30 Days of Night
Writer: Steve Nile
Artist: Templesmith
By Munawar “Glittery” Mobin
First off, let me warn you that this book and this review contains details about graphic violence and is suggested for mature readers only.
Whenever people used to ask me if I've read 30 Days of Night, they used to get disappointed and shake their heads. It's something that even a regular reader should have read in his lifetime and me being a comic book addict makes this situation all the more sad. But hey, the reason we're here right now is because I did buy a copy last week and I have been enlightened!
Apart from this novel, I haven't read Steve Nile's work, but if I was to judge his craftsmanship based on this novel, I'd say he knows what he's doing. The story revolves around a small town in Alaska, Barrow, where it gets so cold that mammoths would need to do winter shopping to live there. The temperatures are averaged at below freezing and from Nov. 18th to Dec. 17th, the sun does not rise.
Our protagonist is the sleepy town's sheriff Eben Olemaun, a man in his 30s who discovers that something weird is going on, on the night before the thirty days of night. What seems an elaborate prank concerning cellphones being stolen soon turns out to be a much greater problem, one that proves to be dangerous and ultimately fatal for most of the town's citizens. When Eben discovers that vampires have trapped the town and cut off all communications, he and a little group of survivors are faced with a deadly choice. Either give up and be eaten or wait out the 30 days of night.
The novel is an amazing read in the sense that the phrasing and the sentencing gets to the reader, grabs his mind and pushes it right into the story. What helps the script is Templesmith's artwork. Although the odd bit about it is that it's the sort of art that not everyone can appreciate as some might see it as a bit extreme. You either love it, or you hate it. I guess it the idea of vampires and snow appealed to me.
The movie has come out a few years back, do grab a copy of that too if you can; but as always, read before watching.
