X-Files / 30 Days of Night #4 (of 6) (DC / Wildstorm / IDW- Niles / Jones / Mandrake)

F.B.I. agents Mulder and Scully’s journey to a small island in the Bering Sea is interrupted by an attack on their transport that leaves them stranded in the middle of a white wasteland. Will an encounter with Russian agents help them reach the mysterious island and its bizarre inhabitant? Or will the hunters on their tail finally catch up to the stalwart agents?

What do you get when you take two cult classics and combine them in what would seem like a very reasonable connection… some destructive interference, that’s what.  30 Days of Night is a brilliant series and setting for modern vampire mythos.   Mulder and Scully from the X-Files are … well, they are the iconic “It” team, if they couldn’t handle it, then it couldn’t be handled.  These two fictional elements (30 Days and X-Files) lend themselves easily to an unforced cross-over – so, the intro is easy and beautiful… but I fear that we will have an unsatisfactory ending.

Before I get to what I believe to be the big bad blood-sucking elephant in the room – let me say that the writing and art are both great! That is great, if you enjoyed the look and feel of the original 30 Days of Night books.   The mood and style of this series certain is very  dark and graphic (thus the parental label).  It definitely feels like Mulder and Scully entered a 30 Days comic rather than we have vampire clans migrating into a mainstream book. This is not surprising, given the creative team.

So, let me say it again – great issues, love the writing and love the art.  There is chit-chat among fans that this series is being drawn out and the 6-issue series easily could be a 4-issue series.  I can see where that is coming from… but in a setting like this, I take that as pressure-building rather than droning on.

Okay, now my real issue – This can only end one of three ways.  Mulder and Scully are successful in rooting out and defeating the vampires, the are not successful and walk away disgruntled or they die.  None of which are satisfactory to X-fans or 30 Days fans, that is if this story is considered canon to either mythology.

Bottom Line: Good Vampire Fun!

Issue Grade: B

Series Grade: B+