There have been approximately over ten stories to the undying 30 Days of Night franchise and with each subsequent series brings new artists brings their tale on the iconic vampires of the original series.
In this new series 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death with story & art by David Lapham, the Elders are tired of the ripple effects of the incident that happened in Barrow, Alaska (the original series) and believe that the American vampires need to be thinned so that all vampires will know what real fear is. The Elders send a death squad to America to kill all the “cowboy” vampires (so-called because they are descendents from the first vampire turned in America which was a cowboy).
This story takes a departure from the other stories as it puts a vampire at the forefront of the story. Rufus is a vampire who knows that the only way to avoid being detected by the death squad is to blend in with the humans, so, he gets a lame dog for a pet, takes a junkie woman as his fiancée, and decides to forego killing any humans (at least within city limits) all for the sake of blending in. His plan begins to work perfectly to the point where he begins to like the humans who share his apartment complex. His tranquility is threatened when other vampires from his past decide to crash in on him.
Now Rufus must prevent these new vampires from his past from destroying everything he created before the death squad comes pounding on his door.
I didn’t really care for Lapham’s story as it was so far removed from the original 30 Days of Night series. Although there is a lot of blood flowing throughout (which will keep the fans happy), one of the things I liked most about many of the previous series is the sense of “location” which this series does not have. Most of the story takes place within Rufus’ apartment complex.
Another thing I didn’t like about the series were the cliché characters. I just never became vested in the characters and therefore never really got into the story. It feels as if the series is finally running out of steam and that it should be laid to rest for a time before another series is crafted to cash in on the current popularity of vampires.
CITY GARDEN - "The Old Woman & The Park"
On the set of the short film "A Gift"
Showing posts with label Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2010
Graphic Novel Review: PINOCCHIO, VAMPIRE SLAYER
Whoever thought that Carlo Collodi’s original story of PINOCCHIO could be so much fun? Collodi’s original story is much darker than Walt Disney’s watered down version hence why Van Jensen & Dusty Higgins’ original graphic novel PINOCCHIO, VAMPIRE SLAYER. Unlike the Disney version the events in this story take place directly after the events in Collodi’s story.
Pinocchio does not become a real boy at the end of the Collodi story and in Higgin’s (who created the story) and Jensen’s story soon after returning to Nasolungo where his father Geppeto is killed by a race of vampires who have arisen in the town. Now, Pinocchio declares it his duty to rid the town of the plague of undead. To aid him are his two companions Master Cherry, a carpenter, and the Blue Fairy and his wooden nose which he uses to dispatch each of the vampires he comes into contact with (when he lies his nose grows and then he breaks it off and uses it as a stake to kill the vampires).
Jensen & Higgins craft a compelling story that’s both funny and romantic (since Pinocchio falls in love) and suspenseful and terrifying. No one is safe in this world and Higgins’ artwork proves this. His dark black & white artwork uses rich blacks in which the vampires hide before striking from the darkness to kill their next victim. Pinocchio is seen in such the same darkness as he is a character who is surrounded by death and is on a mission of vengeance to avenge his father’s death.
Although the story rings of influences from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, this story is darker because as Pinocchio continues on his journey he also is slowly learning about his true origins and purpose in the world. He did, in fact, come from a piece of magical talking wood. This adds another dimension to the story that by graphic novel’s end will have you wondering when the next adventure will begin. This is a great graphic novel not for just fans of vampires but fans of Collodi’s original vision as it is a great to see where the character has grown.
Pinocchio does not become a real boy at the end of the Collodi story and in Higgin’s (who created the story) and Jensen’s story soon after returning to Nasolungo where his father Geppeto is killed by a race of vampires who have arisen in the town. Now, Pinocchio declares it his duty to rid the town of the plague of undead. To aid him are his two companions Master Cherry, a carpenter, and the Blue Fairy and his wooden nose which he uses to dispatch each of the vampires he comes into contact with (when he lies his nose grows and then he breaks it off and uses it as a stake to kill the vampires).
Jensen & Higgins craft a compelling story that’s both funny and romantic (since Pinocchio falls in love) and suspenseful and terrifying. No one is safe in this world and Higgins’ artwork proves this. His dark black & white artwork uses rich blacks in which the vampires hide before striking from the darkness to kill their next victim. Pinocchio is seen in such the same darkness as he is a character who is surrounded by death and is on a mission of vengeance to avenge his father’s death.
Although the story rings of influences from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, this story is darker because as Pinocchio continues on his journey he also is slowly learning about his true origins and purpose in the world. He did, in fact, come from a piece of magical talking wood. This adds another dimension to the story that by graphic novel’s end will have you wondering when the next adventure will begin. This is a great graphic novel not for just fans of vampires but fans of Collodi’s original vision as it is a great to see where the character has grown.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Robert England returns to Horror With JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) suffers from anger management that stems from when he was a child on a camping trip with his family and he watched a monster appear out of no where and kill them all except for him who hid away unable to do anything. Now grown up Jack is a plumber and sometimes student of Professor Gordon Crowley (Robert England) who one day asks Jack to help unclog the pipes in his old house.
