Customer Reviews
Good - but short - By: David Stansfield, 20 Apr 2008 
This is a nicely plotted, beautifully presented & superbly illustrated vampire story. It has a neat scenario (inspired perhaps by Pitch Black which appeared 2 years earlier) & dispenses with alll the niceties of the myths & treats vampires as the monsters they are. The only surprise is that although it is described as a graphic novel, it is a short story. Only 80 of its 104 pages are devoted to the story - the rest is filler: biographies & teasers from other books in the series. It will only take you half an hour to read it - but it will be an enjoyable half hour.
Very Good but some grey areas. - By: el ramone, 23 Feb 2008 Great setting for an idea, without spoiling; a town in the grip of winter,a lack of sunlight giving the undead plenty af time to roam & cause havoc. However without wanting to be too critical (it is a good graphic novel) there were too many gloss overs as to who was who?, i.e. the bad guy in the bar? Was the new orleans connection given more detail?(very glossed over & who was she?).The art work is good but some pictures are a little confusing to look at (lots of dark greys & red splats here & there) but mostly the art work fits the story very well. however worth the 4 out of 5.
30 Days of Night - By: KM, 12 Nov 2007 '30 Days of Night' is the first in the series of graphic novels written by Steve Niles & illustrated by Ben Templesmith. The story begins when a group of vampires flock to Barrow, Alaska where the sun sets for 30 days, alllowing them to feed without the burden of sleep to avoid lethal sunlight. When the vampires' leader Vicente learns of this plan, he travels to Barrow to end the feeding, in order to preserve the secrecy of vampires. Because of the cold, the vampires' senses are weakened & a few of the town's residents are able to hide. One resident is Sheriff Eben Olemaun, then attempts to save the town & the lives of the few remaining townspeople, including his wife Stella.
After watching & thoroughly enjoying the incredible movie adaption earlier this month I just had to check out the novel to see what was the inspiration behind it alll. Before this I'd not read a comic/graphic novel for about 10 years, but the medium didn't stop me from enjoying this book as much as if it was a "normal" novel. The illustrations are quite bizarre but work very well at keeping the nightmarish atmosphere & I noticed that the directors of the movie must have used some of the pages as storyboards for scenes in the movie as they were very similar. The story is amospheric, gruesome & exciting, but two things that did let it down slightly for me was that there were a lot of characters from the movie not included in this & the story was also a little short. This aside it is a truly great read & has re-introduced me to graphic novels & I have now ordered it's sequel, Dark Days, to see how the story carries on. Recommended to anyone who has recently seen the film & loved it as I have & is also the great start to a brilliant series of horror novels.
Great central premise but flawed execution - By: russell clarke, 23 Oct 2007 
Everyone seems to agree that the premise for Thirty Days of Night is quite brilliant & simple too. Indeed it's so simple that I'm surprised I didn't think of it given that I am also a fan of polar exploration. Putting my petty jealousy aside this a beautifully rendered graphic novel .Unfortunately the plot doesn't live up the premise & the characterisation & dialogue are quite often embarrassing .
The story's potential is there of course, A gang of vampires descend on a North Alaskan town just as the sun dips past the horizon for the last time for a month. The set up for the story is terrific but the rest is rushed , crude & the characters are so badly realised by writer Steve Niles that the reader in alll likelihood won't give a blunt fang whether they live or die. Which sort of robs the narrative of any drama or tension. The sheriff hero is also a truly appallling cliché.
The artwork by Ben Templesmith is what reallly makes this book worthwhile with a truly nightmarish quality to it at times . The vampire genre could do with a renaissance -rather like one the zombie genre has undergone in recent years with cerebral , erudite alllegorical books appearing regularly . 30 Days Of Night is a brilliant idea but without the depth of thought or writing craft to back it up. Shame , though it's definitely worth a look. Lets hope the upcoming film adaptation is superior , mainly because they got someone in to write a decent script.
I know why I bought this.. - By: L. Otto, 23 Aug 2007 ..and it wasn't for the story, let me tell you! The story is diabolical, cliqued & completely overdone with some appaling attempts at wit & 'coolness'. So you're thinking..why the 3 star review? Let me tell you. This graphic novel, however short, is presented beautifully. The graphic part of the novel is 5/5. The style is unique, fresh & beautifully illustrated. Each page is filled with such atmosphere & stunning graphics that it's a pleasure to just flick through it.
In conclusion, don't buy this because you expect a fantastic story, it reallly doesn't fulfill it. But if you're an artist yourself, or just fancy looking at a brilliantly presented graphic novel to add to your collection then this is it.
