I met Steve Rude in 1981. I was working at an insurance company when an editor called me and said, “there’s some guy down here trying to sell us his art. You ought to take a look.” I met Steve on the steps of the Student Union where he opened his portfolio. “What do you want to do?” I asked him. “I want to make comics but I can’t write. What do you want to do?” Capital Comics, the second largest comic book distributor in the world was based in Madison. They decided to launch their own comic line. I drew the first twelve pages of Nexus out by hand, which is how I wrote comics for twenty years. All the art, dialogue, and directions, all on one page. I’m no great artist, but I was good enough to get my ideas across. It taught me so many valuable lessons. How much weight a page can bear. Camera movement. Most importantly, it forced me to think about what happens next. That is the most important question in fiction. What happens next? If the reader doesn’t care, he won’t turn the page. How do you make him care? That’s another essay. While Nexus was a critical success, it was not a financial success for the boys. They sold the rights to First Comics. The only reason Steve and I own Nexus today is because Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson, in an unprecedented act of generosity, returned the rights to us.
The series won a total of six Eisner Awards. In 1988, the series won an award for Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team. 1992's Nexus: Origin won awards for Best Single Issue/Single Story, Best Writer/Artist, and Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team.
“It was a very different book from what was offered by the mainstream superhero market. The first nine issues were put out by the fledgling Capital Comics, a publishing arm of Capital City Distribution, a comic book distributor for comic shops. The first three magazine sized, which set it apart from most other books and the first also had a beautiful Paul Gulacy painted cover. The interiors, drawn and inked by Steve Rude, were presented in black and white which would begin a trend for the coming 80s independent comic publishing boom.
“Mike Baron, the writer of the series, gave us an anti-hero from the word go - Nexus was renowned for seeking out the worst killers in the known universe and executing them on the spot. Kind of the typical ‘edgy’ description of an anti-hero type like the Punisher, until it is revealed that most of those he seeks out tend to be political leaders, despots, tyrants, either active or retired and hidden away. Additionally, he would give as many refugees from the tyrant killers’ abuses sanctuary on his own homebase-world Ylum. This led to Ylum being a political patchwork that Nexus himself wanted nothing to do with, leaving it to the refugees to work out their own system of government. Hilarity (and not so much hilarity) ensued.
“The reason behind Nexus’ mission was just as unconventional. He was driven to kill due to tormenting and painful dreams that would plague him with visions of the killers and their victims until he had no choice but to seek them out and kill them, which ended that series of dreams. These dreams were sent by a powerful alien intelligence fixated on vengeance that also gave Nexus his ability to ‘fusionkast’, or draw and direct energy from stars to empower him.
“That’s a quick-and-dirty summary, but there is so much more to the book and its background, set in a future where Earth has expanded into it’s own galactic empire, rife with odd and fun alien designs, tons of clashing ideologies, religions and business interests.
“Then we come to Steve Rude’s art - it’s slick and fluid and endlessly innovative, and it becomes obvious to anyone that enjoyed the old Space Ghost cartoon that it and it’s main designer, Alex Toth, had a huge influence on Rude and his vision for the book. He knows how to use shadow and light to tell a story, and color added later was great, but if it didn’t have that strong basis to build on, it wouldn’t be as good a book as it is. There have been a few other artists who drew a short run for the book, but Steve’s distinctive style was a major asset to the book having it’s cult status.
“The entire series (so far) has been collected by Dark Horse and the collections are available from their website or can easily be ordered by your local comic shop. I recommend them highly.” —Aaron Hopkins
Some years back Steve decided he would like to write his own Nexus adventures and we agreed that we were both free to do with the characters what we wished. I had done very little with Nexus due to the demands of other projects. Then I hooked up with Chris Braly, a Chattanooga-based videographer and comic enthusiast, who is a marketing genius. We dove into the bright new world of crowdfunding and put out FLORIDA MAN, THIN BLUE LINE, PRIVATE AMERICAN, BRONZE STAR, and FLORIDA MAN 2. They have all been financial and critical successes. You can find them all at baroncomics.com.
