Val, Emory, and Sundog Convoy have staked all their hopes on Eos. Is it really out there, and can it live up to their hopes? Find out in Nocterra #13 from Image Comics!

NOCTERRA #13

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: April 12, 2023

Previously in Nocterra: Emory is the new leader of Sundog Convoy, and we learn that as a toddler, his birth parents abandoned him – in a car seat on a busy highway. His creative thinking saved his life and left him with a lifelong conviction that problems can be solved. That belief is challenged as megas chase them on their way to Argus Station, and the station does not respond to their radio call. Argus’ lights do not flare until they are almost at the doorway. They are surprised to find that Val is there and still alive, although changed. Diggs tells them that the founders of Eos are the ones who caused the big PM. Emory still believes they can help. And surveillance footage from Argus shows that new shades can be made faster than ever before.

OLD FRIENDS, OLD ENEMIES

Nocterra #13 opens thirteen years ago when Val finds a letter that identifies Emory’s birth parents and where they live. He had always thought they were dead. The very next day, he made a decision. Young as he was, he skipped school and took a bus to where they lived.

And choices are a crucial component of the story so far. These are desperate times, and there are no good choices to be had. And one of those choices is now standing in front of Sundog Convoy. Not only did Val survive; so did Blacktop Bill, now sporting several tentacles. Em accelerates to run him down. He effortlessly stops the rig with one of his tentacles and explains.

He talks about how when they saw him last, he had not reached his full potential. No one else believed in his convictions. But then he met Nox, who seemed to share his ideals but on an even grander scale. He talks about how Nox took him in and gave him a promotion, although what we see is Bill being utterly destroyed. Was he rebuilt, or is Nox using him as a shell? He wants Sundog convoy to get him into Eos and in return, he promises them promotions similar to his. If the world is ending in shadow, wouldn’t it be nice to have a good spot? He also makes a comment that indicates he knows about Em’s parents. Shades can share each other’s thoughts, and while Emory has learned to ignore their voices, they can still read him.

They shoot Bill down. He does not die. Sundog continues to the dome near Eos only to find it surrounded by and covered in shades. There simply are not enough lights nor enough power to hold them all off. But Val can get past them. In the nano-coating she now wears, she is invisible to the normal shades. As long as nothing happens to make her bleed, she should be fine. She makes the unnerving walk through the milling shades to where the coordinates lead, which is not the dome, but a random spot outside of it.

She digs at the ground to see if there is any sort of opening and snags her finger on a thorn. The shades start to move toward her, and Em sends the convoy racing in against her protest. He has made his decision; now he will find out what happens.

NO GOING BACK

Bill’s appearance in Nocterra #13 is fabulous. We are not entirely surprised – Bill has an awful knack for survival – but we immediately notice the change. His trademark toothy grin is as we remember, but the tentacles sprouting from his body fill the upper half of the panel, giving him restless energy even though he stands perfectly still. Then, as he relates his story, we see Nox, an unfathomably huge entity that is a mass of tentacles and glowing eyes. While not Cthulhu, it has a Lovecraftian vibe which is eerily appropriate to the shades we have seen so far.

To communicate the scale of the domed area where Eos is located and the huge number of shades already there, the establishing shot is an aerial view, the perfect choice. The dome is situated in a crater and accessible by a single road. The distance from the wall of the crater to the surface of the dome is not that far, but distance is not the problem. The problem is the crowd of shades who are densely packed on the ground, but more and more of them appear to be scaling the dome itself, patiently hoping to find a way in.

BOTTOM LINE: INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH

In Nocterra #13, the battle between darkness and light is not just a metaphor; it is the literal form of the struggle for survival. Audacious plans lead to more and more risky choices on the knife edge of fate.

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Nocterra #13

80%

80%

Audacious

Emory does not fear the consequences of the decisions he makes, but should he?

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