Books
30 Days of Night (Science Fiction Book Club Edition)
By Leroy Douresseaux
December 9, 2008 - 19:17
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30 Days of Night SFBC Edition cover image courtesy of sfbc.com. |
IDW Publishing and the
Science
Fiction Book Club joined forces to produce the hardcover trade
collection,
30 Days of
Night, the 2002 comic book series about a small Alaska town invaded by a
pack of ravenous vampires and the husband-wife law enforcement team that takes
on the monsters. This book, exclusively available through the Science Fiction
Book Club, collects the original
30 Days of
Night #1-3 and its sequel,
30 Days of
Night: Dark Days #1-6.
First published in 2002,
30 Days of
Night was the work of writer
Steve
Niles and artist
Ben Templesmith.
The initial storyline was such a success that it spawned several follow up
series and also a film adaptation in 2007.
30 Days of Night opens on the evening
of November 17, 2007 and is set in
Barrow,
Alaska, “the northernmost community in North America.” Between November
18th and December 19th, the sun doesn’t rise, a fact that catches the attention
of a group of vampires. With the sun not rising for 30 days in Barrow, they can
leisurely hunt and feed without the burden of sleeping or the threat of the
sun’s lethal rays.
Ben Olemaun, Barrow’s
sheriff, and his wife
Stella, his deputy,
fight to save as many of Barrow’s townsfolk as they can. However, Ben
eventually makes a shocking choice, which he sees as the only way to stop the
marauding creatures.
In the six-issue comic book sequel,
30 Days
of Night: Dark Days, Stella Olemaun moves to Los Angeles after the events
of the first series. She wrote a book (also entitled
30 Days of Night) that is an account of what
happened in Barrow. The book has earned her the attention of L.A.’s vampire
population, as well as the notice and ire of
Lilith, the wife of
Vicente, the head vampire in the original
series. Stella strikes a deal with
Dane,
a vampire who had sought vengeance against Vicente, and the two take on the
powerful Lilith.
THE LOWDOWN: The original comic book,
30 Days of Night, is surprisingly
anemic. It certainly has its good moments and is quite entertaining. However,
while Steve Niles concept and original story is richly detailed,
30 Days of Night the series feels overly
compressed, and the entire thing feels like a prologue or overview of something
much, much larger and much richer. Ben Templesmith’s art, while pretty and
filled with striking images, sometimes comes across as a rehash of mid-1980s
Bill Sienkiewicz, particularly Sienkiewicz work on the 1986 miniseries,
Elektra: Assassin.
Dark Days fully delivers on the
promise and potential of the original series. Niles story is a brutal gem
filled with gritty characters, a heroine with true grit, and a mass of monsters
– the hungry, greedy, and determined kind that haunt the best of American
horror. Niles sprinkles the series with interesting story paths that promise
more fun beyond
Dark Days.
Templesmith’s art seems to undergo a small revolution from the first series.
Templesmith’s figure drawing (particularly heads and faces) and his use of color
to establish mood and to suggest the intensity of the moment are so effective
that the resulting visual presentation is as effective at scaring the crap out
of you as the best horror movies.
As for the book itself: it’s a nice hardcover, but without a dust jacket, so
the cover art and back cover matter is printed directly onto the book jacket.
The paper stock is nice, shiny enamel. The binding, however, is suspect. After
one reading, it’s obvious that each folio or section is ready to separate from
the book cover the next time I open it. Truthfully, I’ve been a member of the
SFBC, off and on, for a long, long time, and I’ve always found the
print/binding/paper stock quality of its books to be hit or miss.
POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: My concerns about
the book’s printing and binding aside,
30 Days
of Night and
Dark Days are the
kind of comic books that start movements in the medium. These stories will
entertain more than just fans of horror comics.
30 Days of Night,
B+;
Dark
Days,
A-
Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12