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Nocturnals #omnibus

Nocturnals Omnibus Volume 1

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Dan Brereton's lush, innovative, action-packed stories of supernatural menace and gritty heroics are finally collected in this first volume omnibus edition, starting with "Black Planet", the Eisner-nominated graphic novel which kicked off years of captivating weird tales of horror and crime.

The Nocturnals revolves around the mysterious quest of underworld enforcer and occult figure, Doc Horror; his supernaturally-gifted daughter Evening (aka Halloween Girl) who carries a pumpkin full of haunted toys; the Gunwitch, a silent, two-gun revenant with an itch to kill monsters; the lissome wraith Polychrome, and a host of hard-boiled inhuman players battling hidden evils lurking on the outskirts of human knowledge.

Collects the previously published Nocturnals volumes: Black Planet, Witching Hour, Carnival of Beasts, Troll Bridge, and The Dark Forever.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2021

16 people are currently reading
165 people want to read

About the author

Dan Brereton

179 books35 followers
Daniel 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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5 stars
40 (24%)
4 stars
70 (42%)
3 stars
45 (27%)
2 stars
7 (4%)
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3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Anne.
4,771 reviews71.3k followers
October 20, 2022
A paranormal comic with a very noir-y feel to it.

description

So this follows a bunch of creatures living in an underworld-like setting that exists hidden side by side with humans. There's a mobster vibe running through the entire thing that makes it seem different from a lot of the monster comics I've read.
Their leader, Doctor Horror, is from another dimension and has been followed by a Cthulhuish villain from his world who has infiltrated ours.

description

The art is just phenomenal, but I'm a sucker for this painted art style. I loved it and it took my enjoyment to a whole other level.

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I will say the dialogue wasn't always the best and the plot itself felt kind of B-movie at times. Kind of like the author was just flying by the seat of his pants.
There's something about it, though. I just really dug the whole vibe of this comic and can't wait to read more.
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,060 followers
November 8, 2021
Dan Brereton's art and character designs knock my socks off every time I read a Nocturnals comic. Leader Doc Horror underworld enforcer and mad scientist. His daughter Halloween Girl carrying her plastic pumpkin full of possessed toys. Ghostly Polychrome. Amphibious Starfish with her twin guns, pyrokinetic Firelion, hybrid Komodo, and my favorite, the zombie bodyguard Gunwitch. They fight Lovecraftian mobsters and bat witches. It's all kinds of crazy, demented Halloweenish fun.



This collects the original miniseries Black Planet from Malibu back in 1995, along with a bunch of other smaller stories. I think my favorite story collected here is Punkinheads where Halloween Girl and Gunwitch get chased by Jack O'Lantern creatures while trick or treating. Troll Bridge was another fun Halloween story where Halloween Girl finds a devil lantern that transports her through other creators' comics like Usagi Yojimbo and Scary Godmother all drawn by their creators. I'm really looking forward to the rest of these Omnibus editions from Dark Horse.
Profile Image for Jake.
427 reviews7 followers
July 19, 2021
I miss a lot of Malibu content, it seems pretty creative. The art and quirky elements from pulp fiction are abound. Plus it's more than just the usual monsters like vampires, werewolves, etc. They feel like real people who live on the fringe of society. Fortunately Doc Horror just wants to give his daughter and friends a good life that they normally can't have. Unlike his Cthulhu-like rival who's out for domination.