What Jack unclogs at Prof. Crowley’s house is an age-old evil that takes possession of Crowley. During one night at class the monster within Crowley unleashes itself and decides to take control of everyone in Jack’s class by turning them into monsters. Narrowly escaping the first attack, Jack decides that enough is enough and that he can no longer run from the monsters. When Jack takes a stand it’s not only to help his fellow classmates, but to restore his faith in himself for having let his parents die. Its also the only way in which Jack believes he can control his anger management issues.
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER is a fun filled action-comedy-horror film in the vein of EVIL DEAD II. Even though there is less horror and more action-comedy the film is a treat for all genre filmgoers. England gives a formidable performance that’s as fun as Freddy Kruger, if not more so. Matthews is uneven in parts but it adds to the chaotic nature of Jack’s manic nature.
Written by Jon Knautz (who also directed) and John Ainslie the film is a mixture of pulp monster fun and action-comedy lunacy that just makes for the perfect cult film. Although there are no (as yet) plans for a sequel this is one franchise I would love to see continue.
What Jack unclogs at Prof. Crowley’s house is an age-old evil that takes possession of Crowley. During one night at class the monster within Crowley unleashes itself and decides to take control of everyone in Jack’s class by turning them into monsters. Narrowly escaping the first attack, Jack decides that enough is enough and that he can no longer run from the monsters. When Jack takes a stand it’s not only to help his fellow classmates, but to restore his faith in himself for having let his parents die. Its also the only way in which Jack believes he can control his anger management issues.
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER is a fun filled action-comedy-horror film in the vein of EVIL DEAD II. Even though there is less horror and more action-comedy the film is a treat for all genre filmgoers. England gives a formidable performance that’s as fun as Freddy Kruger, if not more so. Matthews is uneven in parts but it adds to the chaotic nature of Jack’s manic nature.
Written by Jon Knautz (who also directed) and John Ainslie the film is a mixture of pulp monster fun and action-comedy lunacy that just makes for the perfect cult film. Although there are no (as yet) plans for a sequel this is one franchise I would love to see continue.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Graphic Novel Review: SPIKE: SHADOW PUPPETS
Everyone’s favorite villains from Season Five of Joss Whedon’s ANGEL are back and better then ever! I’m talking about the vampire-with-a-soul Spike who crossed over from the television show BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER to it’s spin-off ANGEL and who has now gone solo in several IDW series in particular this one SPIKE: SHADOW PUPPETS which pits Spike against the puppet demons of the kids television show Smile Time (also villains from the fifth season of ANGEL).
If you remember from that episode of ANGEL (self titled “Smile Time”) Angel went up against the soul stealing demon puppets and was himself turned into a puppet by a giant egg-like, soul-stealing thing. After being destroyed by Team-Angel in that episode the demons of Smile Time return to menace the children of Japan. Lorne has enlisted the aid of Spike to help him bring down Smile Time once and for all before the demons are able to send all the children of the world into mindless and comatose children.
Spike and Lorne get into more trouble then they bargain for when the demons of Smile Time release a horde of evil mini-Ninja puppets with only one desire, which is to kill Spike at all costs. If you’ve been following the Spike series then you’ll recognize many of the supporting characters that come to Spike and Lorne’s aid but not in time to prevent them from being turned into puppets themselves. Great fun and hilarity is had at the expense of seeing Spike & Lorne turned into puppets. More fun is had when, in order to defeat puppet-Spike, the demons of Smile Time create puppet versions of all Team-Angel including the infamous Angelus (one of the greatest moments in any of Spike’s solo series).
Writer Brian Lynch has the Spike & Lorne characters down flawlessly and even if it’s hard to believe at first that Spike & Lorne would go off on their own adventure, you just end up going with the flow as this is one of the best adventures Spike has hard out on his own. Artist Franco Urru is the perfect artist to bring the world of Joss Whedon to life and translates the world of Smile Time to the comic book medium effortlessly. This is by far one of the best graphic novels for both fans of the Whedon universe and fans of the comic book medium in general.
As an added bonus you also get a “Writer’s Commentary” at the end of the book detailing the inside jokes and references (if you failed to pick up on them the first time around). Also, many of the original covers are presented here for those (like me) who only buy the books in graphic novel form rather than as single issues.
If you remember from that episode of ANGEL (self titled “Smile Time”) Angel went up against the soul stealing demon puppets and was himself turned into a puppet by a giant egg-like, soul-stealing thing. After being destroyed by Team-Angel in that episode the demons of Smile Time return to menace the children of Japan. Lorne has enlisted the aid of Spike to help him bring down Smile Time once and for all before the demons are able to send all the children of the world into mindless and comatose children.
