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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It’s like a Cola slurpee. It’s cold, dark, has some energy and aesthetic, but ultimately does not have any sustenance or nuance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Medical trauma
Minor: Child death
There is a lot of decapitations, ornamenting bodies like decorations, and some needle trauma.
Well, this is a divisive vampire horror comic. The art is incredibly unique. And personally, I love it. That being said I would not hold it against anyone if they said that it was hideous and made the comic unreadable. You should definitely look at some of the art online before purchasing or borrowing this book.
As for the story, it's bare-bones as a result of its page count. It could have used another 100 pages to flesh out the characters' backstory, develop them, and ramp up the tension. The only place where the story shows any complexity is in its characters. Three characters, in particular, don't fit neatly into any basic vampire story archetypes. The impact they have on the plot is the story's one saving grace.
If you have watched the movie then there's bad and good news. The bad news, as you should already be able to tell, is that it's not as good as the movie. The good news is that a lot of what happens in the comic was cut in the movie so you're in for some surprises. The two major deviations between the comic and the movie manage to keep the story from being too basic.
I'm conflicted about my star rating. The brevity certainly mars its potential but there's something special here.
As for the story, it's bare-bones as a result of its page count. It could have used another 100 pages to flesh out the characters' backstory, develop them, and ramp up the tension. The only place where the story shows any complexity is in its characters. Three characters, in particular, don't fit neatly into any basic vampire story archetypes. The impact they have on the plot is the story's one saving grace.
If you have watched the movie then there's bad and good news. The bad news, as you should already be able to tell, is that it's not as good as the movie. The good news is that a lot of what happens in the comic was cut in the movie so you're in for some surprises. The two major deviations between the comic and the movie manage to keep the story from being too basic.
I'm conflicted about my star rating. The brevity certainly mars its potential but there's something special here.
One of the biggest problems with having to rely on getting graphic novels from the library is that you almost never get to read them in order (not that I'm complaining, I'm glad to get anything I can from the library). The upshot is that you often lose both continuity and context when you are in the middle of an ongoing series. This is a long way of saying thank you to the "previously on 30 Days of Night" write up on the first page, otherwise I would have been completely lost with this one.
This is the book that reunites Eben and Stella, despite Eben dying at the end of the first book (in both the original three part story and the film that was based on it). There's a steep price to pay for that reunion though, as both of them. The final shot of the story is to see them making the decision to return to their home in Barrow.
In between we meet a bunch of less than bright new vampires, a Buffy wannabe and her husband, and a baby that will never grow up but is the oldest of them all. All of these disparate groups are trying to gain the upper hand without truly knowing who the others are, and into the midst of this Eben and Stella pretty much stumble.
There's a lot of blood spilled, a lot of fighting and at least a bit of progression in the story as our main characters accept their fate and move on, but it felt confusing at times. This was exacerbated by the artwork which was very good but paradoxically very muddled, particularly in distinguishing between the three main female characters who looked far too much alike at times and which sometimes made it hard to work out what was going on.
I wavered between 3 and 4 stars so probably 3 1/2 rounded up.
This is the book that reunites Eben and Stella, despite Eben dying at the end of the first book (in both the original three part story and the film that was based on it). There's a steep price to pay for that reunion though, as both of them
Spoiler
become vampiresIn between we meet a bunch of less than bright new vampires, a Buffy wannabe and her husband, and a baby that will never grow up but is the oldest of them all. All of these disparate groups are trying to gain the upper hand without truly knowing who the others are, and into the midst of this Eben and Stella pretty much stumble.
There's a lot of blood spilled, a lot of fighting and at least a bit of progression in the story as our main characters accept their fate and move on, but it felt confusing at times. This was exacerbated by the artwork which was very good but paradoxically very muddled, particularly in distinguishing between the three main female characters who looked far too much alike at times and which sometimes made it hard to work out what was going on.
I wavered between 3 and 4 stars so probably 3 1/2 rounded up.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love the art style. It's expressive and creepy. The story had a lot of action and emotion, kind of like the film, but it felt really short.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
No. Just no.
