30 Days of Night: Red Snow (#1-3)

"If we're going to survive those...things, we'll need a real plan and leadership" - Charlie Keating

More vampire shenanigans now, with co-creator Ben Templesmith on art and writing duties in this tale of historical bloodsuckers in this 2008 three-parter set during World War 2 on the Eastern front.  You probably know the score by now, but I'll recap:  30 Days of Night refers to the Alaskan town of Barrow, which experiences a month of darkness every winter and one year a group of vampires take advantage of this to nearly wipe out the town in a feeding frenzy.  They were defeated by Sheriff Eben Olemaun who injected himself with vampire blood and killed their leader and driving the rest off before turning to ash by the side of his wife Stella when the sun came up.  Stella Olemaun became an expert in vampire hunting but ended up bringing Eben back who bit and turned her, but the two of them went on to become Barrow's undead protectors.  Stella's research on vampires told us that they can pretty much only be killed by completely destroying the head, burning up or prolonged exposure to U.V. light.  Holy symbols, stakes through the heart etc don't work.  We also found out through her that vampires share a linked conciousness and often seek to "turn" people because their long lives render them lonely and desiring of companionship.  This story, being set long before the events of the original Barrow assault shows us that vampires have been around a long time and have always sought to take advantage of human strife, bloodshed and places lacking in light.

It starts with a German called Klaus who has lost and eye staring out across the snowy landscape.  Another Nazi commiserates with him, and Klaus says it is freezing cold, "vermin" shoot at them constantly and they have to drink the "donkey piss" vodka.  The other Nazi who is called Trabant says the fuhrer will acknowledge them as heroes when all this is over.

Klaus the Nazi

Klaus says Tranbant seems very sure of himself.  Another Nazi SS Officer Hoeppner butts in saying they "swore a scared oath to the fuher".  He does not want to be here where it is dark for two months, he'd rather be fighting at Stalingrad or Moscow but he does what he's told:

Hoeppner: "He has chosen us to liquidate the slavs and Jews.  Kuchlerlebensraum.   For the glory of our fatherland the people must have room to breathe."

Klaus says he hasn't forgotten his oath and he knows there is not a man there who would not die for the Fuhrer. 

They spot a village in the distance and decide it needs "clearing". This will make pushing onto Murmansk easier.  Hoeppner believes that when the Soviets lose access to western aid they "will fold like a deck of cards" because they aren't made for fighting.  They make for the village.

Inside one of the village houses are a couple, a goat and a young son and older daughter.  They reassure each other that if the Germans come they can use the network of escape tunnels they have access too.  The man - Stefan - gives his son a gun and tells him how to use it.

You grow up fast in wartime.

We then join a Russian unit also close by.  In this unit is a Russian speaking Englishman. His name is Charlie Keating but the Russians just call him "Englishman".   Orlov one of the Russians says it is pleasing that Charlie's Russian is so good, he hates having to use English, "much better than that muck in your tongue" he says.

Galchenko interrupts saying Orlov is uncultured and the Russians really do appreciate the British help with their war effort.  He's been show Murmansk where the Nazi's were beaten back and they have mostly been killing off Nazi anti-partisan squads.

Then they come across some bodies ripped to bits.  Galchenko says angrily the Germans are animals who would eat human flesh rather than starve.  They see a panicking Nazi fleeing and the mounted Cossacks go to ride him down. The Naiz tries to sputter out a warning, but before he can he gets his head sliced off.  They spot more Nazis in the distance and give chase.

Vampiric evidence.

At the village the other Nazis have arrived.  They break down a door and a young boy appears.  Hoeppner shoots him in the face.  The father screams he'll kill the Nazis but is killed himself.  They are then to round every man up and shoot them by firing squad while the women and children all in one building. 

A bespectacled Nazi called Baum grabs one of the women and takes her off to rape her as the men are murdered.  After the men are shot, Hoeppner orders the building the women and children burned using their flamethrower.  Klaus looks down in what looks very much like shame.

The three Cossacks chase several Nazi's through a snowfield which starts sucking them down like quicksand and they are all pulled under.  In Stefan's house, the Russians come knocking and he goes out and greets them.  Galchenko praises the "stout Russian worker" who carries on and aids with the fight.  Charlie has more important concerns, do they have any tea?  "You English and your tea" says Galchenko.  A storm is coming so they all go inside.

But the storm brings monsters.  A small girl baring her vampire teeth is leading a group of vampires made up of soldiers from both sides, including the Cossacks.  Inside Stefan's house, Galchenko is suspicious of how they have so much food and drop heavy hints he thinks they might be "war profiteers".  One of the men goes to take a piss outside and when he opens the door he is shot in the face by the Germans.

Stefan's son, Nikolai wants to join the fight.  Orlov tells Charlie they are most like being attacked by a lost SS detachment looking to butcher easy targets.  Charlie isn't encouraged by this. As the Nazis dig in and fire on the house they spot the vampires walking towards them.

Vampires on the march.

Then Baum shoots the girl twice but bullets have no effect. The Russians spot the Cossack vampires in the distance thinking they might be reinforcements.  But the Cossacks are not on horseback.  The Baum stands frozen saying "I shot you" as the vampire bears down on him, and he gets a well deserved chomping by the little girl.

Hoeppner yells as Trabant to clear a path, Trabant says he's trying but "these things east ammunition".  There is a frenzy of flame and bloodshed as the flamethrower unit tries to kill them.   Hoeppner is about to be killed and Charlie shoots the vampire in its head and saves him.

Baum goes down.

When asked why he did that, Charlie says those things will come for them next, they need as many people alive as possible.  Galchenko roars that they will not cooperate with the enemy, then a pair or arms bursts through and grabs one of the Cossacks.  "The Englishman might have a point sir" says one of the soldiers.  Galchenko folds and then Charlie, who speaks German as well calls the Nazis into the house.  There is a rush of confusion as the vampires try to follow and in it Stefan get dragged off by the vampires who have his daughter, before they are beaten back but the house is damaged in the process.

Stefan's daughter shows them the hidden tunnels they can hide in now the house is no longer secure and the Russians and Nazis climb down. Stadler is ordered to set the room on fire as they move down.  Outside the long haired vampire says to the little girl vampire if this is it.  The little girl vampire thinks then says:

Little Girl Vampire: "I think not...Find them.  The village was already half deserted, we will be left hungry if we do not gather the rest.  Let none survive".

Hiding in the tunnels the soldiers try to figure out what attacked them.  Nevsky, a Cossack says he used to hear stories about creatures like them at the Northern Steppes.  Orlov says they are their punishment.  Or maybe the Nazis punishment, he hasn't heard a thankyou for saving them.

Charlie takes charge.

Charlie tells Hoeppner that these "animals" helped save him. There is some awkward introductions then there attention is taken by a soldier who was bitten and is trying to resist vampification.  He fails and his mouth bursts open full of bloody teeth, Stadtler can't use the flamethrower down there so Hoeppner says he's "my responsibilty" and cuts the man's head off with his knife.

Galchenko: "This is hell... this is just like hell... we're all going to die."

