[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
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Summary
Positives
Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel…. the Reese’s Cup Duo of comics are killing it with each issue of what I would love to say is the “Comic of the year”, and Nocterra #4 is no different. The story telling at this point is what is key as Snyder provides the story in a series of flashbacks (no pun intended here as “light’ is a commodity in the Great PM) and the current “Willie Nelson On the Road Again” lifestyle of Val and her infected brother Emory.
Given the condition of Emory at this point, Val is stopping at nothing or no one (see issue #3 with Blacktop Bill) to try to save her brother from changing. Speaking of changing, we get a great foreshadow of the how Emory has become afflicted in the flashback scenes.
Snyder drips the story out in the right amounts that keeps the reader both on edge and wanting more. His style has us begging for more of the story and is akin to a great movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat or that beach novel that you cannot put down despite the high tide coming in.
Positives 2.0
Blacktop Bill is coming and we find out that is origin is every bit frightening as we thought it would be. Bad reputation and all precedes him, however, we do get a nugget that he is not in charge of his mission.Â
Who has an alive zombie like corpse as a hood ornament/siren? Why Blacktop Bill does? Who thinks of this accent on a story….Scott Snyder.Â
Tony S. Daniel turns Snyder’s word into art you cannot look away from. Again, they are the Peanut Butter Cups of the comic world right now that you cannot eat just one or two or three of those things. Get ready for a diabetic coma of good art and reading!
Negatives
That hum you hear is the highway rumbling in the distance as there is nothing to see here under this heading. However, as always, the only negative is that issue #5 is not in my hands yet!
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. Blacktop Bill is the villain of the year! Val is the female protagonist we have always wanted in a book! She is the light we all seek to find!
