30 Days of Night

       Graphic novels have made significant gains in popularity and acceptance in the last couple of

decades. The idea that panels of stylized drawings  were once the realm of comics for children only is dead. Now graphic novels can tread into R rated material with surprisingly wonderful results. I enjoy digging into a graphic novel on occasion. As much as I love traditional novels, sometimes you want a good story that is quick and visual. 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith is one of the big ones to thrust horror graphic novels into the spotlight. In this case, the praise is well deserved. 30 Days of Night is a enjoyable read that feels classic and modern at the same time.

      The plot is a straightforward attack on the small Alaskan town of Barrow. As the arctic town experiences of a full month where the sun never rises, vampires decide to take the opportunity of the darkness to descend upon Barrow and feed at will.  It's a simple idea and brilliant at the same time. A small isolated populated area that is trapped in night for a month would easily top a vampire's vacation list. Then, this great idea is shattered by another equally simple idea: vampires need to remain hidden from the public view. After all, if people knew of them surely a mass effort to eliminate the creatures would assemble in no time. Vicente (the vampire elder) arrives to fix the mess of the town in order to keep the secret of the vampires safe. This was a great twist that in hindsight should have been obvious and yet was a surprise as the audience is still soaking in the brilliance of the vampires plan for the month long blood feast. The plot kept the momentum moving forward without adding anything unnecessary. Not a single character didn't have it's role to play nor a single scene that wasn't vital to the story.

       The visual part of the graphic novel I felt served the story well. A distinct atmosphere was created by the illustrations that made the story feel other-worldly and unique. The vampires and gore are displayed with a grotesque flair. This is what makes a graphic novel a different reading experience than a standard one. A traditional novel would have more room for character development and sub-plots and so on, however it's impossible to ensure readers see the story exactly as the writer imagines it. Each reader will fill in a traditional novel with their own imagination to some degree. In the graphic novel format, readers actually see what the writer intended with the style and atmospheres visually presented.

       The sub-plot with the Louisianian voodoo woman and her son I'm a bit on the fence about. The emails did give some foreshadowing and the son's arrival gave the reader a false hope of rescue for the remaining trapped people in Barrow. Could the story have done without them? No. Originally, this story was a movie pitch that wasn't picked up (funnily enough, it was made into a movie after the graphic novel did so well). I can see how the the Louisianian woman's attempt to get proof of the vampires would work in a film and it would be a way to leave the world open for a sequel. As the story has continued in graphic novel form, I'm sure this woman has popped up in future plots. So she has her place in the world and the story.

      As far as negatives go, there were some plot holes. How does our hero Eben manage to keep control of himself in vampire form? How do the survivors manage to live through an entire month in freezing temperatures without heat? Why does Vicente wait until the end of the month to try and stop the attack? Why does Eben transform so soon before the sun was to rise and the vampires were to leave? Honestly, these holes were easier for me to forgive than in many of the other works I've reviewed. I think this is in part due to the format. This was meant to be visually appealing and fun, so I read it with a little more lightness than a traditional novel. Characters were not as developed as they could have been, but again this comes down to format. The main focus here is on the quick story and the illustrations. Had this been a standard novel, I would have expected to get to know the characters far better.

      Overall, this is a great quick story that hits the classic monster vein while adding in a refreshingly modern appeal. Perfect if you are waiting in a doctors office or just feel that a concise creepy tale that you can finish in the span of drinking a cup of tea is right for the evening.