Charlie comments he didn't think communists believed in God. Rosa, the two women of the house now says there is a truck close by.  Charlie assures them they'll take them with them. Orlov says he'll have Rosa show him where the ammo is, Nikolai will show Charlie where the truck is.

There is plenty of ammo which Rosa assures Orlov was all going to the Soviet cause.  She is upset about the loss of her husband, Orlov says he cares for nothing except Stalin.  Then the little girl zombie appears. Before he can aim his rifle, she flies at his throat and rips it out. Rosa can only cry as she realises she is next.

Charlie hears her screams and goes back.  He finds the little girl hunched over Rosa's body.  He fires at her and knocks a hole in a fuel tank.  He lights the fuel with a match and sets her on fire.  She runs away and dives into the snow to put herself out. Her "Big Brother" asks her if it is his turn and she says they are playing "nasty games" and she wants them dead like now.

Tragedy strikes for Nikolai

Nikolai followed Charlie and finds him over the body of his mother.  She isn't dead but she'll change.  Nikolai knows what to do and takes Charlie's pistol and shoots her dead off-panel.  He then comes back to Charlie and says:

Nikolai: "I want to kill all of them Englishman.  Those things.  The Germans. All of them".

The vampires are making vampires of what remained of the villagers.  When they are done, they will chase down the soldiers in the tunnels.  The little girl says she "turns them into things of beauty" and likes having new friends to play with.

Back at the base in the tunnels, Charlie chews Hoeppner out for not providing support.  He says he could't care less about the "vermin and their spawn".  When Galchenko discovers Orlov is dead, he says he's the ranking officer.  But Charlie says "like hell" and a poll from the Russians and Germans left show support for Charlie's plan.

A plan is agreed on.

They put the escape plan in action, Stadtler uses his flamer to clear a path. He gets bitten though.  There is a general melee of fighting, and Stadtler begs to be killed before he turns.  Koeppler fires into the flamer fuel tank strapped to his back and there is a huge explosion.

Galchenko says it should buy them some time, but flaming vampires rush out of the conflgration.  One reaches Charlie, but before he can be bitten, Nevsky cuts its head off. They run for the truck and quietly Hoeppner says to Trabant that it will not hold them all.  They need to kill off the Russians. Hoeppner then shoots one to get started.  Trabant stands and looks at him, then kills the other one with them.

Hoeppner leaves him there and goes to commandeer the vehicle.  Charlie has managed to get it started, though it's too late for Tranbant who kills himself before he can be vamped by his attackers.  With Hoeppner on board the truck bursts through the garage wall and squishes several vampires.  Then Hoeppner shoots Galchenko in the head.

Never trust a Nazi.

Then he grabs Nikolai and throws him out.  In a rage Charlie flies at Hoeppner and knocks him out of the truck.  Then Charlie asks Nevsky to turn around and get the boy. Nikolai comes around and immediately is attacked.  Charlie runs to his aid and kills the vampire but sustains a serious chest wound in the process.

He tells Nikolai that Nevsky will see him right and take him to the next town.  It's the end for Charlie and he doesn't want to turn, so he hands his gun to Nikolai and tells him "you know.. what you have to do now."

The vampires congregate and the little girl says they won't get far, "there will be many more before this winter is over anyway."  Hoeppner wakes up and finds himself surrounded by vampires and with only a knife to defend himself with. "Let's get this over with" he says grimly and that brings this installment to a close.

Cue Bolvian Army Ending.

The art is as ever, brilliant.  And Templesmith shows some talent as a writer as well constructing a claustrophobic base-under-siege story where your allies inside are as dangerous as the monsters attacking outside.  We now know that vampires have been around feasting on darkness bound towns and villagers for a long time.  Unlike the people of Barrow after the first attack, their victims haven't been able to use technology to fight back.  And under the fog of war, whole towns can be wiped out; either eaten or vamped and nobody would expect a supernatural reason for it.  One thumbs up I am giving Templesmith as a writer is he makes and effort to mention character's names every now and then and uses props like hats and glasses to differentiate further.  Having read a couple of entries in the series where this doesn't happen and the characters all look the same has turned it into a real pain to write up.  But you can look forward to me moaning about that next month.  Anyway this is another chilly tale of vampires and humans and a great entry in the series overall.  You can buy it as a trade paperback, or find it in Omnibus 2 like I have.

30 Days Of Night: Juarez (Bloodsucker Tales #1-8)

"My name is Lex Nova.  I find girls" - Lex Nova

This is the other story that ran with Dead Billy Dead, which I looked at last month, in the Bloodsucker Tales miniseries.  It's back being drawn by Ben Templesmith, but it's the first story not written by Peter Niles.  Matt Fraction takes up the challenge of writing for the series with a very angry story about the disposable women of a Mexican town called Juarez. The star of the story is an private investigator from the US called Lex Nova who has read about the fact that up to four hundred women have gone missing over the years in the town and off his own back has decided to look into it as he thinks it might be connected to a case he's worked before. The storyline is actually a seven part main story called "Juarez or Lex Nova And The Case Of The 400 Dead Mexican Girls" and a one chapter prequel called sub-titled "Alex Gorodetski And The Case Of The One Missing White Girl or The Beginning".  Which is something of a mouthful, so for the purposes of titling this post I have simply used Juarez.  Lex Nova is a quirky chap, he has an internal "PI's monologue" that he unfortunately can't help giving voice to, which gets him into trouble a couple of times.  It's a pretty bleak story as it turns out normal people can be just as monstrous as vampires and it pulls no punches in its look at life in a dirt poor Mexican border town. We begin with the "Case of the 400 Missing Dead Girls."

It starts with a young woman, naked with ropes round her wrists running across the desert. She trips and falls and several people in black leathers and motorbike helmets surround her. Then blood starts flying.  We cut to Lex Nova arriving in town saying it smells like "tortilla and dead girl out here" and goes into a bar.

Lex Nova

He narrates to himself looking at a newspaper headline declaring "400 Dead Or Missing Girls in Juarez Mexico".  He tells himself that the girls work the nightshift at the local factories and:

Lex: "Some call it coincidence. Or a serial killer.  Or serial killers.  Or a serial killer and a copycat serial killer.  Whatever s'bullshit... I know who's killing those girls."

We then cut to the burial of Titania Acosta and the priest comforting her family.  Then we see a flashback of two of the town policemen, Garcia and Martinez finding the remains of the Titania the girl being chased at the start. She's been mutilated and her breasts cut off.

Back with Lex, he confronts Mr. Acosta saying to himself that he knows Acosta wants to talk.  When Mr. Acosta tells him he's saying that aloud, Lex pulls a gun on him.  Mr. Acosta tells him his daughter worked in a factory, like all the other girls in Juarez, "then one day she doesn't come home."  Suddenly three shadowy figures come into the bar, one armed with a basebat bat with nails in it.

A welcoming commitee

Then we cut to a vampire called Bingo who wears a clown nose, and his two girls, Halo and Echo (who is mute).  They are entertaining some normal men and then the whole thing turns into a bloodbath.   When it's over, Bingo spots the same newspaper headline about the four hundred dead girls and says to the girls, "we found Uncle Zero".

