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Dark Days

Creators: Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith
Publisher: General

Reviewed by Rob Manuel

Let's face it. No one likes to think they're crazy - let alone let other people know about it. But you wake up one day, walk outside, and it happens. You know what it is. It's one of those secrets that you try to forget about late at night with heavy drinking and reruns of Everyone Loves Raymond. Telling someone about it means either something truly unusual happened to you or you really are crazy. That's why we keep its to ourselves. For Stella Olemaun, however, her it is just too big to keep under wraps. A city lies in ruins. Her husband's no longer human form lays buried in the ground. Stella Olemaun no longer has the privilege to keep it hidden away. She must expose her secret - the knowledge that Vampires actually exist - or it may destroy the human race.

Dark Days picks up where 30 Days Of Night leaves off. Stella travels around the US in support of her new book about the events which destroyed a little Alaskan town and her husband. Her methods are radical, using the tour as a way to lure the vampires out into the open. Working in the shadows for the past century, Stella's little book shines a light on their dark secret - even if most people take it as a joke. When she learns of plans of dealing with her husband's ashes, Stella seeks out the Queen Vampire to retrieve her dead lover.

You have to love a comic that looks like the artist slashed at it with a dull knife. Dark shadows streak against the dull background of pale grays with the occasional drips of gleaming reds bleeding out from the edges. Templesmith brings a style to Dark Days that resembles a goth kid's dream. Brilliant, original, and a bringing a little style to a cookie-cutter system - I would recommend this comic for Templesmith's style alone if it weren't for Niles fitting storytelling.

Fans of 30 Days should be in for a small disappointment with Dark Days. One of the great aspects of 30 Days came from the closeness of the story. The people had nowhere to run. Most of the story takes place in less than a mile from the starting point. Everything seems contained, personal, and inescapable. 30 Days makes for a better horror movie than those playing down the street. Niles takes the story in a more dramatic direction with Dark Days. Action takes place over the stretch of miles, moving back and forth between the small town and the city. The stakes are not nearly as high before. New information seems thrown in to suit the story instead of the reader. Still, the characters and plot play out well. It's a solid follow up to a great story, but only a shadow of the former tale.

Rating: (3 out of 4 stars)

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