Monday, September 10, 2007

30 Days of Night: Red Snow "the strongest followup since the original limited series"

Well damn, I think I owe somebody a beer or two.

From Don MacPherson over at Eye on Comics:

30 Days of Night: Red Snow #1 (IDW Publishing)
by Ben Templesmith IDW has really been pumping out the 30 Days of Night spinoff series since the success of the original title five years ago, and for a while, I gobbled them up. My interest in those stories waned, though. Obviously, with the advent of the 30 Days movie upon us, IDW is keeping the vampire stories flowing. Red Snow caught my attention, in part because it features the artwork of the original 30 Days artist Ben Templesmith. But what piqued my interest even more is the fact that Templesmith wrote this story as well. He does a great job with the property, offering up the strongest followup since the original limited series. He takes the reader to a different far-north setting from which the property derives its name, but he also takes the audience back in time as well. The result is a fresh take on the notion of vampires running amok during a lengthy arctic night. Three disparate groups — Russian Allied soldiers, German aggressors and frightened Russian villagers — face a horror even greater than the bloodshed of the Second World War. The vampires are clearly the antagonists, but even the victims/protagonists have distasteful souls among their numbers. It makes for a multi-faceted storytelling dynamic that sets Red Snow apart from typical horror fare. Of course, as anyone who’s checked out the original 30 Days of Night knows, Templesmith’s art is perfectly suited to bringing the dark setting and feral villains to life. He does a great job of conveying the remote and decades-old setting. Red Snow boasts an extensive cast of characters, and Templesmith’s three-pronged approach to the story makes for a riveting, unpredictable read. 9/10

And yes, shameless plug time...if you can't find a copy because your retailer refuses to order in an "indy" book etc etc then you can still more than likely grab a copy here, if you're so inclined.

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