We then return to Lex driving a van he took from one of the men who attacked him, he pulls the spiked bat off his face and smashes a post box with it as he passes.  He goes to the Acosta house where there is a priest helping them pray.

Lex makes himself at home as Mr. Acosta shuffles off drinking.  Their son Joe asks him about LA where Lex used to live.   He thinks the girls are being killed by the chupacubra  The priest tells Joe to take his mum for a lie down so he can be alone with Lex.

Lex and the priest.

He and Lex sit on the back of Lex's stolen truck and smoke.  The priest says events in Juarez have caused him to lose his faith, he's lived there all his life and watched it turn into a "death camp".

Priest: "We made our daughter's slaves.  We made our daughters whores.  Now we've made them cattle.  And Juarez a slaughterhouse.  So fuck God."

He says he doesn't believe in God anymore, he just turns up for the comfort of the community. He tells Lex he might get some information from Pilar, Titania Acosta's sister. She works the factories then she works the town, "she is already lost".  But Lex goes to find her.

Bingo and his girls are waiting in the border queue to cross into Mexico and Bingo is getting frustrated.  When it comes to his turn he mesmerises the borderguard into thinking three scribbled on bits of paper are their ID.  Then Bingo tells him to blow his head off in front of the little girl in the car behind, and the man obliges.

Bingo in action.

We then see the two cops being reamed out by what appears to be the civic leader of Juarez for not finding who is killing all the girls.  When they leave however, two men come out of the shadows and the man, Eduardo Reyes, says the police have nothing, "I've run the maquiladora [factories] since before you were born. And I've been killing whores even longer."  If people get close they buy them or kill them:

Reyes: "Who cares for the whores of Juarez?  We give them lives.  We give them work. And then we give them death."

We then see Lex struggling through the mass of girls trying to find Pilar.  Then we join the priest, someone is in for confession.  It is one of Reyes's men and he starts to confessing to all the murders of the girls.

Pilar is in a truck cab with a fat guy.  She is about to suck his cock when Lex runs at the vehicle and punches him out through the window.  Meanwhile as the man - Paco - in confession keeps going through the names of those he killed, the priest explodes in rage and drags the man out of confession and beats him to death with a chair.

No Hail Mary's for Paco.

Bingo the vampire is just outside Juarez and says he can't smell Uncle Zero.  He puts Echo out on the road as bait. Lex is driving the fat guy's truck with Pilar still inside.  He drives past Echo and recognises her, saying that means "the whole Zero family circus is here."  She asks what he means when he calls them bloodsuckers and he clarifies he's talking about vampires.

He takes her to a house and tells her to get inside and he'll park the truck up outside town.  There are goats around the house, there won't be for long.  Then we see Bingo talking to Reyes and a couple of his men.  They've roughed them up and Bingo can't believe that "y'all been rapin' and killin' all these girls cos y'all are rich and bored and yah can. And there ain't nobody to stop it."

Reyes says the girls are trash and it is his right.  Bigo cuts him off saying he's a vampire who has done some terrible shit in his time because people are just food to him:

Bingo: "I do it - We do it - Because we have to.  You crazy bastards do it 'cuz you want to."

Bingo tells Reyes he wants to do business with him, then he and his girls go upstairs to sleep until sundown.  One of Reye's men says this is "evil".  Reyes notes the irony of that statement, then says "it's power" actually.  We then cut to the fat man whose truck Lex stole waking up in the back with a bunch of dismembered goats.

"Chupacabra!"

We then cut to Lex helping the priest bury Paco's body.   "Well.. he had it coming" says the priest when Lex comments on the situation.  In town the man who woke up with the goats is trying to get the cops to take him seriously.  The kid Joe does take it seriously as the chupucabra and reports it to a friend over the phone.

In the priest car, Lex tells him that there are vampires involved with these killings.  The priest asks angrily if he thinks everyone in Mexico is retarded?  Lex says he's a detective who gets the job done. The priest says, "There's no boogie man in Juarez.  Just us."

He tells Lex there are four guys behind the killings. "There crime is that they're rich. They're bored.  And they have the power to get away with it."  Lex asks what "this crazy fucking priest wants."  The priest says "I want them to pay".

Joe steals some cash from his mother's purse and starts to leave the house when Lex appears giving him a fright.  He tells Lex that his dad is at work and leaves.  He bribes (don't tell Donald Trump!) the border guard and cycles to El Paso and uses the resources there to look a LA Times newspaper story with the headline "Detective Sought In Missing Girl Case."

Back at the Acosta's, Lex has bought all of them bar Joe together.  He tells them they are still a family so "don't fuck it up".  And he departs with a shovel.   Before he goes, he takes the goat into the shed and feeds on it, confirming that he is a vampire.  Joe and his friends are peeking in through the window and believe it confirms he's the "goatsucker."

Lex's secret revealed.

Lex and the priest have a plan to draw out Reyes using Paco's phone.  Reye's takes the call.  When he hangs up he tells his men that Paco has been kidnapped.  His men are more worried about what Bingo is going to do now it's nighttime.

Bingo is pacing the room saying he's depressed Uncle Zero isn't here. When Halo tries to comfort him with all the feeding they can do he tells her to shut up and that he wishes Echo could talk so he could shut her up, but he does love making her squeal.

Joe calls in to the police he has information on a man connected with recent homicides in the town. The priest and Lex meanwhile are digging up Titania Acosta's body.   We then see Joe being interviewed by the police and he fingers Lex Nova for the murders.  He says he and the priest are together a lot because the priest wants to save him "because he's crazy and eats live goats."

In the truck with Titania's coffin in the back, Lex admits he woke up hungry.  The priest asks if it was for him?  Lex says human blood is a no no for him, "even though it's what you want the most".  Then he throws the priest out of the truck saying he's going to do the thing now.

Back at Reye's place, Bingo and the girls have been having an orgy of blood and murder having been supplied nine girls.  Reyes angrily tells his men to deal with them, "use fucking garlic.  Or crosses or whatever.  You've seen the movies."  He also tells them to "read that woman's book" referring to Stella Olemaun's "30 Days Of Night Book" on dealing with vampires.

He's about to buy a corpse "to keep the FBI up north" as he's been told it's a American one. One of the cops accompanys him.  They drive out into the desert where Lex is waiting. When asked his name he says "Don't say Lex Nova" four times, before saying "Cornelius".

Oops busted.

The cop says he is Reyes and says that this is the corpse of a girl Paco was screwing on the side.  Lex says she was a bad girl from Corpus Christi, ran away when her dad cut off the money. He saw her with Paco, then didn't see her with him no more.  Paco told him where she was when he popped him, so here we are.

"Reyes" asks what her name was.  "Olivia Honeycutt" says Lex. "Reyes" then points his gun at Lex saying the body is Titania Acosta and he's a cop.  We then cut to the Acosta's.  The mother tells Pilar she is a whore and to be out of the house by sunrise or she'll call the police.

Back with Lex. The cop is dead and Lex smells the real  Reyes lurking nearby.  He still has the blackmail money and as he drives off he says he'll give half to the Acosta's and half to the church.  A happy ending.  But the police are now on his tail.

