Customer Reviews

30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

30 Days of Night has spawned an armada of products, showing just how resilient the idea is and just how embraced Niles and Templesmith are. To date there are almost ten Graphic Novels, a set of novels based on the idea that Barrow is a bad place to weather in the winter, a movie that enlisted the aid of well-respected voices, and an art style that keeps on keeping on in a bleak and harmonious balance. As far as the graphic novels aspect is concerned, some of them run with the same people and delve into the same voids while others go out and try something different --- much to the enticement of the reader.

In this installment of Barrow, there are some things that are familiar and some things that are not and it is somewhat lessened. I am not angered by the lack of Templesmith, either, because I know that things go on and that disappointments like this happen. I am not certain of the "why" behind the lack of Templesmith, either - perhaps one tires of being associated with something that makes them feel underappreciated when they can do so much. What I am disappointed by is the fact that the book had all the pieces to become something and didn't seem to try hard enough to "be." The storyline - a hunter with a lot of money arrives in Barrow to see "vampires" and to document proof - has the scent of another tale on it and the mystery - something bad lurks beyond the walls of Barrow - isn't surprising. This is not to say that the beginning and the end were not good because they were; the ambiance in those front pages gave me the creeps and the end of the story COULD HAVE BEEN something beautiful. Tales of ancient tales, archaic doses of what was on the Artic loom of "before;" everything there was something that reminded me of how deep the stories could go. The problem was that the story did not go to those depths and the way things worked out --- for a 30 Days of Night story they seemed to clean and too happy.
I cannot get much more detailed without being too detailed.

If you are a person that is afraid you will miss something in the chronicles of 30 Days of Night, then you might want to pick this up. It does have some ideas embedded into the story that make for good reading and isn't a horrid thing - it is simply predictable and less than what I need. When I say "someone who..." I mean that sentence strongly, because I would not tell someone to pick this up without feeling bad about it.
Not recommended on the basis that it seems incomplete. If only it would have been given a month or two more, perhaps it would have been different. O well --- pick up at your own risk.

shows just how dumb people can be when they go out to "prove" a legend - not to mention arrogant and unprepared... The only truly irritating part of this book was the young girl's mother, who had this compulsion to repeat herself in a really *annoying* way: blah-blah-blah-laugh.

shows just how dumb people can be when they go out to "prove" a legend -
not to mention arrogant and unprepared... The only truly irritating part
of this book was the young girl's mother, who had this compulsion to
repeat herself in a really *annoying* way: blah-blah-blah-laugh. Isn't
it blah-blah-blah? (turning whatever it is into a question every time)
(ggggrrrrrhhhrrh!!! [*my* response to this])

Ok, I have only seen 5 pages of this 30DON installment, yet am a fan of the series. I am eagerly awaiting my order of this particular graphic novel, but I feel forced to respond to the past reviews with just a simple notation: I love the Niles/Templesmith combo and how successful it has become, YET I think that respect is due to Mr. Bill Sienkiewicz, a cutting edge comic book guru. His style has proven to be all but befitting of the 30 Days of Night flagship and I believe that a proper salute is in order.

30DON IS Ben Templesmith. It's just it! Even if Picasso drew a 30DON tale it wouldn't be the same. Far from the original trilogy.