It’s cold. It’s dark. Val and her new cargo are on the run. There is a lot to unpack in this issue.
To recap, the first issue introduces this terrifying new world, and what is needed to survive. By the end, we are sharply introduced to “Blacktop Bill” established as a cutthroat individual with a gang as his beck-and-call. We learn the old man Val reluctantly takes on his journey, has something to do with the end of the world.
Nocterra #2 come to focus on Val and her brother as they look back and how they survived, and their parents didn’t. It’s pretty sad. The world suddenly plunged into darkness, by forces no one appeared to understand. These unknowns, initially turned humans into hungry monsters, then as the years go by, these monsters slowly “mate” with the wildlife, also having been turned, and birthed these horrific amalgamations of species, all with the intent to kill.
If I were in a world like this, I would find the brightest bulb, a generator, and just hide in a corner and hope for the best.
We see part-way through Val’s brother has been exposed and is in need of protection in order to slow the spread. Note, not stop the spread, but slow it.
There is an acknowledgment there is no known cure, but their mortality is not in doubt. Her brother will either transform, or die.
The old man tells his tale, having been responsible for the events which changed the Earth forever, but also tells of a city which could revert the world back to normal. For Val the Ferryman, she has nothing left to lose.
Nocterra #2 carries a somber tone, and rightfully so. Earth is a sad world to live in, filled with literal monsters made of nightmares, what would you do?
