X-files/30 Days of Night #6

(No Spoilers)

Well, as much as I’ve been enjoying this series, I have to say the ending left me wanting a little bit. Niles and Jones did an incredible job of building up the story to this issue but I felt like we fell into a sprint to resolve everything in this issue when I wish we would’ve had at least two more issues to wrap it all up.

I think what happened is there were a lot of good ideas but not enough time to flesh them all out. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll just say there’s a storyline involving a prophecy that I thought was introduced at the perfect time. It was a great set-up and was the best twist in this story. However, there was a sub-plot with the character of French that I felt distracted from the prophecy plot. French’s story really came into play last issue and I was afraid that they’d wrap it up too quickly and that’s exactly what happened. This short-changed the prophecy story in my opinion which was the better of the two.

X-files/30 Days of Night #4

(No Spoilers)

If there’s one things Steve Niles knows how to do, it’s to creep you the #@!$ out! Oh my God are there some eerie scenes in this issue!

One thing that I thought was a nice change of pace from the beginning of this issue is that we focus on the vampires for a little bit. It’s an interesting format that Niles has used in the others stories I’ve read of his because he’s taken time for us to get to know the human characters so now we get to focus on the vampires for a bit. Usually I find it more interesting when villains are shown to have more to them that just simply being evil. But in this case, Niles and Jones show that these creatures do nothing to warrant sympathy.

X-files/30 Days of Night #3

(No Spoilers)

The nightmare for Agents Mulder and Scully continues as the threat increases substantially in this issue. Niles and Jones have gone from making this feel like an X-files episode to feeling more like an X-files movie.

The layouts and the pacing take on more of a widescreen feel in this issue. Mandrake’s art seems to be getting better and I like some of the huge establishing shots he illustrates. Plus, like I’ve mentioned before, we don’t have a particular vampire character we’re following so Mandrake takes the vampires we do see and seems to give us only teases of them. Whether it’s in shadows or close-up shots, he truly gives them a beast-like quality. This is a departure from the way Niles has presented them in the past which was a mixture of the human and animalistic traits. But again, I think it’s the lack of a main vampire character (so far) that drives this notion.

X-files/30 Days of Night #2

(No Spoilers)

I feel like I’m watching an episode of the X-files. That’s how much I think this creative team is nailing this mini-series so far!

I don’t just hear David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson’s voices when I read this, I believe that this is Mulder and Scully in an episode that I’m reading about instead of watching. There is a great opening scene with the two that is classic. The dialogue is spot on, the reaction of each character, and even the little goofiness that Mulder tended to have in the show. Everything about this screams X-files. I hope fans of the show are picking this up.