Graphic Novel Review: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: BEYOND BARROW

It has been several years since Barrow, Alaska was plagued by vampires into the original graphic novel 30 DAYS OF NIGHT by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith. Now Niles returns to Barrow, almost, in the new graphic novel 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: BEYOND BARROW (the ninth graphic novel in the ongoing series). Although Templesmith is missing in action on this adventure celebrated artist Bill Sienkiewicz is on duty to bring new life to the vampire menace.

Niles and company have decided to take the mythology of the series into a whole new arena by presenting a menace that is even more deadly then the original vampires of the first series. In this new story a group of tourists manage to barter their way just outside Barrow during the infamous 30 days of night on the hunt to capture a picture and evidence of the existence of vampires that they have heard about from the newspapers and books. To bad for them that a gang of vampires seeking to stop over in Barrow for a quick snack are themselves killed off by something that seems to hide in the snow and strike out when least expected.

Survivor John Ikos, from the very first attack on Barrow, soon finds his hands full facing a new menace that’s older and more dangerous then anything ever encountered before and he will have to travel outside the safety of Barrow’s secure gates in order to save the tourists and hopefully survive one more time.

Much like the very first 30 DAYS OF NIGHT series, BEYOND BARROW was originally a three-issue limited series that was fast and furious with more mood and horror then character and story and the just like that series it works well again here. I’ve only read a handful of Niles’ best known stories (as he writes more then just about any other comic book writer working today), so, I’m not totally numb on his storytelling style yet. My only problem with this story is that I actually didn’t care whether any of the tourists lived or died and had more fun seeing Sienkiewicz kill them off in great artistic ways. This is definitely a “colder” experience (if it can get any colder) and not as dynamic as some of the previous stories in the series.

Regardless, Niles thinks there is more life in this series and as long as people keep reading, there will be more stories to tell.