Nemesis of the Daleks [COMIC/1989.8.10 ~ 11.9]

★★★★☆

  Sometimes, there's just nothing like shooty-shooty Dalek stories: nothing too complex in the plot department, but filled with glorious Dalek fighting, blood and gore, and pure energy (fueled by hatred towards the pepperpots, naturally).

  Abslom Daak may look like a fairly simple Dalek killer on a vendetta for his dead love. In fact, he pretty much is just that, but we all need a vengeance-fueled grunt to lighten up our comic-reading experience from time to time, don't we? This comic could have portrayed him as a heartless killer that deserves the fondness of no one, but it miraculously gives Daak a sense of character depth with his devotion to his dying wife (admittedly a very cliched fiction trope, most associated with macho male warriors) and an inkling of a sense of humor that works wonders with the Seventh Doctor. In a blaze of glory, the Dalek killer makes the ultimate sacrifice to stop the Daleks once and for all, and there's a particularly good final panel that gives a lasting impression on the man that is Absolm Daak, hailed for his selfless action rather than his job description. It brings me much relief that this isn't the last of Daak in the Doctor Who mythos; hey, he even gets a mention in Time Heist!

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  If you've ever wondered how it would be if someone pushed the proclivities of Eric Saward's to the extreme in a comicbook, Nemesis of the Daleks is your answer. It's lightning fast, short and extremely powerful, thanks to the high body count and the dynamic illustrations of Lee Sullivan. I was shocked at just how impacting this comic was; I couldn't take my eyes off the massacre on display, so intricately drawn and fueled with a rare sense of vitriol we rarely see in Doctor Who. This is a Dalek story of the utmost intensity — hang on to your seatbelts when you delve into it.