30 Days of Night is further proof that IDW Publishing is saving the comic book industry for collectors who demand a riveting story with breathtaking artwork. If you love Sam and Twitch and HellSpawn, this is the series for you.
The premise of this 3-issue mini-series began when author, Steve Niles, read an article “about a place in Alaska where the sun goes down for weeks at a time, where alcohol is illegal because of the suicide rate.” He wondered, “What if they [Vampires] read the same article” and “planned an attack”? Thus, 30 Days of Night was born.
It’s a brilliant premise, and Steven follows through with two heroes, Sheriff Eben Olemaun and his wife, Stella, who are the law in Barrow, Alaska. Eben and Stella quickly show they’re not afraid of using their instincts or their weapons when they arrest one of the Vamp scouts who’s come to Ikos Diner demanding whiskey and raw hamburger meat for supper. I won’t give the rest away, but get ready for some of Ben Templesmith’s finest artwork to date, and get ready for a storyline that’ll make you hiss with displeasure that you’ll have to wait until August, 2002 for issue #2.
My only concern with this issue is as much as I love Ashley Wood’s artwork (Heck, if I were a woman, I would have his baby!!), I’m a little worried the current cover doesn’t capture the tone of the wicked brilliance within and this will hurt sales. I believe the image IDW should have used is on the last page of #1: the gray Vamp face with bloody teeth. This should have been the cover. But that’s just me. Perhaps when IDW combines all three issues in a graphic novel?
But all in all 5 out of 5. Hats off to artist, author, and publisher, Ted Williams, and hats off to everyone at IDW Publishing. Keep up the fantastic work so collectors like myself can enjoy comic book collecting again. Hats off to your foresight into publishing Ashley Wood’s PopBot and Steve Niles’ illustrated novel, Savage Membrane. This is literature!
For more information, check out the IDW Publishing website. Also check out my list of the ten most important graphic novels published so far.