30 Days of Night

Some say this is nothing new. I don't know what they are talking about. The art is awesome - look at the images I put in. Some panels are like dark movie stills, showing the angst and the horror to come, others are funny with a very dark and edgy humor to it, and some are as if unfinished, blurry, but mostly when there is action or something waiting to happen. That way the "unfinished" art work gives you the feeling things are about to move (or you as the reader better get moving before you're being eaten alive...) It reminds me of the camera work on NYPD Blue when it first came out. A lot of people who didn't like it just didn't get it that there was a purpose behind both the moving camera shots and the "still" ones. To the story, do you always need a "new" take on vampires to like it? You got a problem with cliches? I don't. A town in dark Alaska with nothing going on is attacked by a horde of vampires. That's the story in one line. I left out the details because I would be giving away too much. The twists and turns make this a story to enjoy not once, not twice but over and again. It is a graphic novel - the artwork and the storyline are as one. Ben Templesmith's terrific pictures and Steve Niles' tight and at times very funny dialogue make this book a great add to my - and I hope everybody's collection. IDW is publishing the trilogy (of which his is part 1) as a HC soon. All three parts can be read seperately though. And then there's the movie scheduled for release October 30 2007

I'd flipped through this graphic novel at my friendly neighborhood comic shop once or twice, but I didn't pick it up as the art style wasn't one that so much appealed to me -- not that there was anything wrong with it, Templesmith's manic, disjointed artwork fits the horror story perfectly... it just didn't grab me.But when a friend of mine talked me into reading Steve Niles' "Love Me Tenderloin: A Cal McDonald Mystery," I knew I'd have to start snapping up everything he's written. This was the first book I could find.Set in the small, sheltered town of Barrow, Alaska, this story concerns a troupe of vampires who conclude that holding a "meeting" in a town so far north that the sun does not rise for 30 days each winter will be like a month in paradise. For the residents of Barrow, though, it's hell.I liked "Love Me Tenderloin" for the smart, sarcastic sense of humor Niles brought to the supernatural. This book is on the opposite end of the specturm -- bleak and violent, but still with a strong, human core. It's a great read that will not disappoint any horror fan. I just can't wait for the Dark Days trade paperback (the sequel) OR the movie.

I'll grant you that "30 Days of Night" is not the most original story ever made. It's a classic horror film formula...nightfall comes, creatures come, they kill, heroes do their thing, blady blady blah. The one catch, which I thought was rather original, was the use by the vampires of the cold Alaskan wilderness, and its titular 30 days of night.The comic's a fast read (didn't take me more than 30-45 minutes), but it's definitely worth that allotment of time. Despite the familiarity of the storytelling, the way in which it is presented is something to behold. The art is hard to describe, a surreal mixture of the art from "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" with its blood-soaked body parts and the album art for Radiohead albums with their screaming razor-toothed mouths. All done in a minimal pallette: black, white, a little green, and far more red than you care to see. The violence is horrifying, and despite its generally cartoonish nature, any person who gets into reading this comic will find themselves being put a little on edge once darkness rolls around. Btw, for those who don't know, this novel is the prequel to not only another comic book series, but a film rumored to be directed by Sam Raimi. Eccentric, morbid, maybe even a little bit juvenile, but entirely entertaining...if you're the kind who can appreciate these aspects, who wants something surreal, but also wants to get the pants scared off of them, I absolutely recommend this book. Except at night. That's when you need to be sleeping, because, if you read this, god knows when you'll be sleeping again.

I strongly disagree with other reader's comments stating this is an overhyped comic. It is a somber masterwork with groundbreaking artwork and a tigthly plotted story. I enjoyed it immensely and I fondly reccomend it to anyone who loves good comics or good literature in general.

Yes, I liked it a lot. A friend of mine passed me a copy but as I don't like vampire stories I had on my table a couple of weeks. Finally I decided to have a look on it and I couldn't drop it until I read all the story. I love the end and I think that the art fits perfectly in the atmosphere of the tale. I recommend this book to all the good comic readers. I think that it will become a classic, only compared with the great books of the last decades, like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman Dark Knight and so on.