30 Days of Night
Publisher: IDW
Original Format: Monthly three issue mini-series
First Appearance: 30 Days of Night#1 (IDW, August 2002)
Appearance checklist (not including reprints):
(comics) 30 Days of Night#1-3 (2002); Dark Days#1-6;
Return to Barrow#1-6; Annual 2004, 2005; Bloodsucker Tales#1-8; Dead
Space#1-3; Spreading the Disease#1-5; Eben and Stella#1-4; Red Snow#1-3;
Beyond Barrow#1-3; 30 Days 'Til Death#1-4; Night Again#1-4; 30 Days of
Night#1-12 (2011-2012); 30 Days of Night#1-6 (2017-2018); X Files/30 Days
of Night#1; Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night#1; Criminal Macabre: Final
Night - The 30 Days of Night Crossover
(films/television): 30 Days of Night (2007
movie); Blood Trails (2007, 7 part online miniseries); Dust to Dust (2008,
6 part online miniseries); Dark Days (2010 straight to video movie)
(prose): 30 Days of Night movie novelization;
Rumors of the Undead; Immortal Remains; Eternal Damnation; Light of Day;
Fear of the Dark
(audio): 30 Days of Night (Audible full cast
adaptation of the original miniseries)
Starring:
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Sheriff Eben Olemaun |
Stella Olemaun |
Marlow |
Vicente |
Lilith |
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Dane |
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Plot Summary: The remote Alaskan town of Barrow was isolated from
the rest of the world by miles of ice and snow, and so far north that for
thirty days of the year the sun never rose above the horizon.
Unfortunately for the residents, this also made it a tempting target for a
group of ravenous vampires who descended on the settlement intent on
feeding off and slaughtering every living inhabitant. Only a handful of
residents, led by Eben and Stella Olemaun, a married couple who were also
the town's sheriffs, survived, initially evading the attackers and
eventually repelling them, but at a terrible cost, as Eben was forced to
deliberately turn himself into a vampire in order to get the strength
needed to fight back. When the attack ended, Eben chose to burn in the sun
rather than risk losing control, but Stella went on to take the fight to
the undead, seeking to expose their existence to the entire world. When a
chance to revive Eben arose, Stella seized it, but her still-vampiric
husband gave into his hunger and bit her, turning her also into a vampire.
Eventually gaining control over their urges, the pair returned to Alaska
to watch over Barrow, protecting it from further incursions by hostile
nosferatu.
Comments: Created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith.
The idea for 30 Days of Night was first pitched as a film by Steve Niles, but after a couple of years of studio after studio rejecting the idea Steve Niles decided to focus on his comic work instead. After working for some Image titles, Niles was approached by IDW to write for them; they told him they couldn't afford to pay him but because of this they were willing to take a chance on whatever project he was interested in. Teaming up with Ben Templesmith, an artist he had worked with on the Image comic Hellspawn, Niles turned his 30 Days of Night movie idea into a three issue comic. Ironically, as soon as the first adverts for the comic were released, long before the actual comic came out and proved successful, the studios that had turned down the script when it had been offered to them then began actively pursuing it. Thanks to the vagaries of movie production it still took several years before the movie came out, by which time several sequel comic miniseries had been released. Two online tie-in miniseries with total run-times of roughly half an hour were also released around the same time. The moderate financial success of the movie resulted in a direct-to-dvd sequel a few years later, after which the live-action version of 30 Days of Night came to an end. However the story has continued in both novels and further comics, including crossovers with the X-Files (as IDW held the comic license for that TV show) and Criminal Macabre, another Niles' comic series.
First Posted: Circa 14/12/2009
Last updated: 11/11/2022
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