graphic novel


Title: 30 Days of Night: Omnibus Vol. 1

Publisher: IDW

Writers: Steve Niles

Artist: Ben Templesmith

Rating: ★★★★½

Review by: Eric Stuckart

Bleak and sparse, 30 Days of Night is the type of vampire story that should be told more often. Rather than try too hard by showing a lot of flash and overdoing the action, it broods. It breathes its icy black breath on every page. And the pages are dark as they come. It doesn’t have to try; it gets its point across just by being, making it quite the page turner.

In this colllection, the first three stories of the 30 Days saga are included, the self-titled first story, along with sequels Dark Days and Return to Barrow. With the first story, the duo of Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith had something terrifyingly special on their hands. The story is simple. In the quiet Alaskan town of Barrow, a group of vampires comes up with a plan that no vampire has ever tried before. They decide to drop in on the townsfolk during the short period between November 18 and December 17 when the sun doesn’t rise — the titular 30 days of night. Without a sun coming up to make the vampires return to hiding for a month, Barrow becomes a free-for-all, an all-you-can-eat buffet for the vampires. This is the story of how those townsfolk fight back. (more…)

graphic novel


Title: Hearts & Minds: A G.I. Joe Graphic Novel

Publisher: IDW

Writer: Max Brooks

Artist: Howard Chaykin and Antonio Fuso

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

At last year’s Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, Max Brooks hosted a panel that went over his career and various pieces of work he has done throughout his career. Besides the movie adaptation to World War Z, currently floating in limbo, one other project particularly stood out to the crowd, a G.I. Joe comic book penned by Brooks. This miniseries went by the name Hearts & Minds. (more…)

graphic novel


Title: Whiteout

Format: Blu-Ray

MPAA Rating: R

Director: Dominic Sena

Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes

Producer: Warner Bros.

Film Rating: ★½☆☆☆

Blu-Ray Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

The Film

If Whiteout the graphic novel pays homage to the Golden Age of comics, Whiteout the movie pays tribute to Mad TV parodies of popular culture. The film tries to follow the book’s story, in a general sense. They change small things like the gender of the British agent from a woman to a man (most likely to steer clear from the same sex attraction seen in the comic), the chubby and homely U.S. Marshall of the comic to the sexy Kate Beckinsale (to attract the adolescents) and even the expected dull atmosphere of a scientific station in Antarctica to appear at times more like a spring break spectacle for the movie. (more…)