Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith with more stories from their vampire-infested world, but this time around, the creators team with others to tell stories as opposed to each other. It's an interesting experiment. These are accessible stories in that they don't rely at all on the reader's knowledge of previous 30 Days tales. Instead, they introduce new characters and scenarios. The first story attempts to bring vampires down to earth by focusing on a victim making the transition into the dark world, and the second story is a funny one, but it's disjointed as well, making for a difficult read at times.
In a dark alley in urban America, a young man finds himself being hunted by a monster that looks like a man. Blood gushes from a wound as he desperately tries to escape or to find a way to stop the vampire's advance, to strike back. And in Mexico, hundreds are turning up dead, and there's a private eye with a befuddling penchant for narrating his own life who knows who's responsible. There are others looking for the killer as well, a a bunch of rather bloodthirsty circus freaks.
Chamberlain does a good job on the first story of emulating Templesmith's dark, angular style, but he does more than simply mimic that style. There's a stronger sense of realism in Chamberlain's work. His efforts here remind me of a cross between the styles of Michael (Gotham Central) Lark and Bill (Black Widow) Sienkiewicz. He conveys Billy's youth quite well, and he demonstrates the bloody nature of the attack without getting gory. Templesmith's work on the second segment is much rougher in appearance, but he brings a lot of atmosphere to the piece. The pale yellows and texture of the colors convey the arid nature of the setting quite well, and the image of vampiric clowns is a creepy, effective one.
Fraction's story boasts the sort of sense of humor that quickly earned him a strong reputation in the world of indy/small-press comics. The plot, though, gets lost in the sketchy artwork, unusual panel transitions and fourth-wall breaking dialogue. I suspect the space limitations for this first chapter of the story hindered Fraction somewhat, and I'm a big enough fan of his humor and storytelling to see how things might turn around in the next issue.
"Dead Billy Dead" is a fairly straightforward story about a new vampire who's clinging to his humanity. It's familiar fare, but the pacing and drama of the storytelling is strong enough so that the reader is nevertheless drawn in. Niles has developed a strong voice for his main character in the narration, strong enough that I want to know what happens to this poor soul. 6/10
