30 Days of Night

This week I read the ’30 Days of Night’ graphic novel. I enjoyed it somewhat, but I have never been a graphic novel consumed. I had tried to work my way through the ‘Walking Dead’ graphic novels years ago, but I only got so far before losing interest.

This time around with the ’30 Days of Night’, graphic novel, I asked myself the question ‘why do I not enjoy these graphic novels?’ I discovered that it’s not that I dislike them, it is more a matter of me not understanding or being able to follow the story. I get lost or I have to think too much. I know that I have mentioned previously that I am a lazy reader and that I have dyslexia (fact).

     I have the benefit of having seen the movie version of this story which is almost identical from a story perspective. A group of viscous, blood thirsty vampire come to an Alaska town when it is in 30 days straight of seasonal darkness. Basically, the isolated town has become a kill box for the vampires. As for the townspeople, they have nowhere to run and there is no daylight coming anytime soon.

     This story, graphic novel or movie, was a bit horrifying to me. I think what frightens me the most about this is the isolation of the protagonist(s) that are trapped in the town for the next 30 days with no way to communicate with the outside world nor do they have a way to escape.

     It gets worse, even if they wanted to run for the hills and hide, they cannot. They are in one of the coldest and unforgiving climates in North America. There is literally nowhere to go. Their only option is to either hide or try to fight. If they run, they will freeze to death. This would be scary with any kind of monster.

     The helplessness of the protagonist(s) being trapped and isolated in such an inhospitable environment reminds me of the THING. That is another story that I love, that terrifies me. There is something about isolation in a harsh environment.

     I remember a few weeks ago we had an assignment about writing from a place inside ourselves to be genuine and write what we feel. I learned that whiting about what scares me will come through to my readers as genuine. I find myself writing about cold arctic settings in a few of my stories. Scary stuff!