At Reyes's place, his men burst in on Bingo armed with crosses and stakes.  They try and stake Bingo through the heart but he just regards it with bemusement.  He kills the man and the girls grab the other who has "some explaining to do."

Lex meanwhile is kneeling on the ground surrounded by cops.  Joe identifies him and they find the body of Titania in the back of the truck as well as all the cash.  Lex Nova is placed under arrest.  We return to Bingo who has Reyes hanging upside down and he quizzes him about Lex, when Reyes says he called the girl "Olivia Honeycutt" Bingo responds with "of course he did.".  He lets Reye's down after being told Lex is in custody by one of the cops.

Echo is locked in a cage.  Halo sneaks her a necklace and says she'll leave the cage open for her.  Bingo comes in, and says Lex, "the bane of my fuckin' existence." is now in a cage.  Lex is indeed in a cell and has been very badly beaten.  As he lies on the floor, Bingo and Halo come visit. He bends the bars and drags Lex out and tosses him around.  "Where's Olivia?" asks Lex.  Bingo doesn't want to talk about that.

Bingo beat a badly injured Lex.

He asked who helped Lex and Lex's internal monologue gives away the priest's involvement.  Bingo picks up Lex and carries him out of the building to the church.  Reyes meanwhile has called in on the Acostas about their daughter.  Pilar is talking to Joe about leaving with her before Juarez kills them both. But Joe says he wants to make a website of all the things he's discovered regarding Lex, and Pilar leaves.

Bingo dumps Lex in the church and leaves him.  "I was dying" Lex says to himself.  Pilar is thumbing a lift and Reyes pulls up and gives her a ride.  Lex is having a near death experience which involves being on the deck of the Enterprise.  Then he says he's just fucking around, all you feel is cold and darkness.

The priest and Echo find him and the priest desperately asks her to make him like her. So she cuts into the priest's throat and the blood splashes in Lex's mouth.  He rises up, totally animalistic and marches over to Reye's home where Bingo is sleeping. Reyes arrives at some sort of community centre and says the people killing all the girls are "sequestered in my home as we speak.  Join me and raze it."

Vampire Lex is not a nice sight.

As Lex, a snarling montrous beast starts fighting with Bingo, the house begins to burn.  The last we see of Lex is him screaming "Binnn..go It Endssssss".  Then we cut to the outside of the house as it burns up with Reyes looking smug as it does so.

Then we leap a year forwards.  Reye's gives a speach to the townsfolk that he is subsidising a new housing project and that anyone who lost a girl will qualify.  He says he has become friends with the Acostas especially after the loss of their second daughter (which confirms he killed Pilar). He walks through the room and says "your daughters are safe with me."

The priest is giving a sermon on greed.  He says it is the blackest of human weaknesses.  It creates dangerous, thoughtless humans.  No one is safe and only they can save themselves:

Priest: "Taking care of one another - struggling with that burden is when we are at our most divine."

When he finishes he goes outside with a bottle of booze.  He sits by a grave stone with "Lex 2005" written on it. "Fuck it we tried" he says as he sits by it and the sun starts to go down.  And that brings the "Case of the 400 Dead Girls" to a depressing close.

The priest knows the truth, though it doesn't help him.

But we have a prequel, "Alex Gorodetski and The Case of the 1 Missing White Girl" still to go.  It starts with him mulling over the fact that a missing white girl and a million dollar reward for finding her gets you a lot of media attention.  She is sighted everywhere including L.A.  And he thinks to himself, "if you had a dollar for every lost little girl in Los Angeles... you could actually afford to leave".

We then see Lex, although at this point in time he's Alex Gorodetski doorstepping someone as he investigates the missing girl. The woman asks if he is a lawyer and he says look at his car, does she know any lawyer in L.A who drives a "Nova."  He questions her and we see the missing girl is called Olivia Honeycutt.

He leaves, narrating to himself, although his monologues are just in his mind right now.  He is getting paid for this 800 dollars a day plus expenses.  "Olivia Honeycutt's been missing for 5600 dollars now".

Mr. Honeycutt asks him over the phone if he has found anything new.  Alex says that before Olivia disappeared there was a Halloween party. He found a photograph. Who was the clown?  Mr. Honeycutt says "I don't remember any clowns".  No one remembers the clown but he reflected in the mirror clear as day.  He manages to get all the photos taken that day assembled but still no one remembers the clown.

The Curious Case of the Clown at the Party.

After seeing one of the photographers, he leaves and the man calls up a "Mr Zero".  Later Alex is poring over the photos and talking to himself, back at his flat when a voice off panel says "what kind of detective talks to himself?  I'd want my money back".  Alex says he's the clown in the photo and the clown introduces himself as "Uncle Zero".

Next we see him hanging upside-down, Bingo is gloating over him along with Halo.  The girl in the corner, Olivia, says "the lady took my necklace.  Are you here to save me?"  Bingo says they have left Olivia's bloody nightshirt in his office and evidence of some other missing girls too.  "Not the most subtle frame job in the world but it'll get the job done".

Then Uncle Zero, whose face we never see, says to bring Olivia closer so she can have her first feed.  She opens her fanged mouth and her long tongue comes curling out and then:

Alex: "You wanna know the stupidest thing I ever did?  I bit first.  And that was it for me. I couldn't hear anything.  I couldn't think anything".

He bites off her tongue and vamps himself. So Olivia becomes Echo the mute vampire from the first story. Now he's a vampire the others have no use for him and let him go.

And Alex's fate is sealed.

He returns to his home which has police tape outside.  A neighbour woman spots him and asks if he did all those terrible things to the girls they said he did.  "No I tried to save them" he replies.  Then he breaks her neck and sets the building on fire.  And that brings the Juarez storyline to a close.

Dark, bleak stuff.  Unlike the Barrow stories, this and Dead Billy Dead have given us evil practiced by non vampires.  Reyes and his men are complete monsters preying on the hopelessness of the town they rule over. With corruption running rampant they are able to rape and kill the "nothing girls" with impugnity and it takes an outsider in the form of Lex, who admittedly is there because he mistakenly believes vampires are responsible, to actually investigate the murders properly.  The fact that a priest who has lost his faith could be driven to murder when he hears the confession of one who is part of the girl killing ring pretty much sums up the level of frustrated impotence he's been toiling under as more people turn to him for help as their daughters are taken from them.  Lex is another vampire whose managed to suppress his thirst for human blood and just as well considering the raving monster he becomes when he drinks it.  The prequel showing that biting a vampire will cause you to become one yourself neatly ties things up with the revelation that Echo is Olivia and the one he bit and explains why she was willing to revive Lex so he'd kill Bingo who's been torturing her ever since.  Ben Templesmith's art is excellent as usual and Matt Fraction's writing is tight, funny in places and shows a deft talent for dialogue.  Good stuff, but not for the faint of heart.

