By the archive! They’re back!

Last year, the Lied Center was an early stop for what would become an international sensation. “The Intergalactic Nemesis” – officially described as a live-action graphic novel – offered audiences a highly entertaining blend of radio, comic books, and performance art as it married old-world storytelling with modern technology. Projecting comic book images onto a giant screen while three actors performed the script and a foley artist and pianist provided sound effects and a soundtrack, “The Intergalactic Nemesis” delighted the audience at the Lied before going on to a world tour that included an appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

Saturday night, the sequel hit the Lied, as a small but enthusiastic audience gathered to take in the next adventure of tough-as-nails reporter Molly Sloan and her telekinetic sidekick Timmy Mendez.

It’s been two weeks since Sloan and Mendez helped defeat a plot by the megalomaniacal
Mysterion and his sludge-monster allies, the Zygonians. Stranded on the robot planet, Robonovia, they are drawn into another sinister plot when Sloan’s android friend Elbee-Dee-Oh goes missing. Strange things are afoot when many of the planet’s residents turn to violence, despite that not being a part of their program parameters.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, an old flame of Sloan’s, Dr. Lawrence Webster, has invented a device called the Galactitron, which accidentally transports him and his assistant, Soviet spy Dr. Natasha Zorokov, to Robonovia. Webster becomes the pawn of Alpahatron – the villainous robot seeking to use the Galactitron and a robot army to conquer the universe.

Writer/creator Jason Neulander and his co-writer Chad Nichols understand adventure-story pacing perfectly. “Book 2: Robot Planet Rising” opens with a pre-title teaser sequence to set up the story much like a James Bond film. The first act flips back and forth between four different story lines that build the mystery of what’s really going on and develops each of the main characters, especially Sloan and Mendez, an important part of any sequel – further growth of characters we already know. As the second act barrels towards the dramatic conclusion, Neulander and Nichols cliffhang one action sequence after another to keep the audience on the edge of its seat.

Like the original, Book 2 of “The Intergalactic Nemesis” is derivative of a number of pop cultural sources. Neulander’s all-time favorite film is “Star Wars,” and it’s obvious in this installment. “Robot Planet Rising” includes a bar scene that recalls the famous cantina bit from “Star Wars,” and the catchphrase, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” makes several appearances. Moreover, the sequel has all the feel of pulp-era science fiction, just like the original. The Galactitron is straight out of a 1930’s comic book, and the villain is over-the-top and obsessed with world (or in this case, universal) domination.

But what really makes “The Intergalactic Nemesis” work is the actors. The voice actors play all the characters, often having to play several different people (and switching voices to communicate the change) in the same scene. Danu Uribe is fantastic as both the tough-talking New York reporter Sloan and the exotic Russian spy Zorokov. There is one scene in which Sloan and Zorokov are the only two characters, and Uribe has to voice the entire bit, essentially having a conversation with herself in two different accents.

Jason Phelps voices Mendez (think Jimmy Olsen) and Dr. Webster (erudite but flighty) and a host of other minor characters, most of whom are robots. He too switches back and forth effortlessly.

Christopher Lee Gibson steals the show, though, playing both the handsome, pulp hero Ben Wilcott and the villainous Alphatron. Over the course of the story, Alphatron goes from poised and refined to completely insane, and Gibson plays him with enthusiastic glee. He also seems to play practically every other character in between.

At a special dinner with the cast and crew before the performance, the creatives told attendees Book 3 is already in the works. One hopes the Lied brings it in when it’s ready. This kind of adventure and excitement is not to be missed.