Writer and Artist: Dan Brereton
Letterers: Bill Oakley and Lois Buhalis
Trade Paperback
Published by Oni Press 1998
$19.95

Reviewed by Marc Bryant

High-concept time; imagine a movie written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tim Burton. Now imagine the comic adaptation, lavishly painted and packaged in a high-quality full color graphic novel with lots of extras. Like a gallery of covers as well as pin-ups, by artists like Mike Allred, Bruce Timm, rocker Rob Zombie and the legendary Gene Colan. Okay, that should be Dan Brereton's NOCTURNALS: BLACK PLANET you're dreaming about now.

NOCTURNALS creator Dan Brereton is known predominantly for his artwork, and well he should be, but on this project equal praise should be given to the world and characters he has created. Dan Brereton is not only a spectacular comics artist, his writing also kicks mucho ass.

Many times, when a well-respected comics artist takes the plunge on a creator-owned title, not only illustrating but also writing, the characters appear to have been conceptualized from the outside in. It often seems the artist had an interesting design, or dug out a character that they created in grade school, and tried to craft a whole comic book around a few sketches. More often than not, the story itself suffers from this creative process, coming across as a bunch of action figures or paper dolls being put through their paces for the sake of a series of splash panels. NOCTURNALS is not one of these cases.

Doc Horror and the rest of the NOCTURNALS cast are aliens or rogue genetics experiments, banded together to protect each other and others of their kind. They get tangled up in a mob war and the ensuing plot propels the story through six riveting chapters. Each character in NOCTURNALS comes across as rich and fully realized; these people know each other, Brereton knows them, and we, the audience come to know them as well.

"There's not a wasted moment to be found. Each scene winds the narrative tighter"

The dialogue is dead-on and entertaining. Each character speaks with their own voice, interacting with an effectiveness rarely seen in most comics, films or prose. The balloons can get a bit wordy, but the dialogue never stoops to blatant exposition so there's no harm done to the overall rhythm of the story.

As to the plot, the contrast of characters like Starfish and the Gunwitch to the Elmore Leonard-like underworld works much better on the page than it does in simple description. There's not a wasted moment to be found. Each scene winds the narrative tighter, raising the stakes for each character and propelling the story to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for hopefully many more Nocturnals tales.

Even without the top-notch story, each page of NOCTURNALS is a visual delight in itself. Brereton's paintings walk a fine line between expressionism and the photo-realism of better-known artists like Alex Ross. Each big panel is exquisite and cinematic, rich with textured lighting, vibrant color and facial expressions that nail scenes to the wall

Praise for this collection would be incomplete without a nod to designer Steven Birch at Servo. With collected editions becoming more and more prevalent in the medium, NOCTURNALS is the work both publishers and creators should look to for inspiration, in terms of quality of design and presentation.

An engaging story; interesting characters; beautiful artwork and top of the line packaging. You can't ask for more from a graphic novel and NOCTURNALS: BLACK PLANET excels in all these departments.

Recommended

Marc Bryant is Features Editor of PopImage.

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