30 Days of Night
The set up is sound, ominous. The beginning sets the reader up with a knowledge of the weather pattern and that the town is about to lose sunlight for thirty days.
George bringing the notice and the one vampire in the bar also set up very eerie feelings, especially since the sun isn't going to be in attendance for a bit. All the cool people come out at night, ordinary people refer to them as freaks. The vampires in this graphic novel are rather horrifying. They even get their own speech bubble and text style, have long sharp teeth, are generally harsh, and always have an evil smirk. The images of them may be a bit blurred, but they still look rather creepy and dark, page twenty-six, twenty-eight and twenty-nine are great examples- of this.
It could just be the version I have, Amazon sent me on the run around a few times sending me the wrong comic, but the images are hard to make out and blurry. These characteristics make the plot much less enjoyable because it is written to have pictures displaying the action; therefore, little to no description. For example, on page eighteen, what does the vamp do to Gus? It's just a flash of red and the vampire in a pose. Does it show he ripped Gus' heart out? Considering I couldn't make half of the images out, I was less than unpleased for most of the time. Gus' head on the stick was a nice touch, though.
I did enjoy the pace. I found a lot of pleasure out of Marlow's hatred for humanity and love for the hunt. We watch a lot of people go down in a short amount of time, or what feels like a short amount of time. The greed of the vampires is also unique. They have so much time to feed and torture the town of Borrow, but they seemingly are overdoing it out of euphoria in what seems like such a short time. They are also aware that they do not want to populate their species with human hybrids. They make sure to feast and then remove the heads of the victims.
Some weird inconsistency I noticed was that Stella and Eben conjured up this idea that it was the brain they have to kill in order to slay the monsters. I've never heard of this in any vampire story, and I am not sure I follow the logic. I mean, Matheson didn't even allow his hybrids a bullet to the brain as a way of death. So, it just seemed silly when they had that conversation in the grate. The pixel artwork offers little help, as well. A bit further into the comic, they clarify that bullets, stakes, and crosses do nothing but make the vampires laugh. So, yes, its stupidity is made up for, but the idea is just too silly for me to sit and take it. There is even a following scene where Eben shoots another creature in the head, and the vampire is all, "Look what you did now." I see stakes in hearts (isn't there something about ripping its heart out too?) as the most common form of killing vampires, so I am not surprised this cliche was taken out. The other most obvious one in killing a vampire is removing the head. Stay tuned.
Ironically, the cold messes with the vampires' senses. I found that odd because I have never heard it before. I watched the film awhile ago, and I think I may have rolled my eyes at this idea if it was put in there. But cannot confirm it precisely from the film because I roll my eyes at a lot of things, and don't remember this weird characteristic. I watched the movie a few years ago, and it seems much of all I remember now is them hiding out in an attic keeping all the windows covered to prevent the vampires from finding them (at least I hope that's the correct film LOL. I watch a lot of horror films).
The little girl Eben encounters while fleeing from the angry and hungry vampire he shot in the head is perfect. She speaks like a little demon child, looks horrendous, and her purple bowed pigtails add to the creepy factor. She is holding the man she is feeding on by the neck and smiles, asking Eben to play with her now. A brief but well-done scene.
The dominant vampire, Vicente, comes in to make sure these rabid creatures understand their own idiocy. I'll be honest, I get his point and support it. I thought the group was ridiculously euphoric and over-ambitious in this action of feasting on an entire town's population, hence from what I stated earlier about their abundance of time, yet not capitalizing on it correctly. Can you capitalize on time appropriately, though? Ignoring Philosophy, I feel that you can. It just takes some thought and planning. Let me tell you, even as long as they waited, patience was not a virtue these vampires had. V rips Marlow's head off for the ignorance, and that creepy little vampire kid is back laughing at it. I would like to welcome her as my sister, twisted little shit.
In V's resolve, he has no choice but to make sure all the other survivors are killed to ensure the safety of his species. I think burning the town is a smart idea, but logically making sense? Nope. Someone is going to know the bodies were grouped together, and the fire was intentional if they get an investigator/marshall, which if a whole town seemingly went up in flames and all the folks happened to be in the same building laying around each other, someone is investigating. Also, rather questioning how V got to the helicopter. It didn't appear to be low, and I don't remember any lore about flying vampires except in a bat form. Regardless, his intelligence is high up there, considering a helicopter crash could logically explain the fire. However, an investigation will still show otherwise, but is that besides the point?
The further I got into the comic, the more I realized I barely remember anything from the movie. I cannot remember if there was a scene where blood was injected to become one. I feel like there was a huge fight scene at the end, but I really can't remember. Either way, I liked the idea. Pit new vampire vs. older vampires or the grandmaster. By logic, the newbie should get it, but by hopefully story-telling and endings, typically there is some strange and unknown until then advantage that comes around to let the new win. I liked Vicente a lot. I thought he was the grandmaster of all grandmasters. He was brutal, an asshole, and the right amount of cocky (that's a thing?). I was bitter after Eben, the newbie, "I am going to save us all" prick killed him. Surprise! Did you miss it? I hated the ending because V should be alive and all the meat sacs should be burnt to crispy bacon. I find no enjoyment out of twists where humanity pulls through against impossible odds. Not only that, but Eben takes the easy way out and lets the sun burn him when it finally rises. I remember this from the movie as well.
