Nemo: River of Ghosts
by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout
It’s sort of hard to pick up a story line when you come in at Act Three, but I work with what I have and what I have is the third installment of the Nemo trilogy; Heart of Ice and Roses of Berlin are the two previous episodes. I’ll assume all the story elements resolve here, and there are plenty to resolve. The 80 year old Captain Grand Mother may or may not be crazy, but she has plenty of clout and a monstrous hired gun Hugo Coughlin who might be a Cuchulainn. When not talking to spirits of her relatives past she’s leading her submarine up the Amazon to confront a Nazi-like factory making fembots. Her grandson runs off with the sultry and vicious Ayesha who has something to do with the Nazi dynasty grandma is about to pummel. I suspect he’s scarred for life, and I’ll encourage you to explore this world on your own.
What I can report on is this: the graphic design is superb, the dialog intriguing and mysterious, and there is something for everyone to groove on: hunky guys, well endowed women, pterodactyl attacks, steam punk submarines, Creatures from the Black lagoon, and a pack of dinosaurs attacking fighter jets. If that sounds like a wondrous cocktail, drink deeply. This book is hard bound and the sort of thing one can collect and pass on to your potentially interested offspring. But try to include the first two; this story doesn’t have the time to recap.
