Cary Burkett attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a BFA degree in theater. He moved to New York City and performed in Off-Broadway productions and wrote comic books for DC Comics. His first credits for DC were writing text articles and responses to readers' letters in the letter columns of various titles. Burkett's first published comic book story was titled "When You Wish Upon A Star" and appeared in House of Mystery #255 (November–December 1977). His best known comics work is the character Nemesis. The character's civilian secret identity of Thomas Tresser was created by Burkett in 1979 and named for an actor with whom he was rooming with in New Hampshire. The character debuted in an eight-page backup story in The Brave and the Bold #166 (September 1980) written by Burkett and drawn by Dan Spiegle. The "Nemesis" feature ran in issues #166 through 192, and the character teamed-up with the Batman in #170 and #193.[5] Another Burkett-created character, the Swashbuckler, debuted in Detective Comics #493 (Aug. 1980) but never appeared again.