Review: Nocterra #4

Story Thus Far:

Nocterra, focuses on characters in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by a new species called Shades. The shades tend to gravitate towards places without light. The living things caught in the darkness have been infected and have mutated to shades. So far save for a few well-lit trucks stops everything has been swallowed up and become Shade territory. One of the truck drivers Valorie and her brother Emory have agreed to taken on a suspicious fare. An old man who claims to be able to solve everything and his granddaughter. Problem is that they not only have to deal with Shades, but a mysterious bounty hunter called Blacktop Bill.

Dialogue:

The writing in this issue was much tighter and more compact than the others. Technically proficient. Snyder knows where he wants to go with this thing, and he dropped just enough to get us there.

Script:

Adaptable. Nocterra started off great but has been showing signs of slowing down. That is most due to the pitfalls of tropes like Zombie content. Zombie series indulge in a fake game-changer trope. By introducing a character that seems to be a game-changer, only for them to be killed off rather quickly. Because of the similarities I often forgot that the intention of this story is not to be a zombie movie.

Most of the scary moments in Nocterra involves with human enemies rather than zombies. That is because the story used the trope of shades only being initial villains as humans then become bigger threats. However, this has become so played-out that shows like The Walking Dead have faced criticisms for ignoring the zombie aspect of things.

Note to Comic Speculators:

Any speculation influencer that does not have Nocterra on their list should regarded with the side eye. Scott Snyder has been hot and has several projects that have been adapted or are under development (A.D.: After Death, Young Justice (2010) and Wytches). Keeping that in mind, for the time being NOCTERRA #1 has a 1:150 CAPULLO B&W. The one that may be more looked for in the future could be the Secret Variant (Visor Down)

SCORE: 3/5

NOCTERRA #4 Will have a whopping 3 Covers: Cover A DANIEL & MOREY; Cover B, Jenny Frison; Cover C, Tony S. Daniel. The best one is the Frison of course. Unfortunately over-ordered but still good looking.

Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Tony Daniel
Colorist: Tomeu Morey
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: Image Comics