Steve Niles

Cal McDonald is back and in an even bigger mess than he's ever been in before.

First, a former enemy breaks out of jail seeking revenge, then he finds out an old friend is in serious trouble when that friend's head shows up in the post! Of course, that's nothing compared to the bigger shock, when that same head opens its eyes and starts yelling at Cal for help!

With that, Cal's off to Los Angeles to find the sick freak that did this to his friend, but first he has to deal with werewolves, show more vampires, and the US Postal Service.

Things get weird, even for Cal's tastes.

What I love about Niles' Cal McDonald stories is how they perfectly blend the hard-boiled detective with the classic monster hunter figure. Cal is a hard fighting, hard drinking, hard living detective with something that draws the weird and supernatural to him. The drinking and the drugs are partly to help him deal with that, so he says. Add to that his closest friends are undead ghouls, and it starts to make sense.

Here we have the second Cal McDonald novel, a welcome follow-up to the first, and a nice step-up on the weirdness factor. Add to that Cal's change of scenery from DC to LA and we see our hero thrown for a loop as he faces all new problems, and some all too familiar. show less

Dark Horse Digital Comics had a Criminal Macabre bundle (issues #1-5) on sale and it sounded like the perfect story; a strung-out ex-cop fights ex-humans in the sewers underneath Los Angeles. I loved it! This first story arc is a great beginning that introduces the world of Cal McDonald. I’m sure I’ll like the following stories as well. The Volume 1 Omnibus only has issues #1-3, but this review also covers Issues #4 and #5 which appear in Volume 2.
Personally, I usually feel like I could show more scream if I hear about yet another book with ‘zombies’, but this book is different. No real zombies. Ghouls, yes. Werewolves, yes. Vampires, yes. Ghouls are in between life and death – they aren’t alive so they don’t need to aggressively attack things (e.g. humans) for food but they aren’t completely dead either. They walk around looking, well, ghoulie. The main theme is not how werewolves and vampires are attacking people, it’s about Cal’s discovery that both kinds of monsters are actually grouping together and organizing the conquest of humans. He must stop them.
Cal’s sidekick is Mo’Lock, a ghoul. Mo’Lock makes a few ghoul jokes, but my favorite character is the armless ghoul Tabitha. She makes a very brief appearance but has the best line of all. I won’t spoil it for you.
Ben Templesmith’s artistic interpretation is a messy shadowy environment, perfect for creatures to come leaping and snarling out of the dark. It seems to get messier as the story moves from Issue #1 through Issue #5.
Communication is brief between the characters but that’s to be expected in a noir story. The characters are believable unless you don’t believe in ghouls. Don’t you?! As previously stated, Cal is an ex-cop, thrown off the force due to drugs and alcohol, which he still consumes in mass quantities. He’s currently hunting down vampires, werewolves, and things that go bump in the night, to save Los Angeles from their mayhem. His friend on the force, Detective Lt. Brueger, doesn’t have much personality; she mostly serves as another sidekick.
One thing that stood out wonderfully for me is the way Templesmith’s art portrays violence. Sure there’s blood, but in the scattered way the artwork is done it isn’t realistically gruesome like Frank Quitely’s work in We3 (which was a big detraction from enjoying that title). I really don’t want to see every piece of gristle.
I’d definitely recommend this book. Fun ghouls, talking heads, and an ex-cop who doesn’t care if you don’t like him; what’s not to love? show less

Don't MAKE him say the v-word, Scully!

When the grisly remains of some sixteen truck drivers are discovered by plow driver Henry-Lee "Patches" Brown, Mulder and Scully are called out to Wainwright, Alaska to investigate. Decapitated, drained of blood, and hung atop a 40-foot pole, these clearly aren't the victims of an ordinary serial killer - despite what their colleagues at the FBI believe. Mulder and Scully's investigation leads them to an abandoned 19th century ship, a limbless old man, show more an ancient artifact, and a young girl covered in third-degree burns (and then...not). All the while, they must contend with the 24-hour darkness that has enveloped wintry Wainwright.

A fan of the 2007 film 30 Days of Night, I was researching the comic book series by Steve Niles, trying to decide whether I should give it a try, when I stumbled upon this crossover series. Whereas the 30 Days of Night comics generally have poor to fair reviews, this one came highly recommended. But hey, they had me at "The X-Files"!

Steve Niles and Adam Jones (of Tool fame) expertly capture the tone and spirit of the show in this adaptation: the wry humor, the amiable-yet-sometimes-exasperated banter, the sense of camaraderie between our favorite two federal agents. The writers nail the characters of Mulder and Scully (and Skinner!), even if the art isn't always spot-on. As I read, I could easily envision this story on the small screen. (Or large. Someone make this happen please! Given the comic's final panel, it would make an excellent sequel to the 30 Days of Night film!)

The story wasn't quite as long as I would have liked, but then I'd rather the writers leave me wanting more rather than wishing for less.

Whether you count yourself a member of the X-Files or 30 Days fandom, X-Files/30 Days of Night belongs in your book pile.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/02/19/x-files-30-days-of-night-by-steve-niles/ show less

I read the graphic novel kindle edition, not the audio dramatization.

I thought it was good. I had read one other book in the 30 days of night family and thought the story and the art were crap, so I was pleasantly surprised by this. That feeling probably made me a bit generous and my first reaction was to give it four stars. On reflection, there are some major problems with the story and I had to cut it back to 3 stars.

Liked: Vampires flocking to remote a remote town in the arctic circle show more during its month of darkness is a great idea! The art was generally good throughout (some of the vampires seem poorly drawn). The story is good for the first half of the book, and the dialogue is well written.

Didn't like: There is a significant time lapse in the story, like from day 1 to day 29.5, that occurs in the middle of the book and is a major let down. Slogging through a month long vampire attack takes a lot of pages and cutting a bit seems wise, but this book cut it all. To add insult to injury, we rejoin the story with a group of theoretically tough and canny survivors making a break for it. They are promptly slaughtered like complete amateurs. What happened in the intervening days? Was it a running battle with vampires, or were the residents of Barrow like sheep in a pen?

The ending was also disappointing. The husband of the heroine, who was among the first to die, comes back as a vampire and turns the tide in the final battle. he then kisses his wife before scuttling off to avoid the coming dawn. The story went from unique and imaginative to cliched and sappy in about 3 pages. show less