Simon Dark VOL 01 [Paperback]

Steve Niles (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401218490
• ISBN-13: 978-1401218492
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve Niles (born June 21, 1965) is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line.

He is credited among other contemporary writers as bringing horror comics back to prominence, authoring such works as 30 Days of Night, its sequel, Dark Days (IDW Publishing), and Criminal Macabre (Dark Horse Comics) with frequent artist collaborator Ben Templesmith.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy aspects lie in the untold details, November 21, 2008

By 

Richard A. Tucker "Tucker at large" (Pembroke Pines, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Simon Dark VOL 01 (Paperback)

Everything these days is described in their likeness to other things already known. This way people think their getting a firm handle on the given genres, like something is LIKE Star Wars or LIKE The Blair Witch Project. The problem with this is any sense of originality is marred by those supposed derivations.
I like to look at what is different about a story.
In this case what's different is what is not known, and there's a lot of the unknown. Even as it's tempting to assume where the story is going it is better to resist the cliche's that are easily fallen for. That way leads to one disappointment after another. Either it will disappoint by going in a direction you saw coming a mile away or it will even disappoint by not going as anticipated.
However, Dark Simon's known story is pretty good. It's twisted but not necessarily evil. We don't know what he is but there' are hints of a metaphysical patchwork to recreate an undead person. He's incredibly agile and strong and fast. However he's also naive. Why he wears the eerie, hand sewn deathmask with those eyes set too far apart is a mystery since he's not an ugly young man at all. Why he does good is also a mystery. He also acts liike a young man with a crush on a young woman (enough so to be distracted enough to walk into a standing pipe- face first). Then there are the creeps hiding in plain sight. They look normal enough until you scrutinize them. There's a cult of killers who harvest bodies but to what ultimate end I'll have to discover later.
So far this series has done what it has set out to do- engaged me, makes me curious. The art is some of Scott Hampton's best to date and it is the star of the show the same way good cinematography saves otherwise interesting but not stellar films and television series.
Dark Simon seems to be a sweet kid with a secret. What he takes for granted may seem creepy to me and what's buried in his subconscious may just be so horrifying that I wish I'd never been curious to know it.
So far I'm committed to the ride and it's been very good so far. I hope Steve Niles delivers. I'm not one of his fans. He can be interesting but he can also throw in shocking features the same way poor cooks use too much oregano in their Eyetalian dishes (real Italian cooks are much more sparing of the strong herb).
As long as the current balance of writing and art is maintained this could be one of the better horror genre comics being published. As we continue to peal this onion I hope not to be overwhelmed enough to toss it away.
So far so good....

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Gothic Love Letter Gone Wrong, August 19, 2008

By 

shaxper (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simon Dark VOL 01 (Paperback)

Dangling haphazardly somewhere between Edward Scissorhands and The Crow is Simon Dark, a saga that could never be confused for a horror, yet is thoroughly enmeshed in the gothic aspects of the horror genre. At the center of this story is Simon, an enigmatic, clearly supernatural protector of the innocent. Simon's appearance seems to be a conscious mixture of Michael Meyers, Fred Krueger, and the Crow. Much like his appearance, the entire tone of this series borrows from (and indeed seems to be a love letter to) some of the greatest gothic/horror films in history, from James Whale's Frankenstein to George C. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (though this is features more prominently in the second volume). All of this blending casts a rich and compelling tone over the early chapters in the saga. Unfortunately, however, it takes more than just tone to carry a story, and so Simon Dark's allure never seems to surpass or even maintain itself beyond the early installments.

Once you get past the rich, borrowed gothic atmosphere, Simon Dark is the story of a supernatural hero fighting against a satanic cult. While a cult of Satanists attempting to terrorize a city feels nearly as cliché in comics as tights and a cape, Simon's initial characterization keeps us interested. He is presented as having the mind of a child divorced from reality while occupying the man-made body of a killer. He also has a budding romance with a neighborhood girl, which is cute and endearing in at least one instance in the story. Still, all of this begins to fade noticeably as the generic Satanist cult plot begins to take center stage. Suddenly, Simon becomes whatever the plot requires of him - usually a generic action hero. Gone is that eerie sense of childhood naivety, gone is any real desire to learn more about him -- in fact, gone is writer Steve Niles' concern for anything other than the culmination of the plot line. Even the supporting characters fail to rise above their initial two dimensional characterizations, even while one is still hiding a tremendous mystery that links him to Simon. Furthermore, the art, while unique and atmospheric at first, becomes repetitive and stale by the end of this volume.

The whole thing, every aspect of this series, just seems to get old fast. When I first encountered Simon Dark on the stands, it immediately became my favorite monthly read. The tone and character seemed to have infinite potential, and my deepest fear was that this obscure title would be cancelled before Steve Niles could fulfill the full potential of the series. Sadly, only ten issues in, I decided to give up on this comic for good. It begins with an amazing start, but it also becomes apparent after only a short time that an amazing start was all Steve Niles had to offer.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Concept, Art, and Style: Less than Great Tale, June 19, 2010

By 

graphik_persona "g_p" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simon Dark VOL 01 (Paperback)

The idea behind this series was great, a dark more mature Gothic angle with a mix of mystical thrown into the bag: a Crow comic book part deux. However, the story fell short of being great. The characters weren't engaging enough to pull the story along, however the writer has some good scenes that they set up. The artwork is fantastic.