X-Files/30 Days of Night
Wildstorm
Written By: Steve Niles and Adam Jones
Art By: Tom Mandrake
Colors By: Darlene Royer with Gabe Eltaeb and Jorge Gonzalez
When dark and unexplained events occur, the FBI turn to the agents who deal with the spooky and supernatural, Agents Scully and Mulder. The X-Files has a long resume of cases that deal with things that go bump in the night and that can’t be explained away by science, much to Dana Scully’s dismay. The idea of them investigating the darkness that surrounds Wainwright, Alaska is very exciting, a feeling that held up as I read the entire collected story in one sitting. This is a story that is paced as an X-Files show (an unexplained case is opened, Mulder brings up the paranormal, Scully denies, and then the deniable becomes too real).
The writing of Steve Niles and Adam Jones does a good job of translating the television show’s investigative and thrilling nature in
this comic book series. The narration keeps Mulder’s voice about how he thinks everything is linked to paranormal events, while Scully’s more scientific diagnosis doesn’t get too boring or drawn out. The balance between storytelling and letting the story unfold slowly is a line that needs to be tended to so that this remains a comic and not a novel with illustration.
30 Days of Night brings with it a gore level that is artistic. The blood splatter and stained snow isn’t just splashed on a page. Artist Tom Mandrake and the colorists Royer, Eltaeb and Gonzalez worked wonders to bring Mulder and Scully’s celebrity faces to the comic book world and have them interact with monstrous creatures of the night. The entire book was done very well from start to finish. It made me feel like I was enjoying an X-Files episode where the 30 Days of Night world exists in the same space. Even if you are not familiar with either franchise, you can pick up this dark paranormal investigating case and enjoy it for the story and art that decorates the pages with mystery and gore.