Scott Snyder Explains What Distinguishes Nocterra From His Other Creator-Owned Work

Today marks the final day to pre-order the second issue of Nocterra, the new Image Comics series from writer Scott Snyder and artist Tony Daniel, before the Final Order Cutoff. If you aren't familiar to how the direct market works, that means if you don't have a comics specialty store order a copy for you by today, there is no guarantee that you will get a copy if the initial print run of the second issue sells out, as the first one did. The series is a slick, dystopian story about a hitman who is tracking down a woman as she tries to get an old man and the child in his care to safety.

The twist? It happens in a world where the sky on Earth has permanently darkened, and anyone who is trapped without light for too long will be tranformed into a hideous, mindless monster. THe result is a survival-horror-action comic that's heavily rooted in character and has the polished sheen of Daniel's distinctive visual style.

Of course, this isn't the first indie book -- or even the first high-profile one -- for either Daniel or Snyder. When we recently spoke with Snyder about launching Nocterra and the Best Jackett imprint it appears in, he broke down what separates Nocterra from some of his fan-favorite creator-owned works like American Vampire and After Death -- plus, how his years working on Batman, Justice League, and other high profile projects at DC have influenced the comic.

"Nocterra is kind of like, I want to come out right in your face with something that isn't a quieter thing, but is loud," Snyder told ComicBook. "When I'm at DC, I have a place to scratch the itch of big chainsaw, superhero storytelling. Right? And then my indie stuff like After Death, or even American Vampire to some extent, although American Vampire I thought it was going to be the place to explore. But now that I'm thinking with this year away from DC, I want to be able to do that kind of big muscular stuff in my indie work, and also have my indie work be a place where I can go farther out on a limb and try things that I'd never tried before to create texture for myself creatively, too."

Nocterra #1 is available now on digital platforms and in comic shops where it hasn't yet sold out. Nocterra #2 will be available in stores and online on April 7.