Story and Art By: David Lapham
Colors: Len O’Grady
Letters: Neil Uyetake and Chris Mowry
IDW
Being no stranger to the 30 Days and Night series’ or the genius of David Lapham – I found myself to be more than thrilled when a friend lent me this graphic novel. My mind began to predict and anticipate the horrors I was about to experience with this series, but, ultimately by the end I came to feel a surge of overwhelming disappointment which has proven to me that even the greatest of writers can come up short of a great plot.
Rufus isn’t your typical new age vampire. Yes he has made mistakes, but unlike his counterparts, he studies these failures with an agenda to prevent them from reoccurring. This had eventually lead him into a double-life. He now has a girlfriend and home to protect and having recently witnessed the murder of many of his friends, Rufus is now on guard and ready for whatever battle may face him next. He was not, however, expecting the savage death squad. (Who were sent by the original legion of vampires to kill all those who have not followed their careful instruction.)
After many attempts at survival and experiencing severe hindrances by his fellow vampires, Rufus, ultimately loses his battle and his life…
…May he and all the others finally meet their deserving graves.
30 Days ‘Til Dead has been a battle for me to review. On one hand, the plot blows. No offence Lapham, but, I know you could have done better work in your sleep and in comparison to other recent works as this series falls short on both the scale of bad-assery and that of good horror comics. It felt dry, predictable and as though the 30 Days of Night series as a whole could have done better without this installment.
However, with the bad always comes the good and where Lapham failed this time around he has somewhat made up for through the art. Having never read Stray Bullets, or many other series’ where he works as an artist I was pleasantly surprised to find David’s art both appropriate and realistic enough for the context presented. Colors are gloomy and eerie and no line lay to perfectly straight, which aids in the whimsical and dark atmosphere necessary for the story. It is simply fantastic and with a more detailed and thought provoking plot to work off of, it could have been even better.
So there you have it, I am torn. 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death has stumped me completely. Does great art make up for a lacking plot? Or do both have to be strong in order to make a readable comic book? I suppose that is up to you. What I can say, however, is that I do not regret the time spent reading this series and if it were any other writer I may have enjoyed it much more.
With high expectations always comes disappointment and unfortunately that is the feelng this novel has presented me.
2/5.
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