Just a little background on myself, I have never read anything 30 Days of Night. Crime against comics? Probably. But I picked this one up hoping for something great, but I was left with disappointment.
This new series has a quite a bit going on story wise. First off, we have a new girl, Alice Blood (could you be any cheesier), searching for the vampires. When we are first introduced to her, the first thing I thought was that there is a lot about this girl that reminds me of Fox Mulder (X-files). She’s searching for things that probably don’t exist and are likely laughable, and her apartment looks a hell of a lot like Mulder’s office. Later on we find out the girl is indeed FBI. Go figure..
Honestly, I don’t really like the girl, or at least how she has been written. The character, from what little there is to go on, is unbelievable. She’s looking for vampires, yet she is untrustworthy of anybody with information. She even accuses one of these information givers of playing tricks on her without much to go on but her own feelings. She accuses people with vampire stories of being nut-jobs, yet most people could look at her the same way. And being an FBI agent, you’d think she’d be more open to listen. Aren’t FBI agents trained to pick up facial and vocal signals to detect truth and lies? Just a thought. Art wise, Sam Keith nailed the character. She certainly looks like someone who would be searching for vampires. Has a slightly badass look to her. But only slightly.
The other plot line here is a civil war amongst the vampires. It isn’t exactly clear what exactly is going on, but I assume it’s between the elders, who want to stay in the dark, and those who believe vampires are superior and should be out in the open. It’s likely we’ll know more details soon.
One thing that bothered me in this issue is when one of the elders (I assume he’s an elder) refers to another group of vampires as Americans. I would assume that a race of vampires wouldn’t refer to themselves or other race of vampire with human nationalities, especially given their hatred of the humans. The only way I see this reference as making sense is if he is under the impression that he is meeting with a human. Niles doesn’t make this clear and obliterates any opportunity of making it clear.
Keith’s art doesn’t exactly catch me here. While it is consistent, and fits in with the subject matter, I feel it fails to illicit any sort of emotion from the reader. The art reads the same the whole way through. Art should amplify the shock one should feel, or the horror, or what have you. Keith’s art simply doesn’t do that for me.
Overall, I wasn’t impressed. There is certainly potential, but Niles needs to step it up. He needs to make certain aspects clearer, and he needs to make these characters believable. I’ll give the next issue a chance, but I don’t see myself continuing if the sloppy writing continues.
Rating: 
