Marvel doing a comic adaptation of Stephen King isnt new. They have been doing it for years now with ‘The Dark Tower’ series. But when the company realised how much money they were making from this idea they thought of doing more then one King book. Just on the same vein as Dark Tower, they planned a 35 issue, 5 mini series based on arguably King’s other most known book: The Stand.

Basically….this is the book in comic form. There is a ‘writer’ involved to this entire series with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. But let’s be honest here, all it is for him to do is pretty much edit this story into a comic book and nothing more. It has been awhile since I read the actual book, but after going over the first section of it (which this first mini covers), it’s almost word for word of the book. Some liberations have been made to cut out some sections, but overall it’s amazing how close this is to the book. Basically the plot is how the mysterious origin of the ‘Captain Trips’ virus comes about and wipes out 99% of the world’s population. We go all over the United States to focus on the main characters we will be seeing threw out this series.

What makes this a ‘horror’ book/comic is not moments where people get horribly killed or something jumps up to scare you. It just creeps you out, and basically makes you think in your mind what really is going on. A lot of great horror writers/directors can scare you without even showing you what is going on (ala Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The best example I can show you on how this comic will scare the bejesus out of you is just a simple two page spread. This spread goes from one panel to another showing you how the virus goes from a simple police officer in a small town, to basically infecting an entire city within 12 hours. That my friends (and I know describing it anit doing it justice) is fucking creepy as hell. It harkens back to the early 1900’s where the influenza virus wiped out millions of people within days of contact.

Just like Jae Lee doing the art for the Dark Tower series, Mike Perkins has been the perfect choice for this mini. Now nothing really spectacular goes down in this mini until the end. Up til we get to the final part of this book it’s basically just people from one place to another talking. But the realistic facial designs and marvelous backgrounds just tell you how incredible this series will look in the future. Perkins pencils will make the desolate future in the next mini’s a standout from the rest of the Marvel books.

I’d recommend this book not just for the Stephen King fans out there but for anyone a fan of horror. This entire adaptation of the book will take a good couple of years to finish so every month you can enjoy the creative team giving you a sweet taste in the dark mind of King. At any rate, it’ll be a much better experience then a 4 hour TV film from so long ago….That is 4 hours I’d like to get back.