Spike and Lorne get into more trouble then they bargain for when the demons of Smile Time release a horde of evil mini-Ninja puppets with only one desire, which is to kill Spike at all costs. If you’ve been following the Spike series then you’ll recognize many of the supporting characters that come to Spike and Lorne’s aid but not in time to prevent them from being turned into puppets themselves. Great fun and hilarity is had at the expense of seeing Spike & Lorne turned into puppets. More fun is had when, in order to defeat puppet-Spike, the demons of Smile Time create puppet versions of all Team-Angel including the infamous Angelus (one of the greatest moments in any of Spike’s solo series).
Writer Brian Lynch has the Spike & Lorne characters down flawlessly and even if it’s hard to believe at first that Spike & Lorne would go off on their own adventure, you just end up going with the flow as this is one of the best adventures Spike has hard out on his own. Artist Franco Urru is the perfect artist to bring the world of Joss Whedon to life and translates the world of Smile Time to the comic book medium effortlessly. This is by far one of the best graphic novels for both fans of the Whedon universe and fans of the comic book medium in general.
As an added bonus you also get a “Writer’s Commentary” at the end of the book detailing the inside jokes and references (if you failed to pick up on them the first time around). Also, many of the original covers are presented here for those (like me) who only buy the books in graphic novel form rather than as single issues.
Graphic Novel Review: ANGEL: OLD FRIENDS
Before IDW publishing tackled the “After the Fall” ANGEL comic book series currently running which asks the question of “What happened after Season Five Ended?” of the series they tackled this story “ANGEL: OLD FRIENDS” which reunited Angel with all the characters of the hit television series for the first time in comics. Being a spin-off of the hugely popular BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (both television show and comic) IDW’s Angel put Angel mostly on adventures by himself never explaining what happened after Season Five of the show ended (presumably because creator Joss Whedon had plans to produced television movies of some of the characters).
After some time had passed and it didn’t seem like the television movies were going to come to fruition IDW got the go ahead to use all the characters of the Angel-verse and thus “Old Friends” was born with writer Jeff Mariotte and artist David Messina at the helm. “Old Friends” finds a one-eyed Gunn seeking out the help of loner Angel when he believes that Spike may be responsible for several murders in the city. Believing that Spike may have gone evil Angel and Gunn team-up to bring the rogue vampire-with-a-soul down. When they finally encounter Spike he is more powerful then before and almost bests both Angel and Gunn until “the real” Spike shows up to dust the doppelganger-Spike.
After this encounter Spike joins Angel and Gunn as they soon realize that someone is using doppelgangers of them to try and kill them, which leads them to a chance encounter with Illyria (in which they all battle doppelganger-Wesley and doppelganger- Fred) and with Lorne (who has his own doppelganger that they have to deal with). Before the culprit it unveiled everyone in Team-Angel will be re-united and need to overcome their personal demons before an old enemy from their pasts reveals himself.
Although not a great story, “Old Friends” is not without it’s moments. It’s great to see all the gang back together again however brief (Illyria’s appearance being nothing more really then a cameo) and everyone gets a fair share at causing damage especially Gunn (who was unceremoniously left to the sidelines many times in the television series). It’s also nice to see that as the characters battle a villain from their past they finally come together…again, as a team. This is a good warm up for the real story going on in the current ongoing IDW series ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL.
After some time had passed and it didn’t seem like the television movies were going to come to fruition IDW got the go ahead to use all the characters of the Angel-verse and thus “Old Friends” was born with writer Jeff Mariotte and artist David Messina at the helm. “Old Friends” finds a one-eyed Gunn seeking out the help of loner Angel when he believes that Spike may be responsible for several murders in the city. Believing that Spike may have gone evil Angel and Gunn team-up to bring the rogue vampire-with-a-soul down. When they finally encounter Spike he is more powerful then before and almost bests both Angel and Gunn until “the real” Spike shows up to dust the doppelganger-Spike.
After this encounter Spike joins Angel and Gunn as they soon realize that someone is using doppelgangers of them to try and kill them, which leads them to a chance encounter with Illyria (in which they all battle doppelganger-Wesley and doppelganger- Fred) and with Lorne (who has his own doppelganger that they have to deal with). Before the culprit it unveiled everyone in Team-Angel will be re-united and need to overcome their personal demons before an old enemy from their pasts reveals himself.
Although not a great story, “Old Friends” is not without it’s moments. It’s great to see all the gang back together again however brief (Illyria’s appearance being nothing more really then a cameo) and everyone gets a fair share at causing damage especially Gunn (who was unceremoniously left to the sidelines many times in the television series). It’s also nice to see that as the characters battle a villain from their past they finally come together…again, as a team. This is a good warm up for the real story going on in the current ongoing IDW series ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL.
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