Nemi

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Nemi is a comic strip by Norwegian writer/artist Lise Myhre, starring the titular heroine Nemi Montoya and charts her life and the lives of her close friends.

The comic began life in 1997 as Den svarte siden (trans: 'The Black Side') before becoming Nemi and it now has its own monthly magazine, as well as being printed daily in newspapers across Scandinavia. In the UK and Ireland it is (usually) printed daily in The Metro, a free newspaper distributed in train stations and some major cities.

British English translations of some of the most recent strips can be found at the strip's official English-language Facebook page.


Tropes used in Nemi include:
  • Anachronic Order - A comic where Nemi and a friend discussed backwards music videos had its panels arranged in reverse order.
  • Art Evolution - Caricatured extras became less common in more recent comics.
  • Author Tract - Nemi strips often preach about the cartoonist's opinions of animal rights and whatnot.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall - Nemi once opened a comic by telling the readers about her being a sexy single. Her friend Cyan walked in, and asked Nemi if she were trying to use the comic as a classified ad.
  • Cloudcuckoolander - At times, Nemi is almost a child trapped in an adult's body. At other times, she's simply nuts.
  • Cultural Translation: The English-translated books incorporate British slang and references.
  • Deadpan Snarker - Cyan, Nemi's best friend.
  • The Ditz - Nemi is not meant to be so but her behaviour fits into the trope.
    • Mostly when drunk off her gourd.
  • Dumb Blonde - often contrasted with Nemi.
    • Nemi once had a nightmare where she was one of these. Which is even funnier after it was revealed in one comic that Nemi is a natural blonde who dyes her hair.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette - Nemi in spades.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks - in universe, Nemi declines to show a customer to a certain record she adores out of fear that it will become this.
  • Missing Episode: Titan Books inexplicably failed to re-publish the comics in which Tim and Cyan break up.
  • My Eyes Are Up Here - Nemi once wore a pig snout on a date just to see how long it would take the guy to notice.
  • Not a Morning Person - Nemi often starts the day blearily-eyed and hungover.
  • Only One Name - Everyone except Nemi.
  • Only Sane Woman - Cyan again, though she definitely has her quirks.
  • Perky Goth - Nemi, at least when she's had a bit to drink, eats chocolate or talks about her favorite movies and rock artists. And you're going to want to keep her perky, especially considering the alternative.
  • Serious Business - If your favorite rock artists aren't Alice Cooper, Tori Amos or WASP, Nemi will be happy to tell you why they should be.
    • Also telling her that Mithril is not a real word when playing Scrable.
  • Soapbox Sadie - Nemi is a vegetarian, but she seems more interested in complaining about injustice in general.
  • Shout-Out - Nemi Montoya is named after Lake Nemi and Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride.
    • In one strip Nemi is watching the film with Cyan and Tim and annoying them by quoting every line.
    • In one strip, a poster of Frank and the words "wake up, Donnie" is seen on the wall.
    • And then there is the amount of band shirts worn throughout the years. There are LOTS of Shout outs.
  • Smoking Is Cool - Nemi's cigarette, complete with beutiful twirling smoke, featured prominently in the early comics and even on some front book and comic covers. Lise Myhre once expressed frustration at how people criticized her for this, and said that "I give my readers enough "cred" to be confident they won't start smoking because of Nemi". Later, however, Nemi's smoking habit died away, and Myhre now says she is "startled" whenever she sees Nemi with a cigarette.
  • Stylistic Suck: Nemi's version of Titanic cuts from Jack and Rose together on the boat, to sock puppets of Jack and Rose making wedding plans after coming to America.
  • Sweet Tooth - Nemi LOVES chocolate.
  • Tongue on the Flagpole - Even well past age 20, Nemi still does this.
  • Wham! Episode: When she found her boyfriend.
  • Womanchild - Nemi, so much. Cyan is usually the more responsible one, but she has her moments.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Cyan, though it's probably dyed.
    • Confirmed, in one strip Nemi was helping Cyan re-dye it. Only to dye it purple instead -- To match Nemi's furniture.