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Nocturnals Archives #1
Nocturnals Volume One: Black Planet And Other Stories
Doc Horror knows there are sinister forces at work trying to bring the downfall of the human race. An outcast, Doc Horror is forced to live by the dark of night, and there he finds compatriots who must also shun the light of day. Polychrome, The Gunwitch, Starfish, Firelion, Komodo, and The Raccoon join Doc in his mission to save this planet - and they don't care how many monsters stand in their way! The first of three hardcovers reprinting the entire critically acclaimed Nocturnals storyline, dramatically oversized to show off every ghastly, spectral detail! Each volume contains the addition of new story material- all in preparation for the relaunch of the series on the Nocturnals' 13th anniversary in 2007! Volume 1 contains the original six issue Bravura mini-series Black Planet, the Witching Hour story arc from Dark Horse Presents, an all-new crime noir story of Doc Horror and the Raccoon entitled Clean Hands, and a lengthy afterword by Dan Brereton about the origins of the Nocturnals.
256 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2006
3 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Dan Brereton
175 books35 followersDaniel Alan "Dan" Brereton is a Comic book storyteller, 5-time Eisner not-winner. Responsible for The Nocturnals and a lot of comics.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 27, 2017
3,5*
A nice enough mix of pulpish horror fun and crime with just a bit of sci-fi and beautiful illos.
Nicodemus "Doc" Horror and his crew of weird but appealing critters fight against the Crim-extraterrestrial cthuloïd parasites-who allied with the nefarious Nan K Corp, a lab bioengineering Dr. Moreau's kind of hybrids.
Though clearly a labor of love for Brereton, it doesn't prevent the plot from being awkward and confused at times. For what I suppose is his first book as sole author Brereton has obviously some difficulties with pacing, character development and intrigue management. First issue was really hard to follow and if it got a bit clearer after a while it was clearly not a plot device.
I may sound rather harsh but honestly, if not for the art I would have rated it 2/2,5* tops.
But the art is simply gorgeous, a testimony from the blessed time of hand painted comics. Here Brereton really shows his talent and his so peculiar character designs.
Actually the art probably had an impact on the aforementioned awkward narration: panels are larger, 3/4 average per page, which makes for a slower pace. Hence shortcuts and holes to fit in six standard issues.
Well, you can't have it all in life, can you?
A nice enough mix of pulpish horror fun and crime with just a bit of sci-fi and beautiful illos.
Nicodemus "Doc" Horror and his crew of weird but appealing critters fight against the Crim-extraterrestrial cthuloïd parasites-who allied with the nefarious Nan K Corp, a lab bioengineering Dr. Moreau's kind of hybrids.
Though clearly a labor of love for Brereton, it doesn't prevent the plot from being awkward and confused at times. For what I suppose is his first book as sole author Brereton has obviously some difficulties with pacing, character development and intrigue management. First issue was really hard to follow and if it got a bit clearer after a while it was clearly not a plot device.
I may sound rather harsh but honestly, if not for the art I would have rated it 2/2,5* tops.
But the art is simply gorgeous, a testimony from the blessed time of hand painted comics. Here Brereton really shows his talent and his so peculiar character designs.
Actually the art probably had an impact on the aforementioned awkward narration: panels are larger, 3/4 average per page, which makes for a slower pace. Hence shortcuts and holes to fit in six standard issues.
Well, you can't have it all in life, can you?
November 7, 2018
The Nocturnals is a very underrated series. The Dan Brereton painted art is unlike anything else in comics, and the supernatural "don't call it a super hero team" is very original as well. This is more a horror/noir story than anything else, but there's enough here to interest superhero fans as well. I've been a fan of the series since the first series, and it's still just as cool now as it was then.
October 30, 2020
I love Brereton's art. It's just... ridiculously good. Each page is a joy to look at, and the story and characters are fun (and perfect for the Halloween season)!
June 11, 2013
It's wonderful to see these beautifully made oversized hardcover editions finally collecting Brereton's Nocturnals stories in one place. This first volume starts where it should: at the beginning, Black Planet. The first story really benefits from this larger reprinting, the colours looking sharper and the art more vivid (although there are pages where the reproduction looks a little duller).
The next story is 1997's Witching Hour, which originally appeared in black and white serialised in Dark Horse Presents. It's presented here in colour, which is absolutely gorgeous: for the most part, the pallette is an accented greyscale, intended for the original black and white reproduction. This only serves to highlight the talent Brereton has, as well as giving an engaging night-look to the story of Halloween and Gunwitch getting themselves into a little Hallowe'en trouble.