When you come to love these freaks, you can only hope this will get better for them all. Because they don't seem like bad people, just misfits who work in the shadows to survive and maybe thrive.
Profile Image for James.
2,591 reviews80 followers
November 1, 2023
3.5 stars. Ok, this was different. Unlike anything I’ve read before. The first story, Black Planet was the longest, at about half this book. It also was my favorite. You have this monster factory where some creatures have escaped. You have Doctor Horror, his daughter Evening, and their rag tag crew of monsters. Plus the main villain, Mr. Fane, who is trying to take out Dr Horror. This had a crime noir feel to it but with with some wild fishy, furry and flamey characters with some having powers. Pretty fun ride. The next story Punkinheads has the daughter Evening get captured by an evil witch and her dad and his crew had to find and rescue her. Solid. Then we get Carnival of Beasts. Here Dr Horror is taking Eve to school and run across another crew of creatures where Dr Horror had a deal to get this special “cocktail” that he needs to keep his monster side in check. This ends with a double cross and a shootout. All these stories had the art done by the writer, Dan Brereton. His art is absolutely stunning. Some of the best art I’ve seen in a comic. The rest of the stories were drawn by various different artists. These stories were short and ended up being just ok. On to volume 2!!
Profile Image for April Gray.
1,389 reviews9 followers
November 3, 2021
Before I even start talking about the stories, the art in this is just gobsmackingly gorgeous! The rich, vivid colors, the character design, the whole spooky mood is stunning. Five stars for the art alone. The text could be the stupidest crap I've ever read, and I would still buy this for all the beautiful illustration contained within.
The stories are good, though. Rip-roaring adventures filled with interesting characters, mutated semi-humans, extra-terrestrials, creepy, oogy villains, and a few humans thrown in to round things out. If this was a movie, it'd be something you watch at midnight on a basic cable channel, or in a rinky-dink theater with a group of weirdos that have seen it dozens of times and built a cult around it. The dialogue is filled with cheesy noir lines that will make you chuckle and groan simultaneously. This just pushed all the right buttons for me, can you tell?
Our main characters are Doc Horror, a sort of underworld enforcer/mad scientist/occult personage who does his thing with the help of his crew: Polychrome, an icy wraith with a spark of warmth hidden in her breast; the Gunwitch, a silent, gun-wielding specter whose main purpose is to serve as a bodyguard for Doc's supernaturally skilled daughter Evening, also known as Halloween Girl, who carries a plastic pumpkin filled with possessed toys. Add to this a gang of lab-created human-animal hybrids with some interesting talents, and you've got the crew. We get origins in bits and pieces over the course of the stories, satisfying at least some curiosity, and lots of battling evil mad scientists (as opposed to not particularly evil mad scientists- pretty sure all scientists are mad here), and hybrid creatures with bad attitudes. There are some quieter stories, too, and these might be my favorites; they tend to feature Halloween Girl, and she's a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed Troll Bridge, which involves a wish gone awry, leading to a fun trip through different story worlds, including that of a certain samurai rabbit...
At any rate, I really, really enjoyed this, and I'm hoping for another omnibus edition of Doc Horror and his ghoul squad's exploits in the future. Please? Kthxbai!
Profile Image for Sud666.
2,345 reviews199 followers
September 19, 2025
The Nocturnals Omnibus collects the following previously published stories:
"Black Planet", "Punkinheads", "Carnival of Beasts," and "Troll Bridge".

This was my first experience with Nocturnals, and I enjoyed it. The artwork is rather interesting and reminds me of painted scenes. It works well for this story. The Nocturnals are like a BPRD made up of Doc Horror (a mob enforcer and occult figure), Halloween Girl (Doc's daughter who has strange supernatural powers like a witch and has a pumpkinhead full of haunted toys), the Gunwitch (a revenant gunslinger with two guns), Polychrome (a wraith) and other strange characters they will fight against various evils. It makes sense that this is a Dark Horse publication, as it feels like a Mignola comic. I liked this and will hunt down more of this.
Profile Image for Dan.
3,219 reviews10.8k followers
October 15, 2022
Nocturnals Omnibus Volume 1 collects Black Planet, Witching Hour, Carnival of Beasts, and Troll Bridge.

So I really enjoyed Dan Brereton's painted art on Batman: Thrillkillers and Giantkiller so I grabbed this after hauling a mountain of crap to Half Price Books.

Honestly, the stories are basically pulp crime tales filled with monster action. The strength of the book is in the character designs and Dan Brereton's painted art. Doc Horror, Procyon The Raccoon, Phestus, Gunwitch, Eve, Starfish, and Polychrome all have pretty unique looks and Brereton paints the shit out of everything. His painted art has a lot of life to it and doesn't seem stiff and posed like some painted comics typically look for me.

The last story, Troll Bridge, features a multitude of artists doing their take on the Nocturnals as Eve jumps through dimensions. The Usagi Yojimbo crossover took me completely by surprise.

