More than 20 years ago, IDW’s 30 Days of Night took readers into a unique world of horror in Barrow, Alaska, a town so far north that the sun doesn’t rise for 30 days, holding the town and its people in darkness. And bad things happen in the dark, with the arrival of vampires who take advantage to terrorize the town, feeding at will. But in the two decades that have passed since Barrow took back its town the nightmare is about to begin again. Hitting stores on October 25th, writer Rodney Barnes and artist Chris Shehan are bringing readers back to Barrow in 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun — and the vampires are out for revenge. ComicBook has been given an early review of the first issue of the new series and it’s setting up to be a chilling, bloody story that’s a worthy successor to the iconic original horror tale.
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30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 brings people back to Barrow through the character of Jalen James, a troubled teen who has come to the northern city to stay with his Uncle Calvin fleeing gang violence in Los Angeles. It’s a bit of culture shock off the bat for Jalen, but that’s just scratching the surface. Two decades after the town was gripped in a bloodbath of terror by vampires, the people of Barrow take elaborate precautions as the sun sets for the next thirty days, precautions geared to protect them from vampires should they darken their door again. However, in that 20 years memory has become a tricky thing. Survivors of the vampiric terror don’t want to talk about what happened while those who don’t remember don’t believe — to them, it’s just stories, the preparations more of a routine they don’t understand or appreciate. And it’s quickly apparent — at least for the reader — that is going to be a problem. While the people of Barrow go through the motions, far away in Romania the vampires remember and are planning revenge on the town for their fallen leader, Vicente.
For fans of the original 30 Days of Night, going back into the cold darkness might seem like as daunting task, but straight out of the gate they’re in good hands with Barnes. Barns has already more than proven that he is a master of horror — particularly vampire horror — thanks to his hit series Killadelphia, and that same level of skill and expert storytelling is at play here. One of Barnes’s great skills is how he is able to masterfully set the stage, weaving tension through a tale from the beginning in such a way that the reader feels the dread and still want to turn the page and find out more. That is on full display here in this first issue, with Barnes introducing several characters with only small pieces of the story, but the pieces that invest you in what their larger tale will be. This is balanced beautifully with the chilling lore of the vampires, as Barrow is not the only setting in this first issue. We dive into Romania and a chilling ritual that makes it clear humanity is going to find itself locked in a battle that they may not be able to win. It’s a fascinating and tantalizing balance that propels the issue forward and leaves readers right on the last edges of peace as the final page hits.
But while Barnes’s writing is already masterful, Shehan’s art elevates it even further. Shehan’s work is always exquisite and rich with details — anyone who has read The Autumnal is well aware that Shehan somehow manages to make horror beautiful — and that’s very much the case here. Shehan’s art, paired with Xenon Honchar’s colors, does a brilliant job of giving readers a realistic, frozen world in Barrow that somehow conveys the crisp sense of a clean start while also keeping the pulse of darkness just under the surface. The art gives the town very True Detective: Night Country vibes and it works perfectly here. The work on Romania is equally brilliant, full of intricate details that grow more disturbing as you look at them. Even the journey from Romania to Barrow is genuinely incredible art, even if it’s some of the darkest horror in the issue.
While picking up a much-loved story after 20 years is a complicated thing, 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 does it perfectly. With Barnes’s writing masterfully guiding readers through unsettling final moments of calm before darkness falls and all hell breaks loose again while also establishing the quieter horror of the complacency that time delivers and Shehan’s gorgeous (and gory) art, this first issue is the perfect descent into a nightmare that readers won’t be able to get enough of.
Rating: 5 out of 5
FOC for 30 Days of Night: Falling Sun #1 is September 8th.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
