30 Days of Night

AUTHOR: Niles, Steve

ARTIST: Ben Templesmith (illustrator); Robbie Robbins (letterer)

PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2002

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2003

Publication History

30 Days of Night was originally published as a three-part limited series by IDW Publishing in 2002 and collected as a graphic novel in 2003. While Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith pitched their vampire story to a number of publishers, they experienced difficulty interesting a major publishing house in the project, given the extreme violence inherent in the story line. The comic was also originally envisioned as a film, but that idea was initially unsuccessful as well. Sensing that the project would be sellable, IDW Publishing ultimately agreed to publish the comic book as a limited series, which the authors could then use to pitch a feature film. The comic book was enormously successful and led to a feature-film adaptation as well as numerous comic book sequels, some produced by the original creative partners and some by Niles with other artists. These comics and graphic novels were nominated for several Eisner Awards. 30 Days of Night was the first major project for both Niles and Templesmith and helped them become two of the most highly sought-after creators in the horror comic genre.

Plot

Like other cities in the extreme Northern Hemisphere, Barrow, Alaska, is subject to periods of absolute darkness for up to thirty days. When the story begins on November 17, 2001, the sun will not rise again over the town until December 17. The local sheriff, Eben Olemaun, and his deputy and wife, Stella Olemaun, find that all of the town’s cell phones have been stolen and destroyed. Meanwhile in Louisiana, a psychic, Miss Judith, and her son are troubled by an e-mail inviting unknown people, including a man named Vincente, to a mysterious gathering in Barrow.

The Olemauns are watching the final sunset when they get a call informing them of a disturbance at the local diner. At the diner a mysterious man is attempting to order alcohol, which is illegal in Barrow, as well as a bowl of raw hamburger meat. After refusing to leave, the man is taken into custody. At the same time, Gus Lambert, who is in charge of the telecommunications center of the town, is disturbed to find equipment vandalized. When confronted by several strange men, he tells them that the center controls all signals in and out of Barrow. He is disemboweled by one of the men, who then proceed to destroy the rest of the center.

At the sheriff’s office the imprisoned stranger becomes increasingly belligerent, claiming that a group of people are coming to destroy the town. When the man bends the bars of his cell to attack those in the office, Stella shoots him several times in the head, killing him. Investigating the dead man’s claims, the Olemauns drive to the telecommunications center, where they find Lambert’s head on a pole and the center destroyed. Eben notices a strange light in the distance and, looking through binoculars, sees a group of vampires approaching the town. They drive back to warn the town, but the massacre has already begun.

In Barrow, the vampires quickly kill as many humans as possible, literally tearing many of them apart and throwing their bodies to the side. Some humans try to escape, to no avail; others try to fight back, but they soon find that the vampires are largely immune to gunshots. In Fairbanks, Alaska, Taylor, Miss Judith’s son, rents a helicopter to collect evidence about the vampire massacre.

A few survivors, including the Olemauns, hide in an industrial furnace for several weeks. Running low on food, Eben goes to collect more and is confronted by a large vampire, who tries to find out where the others are hiding. Eben shoots the vampire, only wounding him, and escapes back to the hideout.

The vampires postpone the rest of their hunt to welcome Vincente, an older vampire and clearly one of their leaders. Roderick Marlowe, the vampire who organized the hunt, welcomes Vincente and tells him that he thinks Barrow would make the perfect place to hunt because of the lack of sunlight. Vincente is not pleased by the idea, believing that it would expose the vampires to greater scrutiny and lead to further persecution of the vampire community. He fights and kills Marlowe and then demands that the remaining humans be killed and the town burned down.

In the hideout, one of the survivors, who has been scratched by a vampire, complains of feeling cold; he becomes a vampire and attacks the group. The others kill him, but not before Eben, who has a plan, uses a syringe to extract blood from the vampire. Outside, Vincente sees someone taking pictures from the helicopter. He jumps on it, forcing it to crash, but not before it transmits data back to Miss Judith.

Realizing that all the townsfolk will die unless something is done, Eben injects himself with vampire blood. He is quickly transformed into a vampire and goes outside to confront Vincente and the others. Although it seems that Eben is no match for the ancient vampire, his love for the town gives him the strength to kill Vincente and several other vampires. He orders the remaining vampires to leave the town and not return. They quickly retreat into the night, and Barrow is saved.

After the vampires have fled, Eben and Stella sit together and talk. Eben realizes that he is losing what is left of his humanity and does not want to live like the other vampires. The sun rises as Eben and Stella hold each other, killing Eben and leaving Stella sitting in the snow, devastated.

Characters

•Sheriff Eben Olemaun, the protagonist, is a tall Eskimo of medium build. He is dedicated to his wife, Stella, and his town, Barrow, and is willing to do anything in his power to defend both of them. During the vampire invasion, he leads the other survivors to safety and tries to provide for them, going outside to search for food at great risk. His courage and nobility are demonstrated by both his self-imposed transformation into a vampire, which gives him enough strength to expel the other vampires, and his choice to die rather than to live as a vampire.

•Deputy Stella Olemaun is an attractive Eskimo woman with dark red hair. While she is not as fearless as Eben, she does everything in her power to save the town. Early in the comic, she demonstrates her fierce desire to keep the town safe by killing the first vampire.