The stories wrap up with a totally new experience, the faux-pulp tale Clean Hands. This is taken from an old script Brereton had never followed through, so is offered in script form with big gorgeous illustrations produced just for this volume. It's a fun little story from the early Earth-days of Doc Horror, after he's helped Procyon escape the Monster Shop, but before he's reunited with Evening. It's a fun piece, and a nice way to showcase Brereton's way with dialogue as well as his affection for crime fiction.
After Clean Hands, we're given the first part of an all-text essay titled 'Horror Stories' (continued in the second volume). This is an amusing recounting by Brereton of his utterly normal, though fear-fraught, suburban upbringing. He does a terrific job calling up his various memories of youthful fear for us, and attempting to explain how Nocturnals turned out the hybrid it has.
Before Black Planet there's an intro by art scholar Thomas Negovan, which gives a little more clout and importance to Brereton's place in the pantheon of comics creators. Following all the stories we're given a nice cover gallery and some portrait/sketchbook pages dedicated to each of the major characters. Sadly, the poster gallery from the original Black Planet collection is not reproduced here.
One of my favourite touches for this edition is the embossed spiderweb endsheets, which doesn't get repeated for volume two.
The addition of new material, the larger format and the collecting of disparate tales all make this a must-have for Brereton fans. It does not disappoint in any way.
The next story is 1997's Witching Hour, which originally appeared in black and white serialised in Dark Horse Presents. It's presented here in colour, which is absolutely gorgeous: for the most part, the pallette is an accented greyscale, intended for the original black and white reproduction. This only serves to highlight the talent Brereton has, as well as giving an engaging night-look to the story of Halloween and Gunwitch getting themselves into a little Hallowe'en trouble.
The stories wrap up with a totally new experience, the faux-pulp tale Clean Hands. This is taken from an old script Brereton had never followed through, so is offered in script form with big gorgeous illustrations produced just for this volume. It's a fun little story from the early Earth-days of Doc Horror, after he's helped Procyon escape the Monster Shop, but before he's reunited with Evening. It's a fun piece, and a nice way to showcase Brereton's way with dialogue as well as his affection for crime fiction.
After Clean Hands, we're given the first part of an all-text essay titled 'Horror Stories' (continued in the second volume). This is an amusing recounting by Brereton of his utterly normal, though fear-fraught, suburban upbringing. He does a terrific job calling up his various memories of youthful fear for us, and attempting to explain how Nocturnals turned out the hybrid it has.
Before Black Planet there's an intro by art scholar Thomas Negovan, which gives a little more clout and importance to Brereton's place in the pantheon of comics creators. Following all the stories we're given a nice cover gallery and some portrait/sketchbook pages dedicated to each of the major characters. Sadly, the poster gallery from the original Black Planet collection is not reproduced here.
One of my favourite touches for this edition is the embossed spiderweb endsheets, which doesn't get repeated for volume two.
The addition of new material, the larger format and the collecting of disparate tales all make this a must-have for Brereton fans. It does not disappoint in any way.
December 23, 2012
Collects The Nocturnals stories in this first hardcover.
There is also a second hardcover collecting the rest of the stories... so far.
Dan Brereton is one of those artists that has it all, he's a great story-teller and a great painter/artist. His storytelling and art style are all is own.
The Nocturnals are basically the Adams Family with a noire twist, kind of a mix of the paranormal, horror, and crime-noire genre.
My only complaint about Brereton is that he seems to have stopped doing stories and is now doing mostly covers... I want more Nocturnals, dammit... or at least gimme some Psycho!
Actual cover to the hardcover:
There is also a second hardcover collecting the rest of the stories... so far.
Dan Brereton is one of those artists that has it all, he's a great story-teller and a great painter/artist. His storytelling and art style are all is own.
The Nocturnals are basically the Adams Family with a noire twist, kind of a mix of the paranormal, horror, and crime-noire genre.
My only complaint about Brereton is that he seems to have stopped doing stories and is now doing mostly covers... I want more Nocturnals, dammit... or at least gimme some Psycho!
Actual cover to the hardcover:
November 19, 2007
I love the book, and I'm flattered to be listed as author, but I only wrote the introduction... how do we get Daniel Brereton proper credit?!?!?!
April 8, 2018
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. The combination of horror/sci-fi/pulp is a lot of fun as are the characters. Plenty of action without sacrificing the interpersonal stuff.
October 31, 2007
Great art, intriguing story with a great mix of pulp fiction and the supernatural.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews