JACKIE SHOES

Real Name: Alex Kirby

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-54624) human

Occupation: Undercover cop posing as thief and demolitions expert

Group Membership: Unidentified police department (possible Washington D.C.)

Affiliations: Blake Morrow;
   (as Jackie Shoes, really enemies) Gas-Pipe, Gentle Joe, Nemesis
   (thought he was an ally, unaware he was a mole for Nemesis) Stuart Lee

Enemies: Gas-Pipe, Gentle Joe, Nemesis, Stuart Lee;
   (as Jackie Shoes, really affiliated) Blake Morrow

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington D.C.

First Appearance: Nemesis#2 (August 2010)

Powers/Abilities: Alex Kirby was a top undercover cop, and a demolitions expert (see comments).

Height: Unrevealed; approximately 5'10" (by estimation)
Weight: Unrevealed; 150 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:
(Nemesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - Alex Kirby was an undercover cop, the best top U.S. law enforcer Blake Morrow had ever seen. He maintained the identity of Jackie Shoes, a demolitions expert, as his cover identity. When the supervillain Nemesis targeted the United States and Blake in particular Jackie was tasked with infiltrating the villain's organization.

(Nemesis#4 (fb) - BTS) - However Nemesis had his own mole in Blake's organization, his direct subordinate Sergeant Stuart Lee, so he knew from the outset who Jackie Shoes really was.

(Nemesis#2 (fb) - BTS) - Jackie Shoes was one of several notorious criminals local to the Washington D.C. area who was recruited by the supervillain Nemesis to help carry out his plans in the United States of America, with a promised fee of $10 million apiece. He was brought blindfolded to Nemesis' base to meet his new employer.

(Nemesis#2) - At the base he met the other local criminals - Gentle Joe, Gas-Pipe and one other - and Nemesis, who told them (a false story) of his origins and the (fake) reasons why he was targeting renowned top cop Blake Morrow. Nemesis explained that each man had been picked because they had their own area of expertise.

(Nemesis#2 - BTS) - Shoes helped carry out a variety of jobs for Nemesis...

(Nemesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - though only the robberies, as Nemesis used his favorites for the big missions.

(Nemesis#2 - BTS) - One mission Shoes may have participated in was the theft of the Hope Diamond (see comments).

(Nemesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - Throughout this time he gathered intelligence on his fellow operatives' real names and addresses, as well as other evidence intended to bring them to justice.

(Nemesis#4 (fb) - BTS) - However Nemesis was feeding him deliberate disinformation, and every "fact" Kirby/Shoes uncovered came from Nemesis.

(Nemesis#3) - He later took part of Nemesis' mass jail break at North Branch Correctional Institute, Cumberland, MD, setting explosives to facilitate the escape.

   After Nemesis targeted Blake's family the senior cop called Kirby in. The undercover cop stressed to Blake that he'd only been involved in the robberies, stating that Nemesis had only used his "favorites" for the other stuff, but Blake reassured him that nobody was judging him, and he'd done what he had to do. Kirby confirmed that the names and addresses of Nemesis and his agents were in the dossier he'd compiled, along with everything else needed to take them down.

Comments: Created by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.

   When Kirby checked in with Morrow he claimed he'd only participated in robberies for Nemesis. He might well have lied about not being involved in other crimes, because one of the agents who helped with the jailbreak did look like him, but in terms of robberies the only theft we get told about was the stealing of the Hope Diamond, so while it's not confirmed Kirby took part in that, it's fairly likely. We do see some of the other criminals present with Nemesis for certain actions, such as the attack of the Pentagon, but though they all wear broadly similar black outfits, they do each have distinctive touches, such as Shoes's yellow/green piping and white sleeves. Assuming none of them swapped outfits at some point, the operatives who accompanied Nemesis on his assault on the Pentagon were Gas-Pipe (blue vest and crossed rifles on his back) and Gentle Joe (green sides to his top and a blue bandolier across his chest). As far as I can see the fourth agent, who wore a green trenchcoat over his black bodysuit, never gets named. In #3 three of them help Nemesis engineer a massive prison jailbreak. Gentle Joe is identified by name as an identity thief and disguised himself as a prison guard. The technology expert who hijacks the computer system seems to be wearing Gas-Pipe's outfit, but assuming he's the one who switches the lights on and off he's called Johnny by Nemesis. And the demolitions expert seems to be wearing Jackie's outfit, based on him being the only agent whose mask isn't just plain black.

   While the majority of Millarworld stories are set in one of two worlds - Earth-1219, which is most notably the setting of Kick-Ass and Wanted, and Earth-1220, which is the setting of Jupiter's Legacy and Supercrooks - the first Nemesis miniseries is set on neither. It's not 1220, because Nemesis in this series is explicitly the only supervillain in the world and as Supercrooks makes abundantly clear there are hundreds of publicly known supervillains in that reality. But it's also not 1219, because the next Millarworld Nemesis series firmly reboots the character; in the original series he claims to be Matthew Anderson but that is revealed to be a lie, but in Nemesis Reloaded he really is Matthew Anderson, and that series literally starts by saying "everything you heard before is a lie."

   Around the same time Icon Comics was releasing Nemesis, Mark Millar was also publishing it in his own short lived British anthology monthly CLiNT (yes, the switch between capitals and lower case was deliberate on Millar's part). However, though they were close, it does look like the Icon edition narrowly came out first.

   This profile was completed on 09/08/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Nemesis.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jackie Shoes has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Nemesis#3, p23, pan1 (main image)
Nemesis#3, p23, pan3 (headshot as Alex Kirby)
Nemesis#2, p5, pan1 (headshot in uniform)
Nemesis#2, p5, pan3 (upper body shot from side, in uniform)
Nemesis#2, p4, pan1 (full body shot in uniform)

Appearances:
Nemesis#2 (August 2010) - Mark Millar (writer), Steve McNiven (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Nemesis#3 (November 2010) - Mark Millar (writer), Steve McNiven (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Nemesis#4 (February 2011) - Mark Millar (writer), Steve McNiven (art), Nick Lowe (editor)

First Posted: 09/19/2026
Last updated: 09/08/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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