WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Nocterra #2, by Scott Snyder, Tony S. Daniel, Tomeu Morey and AndWorld Design, on sale now.
Image Comics' Nocterra has painted a very dark world, literally, as the sun's been blotted out, paving the way for monsters to take over. It's all due to some mysterious infection that's also mutated plants, animals and humans, turning them into hungry creatures and rendering humanity nearly extinct.
It's led to ferrymen such as Val/Sundog driving around, using unique lights and flares to fight off these creatures in order to make a living by gaining items and money for their transporting services. And in Nocterra #2, we finally discover what removed the daylight from the world and it's something that leaves Val even more distrusting of mankind.
Val lost her parents years ago and has been taking care of her little brother, Emory. However, she needs a special xenon lamp to burn the infection out of him, which is why she's taken on a special fare in an old man, Augustus, and his granddaughter, Bailey. Augustus wants passage to a special sanctuary outside of Colorado, promising safety for her and Emory, as well as money they can use to barter for a lamp.
Val's desperate so she takes the job but quickly runs into problems at a a truck-stop with neon lights all over to keep the nocturnal animals at bay. She eventually lays a trap to kill one of the shades tracking them, but at this point, a nervous Augustus comes clean. He admits the sanctuary is a scientific hub where there's a unique machine he built with his brother. They were scientists and he confirms they were searching for particles from a mysterious dimension. These molecules interacted with light from other planes, though, and when they tried to take the particles from the first plane (or "terra") called Lux, it backfired.
Instead of the plane of heavenly light from the brightest realm of Lux, they messed up and opened the wrong doorway. This let the darkness in and since then, it's spread like a virus. It gets worse later, though, as a villain called Blacktop Bill comes hunting Augustus. He warns Val that the doctor is a fraud, which causes Augustus to admit some other secrets.
He's never been to the sanctuary like he said or used the machine. He built it in theory but he does want to get to it as he believes he can use it to reactivate the light. And he wants redemption badly because while he thought it'd bring in heaven, it's hell that's come over. Now, he just wants to fix things to create a future for Bailey, but while Val helps him escape, she knows that she can't fully trust Augustus. She's willing to risk it for now amid his lies, hoping there's a cure when she gets to this place as all she's concerned with is saving her sibling.