Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects Digest [Paperback]

Greg Pak (Author), Renato Arlem (Author), Jae Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 16, 2005

An evil scientist sets his crosshairs on planet Earth, in search of test subjects for his experiments, transforming even the most timid creatures into vicious fighting machines. Thousands of years later, the Thing, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Elektra all find themselves unwilling participants in the scientist's millennia-old trials... or perhaps not all of them are that unwilling. Collects Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects #1-6.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (November 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785117784
• ISBN-13: 978-0785117780
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greg Pak is a filmmaker and comic book writer best known for directing the award-winning feature film "Robot Stories" and writing the epic "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" storylines for Marvel Comics. He was named one of 25 Filmmakers to Watch by Filmmaker Magazine, described as "a talent with a future" by the New York Times, and named "Breakout Talent" of the year by Wizard Magazine.

Pak's run on Marvel's "Incredible Hulk" comic book included the much lauded "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" epics and was named the Best Ongoing Series of 2007 by Wizard Magazine. Pak created the character of Amadeus Cho, who won a 2005 Marvel.com fan favorite poll, and has written numerous Marvel miniseries, including the top-selling "X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong" and the critically acclaimed "Magneto Testament." Pak also wrote the "Battlestar Galactica" series for Dynamite and co-writes the fan favorite "Incredible Hercules" series with Fred Van Lente.

Pak edits AsianAmericanComics.com and AsianAmericanFilm.com and writes the "Pak Talks Comics" column for PakBuzz.com. He studied political science at Yale University, history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and film production at the NYU graduate film program. He is represented by Sandra Lucchesi of the Gersh Agency, Los Angeles, and David Hale Smith of DHS Literary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost as good as the video game!, March 10, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects Digest (Paperback)

This story is awesome! It tells what happened before the video game started! (which is called Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects!) It says stuff that usually apears in a Blockbuster movie. My only problem is that you think it's the book based on the video game. But that's ok because it's cool! Just don't buy it for your kids if they aren't aloud to hear swear words because it does that alot! Any way it's an awesome book, you should totally buy it, and you'll like it if you like violence or comedy (which I forgot it does appear in the book some times.) It's the best book I ever read! It's awesome!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects, March 19, 2007

By 

sleeping sheepsnake "Seth" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects Digest (Paperback)

I should know since the old Questprobe days not to buy comics (or graphic novels) based on video games. Except that I didn't really cop to the fact that this title was tied to a video game. Or maybe I'm kidding myself; maybe all comics are tied in to video games.

Some bald scientist-type named Roekel flies his spaceship to Earth to field-test his new weapon--a weird serum that, when injected into life forms, turns them into killing machines. He tests it on prisoners Spider-Man, Wolverine, Storm, The Thing, Elektra, and the Human Torch.

I don't understand why the story jumps ahead two thousand years near the start (this is a longterm experiment...isn't a two thousand year trial-and-error experiment more officially a failure?) I also don't get why (a) He picks superheroes to experiment on, who fight spectacularly without enhancement, and most of whom have been able to work themselves into a fury where necessary anyway, and (b) why he then places them all in a room to kill each other; aren't they of any value to him? And I can't even see what effect the serum has on them because they don't seem any different to me.

Suddenly all the heroes throw off the effects of the serum in succession (I would say that it is NOW time to abandon this hopeless experiment, Roekel), and even more laughably, once they go back to their regular lives a lot of them wish they had it back in their system. This seems completely ridiculous to me--do you fight off the effects of some formula making you perfect, and then decide you want it back? Or are you gonna reject it again?

By the time other heroes like Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic are involved, Roekel has reassessed what kind of test subjects he wants, and selects life's unfortunates. I thought the whole point of his capturing them was to give them the serum, but he has to give them all superpowers first...and now I'm wondering what the point of the serum is at all! We all end up in the Brazilian rainforest because some green, armored aliens who are sworn enemies of Roekel are there, trying to acquire some weird crystal (although, a minute ago, I thought they were on Earth to attack Roekel). I don't recall the crystal having any relevance to what happens next. I DO recall the green meanies fighting Roekel's new batch of "Imperfects", but this is where a comment on the art comes in...

The art is fuzzy and dark. It's hard to make out details in any panel. Sometimes I can't tell who's arm or leg I'm looking at during a melee. The Imperfects--with uninspired names like Solara, Brigade, and The Wink--don't look very impressive in design, and I couldn't even see what some of their powers are. Panels of art don't flow naturally together to tell the story (what exactly happened when the Imperfects got clobbered), and by the time the big-name heroes were back in the fray, I had given up on this one.

Yikes.