30 Days of Night, Vol. 10: Red Snow

30 Days of Night #10

by Ben Templesmith

1941. Hitler's Operation: Silver Fox has failed, but the war on the Eastern Front drags on as the Russian winter starts to bite. British military attache Corporal Charlie Keating observes the war from the Soviet side, making sure crucial supplies get through to aid Stalin's front in the battle against the Nazis. With luck, he too will survive to see the end of the war. But something else is out there, and they're not the Nazis. No matter how hard humanity tries to kill itself, something else does it better. 30 Days of Night/Fell co-creator and Wormwood Gentleman Corpse auteur Ben Templesmith's first solo 30 Days tale is collected here, presenting a war of a different kind, one that will have repercussions felt all the way to Barrow, Alaska a half-century later.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Vampires, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Illustrator and writer of graphic novels / comics.
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Photograph of author by Peow Yeong: October 16 2011 at the 2011 New York Comic Convention in Manhattan.

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

30 Days of Night was an awesome vampire story. It seems that many secondary stories have flourished since the original. Case in point this one- number 10? Well, Red Snow isn't bad. But, it seems a derivative story and suffers from the wretched art that seems to be par for the course for this entire series. Seriously? Get a better artist.

The gist? During World War II, in Russia, a group of partisans and an SS unit run into some troublesome vampires. That's really it. With what it was, it still had the potential to be a good story. The story, itself, though pedestrian is good enough. But, coupled with the awful artwork it drags this down to a "meh" comic.

It is a shame that a better artist couldn't be found. I think with the backing of good art, this comic would have risen to a three star rating. But the rather derivative story and the awful art get this a deserving 2 star.

[Tony Vacation · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrator Templesmith proves to be a competent author as he does this slice of World War 2 porn without the dubious talents of Steve Niles. Like pizza, it's hard to render inedible a story about evil Nazis and pillaging Cossacks being hunted by bloodsuckers doing what they do best. Issues such as the genocide of people by both Nazis and Russians is given a passing mention, but most of the panels are dedicated to Templesmith's hit-or-miss style of crude composition on dimly colored canvases. You come for red snow, you'll get red snow.

[Lily (LilyCReads)]

Turns out this was volume 10!!! No wonder i was so confused

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unconnected to the larger storyline, which isn't a knock - not everything has to be related. Still entertaining all on it's own.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nazis, Russians, an Englishman and vampires all clash in frozen Russia during WWII. That really about sums it up. Good horror read.

[Otherwyrld · Rating 3 out of 5]

A World War 2 story set in the depths of a Russian winter which pits Nazis and Cossacks against our favourite vampires. Just to add to the mix is a lone English soldier on loan to the Soviets, and a small group of civilians. Everyone has to work together in order to survive - needless to say trust is in short supply and its hard to say who does more killing - the vampires or the soldiers who constantly betray each other. Needless to say, there are few survivors and the vampires definitely come out on top in this one. It's no great loss to humanity because the Nazi and soviet troops are just as bad as each other, and only the civilians and the Englishman are sympathetic characters.

It's a pretty insubstantial tale but it's nicely illustrated, with good use of colour throughout, mostly blues to represent the coldness of the outdoors, the warmth of the inside in orange, and red, lots of red.

[Jeffy Ancel · Rating 2 out of 5]

[2.5]

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nazis versus Commies versus English versus Vampires.

The artwork was beautiful, and the writing was pretty good. It returned to the basics that made 30 Days of Night work quite well. The cold is frightening, the starving is frightening... the entire situation is quite effective.

The story is hampered by the lack of character development, but seeing it was a mini-series I can understand the lack of it.

All in all, a good sort of statement. Not as effective as Eben and Stella was, but it is still entertaining.

Let's see what happens next?

[Володимир Кузнєцов · Rating 2 out of 5]

А оце - дуже погана історія. "Червоний сніг" - це експлуатаційний комікс про Другу світову, де Бен Темплсміт відповідав не тільки за малюнок, але й за сценарій. І це гарний приклад що іноді краще малювати, ніж говорити. Стів Найлз, який є головним автором серії, теж не є бездоанним сценарістом, утім, саме його історія дала початок франшизі - і доволі довго тримала її.
У Темплсміта ж є увесь набір кліше, який тільки можна знайти, ще й помножений на майже повне нерозуміння автора на темі. Він навіть не робить спроб додати якихось автентичних чи притаманних німцям чи росіянам рис, натомість будує діалогі та характери так, ніби це американські селюки вирішили знічів'я реконструювати ДСВ, придбавши для того форму на муляжі зброї на Алі-Експресі. Сюжет загалом не сяє, ще й окремі його епізоди під час геть позбавлені елементарної логиіки.