The imagery was lacking due to the lack of clarity in the artwork. The gore was red splats and flying red pixels nothing remotely close to Barker's Rawhead Rex. The fast pacing was excellent, though I thought this all happened over one night, in reality, it lasted for twenty-nine nights. I don't know what is more horrifying, to see that time moved that fast, or the fact the people hiding out stayed confined all that time. The vampires were great. So, in the interest that this is being reviewed for a monsters course, I give them a solid 8.5 out of 10. The little rating missing is imagine if these grainy images were HD. Then we can talk, not movie HD, but less blur to the art. Sure, the suspense of never knowing what anyone honestly looked like exists and I am here to tell you that idea is wack. You're welcome.
TLDR:
Pros: Vampires are horrifying good in this novel. The plot moves fast. There was never a dull moment in regards to breaking from some sort of action or suspense.
Cons: I am assuming intentionally mediocre quality comic (could just be the version I have though). The newbie beats the senior. There isn't much resolve (but there are other comics so obviously what happened to the vampires that ran off isn't over).
George bringing the notice and the one vampire in the bar also set up very eerie feelings, especially since the sun isn't going to be in attendance for a bit. All the cool people come out at night, ordinary people refer to them as freaks. The vampires in this graphic novel are rather horrifying. They even get their own speech bubble and text style, have long sharp teeth, are generally harsh, and always have an evil smirk. The images of them may be a bit blurred, but they still look rather creepy and dark, page twenty-six, twenty-eight and twenty-nine are great examples- of this.
It could just be the version I have, Amazon sent me on the run around a few times sending me the wrong comic, but the images are hard to make out and blurry. These characteristics make the plot much less enjoyable because it is written to have pictures displaying the action; therefore, little to no description. For example, on page eighteen, what does the vamp do to Gus? It's just a flash of red and the vampire in a pose. Does it show he ripped Gus' heart out? Considering I couldn't make half of the images out, I was less than unpleased for most of the time. Gus' head on the stick was a nice touch, though.
I did enjoy the pace. I found a lot of pleasure out of Marlow's hatred for humanity and love for the hunt. We watch a lot of people go down in a short amount of time, or what feels like a short amount of time. The greed of the vampires is also unique. They have so much time to feed and torture the town of Borrow, but they seemingly are overdoing it out of euphoria in what seems like such a short time. They are also aware that they do not want to populate their species with human hybrids. They make sure to feast and then remove the heads of the victims.
Some weird inconsistency I noticed was that Stella and Eben conjured up this idea that it was the brain they have to kill in order to slay the monsters. I've never heard of this in any vampire story, and I am not sure I follow the logic. I mean, Matheson didn't even allow his hybrids a bullet to the brain as a way of death. So, it just seemed silly when they had that conversation in the grate. The pixel artwork offers little help, as well. A bit further into the comic, they clarify that bullets, stakes, and crosses do nothing but make the vampires laugh. So, yes, its stupidity is made up for, but the idea is just too silly for me to sit and take it. There is even a following scene where Eben shoots another creature in the head, and the vampire is all, "Look what you did now." I see stakes in hearts (isn't there something about ripping its heart out too?) as the most common form of killing vampires, so I am not surprised this cliche was taken out. The other most obvious one in killing a vampire is removing the head. Stay tuned.
Ironically, the cold messes with the vampires' senses. I found that odd because I have never heard it before. I watched the film awhile ago, and I think I may have rolled my eyes at this idea if it was put in there. But cannot confirm it precisely from the film because I roll my eyes at a lot of things, and don't remember this weird characteristic. I watched the movie a few years ago, and it seems much of all I remember now is them hiding out in an attic keeping all the windows covered to prevent the vampires from finding them (at least I hope that's the correct film LOL. I watch a lot of horror films).
The little girl Eben encounters while fleeing from the angry and hungry vampire he shot in the head is perfect. She speaks like a little demon child, looks horrendous, and her purple bowed pigtails add to the creepy factor. She is holding the man she is feeding on by the neck and smiles, asking Eben to play with her now. A brief but well-done scene.
The dominant vampire, Vicente, comes in to make sure these rabid creatures understand their own idiocy. I'll be honest, I get his point and support it. I thought the group was ridiculously euphoric and over-ambitious in this action of feasting on an entire town's population, hence from what I stated earlier about their abundance of time, yet not capitalizing on it correctly. Can you capitalize on time appropriately, though? Ignoring Philosophy, I feel that you can. It just takes some thought and planning. Let me tell you, even as long as they waited, patience was not a virtue these vampires had. V rips Marlow's head off for the ignorance, and that creepy little vampire kid is back laughing at it. I would like to welcome her as my sister, twisted little shit.
