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‘Tales from Nocturnia #3:’ Comic Book Review

The final installment of Tales of Nocturnia is here, and it’s a delicious double issue with all of the crazy stuff that you’ll love if you’re a fan of the previous issues. Things pretty much pick up right where we left them before: After the siege by the Sinisterians, the good folks of Nocturnia are licking their wounds, picking up the pieces, and burying the dead. To add insult to injury, some of their beloveds are also being held captive by the Sinisterians and things look grim. With almost nothing left to lose, the Nocturnians head out on a daring rescue mission.

The finale offers everything you love from the earlier issues and then some. Matt Knowles and Steph Cannon’s script is delightfully irreverent and bombastically earnest, and somehow it all just works. Knowles’ lettering is unconventional, but I think it plays to the visual strength of the series, which makes sense since Knowles also serves as the artistic director of the book.

Stephen Baker takes over the art duties, and while his style deviates quite a bit from the previous issues, I’d say that this may be the strongest the artwork has been since the first issue. Baker’s work has a particular cinematographic quality to it, and the characters also feel a bit more fleshed out. The colorwork by Bryan Arfel Magnaye and Nestor Redulla Jr. breathes life into these colorful characters, eschewing muted tones for brilliant colors, echoing the vibe of the script and visuals.

Man, it’s been a year, and the arrival of this book feels like a timely reprieve from the gloom and doom. It’s just plain, old fun with no pretenses about its mission: tell a simple story about a lowly headsman that rises to heroism. Benonoch is a charismatic guy, and you can’t help but root for him. #StoriesMatter because, sometimes, the simplest stories offer hope (and a chuckle) in a year spent in a global pandemic.

Overall, this is a fitting end to this tale, a conclusion that doesn’t close the door on the possibility of a return to the realm.

Creative Team: Matt Knowles (writer, letterer), Steph Cannon (writer), Stephen Baker (artist,), Bryan Arfel Magnaye, Nestor Redulla Jr. (colorists), Jesse Hansen (inker)
Publisher: InSymmetry Creations
Click here to purchase.

Wenxian Tan, Fanbase Press Contributor

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