Description

30 Days of Night                                Trade Paperback
This 30 Days of Night collection features additional story pages not included in the original releases.
Introduction by: Clive Barker
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Ben Templesmith
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Kris Oprisko
Cover by: Ashley Wood

30 Days of Night collects all three issues of Steve Niles’ blood-curdling tale of vampires running amok in the arctic in one handsome volume. Niles’ gripping tale, vividly brought to life through the evocative artwork of Ben Templesmith, details the unfortunate town of Barrow, Alaska, whose month-long winter darkness provides a siren call to a band of bloodthirsty vampires. The townspeople’s only hope of survival lies in the hands of Stella and Eben, the local husband-and-wife sheriff team.

Also features:
introduction by Clive Barker entitled, “Cold Blood”
Creator biographies
“30 Days of Night” script

Stories/Spoilers
In issue #1, It is November 7th, 2001 in Barrow, Alaska. Barrow is a town that sees nothing but light from May to August, and enters a thirty day long night between November 18th and December 17th. The day is a stormy November 17th, and a bizarre crime wave has hit the town.

Sheriff Eben Oleman meets his wife, Stella Oleman on the edge of town. She had discovered a pile of cell phones, stolen in the recent crime wave, smoldering in a pit dug out of the snow and frozen Earth. Eben is eager to get back to town to try to figure things out before the thirty day long darkness hits, but Stella holds him to his promise of watching the sun go down.

At the same time in New Orleans, Louisiana a shadowy woman named Judith and her son Taylor found that they had a visitor. George, a local speed-freak, had been monitoring communications for Judith trying to locate signs of Vampire activity. He brings her a series of communications between a Marlow Roderick and someone who calls himself only V about an event that is to occur in Barrow, Alaska.

After the sun retires Eben gets a call on his radio. There is a disturbance at Ikos diner. A mysterious newcomer with bad hair and even worse teeth is asking the cook for a bowl of raw meat. Eben and Stella confront the man and bring him in for a night in the jail.

Meanwhile, Gus Lambert is at the communication building, the source of television and phone signals in Barrow, discovering vandalized equipment and alarms. A group of pale figures dressed in black and white ask him about the purpose of the building before one of them, Marlow, splits him down the middle with his long fingers.

At the Sheriff’s office Eben and Stella have locked up the man they arrested at Iko’s. The man taunts them, trying to get Eben riled up. He tells them that they are all going to die before bending the bars of the cell with his bare hands. Eben shoots him first, through the head, and Stella opens fire after to make sure the man is dead. They then go to the communication station to figure out why communication is down.

They find the building burned down, and all of the equipment destroyed. Gus’s severed head is impaled on a post in front of the building. Rushing back into town, Eben and Stella stop when they see a light in the distance. They get out of their vehicle and through binoculars see the approach of a group of the un-dead heading their way.

Next in issue #2, The streets of Barrow run red with blood and carnage. No longer limited by the need to hide from the sun and sleep during the day, and with the entire town isolated from the rest of the modern world by snow and sub-zero temperatures, the un-dead rampage and feed uninhibited. They marched across the ice, cutting off all escape routs. Every computer, phone and radio has been destroyed, rendering the residents of Barrow incapable of even attempting to reach the outside world. Trying to flee and trying to fight do no good against this enemy who seemingly cannot be stopped. Bullets do not even make them pause.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, a somber Judith prepares her only son, Taylor, for departure to Barrow. She only wants Taylor to retrieve photographic evidence of vampiric activity, however she has reason to worry. Taylor assures her that he has no intention of being a hero and that he will come back to her. Taylor leaves, and catches a flight to Alaska. Despite the storm that is brewing, he convinces the owner of a helicopter to still allow him to fly to Barrow.