I revisited Nexus with the great illustrator Richard Bonk, who also drew Private American, and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes vs. Captain Nemo. Dark Horse bought Nexus: Nefarious and published it as a hardbound. It did not set the world on fire. They had agreed to a second Nexus graphic novel illustrated by visionary artist Kelsey Shannon, but when the sales figures came in, Richardson, once again, in an unprecedented act of generosity, returned all the files to us and told me we were free to publish it with his blessing.
The world of crowdfunding is vastly different from the world of corporate comics. Those who follow this sort of thing know that the two biggest publishers, DC and Marvel, are circling the drain and there is some question whether they will continue to publish books at all. The main purpose of their comics seems to be as a springboard for movies. Many superhero movies have been wildly successful. Most of the people who see these movies don’t read comics. However, the last couple of years, the last dozen superhero movies, have not been kind to their publishers and producers. There are many reasons for this, including the pandemic which senselessly destroyed the businesses of so many in the private sector, including theater owners. But the main reason is that the movies are not entertaining. People read comics and go to movies for entertainment. Under the aegis of a new breed of editor, screenwriter, and director, comics and movies have been repurposed into condescending lectures written by unskilled hacks with chips on their shoulders. One need only look at the box office totals from such recent disasters as Wonder Woman or The Marvels.
“Estimated Loss: $230 Million. Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84) is the biggest superhero box office bomb of all time, but that dubious distinction comes with an asterisk.”
“Bob Iger Blames The Marvels Box Office Failure Partially on Lack of Set Supervision. In a new interview, Disney's CEO also said the company has “made too many” sequels lately and that waiting for a film to hit streaming is “a lot cheaper” than seeing it in theaters.”
There are many more explanations. One explanation is that the films were often concerned with issues of social justice. Well social justice is fine. A good writer can turn it into gold. Look at To Kill A Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath, both written by talented authors who understood that if the book failed to entertain, if the reader ceased caring about what happens next, he, she, or it will put the book down and walk away. And that is what’s happening with traditional comics and movies based on them.
Scourge: Facing an unknown threat, Nexus must get to the bottom of a string of disappearing planets that are vanishing from the night sky without a trace, and with almost no witnesses...
You can check it out here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nexus-scourge/coming_soon
The more credible the story, the greater the reader’s enjoyment. If a story doesn’t take itself seriously, why should the reader? The challenge with superheroes has always been how to make them credible. The goal is to pull the reader into the story so that he, she, or it forgets all external acvitities. All stimuli. The reader enters into the story completely, oblivious to barking dogs, burning houses, or nuclear armageddon. It’s a high wire act and the reason, I believe, Nexus has been so successful. I explained the means of interstellar travel in the very first black and white issue, which we will be offering later this year in color, by Kelsey Shannon. It’s based on Adrian Berry’s, The Iron Sun, which “Speculates on the real nature of black holes and outlines a plan for the future construction of these phenomena in space near enough to earth to allow instantaneous travel to the stars.”
Scourge features Nexus’ greatest villain, a malevolent enigmatic entity seeking to destroy all civilization. Like every great tragedy, Scourge contains humor. Even the bleakest of tragedies contain humor, as Shakespeare understood. The art is superb, the best work of Kelsey’s career. I usually don’t like to discuss my stories, as the story must speak for itself, but I’m excited about the return of my foundational character.
Thanks, Pat!
Can’t wait Mike! I’m a proud supporter of your crowdfunding and loved the Florida Man audiobooks (would love it if you could get more of your work in audio form!) I wore out my physical copies of Nexus. I passed them to so many friends saying “Just read it”. We still talk about it today. In my mind Nexus and the Game of Thrones are the greatest examples of world building I have ever come across. Needless to say, I hope Scourge is a huge success. Thanks for the entertainment and keep it coming.