30 Days of Night: 30 Days 'Til Death
Issue: #1
Writer: David Lapham
Artist:
32 pp. IDW Publishing. $3.99
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
“You have no idea how much I’m going to love this.”—David Lapham, 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death #1
Forget the sparkly, feel-good, Disney-fied vampires of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. This is how vampires should be. Brutal, ruthless monsters looking to sink their works into some hapless victim. If you want cuddly, get a teddy bear. But if you want horrible coffin-busting fiends, then IDW Publishing’s new series 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death will satiate your thirst.
The first issue introduces us to Rufus Welleby. He’s friendly and considerate to those he meets, but a terrible darkness lies beneath his congenial exterior. His motto is conformity, because if you “don’t make waves,” you “don’t attract attention.” And the last thing Rufus wants is attention.
Through happenstance Rufus gets involved with his neighbors across the hall, grandparents who are helpless in stopping their grandson from dealing drugs. Rufus offers to talk with the young man in hopes of convincing him to change his lifestyle.
David Lapham does double duty on this issue, handling both the scripting and art chores. This was my introduction to Lapham, and I came away from the issue impressed with the overall quality of the book. The visuals are solid, clean and classic looking. Lapham’s skill though lies more in seamless storytelling than jaw-dropping art. I loved the flow of the issue, the plotting was perfect as all the events in the narrative clicked together beautifully.
Horror comics (and particularly vampires) are starting to feel stale to me, but Lapham’s 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Till Death is an auspicious and intriguing beginning. If the series is going to be this good, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the second issue. (Wow, that pun was so bad, even I’m embarrassed.)
Final Grade: 82 out of 100
3 comments:
I am seriously planing to get me one of those comic books. You can never go wrong with bloody horror. So far my interest has been with Hack/Slash.
By the way, I added you on my Blog Roll and can I ask whether it is possible for you to add my review blog to your Blog Roll.
http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot.com/
daydream,
I seem to either love or hate horror comics. There is no in between with me. But this is definitely one of the more interesting ones.
My blogroll is woefully out of date, but I've added you. That's a great site you have there.
First of all thank you, if it wasn't for the enourmous Link Meme, I wouldn't have updated my blog at all and I have been around for a year.
As far as comics go, I confess that I think I just haven't had enough to read to establish any particular tastes and spot what I like and don't. Basically great art [or just art] can erase all traces of thought in me.
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