Nocterra #5

Nocterra #5

Best Jacket Press/Image Comics 2021

Written by Scott Snyder

Illustrated by Tony S. Daniel

Coloured by Tomeu Morey

Lettered by Andworld Design

“FULL THROTTLE DARK,” Part Five

It's here! The penultimate issue of NOCTERRA's blockbuster first arc! VAL "Sundog" Riggs must choose whether to keep her brother EMORY safe in the mysterious SANCTUARY or risk it all against BLACKTOP BILL and hordes of human SHADES to find the truth about the darkness once and for all!

Oh good golly miss Molly I was not prepared for this cliffhanger ending, no sirree Bob I certainly was not. I do very much enjoy the opening here as we see the ongoing story from the beginning of Val and Em’s life after the PM. It’s nice to see how their personalities during this time were formed and they couldn’t have been more polar opposite then, as it turns out they still are now. I can honestly say I’ve been enjoying this book immensely and so much more so than I thought I was going to. I love that when it comes to creator owned work we see it as such a higher level in terms of quality storytelling than we do when it’s company owned. It really does make all the difference in the world and this, this is some top notch storytelling.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter really fleshes them in magnificent ways. I mean the characterisation is a wow factor throughout this book. The pacing is super and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story and this amazing plot twist cliffhanger ending that leaves you slack jawed.

I greatly appreciate how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. The avenues we’ve seen, the ones we’re learning about and the ones to come all contain some great moments, characterisation and the twists & turns that make the book so dang interesting add this extra depth and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are bloody mindbogglingly brilliant! The linework is extraordinary and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is brilliant stuff. The creativity and imagination that we see is mind numbing in its scope and execution, I mean Good Grief Charlie Brown! How backgrounds are utilised to enhance the moments and then to see them within the composition of the panels to show depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story is so smartly rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is equally as brilliant. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a true mastery over colour and how to get the maximum effect from it. The interiors really are some of the best around.

We all know the phrase, “no rest for the wicked” but just how did that come about because I don’t think of these kids as wicked at all but they certainly seem to be on the run more than their fair share. To bear the weight of the world like Val has been doing has to exact a heavy toll so that she gets a respite here is nice but it won’t last long, it never does. This is some exceptionally good, strong writing and with these mindbogglingly brilliant interiors this is what comics are about fo most of us, sheer brilliance.