Sundog convoy’s desperate attempt to bring light back to Earth finally leads them to Eos. Is Lux the solution they have been seeking and it is as powerful as they believe? Find out in Nocterra #14 from Image Comics!

NOCTERRA #14

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: May 10, 2023

Previously in Nocterra: Emory now leads Sundog convoy, although Val is still alive and covered with nano-coating. Blacktop Bill is also still alive. Em tries to run him down, but with his new tentacles, he is able to stop the rig entirely. Bill talks about Nox, how they share ideals, and how he has been given a promotion. He wants Sundog convoy to get him into Eos and promises them a good spot in the upcoming darkness. They shoot him instead. Sundog reaches the dome over Eos, and they find it crawling with shades. Val cannot be detected by them. She volunteers to go closer, following the coordinates to an area outside the dome. Digging at the ground, she gets scratched by a thorn which draws blood that attracts the Shades.

MORE COMPLICATED THAN EXPECTED

Nocterra #14 opens with Emory’s memory of meeting his mother down the barrel of a gun. She had no idea he was alive, and assumed he was someone else who had been sent to find her. To be faced with her son is a surprise. Em’s memories of his visits with her – the first and the second – frame their encounters in Eos.

The doors to Eos open and the people there, tall and glowing, welcome the convoy. After everything we have seen, it looks at first like a utopia. Emory and his people, including Val, draw weapons. Small, flying creatures soar toward them and they shoot them down. A glowing person warns them that the creatures were just protecting themselves. Emory countered that so are they.

It is a rough welcome, but Emory and Val are angry. There is light, Lux, in Eos, and the people here appear to be thriving. They have kept the light in here and left everyone else to die outside in the dark. They created the guards, like Blacktop Bill, to keep people out. Bailey insists that her grandfather, Augustus, wanted to spread Lux across the world. And they surprise her – their A.I. appears as Augustus.

Piper has the equation; the people of Eos have a computer. They enter the equation and run it as a simulation. The ground beneath their feet rumbles. The shaking spreads until they get the sensation that it is changing the world. They feel the light returning. And then it stops. The lights go out, all the lights in the world, and Nox arrives.

The equation is physically impossible, the Augustus A.I. tells them. Every simulation they run ends the same way. If they bring more light to Earth, more darkness must come also. It is a story literally as old as time. Light and darkness are in a tenuous balance. Light has spread throughout the universe and brought light and life to many worlds. Always, darkness followed and consumed that life. Earth is the last known unclaimed planet in the galaxy.

Project Eos was designed to keep Earth from being consumed. Having Lux on Earth, even if only a small part of Earth, will prevent Nox from taking over the planet. They could not save the entire population, but at least a small portion of it survives. It is the ultimate trolley problem, and now the people in Eos must try to explain how this is a good answer to the people who were slated to die.

But beyond this serious conflict, the fact remains that when someone is so focused on a specific goal, they may become blind to other problems along the way.

PROMISES MADE; DREAMS BROKEN

Finally, the art in Nocterra #14 steps away from the overwhelming darkness into the light of Eos. At first glance, it looks like a paradise. The glow of Lux is almost blinding with golden warmth. Silhouetted against the glow are what look like normal trees. Birds and butterflies hover nearby, until we see that the birds look more like flying lizards and the butterflies look unfamiliar as well. The people of Eos are giant compared to humans and their bodies are strangely elongated. Their faces are made indistinct by their own inner glow. While they may have originated from humans, they have grown far beyond that now. Compared to them, the people of Sundog convoy look small, worn, and grubby.

Speaking of Sundog convoy, they run through a gamut of emotions that are all deftly presented. Distrust gradually gives way to hope. They have come so far and risked everything to bring the equations here. The familiar face of the A.I. helps Bailey to relax, and her cohorts do as well. When the simulation does not work and ends in disaster, hope fades to disbelief and finally to anger. Emory feels as betrayed now as he did when he was a child.

BOTTOM LINE: IT’S GOOD

Nocterra #14 is an emotional roller coaster. While finding light in the darkness sounds like a metaphor we can all understand, apparently you cannot get more light without more darkness – and the darkness is already overwhelming. Is the destruction of everything inevitable?

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Nocterra #14

80%

80%

An Emotional Roller Coaster

Eos welcomes Sundog convoy, but for once they see the weakness in the light.

• Writing

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• Art

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• Coloring

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