History Comicbook / Nexus

* LawOfAlienNames: Most of the aliens have names like Dave, Fred, Sinclaire, and Tyrone. Fred converts to Judaism and changes his name to Judah.

''Nexus'' was a comic-book series created by Mike Baron and Creator/SteveRude, and originally published by Creator/FirstComics before moving to Creator/DarkHorseComics.

* AnAlienNamedBob: As a RunningGag, at least half the aliens have perfectly normal-sounding human names like Tyrone, Sinclaire, Jil, etc. Dave of Thune's son Fred changed his name to Judah after converting to Judaism.

* PyschoSupporter: Kreed was a super-strong alien called a Quatro who had lived all his life as a member of an assassin's guild. Killing was the only thing he knew how to do, but he had come to find it pointless. When he learned of Nexus, he came to revere him as a man who had learned how to use those skills in a worthwhile cause, and he followed Nexus unquestioningly like a loyal puppy, even at times when Nexus himself was showing terrible judgment, and Kreed would threaten terrible violence to anyone who he perceived as a threat to his hero. When Nexus finally decided he trusted Kreed enough to send him on a mission — to hunt down and execute a list of murderers for the Merk, a task Nexus himself had always despised — Kreed and his fellow Quatro Sinclair went mad with bloodlust, going on a wild killing spree that Nexus was only able to halt after countless innocent people had been already killed.

* TheChampion: Kreed becomes this. Unfortunately, this overlaps with PoisonousFriend, because as much as Kreed reveres Nexus, he does not really understand the latter's notions of morality (although he is sincerely trying to learn). Very much to his credit, Kreed accepts the penalty for his actions in the end. His [[GenerationXerox son]] later steps up to become Nexus's new champion.

* PoisonousFriend: Kreed was a super-strong alien called a Quatro who had lived all his life as a member of an assassin's guild. Killing was the only thing he knew how to do, but he had come to find it pointless. When he learned of Nexus, he came to revere him as a man who had learned how to use those skills in a worthwhile cause, and he followed Nexus unquestioningly like a loyal puppy, even at times when Nexus himself was showing terrible judgment, and Kreed would threaten terrible violence to anyone who he perceived as a threat to his hero. When Nexus finally decided he trusted Kreed enough to send him on a mission — to hunt down and execute a list of murderers for the Merk, a task Nexus himself had always despised — Kreed and his fellow Quatro Sinclair went mad with bloodlust, going on a wild killing spree that Nexus was only able to halt after countless innocent people had been already killed.

''Nexus'' was a comic-book series created by Mike Baron and Creator/SteveRude, and originally published by First Comics before moving to Creator/DarkHorseComics.

* TokenReligiousTeammate: Nexus is a devout Christian (possibly Eastern Orthodox, since his parents were Russian), and makes more frequent reference to his faith than most of the main characters. By contrast, while his friend Judah Maccabee is introduced as a devout convert to Judaism (his name was Fred before he converted), in practice [[AmbiguouslyJewish he doesn't actually talk about it that much]]; as a side note, Judah is an alien.

* SuperheroesInSpace: Much of Nexus' work takes him into space.

500 years into the future, Horatio Valdemar Hellpop was given superpowers by the Merk in order to defend his homeworld Ylum as the hero Nexus. But these powers came with a great cost - in order to maintain his powers, Nexus was required by the Merk to kill a certain number of mass murderers per "cycle". The series follows his efforts to fulfill this grim duty while wrestling with questions about free will and morality.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Nexus kills as the very reason of his career; he periodically has agonizing dreams of the crimes of murderers that will drive him insane unless he eliminates the cause by going out to kill the criminals and he has the power to get through nearly any defense to do so.

* RaygunGothic: Steve Rude has said that his two biggest influences were ''Space Ghost'' and Creator/DrSeuss, and it shows.

* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: Nexus originally received his super-powers from [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Drizripool the Merk,]] though it was years before they met face to face, and they never got along well at all (Drizripool being insane, after all). He has a better relationship with Drizripool's successor, [=GQ=].

* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: Nexus originally received his super-powers from [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Drizripool the Merk,]] though it was years before they met face to face, and they never got along well at all. He has a better relationship with Drizripool's successor, [=GQ=].

* ElectricInstantGratification: In a desperate attempt to escape the torturous headaches the Merk uses to force Horatio do his cruel bidding, he has a surgeon implant a device in his brain that lets him induce pleasure whenever he feels a headache coming on. He gets addicted to it and winds up a fat useless junkie until the Merk finds a way to reassert control over him.