30 Days Of Night: Return to Barrow (#1-6)

"Some things can be lost and found again... but a thing like what happened in Barrow...you don't forget that" - Brian Kitka

The third 30 Days of Night miniseries, collected in the first omnibus sees the vampires return to target the Alaskan Town of Barrow which experiences the titular 30 Days of Night each winter.  In the original miniseries some vampires led by one called Marlow attack the town regarding it as prime feeding time.  However an elder vampire called Vicente arrives and kills Marlow for drawing attention to the existence of vampires.  He orders the human survivors killed and the town burned to cover it up.  Sheriff Eben Olemaun injects himself with vampire blood and keeps his mind long enough to kill Vincente.  He turns to ash as he sits with his wife Stella Olemaun as the sun rises after their month of hell.  In the second miniseries, Stella Olemaun has become quite the vampire hunter, researching and publishing a book on the events that saw the death of so many in Barrow.  But she is wounded and grieving her loss of Eben, and hooks up with a "good" vampire called Dane who was sired by Marlow but has kept his humanity.  Eben's ashes are stolen by a vampire working for Vincente's lover Lilith, and when Dane tells Stella his ashes might be able to revive Eben, Stella gladly trades all the proof she has of the existence of vampires for the ashes, although she blows Lilith and her minions the hell up afterwards.  Dane leaves her somewhat sadly and using her blood she mixes it with Eben's ashes and he revives.  The miniseries ended with her hugging him and him about to sink his teeth into her.  What happens next?  Find out in this mini, still written by Peter Niles and with Ben Templesmith still on art duties.

We begin with an introduction to our P.O.V character for this mini, a man called Brian Kitka who is the brother of William Kitka a Barrow resident who died in the vampire seige on the town, now three years in the past.  It seems the authorities have put out a story that implies the residents went mad, murdered each other and tried to cover it up with fire, as well as playing down the number of dead.  Brian knows his brother was no murderer and has come back to the town to take up the vacant post of Sheriff along with his young son.  Initially unsure if vampires were the reason things went down in Barrow, he gets a crash course in them during his first couple of days on the job as vampires from all over converge on the town out of a sense of revenge.  As they arrive at their new home, Brian thinks to himself:

Brian: "I am going to find out what happened. Clear his name, and bring some sanity back to Barrow."

His son Marcus is very excited by their new house which to him is huge.  Obviously property prices in Barrow are very low which is how Brian could afford it.  Then he reports to the Sheriff's Office in town, the deputy says she hadn't been informed of them getting a new sheriff, Brian is irrtated and yells at her.

Brian and his son Marcus.

His deputy scowls and says if Brian is going to be rude he'll need to find a new deputy.  Brian apologises saying he can't believe his transfer papers didn't come through yet. Then his deputy grins and says "I was just fucking with you. They came last week".  Brian smiles as well and they shake hands as she introduces herself as Donna Sikorski.  She says she knew his brother and his family and they were "good people."  Brian asks if she was here when "it" happened.  She says she was but folks have "learned to keep our mouths shut about it."  And she gently but firmly shuts down further probing of her from Brian about it.

Now in uniform and with his badge he goes outside and bumps into a hunter called John Ikos, who's brother Brian knew.  John reaffirms the view that Brian's brother was a good guy who sometimes came hunting with him. They are silent for a moment, then Brian asks him outright if "it" happened.  John replies, "Yes, it happened".  Then he calls out Donna and demands she hand over William Kitka's journal of the events of the vampire attack.  He tells Donna that Brian deserves to know the truth of what happened from his brother's own words.

John fills Brian in on their Sheriff woes.

As Brian goes off to read the journal alone, John comments to Donna that Brian needs to be prepared and informed.  He's already caught and killed a couple of advanced vampire scouts already.

John: "Let's hope the new sheriff plays ball... if he does, great.  If he doesn't.  Fuck him".

Then he tells Donna to lock her doors and windows but give him a call if she gets cold and lonely.   She gives him the finger affectionately.

Back with Marcus, a black cat appears in the house. It's a friendly kitty and leads Marcus upstairs and into a room where a bridal gown is one display.  There are assorted books of reports, Marcus hunts through them and finds a book of wedding photos.  He opens it to find a picture of the happy bride and groom, Stella and Eben Olemaun.  It's their house he and his dad are now living in.

Stella and Eben in happier, non-dead, times.

We cut to New Orleans.  Corrupt vampire FBI Agent Norris from the previous mini is calling upon a colleague of Judith, the woman who gathered video evidence of the attack on Barrow and whom he killed for it, but not before she had passed it onto Stella (who traded it for Eben's ashes anyway). Norris forces his way in, knocks out the man who is called George and who is a junkie then ties him up and waits for him to come to.

When George does so, Norris says he needs to know everything George knows about vampires. He wants to know how much humans know about them.  He threatens to destroy George's stash if he doesn't talk.

Norris: "I have all eternity George... how long do you think you'll last?"

Meanwhile in Barrow, Brian is reading his brother's chronicle of the events in Barrow.  It's heartbreaking stuff as it gets more and more apocalyptic and emotive, heavily implying he committed murder/suicide to prevent him and his family ending up as vampire chow, finally ending with the words to Brian, "if you come back to Barrow...know that there is evil in the darkness".

"Evil in the darkness" indeed.

As Brian finishes reading a figure approaches him.  Before he can register it as a threat it attacks, but John comes up behind it and headshots it saving Brian in the process. "You are having one shit-ass day aren't you?" John says sardonically.  He assumes now Brian knows the truth he'll be leaving.  Brian says he won't run.  They examine the corpse, Brian asks if it was really one of them.  John says it's hard to tell what with it missing a head and all.

Brian returns to his new home and speaks with Marcus who is excited and telling him the house belonged to the lady who wrote the book and her husband who died saving the town.  Brian still thinks it's probably "horseshit" and asks Marcus if he wants to leave.  He says the whole town feels "off" and they can be on a flight to Anchorage that evening.  Marcus decides he does want to go. But the last flight has gone so Brian and Marcus are stuck in Barrow now until the sun comes up.

Back in New Orleans, Norris is still questioning George who keeps pathetically begging for a fix.   Irritated beyond reason, Norris bites George and turns him into a vampire.  Then he questions him again.

George: "They have safe houses all over the world and a network connected by a common need to survive".

Norris asks him how he feels about these humans now, "I feel a common foe" says vampire George, "I feel them thinking about us."  Norris says it's time to silence the voices.  Do you feel the pull he asks George?  "Yesssss" George responds. "Looks like we have a long night ahead of us George" says Norris.

Agen Norris vamps George.

We then join a pair of vampires on their way up to Barrow, called Liam and Darcy.  Dane, the good vampire from the previous mini leaps out at them and introduces himself to them.  They ask if he is the same Dane who escaped the immolation of Lilith's group?  He affirms that he is, and the two vampires ask him if it was true that the lady who wrote the "30 Days of Night" book was responsible?  Dane says he saw no woman there, he lies and says it believes it was one clan of vampires who wanted to wipe out their elders. "To tell the truth I'm getting tired of all the killing" he tells them.

They ask if he is heading for "the feeding".  Dane is not, he doesn't even know what feeding they are talking about. When they say they are going to Barrow to destroy the town once and for all, Dane says the town should be left alone, "we failed once. Why try again?" Liam says it's a chance for redemption.

Dane: "How would another attack redeem us?  We should walk away and let the memories fade."

