There’s Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree, John Carpenter’s Halloween, Bobby Pickett’s Monster Mash, and finally Dan Brereton’s Nocturnals. Much like the aforementioned Halloween classic, Nocturnal will be in everyone’s snacks when the air gets clearer and the ghouls come out of the shadows. A mixture of horror and noir, this pulpy, fall-tinged work has no better way to spend a dark and brooding night than to be enveloped in Breton’s beautifully hand-drawn pages and cast of colorful monster heroes.
First appearing in Malibu Comics in 1994, the team actually feels like a family through Brereton’s loving words and writing, with leader Doc Holler, a scientist and occult expert who lives in the fictional Pacific City with his daughter Eve (also known as Halloween Girl). Although Eve is young and still developing her powers, she can see and communicate with spirits, who inhabit her stuffed animals and protect her whenever she needs them. Near Doc and Eve is Gun Witch, a mean-looking cowboy with a sewn-up mouth who always wears a witch’s hat and carries a gun.
Rounding out this group is Polychrome, a powerful light-manipulating ghost. Fire Lion, a walking flamethrower. And starfish are amphibious queens who prefer sea creatures to humans on land. Raccoon is a kind of private investigator who does a lot of business with shady people and works with the Nocturnals, but remains out of his own volition.
Art and atmosphere have a huge impact on how you enjoy the story of Nocturnals Comics. This is pure pulp, with gangsters and gangsters making shady deals with supernatural creatures and mad scientists. Despite their hard-boiled style and Lovecraftian horror, there’s a genuine warmth to these otherworldly stories that turns them into much more than simple supernatural/noir romps. Like director Guillermo del Toro, Breton shows a special love for his monsters, crafting a thrilling and intimate story of outsiders finding their place in a dark world.
Famous for his work with Howard Chaykin on the Batman Elseworlds classic “Thrill Killer” and his stunning art books (the upcoming Nocturnals: Halloween Noir book is gorgeous), the Nocturnals series is Brereton’s true artistic expression. Pick up one of our many collections and issues and get sucked into a world of monsters, gangsters, and madmen that even your wildest Halloween-obsessed dreams (and nightmares) can’t remember.
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