I’m 36 years old. I’m not saying that because I need
somebody to help me keep track until I reach AARP age, but because I want the
world to know how long it’s taken me to pick up a graphic novel. Until 30 Days
of Night, my only exposure to the art form was the TV versions of The Walking
Dead and Preacher.
I don’t think I’ve even seen the movie for it. I recall it
came out about the same time as 28 Days Later, and I could only deal with one
movie about days at the time. Fortunately, my Readings in the Genre class at
Seton Hill University put it not only on my radar, but in my in-box. It was no
longer about entertainment, but about learning.
This graphic novel took one of the simplest premises I can
think of and brought it to life. The most well-known “fact” of vampires is that
they cannot come out during the day (and not just because they fucking sparkle,
because they fucking die!), and 30 Days of Night sends our vampire f(r)iends to
Barrow, Alaska where daylight is a memory for a full month in the early winter.
I mean, it’s brilliant. Why did it take until the 21st Century for a
writer to come up with this idea?
Well, Steve Niles probably isn’t the first person to think
of setting their vampire story in a land of perpetual dark, but he’s the first
to put it to paper (That I know of. I’m probably wrong). Where the plot thins
is its use of night to completely decimate a town. Sure, the vampires feast one
season, but it continues to beat the drum that the smorgasbord is endless. It’s
not. The population is just north (pun intended) of 4,000, which really only
leads to one good entrée. It’s like going to a kegger and thinking, “It’s gonna
last all night! Wooooo!” and then an hour later, the single keg is kicked and
you only have a red Solo cup to show for it. Shit, you’re barely buzzed because
you had to share with half the sophomore class…
But I digress. 30 Days of Night takes a simple premise and
turns it into a three-book series. There’s little originality beyond its
original setting. We see goon vampires and a boss vampire. Inevitably, the boss
vampire is not happy with the goon vampire and he (Boss) kills him (Goon).
That’s when our hero, Sherriff Eben Olemaun sacrifices himself to become a
vampire to gain the strength of the Boss. Which he does.
There’s also a B story involving some New Orleans voodoo
vampire hunter, but it ends quickly enough just as he arrives in Barrow. His
only purpose was to give the vampire hoard in Barrow a way to make it look like
the town was destroyed in a pipeline fire.
30 Days of Night is a good
story. It’s not amazing, it won’t change your life. It gives you a solid 20
minute read. I won’t even say the artwork is amazing. Ben Templesmith’s
illustrations are raw and horrific, but they are a series of washed out
watercolors that often leave you trying to figure out what they’re trying to
depict. Or maybe it’s just me. Like I said, it’s my first graphic novel, and I
don’t think it will drive me back to that section of the bookstore anytime
soon, but I’m more likely to give The Walking Dead compendium a try.
I've got you beat buddy, this was my first, and I am 11 years closer to AARP. I hated this book for several reasons, but if for nothing else, I couldn't enlarge the pages and I had to look for my readers due to the small fonts. Like you, I want be wandering into that section of the bookstore as well.
ReplyDeleteI've read many comics, and a few graphic novels, though comics are more colorful and easy to read, but I'm no master nor novice on the subject, as I tend to be more movie driven for visual art. And while I think this style fits, its not the best comic artwork out there.
ReplyDeleteIt's just the story, its terrible to me. It's a cool idea done horribly. It's a mess. I was going to pick this up for 3.99 on kindle, but the only way to experience a comic is to feel it in your hands, the glossy touch, the images, etc.
But the biggest crime here is that I paid 17.99 for a butt of a story. But whatever, that's how we learn, the hard way.
I think I paid four bucks on Amazon.
DeleteLike you, I thought the premise here was brilliant -- who doesn't love vampires in the snow?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I actually got the impression that they thought their orgy would go on forever, like you did, but maybe I'll read it again, just to be sure.
Even though I've read a LOT of comic books in my time, this is only my second graphic novel (mostly because the damned things tend to be so expensive!). My first one was "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. Unbelievably good.
Good post.