Only a few remain alive, and safe for the moment. Stella and Eben watch what is happening outside though a narrow window in the basement in which they hide. There are a few other survivors with them, all huddled together with little food, warmth, or hope. Eben goes out in search of food and supplies for the survivors. He is stopped in the Sheriff’s office by a large, bald vampire. He tells Eben that the cold is terrible for their senses and they are unable to smell the survivors. Blasting him in the head with a shot-gun, Eben removes half of his face, and strikes him in order to run away.

In the streets Marlow is uninterested in pursuit, knowing that they have all the time they need to discover any last survivors. The vampires celebrate the arrival of their leader, Vicente. Marlow gloats to his master about how the town is cut off, and how long they will have to bleed the town dry with the sun gone. He has taken extra care to make sure that none of the residents of Barrow turn, instructing the others to remove the heads of those they feed on. He is caught off guard and taken back by Vicente’s rage.

With the survivors watching from their window, Vicente strikes Marlow down and lectures him on what he may have accomplished. The vampires had worked for centuries to blend in and make the human population believe them to be no more than a myth, and in one act Marlow threatens their security. If people again grow suspicious of them they will be hunted, and Vicente does not intend to suffer the same fate of his family. Angry, Marlow rushes at Vicente who rips off his head and then squashes his still cursing head. Vicente gives his instructions to the other vampires. They are to make the town’s destruction appear to be an accident, moving the bodies back into their houses, then rip the pipeline and light the oil on fire, setting the town ablaze.

Finally in issue #3, One of the survivors ran out to find his girlfriend. He arrives back to the others, wounded by the claws of one of the vampires. He is rapidly changing, dying inside. Before they know what to do he has completely turned and is attacking them wildly. Before he has the chance to escape, Eben splits his head open with an axe. He pulls a syringe out of the medical kit he salvaged, and draws blood from the vampires neck as he dies, not yet knowing what he plans to do with it.

It is at this time that Taylor Ali arrives in Barrow. Flying over the town, his camera captures footage of the vampires below. Vicente sees him, jumps off the side of a building, and lunges at the helicopter. Vicente kills Taylor and brings the plane down, crashing into the snow. Moments before the crash a dying Taylor hits send on his laptop, sending the footage back to his mother. Now Vicente has a scapegoat to blame the carnage in Barrow on.

Outside, Vicente is destroying the town and setting everything ablaze. Knowing that they will soon be discovered (or die of the cold if not discovered), Eben injects himself with the tainted blood in hopes of saving his wife. Eben changes quickly, dying in Stella’s arms. He tells her that he can smell her blood, which startles her. Eben rushes out the door, fearing that he may hurt her.

In the streets the now un-dead Eben calls out Vicente who is about to feed on two children they just found. Eben rushes for Vicente, but after hundreds of years of experience Vicente is too fast and strong. Vicente catches him by the neck in mid-air and hurls him up against a building. Beginning to come into his new abilities, Eben is able to gain the upper hand in the fight against the vampire lord. Surviving members of the town gain new hope and leave their hiding places as Eben slashes at Vicente. Vicente lunges at Eben one final time, mouth open and talons out, and Eben sends a fist through Vicente’s mouth and out the back of his head. Afraid, the vampires retreat away from the town. Stella realizes that the sun will be up in another day, and what that means for Eben.

The next morning Eben and Stella sit where they watched the sunset 30 days earlier, waiting for the sun to rise again. As the sun rises Eben is left a pile of clothing and char, with a crying Stella sitting next to his remains.

Trade Paperback reprints/collects: 30 Days of Night (2002) Issues #1-3.  IDW Publishing

Trade Paperback is bagged and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

Third Printing
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Publication Date: 2003
Format: FC, 80 pages, TPB, 10″ x 7″
ISBN-10: 0971977550
ISBN-13: 9780971977556

Collectible Entertainment note: Trade Paperback is in Fine – condition. (significant bump/crease on front cover > lower right corner)  Otherwise… Nice Reading Copy!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious 30 Days of Night, Steve Niles, Horror and/ Vampire collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Recommended.

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