Nocturnos
Are you afraid of the dark? For within the dark lurks a multitude of wonders hidden from the 
naked eye, yet a cautionary reminder prevails: “The night does not belong to us.” In another alluring graphic novel, Spanish illustrator and comics artist Laura Pérez guides readers on a journey into the depths of the night and everything that lies dormant—or awake—in the darkness.
Like an opening to a film zooming in on an establishing shot, the scene begins at dusk and gradually dims into darkness where denizens of the night—bats, centipedes, and owls—awaken from their natural habitats while humans take shelter. Dancing flames of fire offer illuminating warmth in a cave carved on the side of a mountain.
From there, the bonfire from within shifts to an isolated light in a side window of a building, leading to the fire on a kitchen stove top. These scenes transition fluidly, transporting readers from one scenario to another in just a few panels. Full-page panels on a two-page spread depict a medium long shot of the night in the forest and throughout the city. A brief caption reads: “Since time immemorial, night has been a place we’ve tried to conquer and in a way we’ve succeeded.” Despite the change from one time period to another, the setting may have evolved technologically from a rural to an urban locale, but the cloak of night still envelopes the same space from one era into the next.
As the narrative unfolds, a solitary owl sporadically appears—a winged creature of the night that swoops through time and space, transcending the physical world. Subtle yet pervasive details coalesce into Pérez’s deceptively simple, silent world. Shades of black and dark teal accentuate the mood and time. A young girl donning a red hoodie ventures forth from an RV at night into the woods, echoing snatches of Little Red Riding Hood. Punctuating these scenes are a night owl that sweeps through the night air as well as a dead deer lying on a deserted road, for the night camouflages and shelters, furnishing a sanctuary while rendering secrets out of sight, melting everything away in its embrace like a black hole.
Pérez plays around with metaphysical themes of universal consciousness and telepathy, of people and places stretched across time and space, echoes of a distant, primordial past. The panels, minimalist at times, accrue more meaning upon successive viewings as though beckoning readers to delve deeper into the mysteries buried within. As a graphic novel, a visual poem, and a meditation on the sublime enchantment of the night, Nocturnos bears repeated readings and integrates well with thought-provoking titles in adult graphic novel collections, offering a pictorial Zen-like exploration that generates insight through repeated readings that will tease, tantalize, allure, and enchant.
Nocturnos
By Laura Pérez
Fantagraphics, 2025
ISBN: 9798875001260
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NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Creator Representation: Spanish,
from underneath our beds? Might there really be a Bogeyman tucked away deep inside the closet, ready to spring out the moment we fall asleep? While these imaginary childhood fears may rattle young minds, Laura Peréz (Totem) presents a supernatural and mystifying series of strange encounters for adults in Ocultos that resonate with sinister overtones.