In V's resolve, he has no choice but to make sure all the other survivors are killed to ensure the safety of his species. I think burning the town is a smart idea, but logically making sense? Nope. Someone is going to know the bodies were grouped together, and the fire was intentional if they get an investigator/marshall, which if a whole town seemingly went up in flames and all the folks happened to be in the same building laying around each other, someone is investigating. Also, rather questioning how V got to the helicopter. It didn't appear to be low, and I don't remember any lore about flying vampires except in a bat form. Regardless, his intelligence is high up there, considering a helicopter crash could logically explain the fire. However, an investigation will still show otherwise, but is that besides the point?
The further I got into the comic, the more I realized I barely remember anything from the movie. I cannot remember if there was a scene where blood was injected to become one. I feel like there was a huge fight scene at the end, but I really can't remember. Either way, I liked the idea. Pit new vampire vs. older vampires or the grandmaster. By logic, the newbie should get it, but by hopefully story-telling and endings, typically there is some strange and unknown until then advantage that comes around to let the new win. I liked Vicente a lot. I thought he was the grandmaster of all grandmasters. He was brutal, an asshole, and the right amount of cocky (that's a thing?). I was bitter after Eben, the newbie, "I am going to save us all" prick killed him. Surprise! Did you miss it? I hated the ending because V should be alive and all the meat sacs should be burnt to crispy bacon. I find no enjoyment out of twists where humanity pulls through against impossible odds. Not only that, but Eben takes the easy way out and lets the sun burn him when it finally rises. I remember this from the movie as well.
The imagery was lacking due to the lack of clarity in the artwork. The gore was red splats and flying red pixels nothing remotely close to Barker's Rawhead Rex. The fast pacing was excellent, though I thought this all happened over one night, in reality, it lasted for twenty-nine nights. I don't know what is more horrifying, to see that time moved that fast, or the fact the people hiding out stayed confined all that time. The vampires were great. So, in the interest that this is being reviewed for a monsters course, I give them a solid 8.5 out of 10. The little rating missing is imagine if these grainy images were HD. Then we can talk, not movie HD, but less blur to the art. Sure, the suspense of never knowing what anyone honestly looked like exists and I am here to tell you that idea is wack. You're welcome.
TLDR:
Pros: Vampires are horrifying good in this novel. The plot moves fast. There was never a dull moment in regards to breaking from some sort of action or suspense.
Cons: I am assuming intentionally mediocre quality comic (could just be the version I have though). The newbie beats the senior. There isn't much resolve (but there are other comics so obviously what happened to the vampires that ran off isn't over).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo I did this story through audible. It wasn't clear to me either how Vicente got to the helicopter. My assumption is that, since vampires are typically very strong, and Vicente was the master vampire, that he threw something big at the helicopter and damaged the rotor or the blades. In the audible version, you suddenly hear a bunch of alarms and such going off, so I assumed he somehow disabled something the helicopter needed to stay airborne.
ReplyDeleteI had issue with Eben killing Vicente too, though not for the same reasons. My issue was that he underwent the change to vampire and somehow was able to maintain his humanity through the change at least long enough to complete what he set out to do. I find that weak, because there were no indications that something like this was possible. To me, it diminishes the power of what being bitten (or being self-injected) is supposed to do to somebody. Perhaps within a minute or two, I can appreciate holding on to that last shred of humanity to do something heroic, but Eben used tunring into a vampire as part of his plan, and then was able to maintain his senses for way too long. I thought that was a bit of a copout ending.
I don't know if it was just your edition—I had trouble telling what was happening in the artwork both in my print edition and in the PDF online.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling you'd hate the ending! I enjoyed it because I'm a sap—just the right amount of sacrifice for our hero, giving up his life for the cause. Still, you're right that he took the easy way out. I would have liked to see him turn on his loved ones after he saved them either killing Stella or forcing her to kill him. I agree with Shoe's comment above that it felt too convenient to have Eben hold onto his senses for so long, especially given how fast the other infected person transformed. You'd think that guy would be trying his best to hold it together, too...
I'm so glad that other people had issues with the art style. I d agree that the images of the little girl were the best thought.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up the inconsistency of how to kill the vampires, because I didn't really understand it either. If the humans hadn't blatantly said what they discovered by watching the vampires kill one another, I genuinely don't think I would have fully understand by the end either honestly. Though they did show it, it was still a little unclear until Vincente stepped on the one man's head and the sheriff verbally explained how it worked.
Is the movie worth watching from what you remember?
Honestly, I can't remember. I hated the end of the film, but I think the film was like a one night thing. I'll rewatch it sometime over break and text you if I think it is worth a watch!
Delete