Liam offers him a cup of blood and says the memories don't fade. Humanity is fighting back thanks to the book and they are finding no place is safe for them now. "We all live in fear Dane" says Liam. Barrow has to pay with blood.

Dane hooks up with Liam and Darcy.

Back in Barrow it's special delivery time.  A man arrives with a car full of assault weaponry which causes Brian to freak out a little. John says he can feel free to arrest the whole town when the sun comes up and is disappointed that Brian still doesn't seem to realise the threat they are living under. Brian gets mad at him for sassing him in front of his son and pushes him up against the car, but deputy Donna intervenes saying she wants to show Brian their "winter security".  Then she introduces him and his son to the rest of the town gathered there, they all greet Brian and Marcus warmly.

The man who drove up introduces a girl called Iris, who excuses herself to find a ladies room.  But when he admits he only met her on the way up on his way back to Barrow the penny drops and Donna blows a whistle to alert the town they have a vampire in their midst.  They form smaller armed groups and go searching for her.  The winter floodlights are turned on as well, they broadcast UV light which hurts vampires badly.

The vampire girl sneaks around then suddenly a dark shape descends on her. As Brian's group search, John advises him to get Marcus into a safe room, the Olemaun place has a basement he should be safe in. Brian and John bond as John tells him the vampires appear this time every year, some people leave Barrow, most people stay and fight. Brian says John must have seen it all, John affirms he has.  Then they find the vampire girl's body, her head ripped clean off.  John remarks, "...this is new."

She has no head.

Agent Norris and George meet up with a group of vampires led by one called Werner who is directing the attack on Barrow. Werner welcomes Norris to "the war" when he realises how useful he can be. Werner says this year no one gets out of Barrow alive.  Then a vampire called Greta runs up to him telling him to come see something. They hurry over and find the corpses of Liam and Darcy with their heads and limbs ripped off and Dane slumped against a tree nearby. Dane mumbles that they didn't deserve to be killed.

Werner impatiently asks what happened and Dane says they were attacked. He didn't see who did it, just two blurs and then his travelling companions were dead. Dane doesn't know why he was spared.   Norris whispers in his ear, "I can smell the Olemaun woman on you."  Before things can escalate, Werner tells them both to stand down. Dane says he's told them everything he knows and Werner accepts this despite Norris's protests that Dane knows more than he is saying.  Werner initiates the attack on Barrow.

Inside Barrow which is defended by the UV lights and a fence all round it, guards are scanning for signs of attack.  Suddenly the vampires attack and this time they have guns as well and they collapse one of the light towers.  The vampires charge in and a firefight ensues between them and the townsfolk. "Hold the line!" yells John as they fire back.

The vampires go all out on Barrow.

Brian is securing Marcus in the Olemaun house basement, he tells Marcus to keep the door locked and only open it for him.  Then he leaves to go join the fight, "I'll be back. I promise" he tells his son. Brian goes and mans the ground mounted minigun and blows the frontline of the vampires to pieces, they retreat for the moment to regroup and try again.  Brian wonders why the residents of Barrow don't call for help.

John: "We call for help every year.  But help never comes. They don't believe us.  Shit would you?"

Well Brian is a believer now. John says he's sorry he's having such a baptism of fire especially as he has a young son.  But he's glad Brian is there to help them now.  Brian says they'll make it so the vampires wish they had never come to Barrow.

Back with the vampires, they consider the fact they took out one generator as indicative of a coming victory.  Norris whispers about Dane behind his back saying he gives him the creeps and he thinks he has something to do with his Sire Lilith's death.  George says Stella had a vampire accomplice who she took as her lover.  "What?" says Norris flatly.

Norris murders Dane.

He then goes and confronts Dane and demands to know what it was like to have a human woman. Dane denies knowing what he is talking about. Norris blasts his head off at point-blank range with his gun.  He says Dane was a "human sympathiser" and that something odd is going on right now.  Meanwhile Brian and John are hunkered down in a bunker discussing the situation:

Brian: "So you got any pearls of wisdom for me?"

John: "There's only one thing you gotta remember... nothing lives without a head."

The vampires stand some way away, Norris asks if he can make a suggestion to Werner.  We don't hear it as we return to Brian and John as John watches them through binoculars speculating they are coming up with a new plan of attack now their "weapon surprise" didn't overwhelm the town like they expected.

Defending the town.

Suddenly the whole group of vampires vanish, freaking John and Brian out who then retreat back into town.  Brian says he thinks the vampires are freaking out as much as they are and this calms John down.  Brian says they are trying to keep them off balance but obviously lack leadership.

Brian: "Let's make sure they get what they deserve when they get here... for our brothers".

John: "For our fallen brothers".

And they shake hands. They go to the boot of the car with the weapons and Brian takes out a grenade.  Two other residents go to the damaged light tower to see how repairs are coming along and then the vampires rush them. They manage to kill Greta much to the distress of Werner but are killed before back-up can arrive.  Werner picks up Kenny's (one of the dead men) radio and tells John over it that Kenny is dead.  John demands to know who he is speaking to:

Werner: "I am a friend of the many that you have murdered. And I will have my vengeance."

And he cuts John off in the middle of an expletive.  Two more residents guarding a generator are killed by vampires.  The vampires are attacking from all sides now.  Brian and John try to direct the defences where they will be most effective.  Brian says they are splitting into groups, putting holes in the perimetre and he's not sure they can hold them off now.  Brian, John and Donna man the mounted minigun and prepare to repel the horde as best they can.

Norris meanwhile is going solo with an attack on the Olemaun house.  As he steps inside, Brian, Donna and John keep blasting the crap out of the vampires.  Norris ventures further into the house, calling out to anyone there.  Marcus shivers in the basement and doesn't respond. 

He breaks into the basement and Marcus cowers in fear and then.. something happens to Norris.  Someone whispers in his ear "Hello agent Norris. Goodbye agent Norris" and all we see next is a close up of Marcus holding the black cat and watching the events unfold off-panel.

Marcus and Kitty witness the end of Norris.

As the vampires close in on Brian, John and Donna, Brian says Marcus's name and seems to resign himself to death.  Then there is a blur, and every vampire that was surrounding him has been reduced to bloody smears on the snow.  Too concerned with Marcus's situation, Brian just runs to the Olemaun house to check on him.  He finds Marcus, the cat and the remains of Norris, he hugs Marcus who is somewhat upbeat.

Marcus: "The lady helped us."

John: "Yeah? What lady?"

Marcus: "The lady in the picture we found in the attic."

STELLAAAA!  She survived her vamping by Eben it seems but what about him?  Anyway before that question is answered we return to John and Donna.  Donna is out of ammo as is John and she is wounded.  Werner approaches to kill them and John flings his hunting knife at him and impales Werner right through the skull, killing him a second time.  Donna gives him a kiss, "didn't see that coming" says a chuffed John.

The remaining townsfolk report that the vampires are fleeing, they are being torn apart by things that move so fast they are a blur.  Brian and Marcus arrive and so to does Stella and Eben, the two now vampire lovers united for all eternity. Stella simply says:

Stella: "No one will ever hurt this town again. We will always be watching over you".

And she and Eben fade back into the night, the vampire threat over and Barrow having gained immortal protection, and with that this miniseries comes to an end.