Four out of 5 leaning heavily on the artwork. Good shit.
Profile Image for OmniBen.
1,397 reviews47 followers
September 3, 2023
(Zero spoiler review) 3.5/5
Sadly, the opening salvo of Black Planet was the highlight of the book, and it was mixed results after that. I kinda feared as much, but soldiered on anyway and was both rewarded and frustrated in equal measure with the handful of titles compromising the remainder of this collection. Worth the price of admission for the oversized art alone, the fact we get a some of the most promising new characters I've read in quite some, even if Brereton's hit and miss writing left me a little underwhelmed and wanting more. That and the inclusion of some other artists towards the end robbed the title of its main strength (Brereton's art).
I'm assuming the second omnibus is the sum total of all Nocturnals content? A fact that is both confounding and disappointing all at once. it would be a wonderful thing to know there were dozens and dozens of stories featuring this rag tag bunch of horrifically noirish ghouls and gals. That said, despite my desire for someone a little more accomplished with the written word than Brereton to handle writing duty, the idea of lesser talent's getting their shot at this title makes me go all weak at the knees, and not in the good way like when I think about Polychrome or Starfish. Yeah, her face is a bit weird, but come on, you still would... 3.5/5


OmniBen.
Profile Image for Dubzor.
835 reviews10 followers
August 31, 2022
Spooky pulp comics. Not much else to say, as it's reminiscent of Vampirella and Hellboy comics from around the same time. It's not anything that transcends the genre or some master work, instead it's very much an artist in love with his characters and wanting to have fun telling stories with them.
21 reviews
October 25, 2025
I loved this book so much, the art and characters are so enjoyable to look at. Everyone has their distinct creature or halloween trope which makes so enjoyable to see who comes next.

They also has a crossover between a lot of Indie comics and was splendid jumping between the universes.

I will be a proud supporter of Nocturnals forever.
Profile Image for Graham.
84 reviews
October 3, 2025
A visual treat and food for the soul of all things spooky and Autumnal.
Profile Image for Marco.
635 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2023
Entertaining with mostly great art (not all of it by Brereton himself.)
A bit light on the actual characterization, though.
Still, at the price of this oversized HC, it's a steal!
Profile Image for Marcelo Soares.
Author 2 books14 followers
October 5, 2022
A arte é espetacular.
Faz muito tempo que eu esperava por uma promoção para pegar esse omnibus, pura e simplesmente pela arte da capa, e foi uma grata surpresa.
Em linhas gerais uma grupo de mutantes e sobrenaturais se envolvem em várias aventuras envolvendo monstros e mafiosos - muitas vez, ambos - numa cidade escura e sem esperança, também tem alguma corporação maligna que cria híbridos mutantes. Esse grupo é composto por: Doc Horror, cientista maluco e casca grossa; Halloween Girl, é a filha do doutor e carrega uma sacola de abóbora cheia de brinquedos mal assombrados; Polychrome, fantasma pálida e gostosona; Starfish, híbrida anfíbia que não leva desaforo para casa; Firelion, o cara que pega fogo; Komodo, híbrido dracônico que fugiu da tal corporação; Raccon, híbrido gauxinítico e chefe do crime da cidade, também tem um tesão não muito saudável pela Starfish e, por último, nosso guarda-costas zumbi favorito, Gunwitch.
As histórias são um pouco genéricas misturando o submundo do crime e coisas sobrenaturais; há pelo menos três histórias em noite de Halloween; mas também temos "The Scrimshaw Crown" uma das histórias mais bem ilustradas que eu vi nos últimso tempos. Resumindo rapidamente:
Black Planet: a história que introduz os personagens e eles enfrentam mafiosos lovecraftianos.
Punkinheads: Halloween Girl e Gunwitch vão procurar doces e travessuras na floresta.
Carnival of Beasts: Descobrimos o que aconteceu com os cientistas da corporação e que Doc Horror tem um segredo secreto.
The Scrimshaw Crown: Starfish precisa libertar um rei de uma maldição, belissimamente ilustrada pelo Victor Kalvachev.
Night of the Candy Butchers: Halloween Girl, Gunwitch e Polychrome vão ao parque de diversões.
Trol Bridge> Halloween Girl encontra um troll debaixo da ponte e faz um acordo com ele, grandes confusões e altas aventuras acontecem.
A arte do Bereton é sensacional, um estilo muito único nas HQs que combina perfeitamente com essa pegada de terror terrível e monstros monstruosos; algumas histórias poderiam ser mais complexas, mas no geral valeu os pilas.
Profile Image for Benjamin.
1,449 reviews25 followers
Read
June 21, 2022
If you scroll through the reviews here, you will see one word repeated: "lush".

