Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2) by Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2)
Book Review: Amazing...
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up 30 Days of Night and Return to Barrow almost a year ago and loved them, but had a hell of a time finding Dark Days. It wasn't in any stores in Colorado, and the only place that I found it to be in stock was in a four-story Borders store in Washington, DC, and when I looked for it I could not find it. After and extensive search I found a copy here on Amazon and ordered it. After reading it, I am pleased to say that this is a great- and necessary- continuation of the 30 Days of Night saga.
I don't understand how people can say that there is a lack of character development in this book. Stella goes from tough girl to sensitive woman, and Dane goes from being hell bent on revenge to falling in love with Stella. And the final scenes with the climax of the story (which I will not spoil) is so emotional, at least to me. Plus, Judith Ali's character was another emotional point, helping to add to the sadness of the story by sharing a loss with Stella, the loss of her son, the helicopter pilot in the first story. Excellent decision to add her in.
The art by Ben Templesmith is, as always, wonderful. It's beautiful and grotesque, vague and clear, all at the same time. I will never understand where he gets his ideas of how to draw things and shade/color them. His style is so different that he's really one of the only comic book artists in the business that I actually actively seek work from. His style is so original and it's not cartoonish, like the artists for the 28 Days Later comic book were- it's dark and horrifying, exactly what a horror comic should be (the lack of him on the 30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease comic was the main reason I was so hesitant to pick that up, and also that Steve Niles didn't write it. But that's beside the point.)
Pick this up if you're a fan, and if you're not a fan, well, start being one I guess. If you've never heard of 30DON, definately pick up the original, this one, and Return to Barrow. 5 stars.
Book Review: steve niles does it again
Summary: 5 Stars
good read. although my cover fell off the 2nd day i had it:( i love steve niles and ill buy any thing he writes..... you should check out a comic that he wrote in 2007 called "Pieces For Mom". READ IT!!!! sooooo gross... zombie book!!!! yayBook Review: Best of the 30 Days of Night Stories
Summary: 4 Stars
Of the four 30 Days of Night Trade Paperback and Graphic Novels, this is my favorite one. The first 30 Days of Night story felt a little bit light on the characterization, and Dark Days definitely did a better job of exploring the universe and ideas created from the first book. I generally find Steve Niles' writing to be serviceable at best, but this book was actually pretty good. As usual, Ben Templesmith's stylistic art is visually appealing, although at times it can be confusing. Nevertheless, Dark Days probably had the clearest narrative of all the 30 Days of Night books. Definitely recommended.Book Review: 30 Days of Night 2: Lame Days
Summary: 1 Stars
Unlike most people I talk to who've read '30 Days of Night', I found it neither fantastic nor horrible. It was a decent, and more importantly, a simple stroy. The setting was different, the premise original, and the characters realistic (vampires included) and compelling. Then, of course, there was the artwork: gritty, dark, expressive, and uber-modern! It's like no one had ever seen a realistic nose super-imposed over a sketchy, 2-D cartoon face before. That said, it was a fun read.
'Dark Days', however, was sheer and utter garbage; it literally took me 20 minutes to read it. I might have spent longer, had I not given up straining my eyes to discern the murky, overly-textured backgrounds, which more often than not distracted from the awful storytelling and utter lack of character development. To say this comic was 2-dimensional is, I think, crediting this book with one-too-many dimensions. I believe this might have been a movie treatment realized in comic book form (since this in no way deserves even the euphemism of 'graphic novel') The story is absurdly predictable. A group of covert vampire hunters plans to expose the vampire menace, and end their reign of terror. They are led by the beautiful but deadly Stella Olemaun, survivor of a vampire massacre where her husband lost his life defeating a powerful vampire lord. Their efforts are thwarted by the vampire lord's wife, I guess, and the entire team is slaughtered, save for the brave Stella, who is helped by a rogue vampire with a conscience. I won't spoil the ending for those masochists planning to read the book, but it's as laughable as Stella's inexplicable decision to sleep with the 'good' vampire she encounters.
That Niles/Templesmith so sloppily subvert their earlier work, by making the vicious, rabid vampires he introduced in '30 Days' suddenly seem tame and incompetent, leads me to conclude they either spent a decade or so writing, fine-tuning and re-editting 30 Days, or else that they're hacks who lucked out with a cool idea. Also, with Templesmith's mastery of Photoshop now undisputed, perhaps he might decide to use it more economically and devote a bit more time to drawing the occasional background. I do appreciate the effect of claustrophobia, the focus on the characters and such, but it has grown tedious.
As for the ending, I may be mistaken about this book's intentions, but it seems a rather blatant setup for another sequel. Somehow, I believe Niles/Templesmith won't be content with the story ending like some hackneyed Outer Limits episode.
Book Review: Good...but unnecessary
Summary: 3 Stars
Dark Days is a direct continuation of the original 30 Days of Night Storyline. I loved the original for its unique art style, originality and heart. I guess that's why I was a little disappointed in Dark Days. The story picks up with Stella on a book tour trying to warn the world about vampires. Through her journeys she must confront the evil that killed her husband, confront her notions about vampires, become interested in the vampire with a heart of gold, blah, blah, blah. The writing is still tight and I enjoy the way the conversations play out. My biggest problem is that this feels like a sequel. It's almost like someone picked up a "How to write a sequel" manual and followed it chapter by chapter. It just feels very uninspired. The fun, tense isolation of the original setting is replaced with kind of a mundane modern world complete with government intrigue etc. It's just too formulaic; it even resorts to a "twist" ending. Still, the solid execution is more than enough to temper my dissapointment. Overall, I liked it but it just didn't need to be made.