Protection from beyond the grave.

Another superb story from a great writer and man do I wanna squee about Ben Templesmith's art.  He definitely up there with my all time faves.  I love his use of delicate inks with colour washes and imbues his art with a lot of range of motion that can often be lost in more static painted artwork.  I'm glad Stella got her happily ever after with the resurrected Eben, the idea of them united forever watching over the town they guarded as sheriffs in life is very romantic.  There's a nice bit of foreshadowing that Stella might be the one responsible for murderising the vampires converging on Barrow when she spared Dane.  I was sad to see him taken out the way he was by the revolting Norris, but Eben proves you can't keep a good vamp down so maybe we'll see him again I don't know, I haven't read the next omnibus yet, but will be covering the stories within once I get it.  Brian and John make a fun bickering couple with John's explanations to Brian being a good way of filling in readers who might not have read or don't recall the events of the first attack on Barrow.  In fact my only complaint is to these middle aged eyes, some of the fonts used are bloody hard to read, maybe I need specs.  Anyway, expect more 30 Days of Night in the months to come, it's building up a nice mythology and set of characters and still has plenty of places it can still go.  In summary then, come for the art, stay for the great story and characterisation.

30 Days Of Night: Dark Days (#1-6)

"I was lucky before.  I was happy." - Stella Olemaun

After the surprise success of the Peter Niles penned and Ben Templesmith drawn 30 Days of Night three part miniseries, we get the first in a long list of follow-up stories charting the adventures of various characters as a secret war is waged between vampires and the believers in them.  I looked at 30 Days of Night last month, but in a nutshell it told the story of an Alaskan town called Barrow which experiences a thirty day period between November the 17th and December the 18th when the sun does not rise.  A group of vampires took advantage of this and nearly wiped out the whole town.  However the sheriff Eben Olemaun injected himself with vampire blood and using his enhanced strength managed to keep his right mind long enough to defeat their leader then let himself turn to ash when the sun rose, his wife Stella staying with him until the end.  A mysterious woman in New Orleans called Judith sent her son Taylor to film the vampires, he was killed but not before transmitting video images of them to her.  This six issue miniseries picks up a year or so later (it was first published in 2003) and follows Stella Olemaun now a veteran vampire killer, promoting her book "30 Days of Night" which is an account of the incident at Barrow that has just been released to the general public.  Niles and Templesmith are both still on writing and art respectively so let's begin.

Stella (middle) and her crew.

It starts with a recap of Eben's death at sunrise, leaving Stella all alone. Then fast-forwards sixteen months to her saying good bye to his grave in Barrow, she's leaving to begin her book and lecture tour in LA promoting 30 Day's of Night.  She's found some true believers to act as body guards, Mike, Peter, David and Tina and once in LA before the first lecture is to take place she visits a weapon manufacturer who has made some sticky explosives to her exact specifications.  While Stella gives her guards a crash course in how to kill a vampire, one arrives on the scene having just killed the weapons dealer.

Vampire: "How about a personal demonstration bitch?  I heard what you did.  You think you can kill me?"

Stella tells her guards to be calm and work like the drills, "Stand your guard.  Back me up and don't talk to it."  She sticks a bomb to the vampire and blows it practically in half then finishes it off with a shotgun blast to the head.

Stella is NOT to be fucked with!

Later at her first lecture she tells the audience that the attackers that took out Barrow were vampires.  When there is laughter, she says she expected that reaction but she knows that vampires won't have been able to resist coming tonight.  Around the hall are UV lights they use in Barrow to replace the vitamin D they lose when there is no sunlight. 

These lights are harmful to vampires, so please could any in the audience make themselves known. Slowly several vampires stand up and bare their fangs.

Stella: "Looks like we got a better turnout than we planned.  Hit the lights".

Up in Barrow a female vampire called Yuki is on the phone to one called Dane.  She says she has a boxful of something he wants and she'll be travelling back down to LA asap. 

Vampires storm the lecture hall.

In the lecture hall, Dane is watching from the sidelines and says over the phone he found the Barrow woman and that she is antagonising the vampires.  If she wants a fight he'll give her one and they clash.  The lecture hall turns into chaos until the police arrive and break it up.

At the station Stella sticks to her story that it was vampires she was fighting.  The cops say it was a publicity stunt albeit one with bullets and explosives, though one of the cops is more inclined to believe her the other says going along with Stella's story would make them laughing stocks.  No one in the audience wants to press charges so they let Stella and the others go.

They return to the hotel but get some bad news.  Stella has been sent a copy of 30 Days of Night and to her distress it's been labeled "fiction".  This throws her into despair, compounded when a TV news report on the kerfuffle at the lecture hall doesn't mention vampires.  Her team try and comfort Stella saying at least the story is out there and the vampires know it.

Then Judith knocks on the door.  They let her in and she introduces herself as the mother of the man who died in the helicopter recording film footage of the vampire attack on Barrow.  Stella says there was nothing they could do to help him then they both embrace.

Judith and Stella meet for the first time.

Stella and Judith talk.  Judith says she has spent a quarter of her life gathering information on the vampires.  Stella says if they can get the world's governements or even law enforcement agencies to believe them they could "wipe them out in no time."

Judith asks why write the book.  Stella says she was impatient and fed up about not being believed about what happened in Barrow.  What they need now is solid proof.  Judith says she has that proof and shows her a disc with the video footage her son filmed on it.  She says Stella and her friends need to stop baiting the vampires. Then someone calls Stella and tells her Ebens grave was vanadalised.  Stella says she expected something like that.  As she and Judtih talk they are being monitored by an FBI agent through infra red binoculars.

Lilith.

We then cut to Norway, a female elder vampire is being shown a copy of the 30 Days of Night book.  She says so this is the wife of the man who killed her husband, "and is spreading terror throughout the ranks of the undead?"  She then says it is time to get her revenge for Vicente's (the vampire Eben killed in the first story) death.

Stella wakes from a nightmare and has another chat with Judith who notes she doesn't seem very comfortable with herself.  Judith says she can be happy again.  They are out on the balcony and Stella tells Judith to slowly look round, a vampire is watching them. "Never seen one before have you?" says Stella.  Judith replies "no".  Stella gives the vampire the finger and it scuttles off.

Stella: "It helps if you think about how sad they really are.  Believe me, they want to be dead."

Dane's friend Yuki arrives by plane from Alaska.  At the same airport a bunch of walking corpses come out of a plane arrived from Norway.  Yuki hears a voice in her head asking her what she is carrying, but she flees.

Liltih minndscrews Yuki.

Stella meanwhile has been told her lecture tour has been cancelled.  She is gutted, "everything is ruined... all our plans.. ruined."  Judith says they can still take her evidence to the authorities.  Stella says she needs time to think and sends the others apart from Judith back to the hotel.

Dane starts following them, Stella demands he turn and face them.  He attacks and she blows his hand off with a sticky bomb.  Before she can finish him off he says "Marlow..."  She demands to know what he means.

Dane: "You killed Marlow... He was my friend... he made me... he took care of me."

