Val stayed behind so Sundog Convoy has a chance to reach Eos. Emory has stepped up to lead. Does he have what it takes to make the run through the shades to their next safe haven? Find out in Nocterra #12 from Image Comics!

NOCTERRA #12

Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Andworld Design
Editor: Will Dennis
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 15, 2023

Previously in Nocterra: After the big PM, the world is overrun with shades, animals and even humans inexorably altered by the darkness. Val and Sundog Convoy were searching for Eos and a source of pure light that could save them and prevent shades from forming. With unlikely help from Blacktop Bill, they reach the place where he was created and where they might learn the location of Eos. They get the coordinates and escape – but lose Val to the Shadows!

SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR

Nocterra #12 hands the narration over to Emory, Val’s brother, who has been cured of his shadow infection, although it leaves him with some vague knowledge of what they are up to. We open with a flashback. As he experiments with a rocket-powered bike he built, he remembers his first memories. When he was four, his birth parents left him abandoned on a highway in his car seat. He managed to turn himself so that he would be spotted, and he was rescued. This crystallized into his belief that problems can be solved.

Now he is the leader of the dwindling Sundog Convoy. They are closing on Argus station, but mega shades are closing in on them. Argus station has light cannons, but they do not respond to the convoy’s call. Bell has enough power for a huge blast of light that slows the creatures briefly, but that’s all she has. They are practically on the doorstep of Argus before it starts to light up, preparing for the blast that lets them reach safety.

They race to the door and Emory shouts in frustration, berating them for being so slow, when the door opens, and Val is there. She has been turned to shadow like Blacktop Bill, but still seems to be like herself.

They have brought Diggs with them. He knows some things about Eos. He says the site for it was chosen back in the 1800s, and construction started in the 1930s. More astoundingly, it is an underground sphere over a mile in diameter. The equations that Bailey’s grandfather had were far older than anyone suspected, information for a mission to bring God’s light to Earth. It is a three-level haven, and the founders of Eos live in the very center. But while the place is a sanctuary, he also tells them that those are the people who caused the big PM so they could power their haven.

But Emory believes the people affected by Lux have some goodness to them and that they will help. Diggs reminds him that human shades have been drawn to it and are trying to claw their way in. At this point, there will be thousands of them.

And that is not all. Val has found surveillance footage from when Argus was overrun. A screaming man broadcasts a warning. They have seen a new kind of shade – one that can change people into shadows in a matter of seconds. Up until now, the process has taken days to weeks. Suddenly, they have no time to spare.

Diggs knows of another prism nearby. He wants to go there to wait things out. Emory reminds him that there is nothing to wait for but the destruction of everything. If they want to save the world, they are the only ones right now who have any chance to do it.

BIGGER AND NASTIER

I like that Nocterra #12 centers the story on Emory. He has come a long way since his recovery, and a much longer way since he was hiding that he was turning into a shadow. In the childhood flashback, we see the beginning of his determination, which means that when we see him step up to lead Sundog Convoy, it feels right. He has grown up under very trying circumstances, but he is not letting that stop him. The only time we see him relax is when he realizes Val is still alive, and for a second we see him let his guard down and be a little brother again.

The stakes have grown much higher. The issue does not just start out with shades, which are terrifying on their own. We see a mega. To be more accurate, we see part of a mega, which is so enormous that it dwarves the semis. If we did not remember what they were like, it grabs one of the trucks and starts lifting it up, stopped only by the sheer force of the light from Argus. In order to get closer to Eos, and disguise the fact that they took a light cannon, Sundog mounts mega carcasses on their rigs. It is not much of a disguise, but it might get them closer to their destination. They’re adapting, but so are the shades.

BOTTOM LINE: RIGHT BACK INTO THE ACTION

Nocterra #12 brings us back into the nightmare at full throttle and effortless ramps up to full intensity. The introduction is just enough to bring us back up to speed, or to let someone jump in at this point and not feel lost.

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Nocterra #12

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Good Jumping on Point

Sundog Convoy is back, and their focus is set on Eos and bringing back the light.

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• Art

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