Nocterra vol. 1: Full Throttle Dark
One thing I didn’t mention during the “American Vampire” podcast was that it bridged the gap between Scott Snyder’s superhero work at DC and his sabbatical from it. After spending a few years charting the course of the DCU with “Metal,” “Justice League,” and “Death Metal,” the writer has stated that he’s going to take some time off to focus on his creator-owned comics work. “Nocterra” is just the first such work to come out and it also represents his first collaboration with fellow DC veteran, artist Tony Daniel. The end result doesn’t break any new ground in terms of storytelling, but it’s as slick and polished a thrill ride as you could ask for from these superhero comic veterans.
Not that there are any superheroes in this series. No, the main characters in “Nocterra” are all too human as they try to survive life after the Big PM. That was the time when the sun disappeared and the Earth was plunged into an eternal night ten years ago. Unfortunately for everyone, constant darkness is only the least of their problems. The real trouble comes from humans and beasts who spend too long outside in it. They start to change into shades, creatures who have mutated to live in the dark and are hellbent on taking out anything that crosses their path.
The presence of shades has made any kind of travel a dicey proposition. Which is where people like Val Riggs and her brother Emory come in. Val is a truck driver and Emory is her gadgetman/support staff and they can get you anywhere you want to go. If the price is right. In the case of the old man and his granddaughter who run into Val after her latest run, they’re offering hope. They know of a place where real sunlight can be found, and that’s something Emory needs real bad right now. It’s why she agrees to take them after a brief bit of soul-searching, on the hope that this old man is telling the truth. Of course, what Val really should have asked him is whether or not anyone is coming after them.
It’s a setup that hits all the right beats from quickly establishing our protagonists, letting us know the stakes, and establishing the threat that’s coming right on their heels. You’re not getting any major twists with things here and that’s fine for right now. For this first volume, Snyder is investing most of his energy in establishing this new night-filled world. So we get to hear about Val’s settlement, which was built around a lightbulb factory, and learn about all of the light-based weapons Emory has cooked up. (No lightsabers yet, but give it time…) There’s also a lot to learn about the shades themselves and we get a pretty impressive opening action scene as we see how skilled Val is at fighting them off. We also get some interesting sights of how the truckers survive on the road and learn a lot about our protagonists’ history. It’s solidly done and I’m interested in learning more about this world as a result.
Where Snyder starts to lose me is when he starts getting into the mythology of light and darkness in this series. He’s made it clear in “Batman” and “American Vampire” that he does believe in absolutes in terms of good and evil, even if a lot of his work involves characters that like to play in between them. It’s just that the bits we learn about how there’s an evil darkness and a good light just seem incredibly basic to me. Like the kind of thing that would’ve appealed greatly to my teenage self, but the adult I am right now just rolls his eyes at. It’s the kind of thing that I hope the writer invests some nuance into as the series goes on because it just strikes me as a bit silly right now.
While I’m on the subject, some nuance to the cast (well, those who survive) would also be nice as well. Val cuts an imposing figure as the tough, cynical, no-nonsense warrior truck driver, but it’s a foregone conclusion that exterior won’t survive the events of the first volume. Emory gets stuck with a somewhat thankless role as his both his sister’s supporter and doubter at times, and ditto for little girl Bailey who is more the former than the latter. Then there’s Blacktop Bill, who’s made out to be the meanest sonofabitch on the highway in this volume. He hits his one note very well, even if his all-black character design is the most striking thing about him.
That comes courtesy of the artist, Daniel, who is the best thing about this volume. I know I’ve been talking up Snyder’s work to this point, but Daniel really does an incredible job of selling what the writer is pitching. He’s done some phenomenal work at DC, mostly on “Batman” titles that always had a flashy, blockbuster feel to them. He transitions that style to a new post-apocalyptic setting extremely well here. It’s evident from the first major action scene as Val has to fight shades on top of her rig, to the sights of the run-down lightbulb factory, to some neon roadblock showstoppers, and even in the end when things start going bad while the monsters run amok.
Daniel delivers sterling work that took me in right from the start and held my attention through the story’s less interesting parts. While I’m definitely interested in learning more about the world of “Nocterra” it’s the art in this volume that really sold me on that. Snyder may be building a new world here, but he’s doing it out of some very familiar parts. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Daniel delivers the flash that makes it all come together. “Full Throttle Dark” is a good start to this series, and it leaves me hoping that we can get some interesting twists to this story to put it on the same level as the art.