3 out of 5

In this second collection, of issue #12 – 25, Mike Baron and (generally) Steve Rude continue their (mostly) gripping exploration of power and responsibility via their sci-fi hero, Nexus, plagued by dreams which command him to kill mass murderers.

Rereading the Nexus vol. 1 set prior to this, I was reminded how good Baron is at making world-building plot details truly seem like organic, off-hand inclusions: it was easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of ideas in those issues and overlook how well-knit they are in terms of growing Horatio Hellpop from an avenger type into a complex puddle of grey morality, leading to the volume 2 opening of his pursuing a method for stilling his dreams.  This allows us to get to some other great stuff, throwing a divide between Horatio and Sundra – meaning she can come further into her own – and also dropping some massive reveals about the origin of Nexus’ powers, sending Horatio into a different type of tailspin: moving forward, but without clear purpose.

Baron, meanwhile, never ditches the sci-fi, hitting us up with consistently interesting theories and concepts on future weaponry and tech, resulting in a prime example of using the genre as a platform for exploring social interactions and politics, without going down a dry, exposition-heavy route.

Structurally, though, since this is the downward slope of a hero’s journey, the issues during which Horatio is sorta done with being Nexus and just hangs out in Elvis attire, watching Clonezone vids, is… distracting.  I understand the inclusion at a high level – Baron tries to work around that with more Judah and Sundra – but these aren’t the most compelling issues, making for a very clear halt in the narrative, a sentiment which ends up being compounded by the seemingly permanent fixture of Clonezone as a back-up feature…  I definitely don’t mind Baron in pun mode, and Mark Nelson’s 8 page artings of Clone are lively, matched to Mike’s silly hijinks, it’s just so tonally at odds with the generally more moody Nexus that the frequent breaks (after every issue) become disruptive.  A little of Clone goes a long way.  This collection also includes a pointless flashback to the bowl universe, illustrated by Keith Giffen in his 80s mushy style, which would maybe work on a Badger solo story, but looks atrocious on Nexus.  This is too clearly a fill-in issue, and not a pretty looking one.

Steve Rude handles the majority of the art, of course, which – doubly of course – looks phenomenal, especially when paired with John Nyberg’s inks, who uses a thicker line than Eric Shanower, thus emphasizing Rude’s very stream-lined style.

A bumpier read than volume 1, but still undeniably erring toward great, especially when narrowed down to the Nexus bits.