Story by Joe R. Lansdale
Art by Sam Keith
I’m not sure where to begin with 30 Days of Night: Night, Again, so I’ll start by saying that I wasn’t as enamored with Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith’s original work as many others were. I found the concept interesting but poorly executed, and it never really caught my interest.
Night, Again takes “poorly executed” to a whole new level. Joe Lansdale’s script is as vapid as it is pointless, devoid of any redeeming qualities that would make reading the book even mildly interesting. Characters’ actions make little sense, and there isn’t a likable or identifiable personality among them. Between the one-dimensional crew of Barrow survivors and a group of the dumbest “scientists” ever depicted in fiction, I was never able to identify a protagonist in the story. It’s almost as if Lansdale wants me to root for the entire cast’s destruction.
Unfortunately, even the brand’s trademark vampires are poorly represented here, making it impossible even to support them in that respect. They are merely tools for senseless gore, and their pursuit of the main characters is such a crudely constructed plot hook that you just want it to be over. Simultaneously, a second plotline involving a group of climate change researchers (aided by plenty of the writer’s hammer of a political agenda) is so asinine that I was left gaping like an imbecile at the end of the book.
Sam Keith’s artwork brings nothing but disappointment, especially for anyone who remembers his glory days on The Maxx and Wolverine. His work on this book is so lazy as to almost be insulting that IDW would even consider it finished.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t find a single redeeming quality in Night, Again.
