IDW Publishing 2017
Written by Steve Niles
Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski
Coloured by Brad Simpson
Lettered by Tom B Long
As the sun sets over an isolated Alaskan township—not to rise again for a month—a new evil emerges from the shadows to terrorize the town… But after a series of strange events and horrific killings, the question becomes what lurks in the shadows? 30 Days of Night is reborn in an all new re-imagining of the series designed to titillate the mind and horrify the senses!
If you could go back and do it all over again would you? Well Steve answers that right here and now with a resounding yes. Same setting, same characters but the story travels in a different route than the last time. So get ready to find familiar thrills, chills and all new flights of terror as the unsuspecting populace left in Barrow, Alaska try to survive 30 Days of Night for the first time all over again!
So this time around we see a big man walking into town as it’s citizens are preparing to leave, he’s looking for work. Meanwhile Eben and Stella are waking up getting ready to start the day when the calls are already coming in. Alcohol and arguing with Rich and Martha, vandalism of some snow mobiles and out in the wilderness something wicked this way comes.
Since we knew what the previous story had in store there is already an extra layer of anticipation here about how this one will deviate. It isn’t hard to spot the differences but that doesn’t mean all that much in the beginning. Though when Eben is running through town trying to chase down Connor (who I thought was supposed to be Rich) Stella and Walt are making a discovery of their own.
So no this doesn’t follow the same pattern as the last one and yet it inherently has to, the premise of a town that’s got no sunrise for 30 days keeping it in perpetual night is the perfect place for vampires to end up. Even more so let those that have left come back and resettle in and rebuild the population for the next cycle. It really is kind of a perfect storm waiting to happen and that Steve can bring it to life like he does is something extraordinary to say the least. He is a master storyteller and he knows how to structure a story and create that ebb & flow to its maximum effect. The anticipation factor of the horror lying in wait adds just the right amount of tension to the proceedings.
I’ve been a fan of Piotr’s for a while now and the realism he can bring to the characters is spectacular to see. His eye for storytelling is strong as we see in his use of page layouts and the angles and perspective used in the panels. The attention to detail he brings in things like the falling snow or the expert utilisation of backgrounds expands the story in ways that only a truly talented artist can. This is a master class in how to use the land and what’s happening to add depth and dimension that the reader may not immediately notice but is totally appreciated.
The characterisation here is pretty darn solid. I like that they feel both familiar and yet like completely distinct new individuals. With the no alcohol allowed in Barrow and it being broken like we see with Rich makes the town seem more real. Not that it isn’t I mean the real town even has a University there but for all intents and purposes the mix of personalities that we see make it feel like the town is easily accessible.
This feels new even with a familiar cast of characters it’s like one of those programmes where the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Something we know of but haven’t seen and yeah it’s hard to accomplish that when it’s your creation to begin with but leave it to Steve to pull it off with a stunningly dramatic first issue!