30 Days of Night: 30 Days 'til Death [Paperback]

***Before anyone flames me for word use, I meant "addition" as a word indicating an added volume to this line of books, *not* as the word "edition".***

Anyway, on with the review.

I have read almost all volumes of the 30 Days of Night graphic novels up to this one, and I was amazed at the quality of this product by the time I was done using it. I will break my review up into different sections to provide you potential consumers with a useful and effective bit of text to read. I will also rate each aspect of the book on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the greatest value (meaning "superb").

Story:
Rating: 5/5

***Beware of spoilers. If you don't want to know what happens, skip past the first paragraph or two in this portion of the review.***

The story generally revolves around a vampire-in-hiding by the name of Rufus (no last name is ever given). He has taken extreme measures to make sure that he blends in with the other residents of the apartment building in which he lives- doing as much as buying a dog and kidnapping (with subsequent brainwashing implied) a heroine-addicted prostitute that he finds on the streets that he passes off as a partner. It is explained a bit further in that vampire elders (head figures of authority) were previously sent to the old home-town of Rufus to dispatch the "troublesome young breed" of bloodsuckers that were apparently compromising the integrity of the greater vampire population by causing all sorts of trouble and ruckus in that particular area (and likely in others). Long story short, Rufus and his buddies feed on a ton of people in a bar after picking a fight with one of the patrons, and they soon return to their "nest" to find all of their vampire peers slaughtered by the elders. Rufus and one of his friends are able to escape, and the flashback ends.

Later, the friend of Rufus who survived the massacre winds up at a party his "partner" throws, along with a family of other vampires (my favorite was the fat kid vampire simply called Bobby-Boy). They make temporary residence with Rufus, only to stir up enough trouble to push him to the limits of his patience. Later, as he (Rufus) finds himself about to kill them with an axe, the elder vampires show up and infiltrate the building. Between this point and the end of the story, a bunch of people are either killed or converted into vampires. In the end, however, only Rufus makes it to the final page, and at this point his fate is uncertain (it could be implied that he is killed by the elders. I'll let you decide.)

***END OF SPOILERS***

Now, my thoughts on the story. What can I say, other than it is just brilliant? I admit, part of it seems familiar. However, the plot seemed new enough to me to keep me consistently interested as I read. I wanted to see what happened page after page, and I never speed-read through any of the dialogue (this is rare for me) for the sake of finishing the book to see how it ended.

It did, however, seem drastically different from the rest of the storylines of the 30 Days of Night series. This is *not* a bad thing to me. However, for the faithful fan of the trilogy, it might be disappointing, or at least discomforting. While the other volumes are pretty vague in concepts used (meaning there is a lot left to the imagination), the ideas and sub-plots in this one are very clear. There are less cliff-hangers aside from the ending throughout the storyline, resulting in less questioning by readers as to what happens and how things work together to form the umbrella topic. While I tend to mostly enjoy complex lore, this was refreshing in a way, because I didn't have to put the book down to think. It was like being on a roller coaster versus a taxi that stops at every other red light.

If you want a good read that won't mess with your head, then this is a good read to add to your collection. However, if you want to stick by the way the other books in the series are written, then you may want to wait to read this. You may ask yourself, "if it is a volume in the saga, why not read it in the position that it falls?" Well, I'll get to that a little later. Keep reading.

Art: 4/5

The art is amazing, and I would give it a 5/5 rating if I was more of a fan of classic-style comic art. While this is a fairly recent volume, David Lapham- as in most of his works- uses older techniques that are evident in the pre-2000's marvel comics. Some people will really dig this, and others won't, especially for this series. However, one thing that I truly love about 30 Days of Night (as the entire saga) is that many of the books feature different artists with distinctive styles.

The colors are nice and dark. The lines are very smooth. The covers featured in the back of the book are just outstanding, and I wish they were pull-outs that I could put on my wall.

Novelty: 5/5

Remember earlier when I mentioned that this should not be read in any specific position in the series? Well, here is my support of that statement: it does not have a volume number. If you look on the binding side of the book- where the volume number should be located- there is no where indicating which volume this is. I assume this is not numbered due to the fact that it was written and illustrated completely by David Lapham- Niles was not featured, and Templesmith only illustrated a few of the cover artworks. However, I am not certain.

Consumers should not consider this book a deficit to the series, simply because it is not numbered. Rather, think of it as a "relevant filler" that can be read in any order as long as it is after the first book (the main placeholder provided is the death of Vincent, which serves as a part of the conclusion to the first title). You could read it as the last 30 DON graphic novel, or as the second without ruining the transitioning plot.

To me, it fits wonderfully in my collection. However, because it is not a volume per-say, it is likely the hardest to find. I have been to four or five bookstores in Washington, and three of them carried all volumes *except* for this one. I finally found it later on in a small Seattle comic book store. So, what is my answer to this? Order it on Amazon. There is little point to going to countless bookstores in search of it, only to be let down.

Happy reading, and hope this helped.

In the editorial preview I see the term " "thin the heard" " Come on Folks this is a website of Books the word is HERD as in HERD of Cattle not Heard as I HEARD ( which refers to the act of Hearing ) some idiot speaking a language that doesn't exist. Anyway these are great books

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars