Steve Niles's and Ben Templesmith's comic series 30 Days of Night is scary as hell, and beautiful in a dark, grisly way. The plot is simple: vampires seize on the idea of raiding an Alaskan town during the long, 30-day night, destroying communications infrastructure to keep their game penned up and easy to hunt.
The premise is frightening enough, but the artwork really seals the deal: Templesmith's smeary, bloody, indistinct illustration has the feel of Ralph Steadman's work for Hunter S Thompson's books, interpreted by way of an institutionalized paranoid's drawings from a bad therapy session.
The writing is tight and the ending is particularly satisfying — a wonderful resolution that leaves you wanting more. I've just finished the first volume, and I'm looking forward to reading the other four.
Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5
(Thanks, Chris!)