I have nothing particular to add: the art is lush, delightful to look at, especially when the comic is depicting human cops overwhelmed by the job. I stopped actually reading about ~15 pages in, kept flipping for the art for a few more pages. (Some of the other stories have a different style, like a more cartoony sketching style for a more cartoony later story.)

As for the story in the first mini-series, it involves Doc Horror and his gang of misfit monsters facing off against some Cthulhu-esque invaders and also some mafia etc., and an evil corporation that makes human-animal hybrids, and also maybe the head of the mafia is a human-raccoon gangster named Bandit.

I could imagine this being a fun mash-up of too much stuff, but this particular instance wasn't working for me at this particular time.
35 reviews2 followers
December 16, 2022
Loved it! Had this on the shelf and cracked it open for Halloween. An array of stories and art styles, centered around a family of gun-toting monsters, led by Dan Brereton’s vision. His art style has a lovely painted quality, with all the dynamic noir lighting that this concept deserves. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of narrative, but good fun with a wonderful Halloween atmosphere that pervades the entire book. Just a look at the cover will tell you if this is your sort of thing. It’s certainly mine.
Profile Image for Oz.
648 reviews2 followers
February 12, 2024
The plot itself is a sort of mobster X-men situation (including a raccoon hybrid who looks uncannily like Wolverine), and the dialogue is often confusing. Often I had to check if I'd missed a page, because the action doesn't always follow as neatly as it should. Also, the only female character who isn't sexualised is a child. But all that aside, this is the prettiest comic I've seen, and I greatly loved both Eve and the Gunwitch. Who seems to use he/it pronouns? Excellent.
554 reviews
December 26, 2024
Trust Eve Not to Get Into Trouble…

Read this before. And it’s good to revisit old friends here. Brereton’s excellent paint strokes of phantasmal watercolor made for fun read in fairy tale imagination. As for Doc Horror’s daughter, Eve, should know better than to give in to whatever temptation to whatever dire straits she’s gotten herself into. Especially in trusting this satanic talking lantern. Fun when you have comic artists jumping in for a ghastly romp. Recommended.
Profile Image for Michael.
Author 1 book24 followers
November 19, 2025
I sure do love Dan Brereton's artwork and this is a fun group of characters to watch in action. But Brereton isn't the strongest visual storyteller and I had a hard time finding the flow of the stories collected here.

I was sometimes confused about what was going on, but even when I wasn't, the panels often read like a series of poses rather than a depiction of something that's actually happening. The dialogue isn't as funny as it's trying to be, either.

But wow is it all gorgeous.
Profile Image for Jefferson.
802 reviews7 followers
October 24, 2023
The Nocturnals gets off to a rocky start. The artwork is gorgeous, but the storyline is hard to follow and seems to assume that you already know all the characters. After the first story, the tone lightens up a bit and the characters start to feel more familiar. I'll definitely be picking up volume 2.
Profile Image for Alex Harker.
256 reviews4 followers
September 29, 2023
Absolute CANDY. I’m not super into comic books typically, but I love Halloween and I love campy dialogue and this compilation has an abundance of both. I’ll definitely be reading the second omnibus!
Profile Image for Jess.
1,233 reviews15 followers
October 29, 2023
really enjoyed this. literally my biggest complaint is how heavy the physical book is.
Profile Image for Trey.
107 reviews
May 18, 2024
That was quite a bit of fun and the art is amazing to say the least. Picking up Vol 2 tomorrow to continue my journey
Profile Image for Dave.
422 reviews87 followers
September 19, 2025
How did I ever think this utterly gorgeous and utterly fun pulpy, creep-stravaganza would not be my jam? Because it so is very much my jam
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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