Навіть стильний малюнок Темплсміта не рятує загалом слабку історію. Утім, вато зазначити, що він тут на висоті, і байдиків художник не бив. Але важко насолоджуватися гарно промальованоою, атмосферною сценою, коли її абсурдність відверто бісить.

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Snow is set in Russia as they battle Germany, the Nazi squads are combing the Russian villages cutting down all who aid the war in the snow covered region, the two enemies soon discover they are not the only forces they have to worry about as a vampire horde led by a frightening little girl is infinitely more dangerous. The enemies soon realize they have to work together as the body count rises and the undead ranks swell.
Almost a prelude to the events at Barrow, the story and artwork are both by Ben Templesmith, the original artist to the 30 days of night saga and some of the vampire and flame thrower panels are exceptional. The story rapidly and violently changes from underground tunnels to cold, bloody winter night in an intensely action focused story and the artwork is amongst the best of the franchise. The dark haunting atmosphere of terror is recreated once more in this grim macabre setting and you can certainly appreciate Templesmiths vision.

[William Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

templesmith shows that he is also a competent writer as well as a brilliant artist, but the writing does not match his brilliance in his visuals. the story was a bit stale, but competent.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this different take on the 30 days of night series

[I DRM Free · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the middle of winter in Russia where the Nazi’s are busy killing every single Russian they can find. Russians are also out and about looking to kill all the Nazi’s and Russian citizens who are not loyal enough. The two groups join together with some citizens to fight Vampires, but the peace between the 3 doesn’t last long. With everyone betraying each other while they are all being picked apart by the Vampires. A last ditch effort to get away, will any survive?

I liked this story line, when reading the previous comics I wondered why they didn’t talk about any towns in the Norther reaches of Russia which would also be plagued by the endless night at times. Now that story is told, but during WWII which makes it even better of a tale.

The artwork in this one is FAR better than the originals. It was very easy to tell what was going on and that really increased my enjoyment of the comic. The writing was decent but typical.

It’s available DRM Free via Comixology.

[The Smoog · Rating 4 out of 5]

A German patrol meets a Soviet patrol during the German invasion of Russia in WWII, with an English liaison thrown in for no real reason. The thing is, there’s vampires in the snow, and anyone who’s read any of the 30 Days of Night comics knows how that works out.

Consistently compelling artwork in this series- there’s not a lot of story here, but that’s okay, just sit back and enjoy the imagery, and wait to see if anybody survives to the conclusion.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better iterations in this series, and the best one I read up until this point, though I did miss several of the volumes. This time we're transported back to World War II. Both the Soviets and the Nazis are caught up in a conflict against vampires somewhere deep into Russia. Despite being the original artist, I found the artwork improved for this volume and enjoyed the dynamics between the different factions.

[Gerald Sessions · Rating 4 out of 5]

My volume says 8.////1941 - WWII Germans fighting Russians in Russia and winter.
English observer with Russian troops. Vampires are having a great time. Some Russians, Germans and villagers with the English observer band together to fight the vampires unfortunately, the Germans do not play well with others if you escape with a truck, but the vampires are still on the trail.

[Bogdan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I`m not a big fan of vampires stories, but I made an exception for the art of Templesmith.

Nothing impressive here from the point of view of the story, with a mixed bowl of nazis, ruskies and vampires and, you know it, when all of them get together, all the hell break loose.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, yes, really got into this one!
Great setting, loved the pace, well-thoughtoff characters, superb art!!
Yeah, so good stuff... go check it out ;)

[Doctor Doom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still a great concept, still horrible gutter language [showing a stilted, juvenile, limited vocabulary] and artwork ranging from brilliant to sloppy.

[Arjun Rajkumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat story arc!

[Midge ☠ ★ 99% poison ★ ☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like this is my favourite of the 30 days of night stories i've read!

[Komuniststar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mržnja, glad, smrt, izdaja!

[jedioffsidetrap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Templesmith’s art is ragged & dynamic, perfect for the story. Which I love too—Soviets & Nazis being forced to band together against vampires during the fighting on the Eastern Front.

[Frederic Van Laere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great graphics

[Jota Houses · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una historia de vampiros la campaña rusa de la segunda guerra mundial. Entretenida y autoconclusiva.

[Mario Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful! Love the drawings! Wish I had the previous volumes!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid stand alone tale that gets back to the horror. Need more like this one.

[Jerry MeCaskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork and enjoyable story.

The artwork is both beautiful and horrifying.

If you like horror comics, you’ll likely love this. I did.

[Marcelo Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un viejo clásico histórico de nazis versus comunistas versus vampiros.
Ninguno de los dos bandos sale halagado, y la crudeza de la guerra se mezcla bien con la calamidad que traen los nosferatus.

[Pennie Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hated it!

This successfully severed my desire to begin reading graphic novels. Forever. Thank you Mr. Templesmith. Well done, and so quickly! Once again, Hated It!