Stella says he has his information wrong, Marlow was killed by Vincente.  Realising he's been looking for revenge against the wrong person Dane says if she kills him she'll never know why her husband's grave was vandalised.

Stella lowers her gun and Dane continues.  He says there is a legend that vampires never truly die.  That with the ashes and the addition of some blood they can rise again.  When Stella realises this means she can get Eben back she allows Dane to leave when he says he'll get his ashes for her.

Judith and Stella out for a pleasant stroll.

Judith asks what the hell she is thinking, but Stella says if she could get her son back, "what would you have done?"  She leaves Judith alone and then the FBI man appears and introduces himself to Judith as agent Norris.

The elder vampire has a mental hold on Yuki.  She tells her that the plan was to revive Eben using his ashes and kill him again in front of Stella.  The elder vampire kills Yuki and keeps the ashes for herself to add to her revenge.

Norris is back with Judith in he hotel room.  He says there are parts of the FBI who deal with supernatural investigations and with proof they could mobilize against the creatures.  He asks for the evidence disc but Judith realises there is something "off" about him and picks up her gun saying "I'm afraid there's been a change of plan".  Then Norris shoots her in the head, takes the disc and flees, killing Peter as he goes.

Norris kills Judith.

The others give chase, and go after him in a car.  They run him off the road, and Stella gets the disc back from him and says to the elder vampire working through him:

Stella: "Your plan didn't work.  I have the proof.  I have everything I need to light the fuse that will lead to the systematic extinction of your entire bloodsucking race!"

The rest of the team are somewhat freaked out and when Dane arrives, Tina shoots him.  But when Stella tells them to stop attacking him, he has something they need, Mike and Tina quit.  Dane says Eben's ashes are with whoever killed him frind Yuki.

Dane: "The killer is one of the oldest vampires walking the earth and she is after you Stella Olemaun.  It was Vicente's wife Lilith".

Dane.

Tina and Mike are both attacked by vampires, meanwhile Dane watches Stella sleep and David watches him.  He goes to patrol the perimeter and Stella wakes up, she and Dane chat.  She ask how he can control his thirst, "why are you different?"

Dane: "It changes you but you don't have to give in to everything. There are still choices to be made."

Stella apologies for blowing his hand off and asks if it hurt? He says of course it did, "I may not be the same man I was before I die and changed.  But I am still flesh and blood".  Stella asks if he is thinking of kissing her, he says he is  She takes her top off and says to him "come here."

Tina! Mike! Wise Fwom Your Gwave!

David stands guards while Stella and Dane go at it.  Then he is attacked by the newly vamped Tina and Mike and killed.  In their heads Lilith commands them to wreak mayhem on their reurn to her, "and bring fear back to the hearts of the living".  After their time together Stella is despairing again:

Stella: "How come my husband couldn't fight it?!  How come you're so fucking nice and all the others are like rabid dogs?! I just don't get it!  It doesn't make any fucking sense at all!"

Dane calms her down saying Eben did what he did to protect her.  She feels lost and doesn't know what to do next.  Dane says they still have the evidence disc they can put it in the right hands.  Stella is unsure why he'd want people to know vampires existed, he says maybe "the herd needs thinning."

Then a walking corpse thrall who used to be David appears and through him Lilith tells Stella to meet her at a nearby graveyard.  "But the traitor does not come" as David points at Dane.  Stella agrees and Lilith lets David go and Stella and Dane kill him for good.

And David is gone too.

Dane asks her how important it is she recover Eben's ashes.  She says "if what you told me is true.  Very."  Dane admits that he has never seen the resurrection tried, it's just an undead legend.  He tells Stella Lilith will kill her, Stella says she is still going and invites Dane to come along.

She arrives at the cemetary with Dane and Lilith's voice in her said says he was not to come.  She tells her to show themselves and they are suddenly surrounded by vampires who Stella and Dane easily dispatch.  They press on unil they find an old house on a hill, Lilith is waiting inside.  There are vampires all over, but do not attack:

Dane: "Your reputation preceedes you Stella Olemaun.  They are frightened of you.."

Stella: "They fucking better be."

She and Lilith come face-to-face.  Stella says she's not in the mood for that "B-grade gothic banter".  They do what they have come to do then go their seperate ways.

Lilith does a deal with Stella.

Lilith says she has the ashes of her husband but can Stella return Vicente to her.  Stella says even if she could, she wouldn't, "your husband was a murderer.  Eben was a hero".  Liltih then orders Dane be taken away and some vampire drag him off. 

More vampires approach Stella but she shows them her jacket is full of explosives she isn't afraid to use and they back off.

Lilith: "My husband Vicente was one of the oldest of the undead to have ever existed and his wisdom equalled his age."

Stella responds that her husband sacrificed his life to save innocent people her husband would have slaughtered.  Lilith says she begged Vicente not to go to Barrow, but he wanted to take the vampire youth a lesson:

Lilith: "Humans are a precious resource and not to be fed upon wholesale as humans feed on their prey."

"How fucking noble" says Stella.  Then they get down to business.  Stella hands over the evidence disc and promises to end her crusade on the undead in return for Eben's ashes.  Once this is done, she leaves and finds an unharmed Dane outside.  He asks her where her jacket is and she just smiles as the house and those inside are consumed in a massive explosion

Let me repeat, don't FUCK with Stella!

Dane asks if she wants to stay with him.  But she says she has to try and bring Eben back.  Dane says she doesn't know what will happen and she may find herself wishing he was there.  She thanks him for everything and as he walks off he says:

Dane: "I think I was falling in love with you, can you imagine that?"

She goes to a shady motel and takes out Eben's ashes and using a razor cuts her arms to drip blood onto them.  And it works.  Eben is resurrected.

Stella: "Let me look at you.  Let me look at your beautiful face.  I bought you back.  I bought you back."

She holds him repeating over and over that she loves him and he replies, "I love you too Stella and I always will" and the story comes to a close with his mouth gaping wide open ready to take a bite out of her neck...

Eben is back, but is he a baddy now?  To Be Continued...

This is an excellent follow-up to the original story, this time giving us a very female orientated narrative. Stella the vampire hunter with her team of protectors, combat tactics and psychological warfare is a cool way to reintroduce her in her doomed crusade to prove vampires exist.  She's obviously still very messed up and suffering from PTSD from the original Barrow attack and as her plans fall apart and she finds solace in a "good" vampire some shades of grey are given to her opponents who might not all be the evil she sees them as. Having the promise of getting Eben back dangled in front of her if she gives up her vampire hunting also shows how she has never really got over her loss of him if she is willing to have him back even as a vampire, but has she made a dreadful mistake?  You'll have to wait a month to find out in 30 Days Of Night: Return to Barrow.  Dane, the good vampire is very much in the vein of Angel from Buffy although he's more someone fighting a constant battle with himself than suffering the imposition of a guilty soul. It's a shame Judith was killed off, but with the way Stella's story was going it is hard to see how she'd go along with it all.  And Norris the FBI Agent shows us in this world vampires are everywhere even in law enforcement.  It goes without saying I love the Templesmith art, it's moody, gruesome and expressive and in tandem with Nile's tight scripting gives us a taunt vampire tale of love and loss and things blowing up real good.