Of course, birthdays should be memorable, especially the night before the big 3-0! Cartoonist Steve Thueson makes sure of that in The Night Never Ends. "Okay, gather round, children!" Kate demands of her four friends. "For the last night of my twenties, I wanted to do something good and special." Armed with a Ouija board (Em found it "hanging out in [her] mom's closet"), the quintet break into an abandoned house (multiple attempts are required), tracking the truth behind tall tales of murderous fathers, deadly fires, and suicide pacts. Once inside, their fun begins with rude graffiti as they trek to "the spookiest room in the house," where they prepare for their Ouija hocus-pocus, although some of them would prefer to go to a secret concert just posted on social media. Horrifying screams draw them to the basement. Who's gonna survive this never-ending night?
Break-ins. Murders. Sacrifice. Terrible stuff. Except Thueson certainly enjoys the morbid fun, even suggesting they might be that first victim, who happens to match their illustrated author picture, down to the identical T-shirt. Tempering the guffaws, however, are occasional sobering reality checks that spotlight white privilege, police violence, and gun control. Thueson's tightly ordered panels, which cleverly contrast with their chaotic contents, are awash in full color and saturated in a palette of darker browns, grays, deep plums, and bloody reds. Despite the gore, comic relief comes often, including a "Big Gulp" cup as the holy vessel for catching the crimson bounty from the incantations of "sanguis bibimus." But the sun will come up... maybe! --Terry Hong