[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher:Â Image Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters:
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
Positives
Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel… how can two forces that have worked on such a book at Batman or find a way to make a comic reach even new heights? These guys are the Reese’s Cups of comics. Two great things that make each other even better. Â
First of all, Val and Emory Riggs… Emory has a timebomb of an apocalyptic illness creeping into his system. This issue sheds even more light on their life with their parents initially in the “Big PM”. Think about the Walking Dead. Remember how you feel when a zombie comes out of nowhere? That breath you hold for how long? Try holding your breath for an entire comic.
A Snyder comic reads like the best breakneck movie you have ever watched. Val’s one tough road warrior Ferrymen. She recognizes the blight of her situation that is only exacerbated by the old man and girl she is carrying. Pair that with Blacktop Bill on her tail, and your blood pressure is off the charts.  Blacktop Bill is the new Randall Flagg from The Stand. His soliloquy on how he is going to kill the old man is the stuff that rivals any horror villain. That grin, it rivals a Spawn/Billy Kincaid grin… Greg Capullo must have inspired that grin.
Positives 2.0
Tony S. Daniel!!! If I could shout it any louder on the page I would. When you look at the contributed frames in this article, let the sharp pens wash over you and check out those colors from AndWorld Designs. Image Comics always does a great job in allowing their artists to be razor sharp in detail and his pencils are akin to Todd McFarlane’s and Greg Capullo’s. Again, that Blacktop Bill grin… shudder.
Snyder and Daniel have both settled in for quite the ride (no pun intended) with this character. The pace is break neck and they really surprised me with having Blacktop Bill already catching up to Val’s trail. Issue #2 and we have the worst villain already confronting Val. Or is he the worst that is out there…only from the minds of Snyder and Daniel could cook up anything worse. I mean… they have worked with the Joker!
Negatives
The only thing negative about this week is that we ran out of pages. The flashbacks to the current storyline, it moves like an adventure movie. But we have to sip on this drink as our minds would probably be blown in one sitting when reading this!
Verdict
BUY THIS BOOK! For those lucky enough to get on the ground floor of anything that Scott Snyder does, he’s one of the hottest authors the past few years. I am not sure how his imaginative faucet gets turned on, but I hope he has a run that rivals that of Stephen King! With Tony S. Daniel on art, you can’t go wrong. What he did with Batman in Detective Comics is simply art at its finest… gallery worthy stuff! This combination of author and artist is what people in comics thought of when they put Batman and Superman together for the first time. Nocterra #2… Mind Blown! Â
