META: Nemesis as opposite, nemesis as mirror

[Scott Eiler]

On 7/20/2013 7:52 PM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>       Obviously, I work from a somewhat different taxonomy, as outlined here:
> http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH/Journal1
>
>       I suppose the type of one's nemesis will depend on what kind of hero you
> are.  For some, it requires a True Villain, but others may find their best
> fit in a victim of circumstance (i.e. the "there go I but for the grace of
> God" thing), or even a misguided crusader.
>
>       Dave Van Domelen, feels another Journal entry coming on....

One thing not mentioned yet:  Who says a hero's nemesis has to be a villain?

In my own stories, the line between hero and villain is kind of blurry. 
  Ellipsis has been called both.  And he's the closest thing Wyatt 
Ferguson has to a nemesis.  Admittedly, archrival might be a better 
term, because neither one wants to hunt down the other.  But they always 
have different approaches to the same problem, and they often confront 
each other.

Mainstream comics have some hero-on-hero nemesis action too - or at 
least some blurry lines between hero and villain.  In X-Men comics, the 
arch-nemesis right now is (of all people) Cyclops.  In one of the Marvel 
Knights series, Daredevil made it his business to hunt down the 
Punisher.  And back in Jim Shooter's Defiant Comics, the hero 
Charlemagne had the hero War Dancer as his nemesis - and War Dancer 
didn't even know it.

We all know Batman, Superman, Lex Luthor, and the Joker have nemesis 
relationships.  Sometimes it's a four-way relationship; they each do 
things differently, and they've each fought each other too often to 
count.  The only consideration is circumstance; for instance, Superman 
decided early on not to hunt the Batman.

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.