So, probably like most people who've read this, I watched the movie first. It was okay. The premise was interesting and the aesthetics were good. This just has the premise.
I realize that this is just the first in a series, but it doesn't leave a good impression of what's to come. The entire story seemed remarkably rushed (not really surprising since the story is only around 80 pages), the art is divisive at best, characters aren't really developed in any meaningful way, and a lot of story hooks are just kind of ended very quickly. I'm sure the latter would be fixed in the next volume, but if the plot is in anyway similar to how this was done, I have no expectations of it being satisfied in a conclusive and interesting way.
The rush to reach the end of this volume was just so crazy to me. I could forgive the art because it does have an aesthetic sort of interest to it, but the way this story is presented otherwise is just unforgivable to me. Character dialogue was laughable; first of all, it was just bad and second, the little bit of the characters personality's that we got was so barely there and unpleasant. One of the first scenes we get with the vampires has a page where they all jump at the "camera" and scream? There's a long and large text that just says "huaarrrghhh" basically. It would be comedic if this wasn't meant to be a drama.
The vampires aren't interesting, but somehow they're the only ones who actually get some screen time in comparison to the humans. I can't for the life of me remember the sheriff's name, or if he even *had* one, at this point. Only him and his wife get any amount of screen time. The only vampire of interest to us as the reader was the head vampire and well, look what happened to him.
The only thing interesting (and a big divergence from the movie, besides the talking vampires) was some apparent vampire hunters. But that part of the story LITERALLY went down in flames almost immediately. It was essentially just a teaser and then it was gone. I'm sure it will be picked up in later volumes, like I said, but Lord have mercy, why couldn't part of it have been in this one?
I don't know. This was just a mess. Messy and confusing art, messy dialogue, messy plotlines, and messy characters. I'm not sure if I'll read any further into this series, even if the rest of these are also available on kindle unlimited. I'll have to see how I feel about it.
So, probably like most people who've read this, I watched the movie first. It was okay. The premise was interesting and the aesthetics were good. This just has the premise.
I realize that this is just the first in a series, but it doesn't leave a good impression of what's to come. The entire story seemed remarkably rushed (not really surprising since the story is only around 80 pages), the art is divisive at best, characters aren't really developed in any meaningful way, and a lot of story hooks are just kind of ended very quickly. I'm sure the latter would be fixed in the next volume, but if the plot is in anyway similar to how this was done, I have no expectations of it being satisfied in a conclusive and interesting way.
The rush to reach the end of this volume was just so crazy to me. I could forgive the art because it does have an aesthetic sort of interest to it, but the way this story is presented otherwise is just unforgivable to me. Character dialogue was laughable; first of all, it was just bad and second, the little bit of the characters personality's that we got was so barely there and unpleasant. One of the first scenes we get with the vampires has a page where they all jump at the "camera" and scream? There's a long and large text that just says "huaarrrghhh" basically. It would be comedic if this wasn't meant to be a drama.
The vampires aren't interesting, but somehow they're the only ones who actually get some screen time in comparison to the humans. I can't for the life of me remember the sheriff's name, or if he even *had* one, at this point. Only him and his wife get any amount of screen time. The only vampire of interest to us as the reader was the head vampire and well, look what happened to him.
The only thing interesting (and a big divergence from the movie, besides the talking vampires) was some apparent vampire hunters. But that part of the story LITERALLY went down in flames almost immediately. It was essentially just a teaser and then it was gone. I'm sure it will be picked up in later volumes, like I said, but Lord have mercy, why couldn't part of it have been in this one?
I don't know. This was just a mess. Messy and confusing art, messy dialogue, messy plotlines, and messy characters. I'm not sure if I'll read any further into this series, even if the rest of these are also available on kindle unlimited. I'll have to see how I feel about it.
dark
tense
fast-paced
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
While I was really impressed with the artwork, the story was weak sauce. I liked the female character much more in the comic than I did in the book, though, and that's a rarity.