This sequel story to Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith's dark and murky illustrated vampire tale 30 Days of Night takes us to sunny California, far away from the frozen and dark vastness of the small Alaskan town, Barrow. Stella Olemaun, wife of the deceased sheriff of Barrow, Eben Olemaun, arrives in Los Angeles to promote her new book about her encounter with vampires, hoping to raise awareness about the presence of these bloodsuckers in our world. The thing is, no one believes her, and she's therefore forced to resort to alternative methods.
30 Days of Night: Dark Days continues to present us with pages that are predominantly black and difficult to define. Their content is hardly ever clear, and is confusing more often than not; characters are identifiable, but their actions sometimes are not. It is especially difficult to decipher scenes of conflict. When two or more characters are involved in a fight, the result is the comic book version of a nuclear explosion captured in still time: it is impossible to tell who's winning, who is actually who on the page, and what the final result of such conflict is.
The unfortunate thing about this serial is that the very thing that made it unique and special - the stylish and overly ominous artwork - is the same thing that drags it down. Illustration and drawing style aside, Stella's relationship with the vampire Dane here is well handled, and is definitely the aspect of this story that elevates it above its predecessor. At the end, when Stella is somehow able to resurrect her dead husband Eben back to life, we're unsure if this is a clever ploy from Niles to inject a pleasant twist into the series, or a desperate move from a writer running out of fresh ideas. Either way, Dark Days is a slight improvement, but it still leaves a lot to be desired, especially from a graphic standpoint.
C+
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