The town of Barrow has moved on. Those who remember the vampiric terror of two decades past would rather not talk about it. Those who don’t remember don’t believe the stories. Ignorance will be their downfall, because a dark memory is stirring in the heart of Romania and it has set its sights on Barrow, the death place of Vicente. While vampires seek revenge for their fallen leader in Alaska, troubled teen Jalen James seeks sanctuary. After fleeing gang violence in Los Angeles, Jalen needs a fresh start. But he’s unlikely to find it as the sun falls… 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 kicks off a new chapter for the vampire series attempting to balance a story for new readers and long time fans.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen an original 30 Days of Night series. Launched in 2002 by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, it took the novel idea of a vampire story taking place in Barrow, Alaska and advantage of the prolonged night, 30 days, that area experiences. It spawned multiple volumes, films, crossovers, and more building a cult fandom. It’s back with 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1, written by Rodney Barnes with Niles consulting on the story.
Barnes does a decent job of balancing a series with a lot of history so that it can be enjoyed by new readers while also playing to longtime fans of the series. For new readers, you just need to know there was a vampire attack on this town and there are some survivors. The new readers will be more into the villain and their motivation. It does a delicate balance between the two and pulls it off.
But, it’s the focus of Barnes’ story that really stands out. We’re introduced to Jalen who has experienced trauma in his hometown of LA and has run to Barrow to escape it. Mix that with the survivors still living in the town who have their own trauma to deal with. With what I understand of the villain as well, the story has a mix of individuals all haunted by their pasts and those pasts are driving their current reality.
The art by Chris Shehan is nice. With color by Xenon Honchar and lettering by Alex Ray, 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 has a style that feels rough and nightmarish, a fitting style to the story. The comic has a dreamlike feel at times and has no problem dipping its toes into the blood and gore you’d expect from this type of story. There’s so minor issues for that as blood is drank from rather odd things and the flow of it doesn’t quite make sense. While not hurting the story, it could give readers pause. But, overall the art style matches the genre and story quite well.
30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 is one of the early titles for IDW’s horror line IDW Dark and should be a fun return for longtime fans of the property. It has a lot going for it with some nice underlying themes and a debut issue that new and longtime fans can both enjoy. If you want a vampire comic to dive into as the nights get longer and weather colder, 30 Days of Night has returned just in time.
Story: Rodney Barnes Story Consultant: Steve Niles Art: Chris Shehan
Color: Xenon Honchar Letterer: Alex Ray
Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Read
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
