You might have heard something about a little horror comic called 30 Days of Night, which sold out rapidly and picked up a fast-track movie option just as quick. Thing is, Steve Niles, the writer of 30 Days, has been writing horror stories about Cal McDonald, his investigator of the weird, for a while, but now that he's joined by 30 Days collaborator Ben Templesmith on a new story featuring the character, I think a lot more people will be paying attention. Which is a good thing, as it turns out, because the first issue of this series is pretty good, just the right mix of horror and noir atmosphere, a hard-boiled detective mystery with vampires and werewolves instead of femme fatales and ugly goons.
Niles takes a pretty pragmatic view of the undead in Criminal Macabre, as he presents them as dangerous but not much more than the average gun-toting lowlife that detectives have to deal with. This book feels more like a crime story than a horror one, with Cal's matter-of-fact narration and love of guns and booze portraying him as a guy who doesn't find his chosen profession all that odd. In fact, the way the vampires, ghouls and werewolves are presented as just a part of Cal's daily life makes this easy to get into even if you've never read any previous stories with the character in it. The important elements, such as what part of the vampire myths are true in this world, are glossed over in casual narration to make room for the more interesting character and plot development.
To be honest, neither the plot nor the characters are anything I haven't seen before. An unheard-of collaboration between different sets of monsters, a hard-drinking detective, skeptical cops, these are all elements that have been done in film, comics, books and TV before. However, Niles takes these building blocks and gives them an interesting and darkly humorous personality, and there's certainly an interesting mystery at the heart of the story that draws the reader in. Niles is very good at building a world without over-explaining, and about adding in horror elements without having to bog the story down in exposition about how they got there and how they interact. Since the narrator takes them at face value, it's easy for the audience to do so as well.
Where the horror element of the story really comes in is with Templesmith's artwork. Templesmith is in the same bunch as Sienkiewicz, Ashley Wood and Dave McKean, using a style that is not always easy to read but which is great for setting up atmosphere and mood. His twisted, inhuman shapes are perfect for the monsters that populate McDonald's world, and the work has a sort of permanent haze about it that makes it feel like a smoky, dark place, which fits both the noir and horror aspects of the story. There are sometimes small storytelling moments where I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at, but the overall feel of the book and general storytelling is solid.
30 Days of Night earned a fair amount of attention because the premise was at once fairly obvious and something no one had thought of before, which made it accessible but new. Cal McDonald has a familiar premise and backdrop as well, but it has a personality all its own courtesy of the creative team. Those seeking a book that is as scary as 30 Days might not find that here, but those who are looking for a good moody read along the same lines won't be disappointed.
