30 Days of Night by Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of 30 Days of Night
Book Review: Creatures of the Night Find Paradise
Summary: 4 Stars
After the film adaptation of 30 Days of Night received only so-so reviews, instead of waiting for the movie on DVD, I decided to take a look at the original comics/graphic novels created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith.
Interestingly, 30 days was originally fielded unsuccessfully to studios as a screenplay before Niles hooked up with Templesmith to create the comic. Once the comic came out, even studios that had originally rejected the movie pitch were knocking down the 30 Days creators' doors to get the film rights (according to a 10/18/2007 IGN.com article).
Anyway, when I looked up 30 Days at Amazon, I found that more than just one version existed. There is the original 30 Days of Night; there is #2 called Dark Days; and there is #3 called Return to Barrow. There are even more in the series too, but the above three complete the trilogy created by the original partnership of Niles & Templesmith.
The first is the story of vampires that invade a small town (called Barrow in Alaska) at dusk on the first evening of 30 days before the sun will rise again. The second story is one of revenge; a survivor of the first story hunts and seeks to expose the existence of vampires; and the third story has the brother of a victim from the first story returning to Barrow to discover and expose the awful truth of what originally happened in the town.
The first 30 Days story is what the movie was based on. It's a fast read that took about an hour to get through. As an effect, the way the vampire's lines are written in the text bubbles is crooked, thin-fonted and sloppy; I suppose this was to trying to illustrate the sound of the vampire's voice, but it mostly made for some hard to read, headache inducing text bubbles.
Dark Days and Return were good, but not great like the original. But it was an overall fun series. I'll probably pick up the November 2007 release of 30 Days Of Night: Eben And Stella that picks up and fills an interesting gap between Dark Days and Return to Barrow. Niles is back for Eben and Stella, but Templesmith is out.
As for the movie 30 Days of Night, I'll check that out too after it comes out on DVD and let you if it really 'bites' like others have said it does.
Book Review: Creepy and atmospheric
Summary: 4 Stars
Steve Niles', '30 Days of Night,' is a smartly written and beautifully drawn graphic novel that will certainly be appreciated by any horror/vampire afficionado out there. The premise alone is chock full of so much potential that it's almost remarkable that is hasn't been done before. While the story is cleanly and briskly plotted, the middle act (the town of Barrow under siege) should have been further fleshed out. Due to its relatively short length, it seems as if the book comes to a somewhat abrupt halt at the end but even with this put aside, the book is still very much worth your reading time with a great storyline and equally remarkable artwork by Ben Templesmith.Book Review: Dark Brilliance
Summary: 5 Stars
I came across this Graphic at a local bookstore last year and I was totally entranced with Templesmith's art and Steve Niles has created the perfect modern gothic story. The look is familar with Tristan Shane and David McKean (both amazing artists) from the Hellraiser Trades, and serves to propel the horrific storyline along with a gritty and desolate feel.
I am definately pre-ordering the second installment and look forward to seeing this in film.
Book Review: Dark, brilliant and artsy
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Book Review: Dawning at the end of "Night"
Summary: 3 Stars
For anyone who likes horror stories, vampires or good creepy tales, this comic book, available now in trade paperback edition, is worth reading. This very short, but well produced story revolves around a simple concept and, as stated by one of the characters in the story, " I can't believe [no one] ever though of this before."
The story by Steve Niles is based around some basic principles -- vampire, darkness and isolation are scary -- and Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in North America, is for 30 days a year, covered in unbreaking darkness.
As I'm sure many of you know, vampires like the dark. And the vampires in this tale not only like it - they love it. And, what is also important to note is that these are not your Hollywood/Ann Rice vampires. These suckers are ugly, brutal and have mouths filled with razor sharp pointy teeth -- more like piranha than your stereotypical vampire.
In addition to a brilliantly simplistic story, this book is filled with some of the rawest creepy art around by Ben Templesmith.
It is good, it is creepy and it reads very fast. In fact, my only complaint is that it's too short -- way too short. I felt like there was a lot more there, but we didn't get to see or hear it. I suppose in some ways, that's the point - it is certainly meant to be fast-paced.
If this sounds good to you so far, I suggest hunting down a copy. It may be tricky as they are selling as fast as they are printing, but it's probably worth it if you like this sort of thing.
In what I consider to be an interesting side note, the comic book has been looking for a publisher for a long time. It actually started as a movie script. After shopping it around and being rejected many times, the author finally decided to do it as a comic book and publish it himself. He hooked up with an artist and they have managed to crank out the sleeper hit of the year. As an epilogue to the tale, the hit of the comic has brought more movie deals to their doors than they could shake a stick at. And the bidding ended when Sam Raimi bought the rights for a cool million dollars. He will now of course be turning it into a movie (which was the author's goal all along). And, if we are lucky, it will be a damn good one. I have no doubt about Raimi's comic book adaptation skill (Spider-man ruled), I just hope he chooses to make it an R film for adults and not a PG-13 film for the kiddies. If he goes with the former, it should rule - if he tones it down and goes for the latter, it will kill the feel of the story and probably end up being lame. I guess only time will tell.
If you like fast-paced horror fiction and bloody vampire tales - check this one out.