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A review by caitlinxmartin
30 Days of Night, Vol. 2: Dark Days by Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith
4.0
Although I was a bit lukewarm on the story of 30 Days of Night, I was anything but lukewarm about the art. Great concept altogether and I'll put up with a little bit of hokieness in the story for art of this stellar quality.
Dark Days follows Stella Olemaun and her crew as they try to warn the world about the vampires. The story here is much much better. Taking characters out to play in twilight Los Angeles and letting them blow things up, battle vampires, and generally kick some major ass is highly entertaining. Again the art is absolutely gorgeous.
Templesmith renders the work in tones of sepia that add to that feel you get if you're walking at night in L.A. Everything's kind of smoggy and brown and fuzzy and the streetlights barely cut through the mess of the atmosphere. It's very noir and the usual big red splashes where you can't quite figure out what's going on punctuate the rhythm of the story. Templesmith makes great art - I'd put up with no story just to feast my eyes.
This one reminded me a lot of the game, Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Lines, a vampire RPG that takes place in Los Angeles. There's a gritty downtown feel to both. This isn't the pretty part of L.A. - all sunshiney beaches and smiling plastic people. This is the seamier side, in some ways what's always felt to me like the real LA - what's left when you strip away the fingernail scrapings deep surface.
Great horror comic. Highly recommended.
Dark Days follows Stella Olemaun and her crew as they try to warn the world about the vampires. The story here is much much better. Taking characters out to play in twilight Los Angeles and letting them blow things up, battle vampires, and generally kick some major ass is highly entertaining. Again the art is absolutely gorgeous.
Templesmith renders the work in tones of sepia that add to that feel you get if you're walking at night in L.A. Everything's kind of smoggy and brown and fuzzy and the streetlights barely cut through the mess of the atmosphere. It's very noir and the usual big red splashes where you can't quite figure out what's going on punctuate the rhythm of the story. Templesmith makes great art - I'd put up with no story just to feast my eyes.
This one reminded me a lot of the game, Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood Lines, a vampire RPG that takes place in Los Angeles. There's a gritty downtown feel to both. This isn't the pretty part of L.A. - all sunshiney beaches and smiling plastic people. This is the seamier side, in some ways what's always felt to me like the real LA - what's left when you strip away the fingernail scrapings deep surface.
Great horror comic. Highly recommended.