ShareThisStephen King's novel "The Stand" starts with a man-made superflu that wipes out most of humanity before segueing into an even scarier story, about the Anti-Christ. It's terrified readers for years.
Now Marvel Comics is adapting King's masterpiece in a series of miniseries. The first, the five-issue "Captain Trips" (the nickname for the superflu on the West Coast), just wrapped up and has been collected in hardback. The second five-issue miniseries, "American Nightmares," launched March 11. All of it so far has been written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, drawn by Mike Perkins and colored by Laura Martin.
The abovementioned hardback, "The Stand: Captain Trips" ($24.99), was also released March 11, and only at comic-book shops. And my first question was: Do we need a comic adaptation? Isn't much of the fun of novels how much of the story takes place in our own heads?
But after reading the book, I decided that I was worrying about nothing. Adapting a famous work from one medium to another inevitably involves change, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Done right, the adaptation can bring the strengths of the new medium to bear, to tell the story in a new and refreshing way.
So the next question is: Was it done right? And I think it was.
Another reviewer on a pretty famous Web site dismissed Aguirre-Sacasa's work as too much "tell" and not enough "show." I didn't really see that.
Aguirre-Sacasa is a former off-Broadway playwright who has written a number of titles for Marvel in recent years. I haven't had much of an opinion of his work before.
But in "Captain Trips," I think he shows real skill. Part of King's strength as a writer is the accessibility of his style; the easy, familiar tone that brings down your defenses to let horror worm its way in and explode behind your eyes. Somehow, Aguirre-Sacasa replicates that style, and I feel as if King himself wrote the book -- which is no faint praise.
Perkins and Martin have also brought their A-game. As the sketches and other bonus material in the back of "Captain Trips" indicate, they labored over every character, every style of clothing, every mood. All that work is on display in the book proper, as each character -- from Larry Underwood to the Walkin' Dude -- has a distinct face, body language and choice in clothing.
The highest praise I can bring to Marvel's "The Stand: Captain Trips" is that I found it as unsettling as the original novel. Stephen King has nothing to worry about, and neither do his fans.
Over at DC Comics, I've been given a sneak peek on their plans for the Superman titles, and they look pretty interesting.
Superman will be taking a yearlong hiatus from his own titles to become a citizen of New Krypton, the former Bottle City of Kandor whose thousand or so super-powered citizens have expanded to normal size and are inhabiting a planet on the opposite side of our sun. I've received the first issue of the 12-issue "Superman: World of New Krypton," which is where Superman's adventures will take place for the next year -- and he's got his work cut out for him. He joins the military guild, which is run by the militant Gen. Zod and his two loyal thugs, Ursa and Non, all of whom have a mad-on for poor ol' Earth. And Superman's surviving family is primarily Aunt Alura (Supergirl's mom), who is just as hostile as Zod, ever since humans accidentally killed her husband Zor-El.
Will Superman adapt to his old, warlike culture? Or will New Krypton learn some Kansas values? I think we know the answer, but "World of New Krypton" should be a fun ride just the same.
Meanwhile, "Action" No. 875 stars the new Nightwing and Flamebird, identities originated by Superman and Jimmy Olsen in the '60s. When in the Bottle City of Kandor, the powerless Superman and Olsen would fight crime as Batman-and-Robin wannabes, named for two Kryptonian birds. These two identities have been used by a number of characters over the years, with the latest being two new Kryptonians living in Metropolis, rooting out Kandorian sleeper agents. Super-Batman and Super-Robin? Well, why not?
Over in "Superman," which I haven't seen yet, the star will apparently be Mon-El of the Legion of Super-Heroes. He's always been my favorite Legionnaire, so that's OK by me.
(Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
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