Steve Niles was born June 21, 1965. He is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night , Criminal Macabre , Simon Dark , Mystery Society , and Batman: Gotham County Line . Niles was born in Jackson, New Jersey, and he was raised in the Washington, DC suburbs, developing various creative interests in music, writing, and making amateur films. He is credited among other contemporary writers for bringing horror comics back to prominence.