Obviously I’m late to the party on this series. Steve Niles is a talented writer who seems to have an endless amount of ideas when it comes to horror. Sometimes he’s a hit, other times a miss. Overall I would say that Broken Moon is a hit. The premise which is set up in the first issue, is that the moon has been damaged by war on the moon. It caused cataclysmic destruction on earth and as a result vampires were able to move out from the shadows and take over the planet.
We follow a human that is checking on the vampire’s operation which includes forced breeding and slave labor. Additionally, they discover that the vampires plan on destroying the planet making it inhabitable for anyone else.
We’re also introduced to werewolves along the way. They’re turning a new leaf and refuse to eat humans anymore because it’s kind of like cannibalism. In the third issue the werewolves and the few humans they’ve met, head to Frankenstein territory and we meet ghouls and the reanimated dead. There’s a war brewing for the fourth issue against the vampires with the humans, werewolves and undead teaming up to stop them.
By far, this is one of Niles best new horror ideas. The simple twists he’s put on the different classic monsters is pretty damn cool. The only thing that’s missing from this series is memorable characters. I don’t know anyone’s names and I honestly don’t know if it matters. The series seems to be more about the idea than the people living in the world. That’s okay and all. It doesn’t stop the story from being enjoyable, but it keeps it from being truly great. In some ways it reminds me of his first work on 30 Days of Night. Which is a good thing. That book was interesting and basically had the same problem, but was incredibly memorable.
It also seems a bit short. I know that it’s a new series from a new publisher so it can only be so long without the risk outweighing the reward, but I’m worried the ending might suffer because of this. If it does well though, maybe the world could be explored further much like 30 Days of Night.
Nat Jones is great. His artwork adds a ton of personality to the story. His coloring is very reminiscent of Ben Templesmith’s work on the aforementioned series. There’s just a lot of things about this book that reminds me of 30 Days which is a great thing. Nothing else Niles has done has given me the same vibe, so after all this time it’s great to get that itch itched.
Jones artwork is clean and frankly cool looking. His creature design is cool. Frankenstein’s monster is fucking badass looking. They’re memorable designs that make up for a lack of memorable characters. At least memorable character names. The action could use more pages to truly shine, but it’s decent action and moves quickly. His coloring has that inverted look, but it works for this style.
The premise really caught my attention, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how damn good this series is. Broken Moon has one issue left, but if I can get caught up in one day you can as well. It’s a quick read, but one that capture the best of Niles writing and Jones’ artwork.
Score: 4/5
Broken Moon #1-3 Writer: Steve Niles Artist: Nat Jones Publisher: American Gothic Press Price: $3.99 Website