30 Days of Night

 

This is a series of mini-series about the city of Barrow in Alaska, where for 30 days a year the sun doesn't rise. So for 30 consecutive days there is no sunlight, which makes it perfect for vampires...

This is the main concept created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. Niles seems to be the king of horror in comics, his many mini series both by IDW and other companies are all about different aspects of horror.

This series is about vampires, and the first mini introduces the concept by bringing a group of vampires to Barrow and letting them loose on the human population. Obviously some of them survive, which allows for a sequel. But the first story simply introduces the concept and characters, laying the foundation for further stories.

 

The second mini called Dark Days does not take place in Barrow, but stars Stella, one of the suvivor of the Barrow massacre. She is back for revenge, and wants to expose the vampires for the world to see. Her plan doesn't work out, but she does get something very important for her.

I must admit I was more intrigued by this mini than the original. There is more going on here, and although the realtionship between Stella and Dane - the vampire traitor - feels a little bit odd, I still enjoyed this mini. And I loved the ending. One thing that bothers me, is that what seems to be the big bad vampire is always defeated too easily, in both minis.

The t

hird installment of this series is called Return to Barrow. The vampires return to Barrow, but this time the humans are prepared. Or are they? Seeing them get prepared for the 30 days of night, you would think they thought out all the details and were really prepared. That's why I was a little bit disappointed when the vampires managed to get inside their barrier so easily. I would have liked to know how they did that, at least showing that they did struggle to break the humans barriers.

Another thing that bothered me was the Dane thread. He showed promise as an intriguing character, but I didn't like how he was used in this series. Don't see the point of it. I am being vague on purpose, so that I won't spoil this for you.

But I did like the ending, that was a bit of a surprise. Again, I wish that surprise were given more room to develop, although I can see why the author decided not to. He wanted "them" to be more like legends.

And finally, let me talk about the art. All these series were painted by Ben Templesmith. His style is similar to Ashley Wood or Bill Sienkiewicz, that painted abstract and dark style. I like this style, however in some action scenes I had difficulty understanding what was going on. This might be fine with a surrealistic type of story, but this is a straight action/horror story, so I need to know what happens in an action scene. However the horror parts of these books are absolutely perfect. Templesmith conveys the true horror, not just in the gore, but also in the characters expressions. And I love his vampires,

Overall this is a very nice series of action/horror books, the story is not complex at all, but it is a simple linear plot. The characters are not developed in detail, but this type of story does not require it. Give it a try if you think you'll like it. There are also more stories from this universe, I will review them in the future.