•Miss Judith is a mysterious, middle-aged African American woman. She attempts to prove that vampires exist, even sending her son to collect evidence with a video camera and a helicopter. Her motives are not revealed in the book.

•Taylor is a tall, handsome African American man with a shaved head. Apparently Miss Judith’s son, he attempts to gather evidence to prove that vampires really exist. He is killed when Vincente attacks his helicopter and causes it to crash, but he manages to send the images to Miss Judith before he dies.

•Roderick Marlowe, an antagonist, is a tall, thin, bald vampire. He organizes and plans the massacre of Barrow, considering the town easy prey because it resides in darkness for a month. He sends Vincente an invitation to the massacre, possibly in an attempt to curry favor. He is killed by Vincente for revealing the existence of vampires.

•Vincente, an antagonist, is a tall, bald, and evidently ancient vampire leader. He disrupts Marlowe’s plans and orders that Barrow be destroyed. Although he is apparently the strongest of the vampires, Eben kills him.

Artistic Style

Templesmith’s visuals are stunning in their intricacy. The overall mood is set by the limited color palette and the splashes of red that punctuate particularly bloody scenes. The art is reminiscent of the more abstract work of Bill Sienkiewicz, especially his work in the New Mutants and Moon Knight series in the 1980’s, in which normal characters are transformed into abstract shapes in order to demonstrate mood or emotional turmoil.

Inspired by the bleak setting of John Carpenter’s film version of The Thing (1982), Templesmith often leaves the backgrounds vague, as if the snow and cloud cover have made Barrow into a virtual wasteland even before the vampires arrive. His character designs are greatly influenced by Dave McKean’s 1990’s style as well as by the work of Ashley Wood. Overall, Templesmith emphasizes a sense of bleakness, tying the art into the story through his use of computers for both backgrounds and color adjustment in addition to traditional pencil and ink work. The lettering is also effective, with human speech set in a traditional font and the vampires’ words set in a twisted, meandering font, emphasizing their inhuman nature. In addition, Templesmith’s vampires are not “sexy” monsters but instead parodies of the humans they once were, with hideous sets of barbed fangs jutting out at angles and long claws instead of fingernails. Since the publication of 30 Days of Night, Templesmith’s highly evocative style has significantly influenced the field of modern adult-oriented horror comics.

Themes

The overall themes of 30 Days of Night are the triumph of love over evil, courage and nobility in the face of danger, and sacrifice for the greater good of the community. The first is reflected in the relationships between Eben and Stella and Eben and the rest of the town of Barrow. Although Eben and Stella could easily flee the town in their car at the start of the vampire invasion, they choose to stay and fight an enemy that seems undefeatable. In choosing to stay and putting their own lives in danger, Eben and Stella make their love for the town clear. When Eben becomes a vampire, he knowingly chooses to die rather than lose his sense of humanity or his love for Stella.

When Eben fights the other vampires, his love of the town and the townspeople’s support for him give him the strength he needs to kill Vincente. At the end, realizing he is a danger to the town, he chooses to die as the sun rises. Stella also demonstrates her love and courage, allowing Eben to take his own life even though it means living without him.

Impact

Incredibly influential within the comics industry, 30 Days of Night inspired a new wave of sophisticated horror comics for adults. It also established the reputation of newcomer Templesmith as a worthy successor to artists such as Bernie Wrightson and McKean in his macabre but effective use of muted color and extravagant exhibition in pencils and inks. Templesmith’s influence can be seen in many modern artists, particularly those working for smaller companies that allow creative latitude, such as IDW. The success of 30 Days of Night also allowed Niles, who had been at the margins of the industry, to become a successful horror writer and work across the industry in a variety of genres.

The series was also instrumental in inspiring many gothic- and horror-themed titles and prompting the major comic book companies to revive their vampire and other horror characters for a mainstream audience. Lastly, the series’ success also led many more creators, particularly Mark Millar, to pitch their projects as films shortly after or even before publication.

Films

30 Days of Night. Directed by David Slade. Columbia, 2007. This film adaptation was written by Niles, Stuart Beattie, and Brian Nelson and stars Josh Hartnett and Melissa George. The film largely follows the plot of the original series, but it eliminates the character of Vincente and has Marlowe survive until the final battle. The film received mixed reviews, and many comic book fans were disappointed by the lack of subtlety present in the original series. A sequel, based on the comic book sequel Dark Days, was released straight to video in 2010.

Web Series

30 Days of Night: Blood Trails and 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust. Fearnet.com, 2007-2008. These Internet-only miniseries star a variety of actors and serve as a prequel and sequel to the original film, respectively. Many fans of the original series criticized the Web series for their low production values.

Further Reading

Chaykin, Howard, David Tischman, and David Hahn. Bite Club (2005).

Kirkman, Robert, Tony Moore, and Charles Adlard. The Walking Dead (2004- ).

Niles, Steve, and Ben Templesmith. Criminal Macabre (1990- ).

Bibliography

Barker, Clive. Introduction to 30 Days of Night. New York: IDW Publishing, 2003.

Barsanti, Chris. “The Graphic Report.” Kirkus Reviews 72, no. 19 (October 1, 2004).

Gilland, Blue. “30 Days of Night/Tim Lebbon.” Review of 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles. Dark Scribe Magazine, October 22, 2007. Available at http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/reviews/30-days-of-night-tim-lebbon.html