Exclusive Preview: NOCTURNALS – THE SINISTER PATH invites mystery into a monstrous war

It’s the 31st Anniversary of Dan Brereton’s Nocturnals and to celebrate, Dark Horse Comics has announced the September release of Nocturnals: The Sinister Path, a four-issue limited series written and illustrated by Brereton and lettered by Lois Buhalis. The book was initially released as a graphic novel by Big Wow Art in 2017 and will now be available in single issues for the first time, with additional story pages, character art, and more.

Today, The Beat has an exclusive first look at Nocturnals: The Sinister Path #1. The story takes place during a war between monsters as a group of vigilantes (the titular Nocturnals) investigate the death of a powerful figure and the power vacuum left behind. Here’s the full synopsis:

While the town sleeps, evil rises. A war is fought for soul of Pacific City by monsters, human and supernatural. But some of the monsters are on our side. The Nocturnals, led by Doc Horror, his daughter Evening, and their band of misfit vigilantes, are all that stand against an eldritch criminal underworld.

The death of the mysterious Judge Hemlock opens a macabre power vacuum in the eldritch underworld of Pacific City. When The Nocturnals—Doc Horror, Evening, and armed revenant, the Gunwitch—investigate the occult-enshrouded Hemlock house, what they find will lead them down a twisted and deadly sinister path.

Check out interior art from the first issue below.

“Someone recently described Nocturnals as being like a really good dream,” said Brereton in the announcement. “That’s pretty close to how I feel about it—a good dream you’re completely immersed in, you don’t want it to end—and when you wake up you want back in. Being able to go back again and again over the last three decades is the best feeling.”

Nocturnals: The Sinister Path #1 will be available digitally and at your local comic shop on September 3.

If you’d like to see more of Brereton’s work, check out the Nocturnals 31 art book, available through late pledges on Kickstarter.