus v2 #47-52, Next Nexus #1)
- Nexus Archives, v9 (ISBN 1-59582-313-1, reprints Nexus v2 #53-57, Next Nexus #2-4)
- Nexus Archives, v10 (ISBN 1-59582-438-3, reprints Nexus v2 #58-65)
- Nexus Archives, v11 (ISBN 1-59582-496-0, reprints Nexus v2 #66-73)
- Nexus Archives, v12 (ISBN 1-59582-636-X, reprints Nexus v2 #74-80)
Rude Dude Productions
- Nexus: Space Opera (ISBN 0-9792311-3-2, reprints Nexus #99-102)
- Nexus: As It Happened, v1 (ISBN 0-9792311-5-9, reprints Nexus #1-3, v2 #1-4)
Awards
The series won a total of six Eisner Awards, including Best Single Issue/Single Story for 1993's Nexus: Origin, Best Writer/Artist for Nexus: Origin, Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for the Nexus series in 1988, Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for Nexus: Origin, Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team for Nexus: Executioner's song in 1997, and Best Letterer/Lettering by Todd Klein in 2008.Crossovers
The BadgerBadger (comics)
The Badger is a comic book character and series created by writer Mike Baron in 1983. The series began publication with the short-lived Capital Comics company before First Comics acquired the title and continued publshing it through the 1980s and early 1990s. The series ended when First Comics also...
, another Mike Baron character who was also published by First Comics, made several guest appearances in the pages of Nexus. The series also crossed over
Intercompany crossover
In comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters published by one company meet those published by another...
with Badger and several other First series (American Flagg!
American Flagg!
American Flagg! is an American comic book series created by writer-artist Howard Chaykin, published by First Comics from 1983 to 1989. A science fiction series and political satire, it and was set in the U.S., particularly Chicago, Illinois, in the early 2030s. Writers besides Chaykin included...
, Grimjack
GrimJack
Grimjack is the main character of a comic book originally published by First Comics. John Ostrander and Timothy Truman are credited as co-creators of the character, although Ostrander had been developing Grimjack with artist Lenin Delsol before Truman's arrival on the project...
, Jon Sable: Freelance, Whisper and Dreadstar
Dreadstar
Dreadstar was the first comic series published by American publisher Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, in 1982. It was centered on Vanth Dreadstar, sole survivor of the entire Milky Way galaxy, and an ensemble cast of crewmates, including cyborg sorcerer Syzygy Darklock, and their struggle...
) during the First Comics miniseries Crossroads
Crossroads (comics)
Crossroads was a five-issue limited series published in 1988 by First Comics.Crossroads made use of various First Comics published characters, including Sable, Badger, Grimjack, Dreadstar, and Nexus. The stories, written by Steven Grant, Mike Baron, and Roger Salick, were intertwined, although...
. Following the switch from First to Dark Horse, Nexus crossed over with Madman
Madman
Madman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by Mike Allred and most recently published by Image Comics. He first appeared in Creatures of the Id...
(Nexus Meets Madman) and Magnus Robot Fighter (Magnus Robot Fighter/Nexus).