Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2) [Paperback]

Steve Niles (Author), Ben Templesmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2007

This story follows Stella Olemaun's efforts to warn the world about the threat the vampires pose - the vampires who overran Barrow, Alaska, killing her husband and most of the town. With an exclusive introduction by screenwriter Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark), the flat-out terror of Dark Days will reaffirm the dominance of Niles and Templesmith over the realm of illustrated horror fiction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: IDW Publishing (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193238216X
• ISBN-13: 978-1932382167
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic sequel, May 13, 2004

By 

Blake Petit "Novelist, columnist & reviewer" (Ama, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2) (Paperback)

Having only discovered Steve Niles' work a few months ago, he is rapidly becoming one of my favorite comic book creators. In "30 Days of Night," a small Alaskan town was beset by bloodthirsty vampires during a month-long period of darkness. In this series we follow one of the survivors, the wife of the sheriff who sacrificed his life to save the town, as she fights to make the world believe in the menace that destroyed her husband.

Niles has an incredible ability to take concepts as old as vampires, zombies and werewolves (in his Cal McDonald stories) and find new and intriguing angles to view them through. We get to see a woman try to convince a skeptical world that vampires are real, that they have worked for centuries to cultivate the belief that they are fiction, and that they are very dangerous. Niles doesn't go for the easy ending, either -- this is a story even more brutal than "30 Days," and one that leaves you shivering.

Ben Templesmith's artwork isn't something I'd always go for, but it fits the tone of these stories perfectly -- scattershot, disjointed... horrific, but with a strange elegance to it.

This is one of the best horror comics on the stands these days, and I can't wait for the paperback of the third book to hit the shelves.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vampires in LA, March 9, 2005

By 

J. P. de Rosnay (Oxford, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2) (Paperback)

DARK DAYS is the sequel to 30 DAYS OF NIGHT and focuses on Stella Olemaun in the aftermath of the horrific slaughter of the citizens of Barrow. Widowed, she has moved to Los Angeles and has now written a book about what happened in Barrow. The story starts with her doing publicity for her book which instigates the action that follows. Why? Because the book is damaging for vampires: It speaks of them and divulges their secrets, but is most damaging simply because it states that they exist. Naturally the vampires don't expect all of humanity to suddenly believe in their existence and promptly hunt them down, but they fear that it will renew interest in them and that some will believe. The vampires don't want this, as humanity's ignorance to their existence is the key to their prosperity and their survival. One expects that the vampires will aim to silence her, but so does Stella... and she's prepared...

Although DARK DAYS doesn't have the focus, tension or horror of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, it doesn't mean it isn't as good - in fact, I actually think it's better. In 30 DAYS Steve Niles had a premise and ran with it. The story was gripping and well paced and other than it being sad and scary, there wasn't much else to the book. But that's what made it good: the simplicity and the focus of it. DARK DAYS is more in-depth, it's subtler and has more of a narrative in that it's a complex story that develops through each chapter. Even though it isn't horrific, it has a chilly feel to it because we are nevertheless dealing with vampires. There is also tension, as even though we don't have the claustrophobic setting of Barrow, there is a different threat to the setting of Los Angeles, as one never knows when or from where a vampire may appear.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT hints at the humanism behind the vampires - that they're not all merely sadistic creatures that have a thirst for blood. DARK DAYS elaborates on this and the joy of this book is having a closer look at the vampires; each vampire has different motives, agendas and loyalties, and they don't all get along.

The artwork is again excellent and Ben Templesmith's moody, expressive, artwork complements the feel of Niles' writing and smoothly drives the story, punctuating dramatic moments with exciting illustrations that arrest the audience. He works well with the summer hues and capitalises on its incongruity, making it add to the eeriness. The climate also adds a lot to the realism, which is much of what this book is about: taking it slow and trying to make us suspend our disbelief, and to this purpose Los Angeles is a perfect setting.

Thats what makes the book so good, the fresh and realistic angle on vampires, giving the feeling that its realistic and suggesting that there could just be vampires out there. In the end, we're all familiar with the idea of hissing vampires, running about in the dark - but seeing them standing and smiling in the lazy haze of the Los Angeles summer... somehow that makes them seem rather more realistic.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, May 14, 2004

By 

William M. Marples "Marples" (Somerset, Ky United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Days (30 Days of Night, Book 2) (Paperback)

I love Steve Niles work, and became interested in his stories after reading 30 Days of Night. I found Dark Days to be an excellent read, picking up the comics as they were released. Niles tells a great story revolving a survivor from Barrow trying to convince the rest of the world that vampires do exist. While character development may not be great, for a comic its good enough. Besides, most of the character development was done in 30 Days of Night, and doesnt need to be rehashed here. Templesmiths artwork, as always, is great and lends itself well to Niles storytelling. If you enjoyed the first book, I highly recommend this sequel.