30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow

Hey, who wants “to go vampire-hunting in Alaska for a vacation“? Maybe hide out in a cave? Just the idiots in this book? Okay...
Well, as much as I love watching dumb, rich, white people get slaughtered, there really isn't much to this tale. And personally, I had an incredibly hard time reading the red lettering with the black background. Frustratingly so! It actually made me want to chuck the book in the trash, but it's a library copy, so I couldn't. Maybe they could send the person who did that format on a trip to a cave just outside of Barrow, Alaska. Say maybe between the days of November 18th and December 17th?

[b:Beyond Barrow|1807568|30 Days of Night, Vol. 9 Beyond Barrow|Steve Niles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1342739271s/1807568.jpg|1806862] brings us back to, well, Barrow in the midst of the days of darkness. Kitka and Ikos return, and the curious people who venture up hoping to get good photographs of vampires - dead or alive. Needless to say, those out of towners get a heck of a lot more than they bargained for.

The writing in [b:Beyond Barrow|1807568|30 Days of Night, Vol. 9 Beyond Barrow|Steve Niles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1342739271s/1807568.jpg|1806862] was fairly good, but not as compelling as previous installments (notably [b:Return to Barrow|289289|30 Days of Night, Vol. 3 Return to Barrow|Steve show more Niles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173448424s/289289.jpg|990323], [b:Eben and Stella|1035541|30 Days of Night, Vol. 7 Eben and Stella|Steve Niles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1342739207s/1035541.jpg|1021872], and [b:30 Days of Night|831829|30 Days of Night, Vol. 1|Steve Niles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178747918s/831829.jpg|280664] itself come to mind...) but the storyline is a rather good one. Rather than dealing with vampires, this book brings about an entirely new villain.

The four stars are for the artwork, the furthering of the vampire mythos. The artwork was truly amazing, and as stark a contrast as the original [30 Days of Night] artwork was from, say, [a:Dave Gibbons|13285|Dave Gibbons|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1308663000p2/13285.jpg] and other more general comic book artwork. The stark use of colors reminded me a little of [b:Sin City|392297|Sin City, Vol. 1 The Hard Goodbye|Frank Miller|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324598371s/392297.jpg|3696736] but even better, mixed with the watercolors of the Northern Lights.

What made the series work originally has come back here - the cold, the isolation, and the sense that you'll never get out no matter what. It's fascinating, and plays upon the psyche as much as it preys upon the heart. It's good horror, and a nice mini-series. I'd recommend the Eben and Stella line above this mini-series, but it is still a darn good installment and a nice return to the seriousness that some of the previous installments lacked. show less

The art is excellent, as all of Sienkiewicz art is, but the storyline is weak. Occasionally the continuity of the story is lost between panels mainly because the dialogue and narration are thin. Add Sienkiewicz's expressionistic style, and it's easy to get stuck flipping back and forth trying to figure out what happened. I still enjoyed it just for the art and the mood it gave the book.

* Reading these comics has almost become a game at this point, like how bad will this one get?

* Note to self: explore future drinking game possibilities.

* The art is confusing and headache-inducing and makes it impossible to tell what's happening most of the time.

* But Arctic vampyres! That's cool anyway.