Comic Info
Comic Name: The Stand: Captain Trips
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2009
The Stand: Captain Trips #4
Reprints The Stand: Captain Trips #1-5 (November 2008-March 2009). An accident at a military base unleashes a super virus. Now, the disease is spreading across the country and the attempts to contain Captain Trips is failing. The military is trying to cover it up, but reports of Captain Trips are popping up faster than they can cover them. With Captain Trips spreading, Randall Flagg, the Walking Man, the Man in Black has returned…and hell is coming! The disease is 99% fatal, but for those it doesn’t kill, things could even be worse.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, The Stand Volume 1: Captain Trips is the first collection in the adaptation of Stephen King’s massive 1978 (revised in 1990) novel. The comic was well received upon its release and features art by Mike Perkins.
The Stand is probably my favorite Stephen King novel and the idea of adapting it for comic books is a daunting task. It is epic and in a time where comic books can be cancelled on a whim, it is scary to think that something like The Stand could start and not finish…fortunately, The Stand is finite and it feels like Marvel has a plan.
The Stand: Captain Trips #5
The Stand‘s adaptation follows Marvel Comics’ adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. It is ambitious, but much more contained than The Dark Tower which covers much more territory. This collection does a good job showing how the paranoia and the disease spreads and illustration lends itself to this section of the story.
What is nice about Stephen King’s writing is good characterization. The Stand has a large cast of characters, but Stu, Franny, Nick, Larry, and Lloyd are introduced in this collection along with Randall Flagg (the primary villain of the series). Even spreading out the introductions, it feels you don’t really get to focus enough on each character, especially since issue #5 focus on the fear spreading across the country and not the characters themselves.
The Stand: Captain Trips is a great start to a series and has strong art. The problem this series moves quite quickly, but there is the threat of a limited series not covering enough ground. Hopefully, The Stand will not fall into that trap and keep moving on. The Stand 1: Captain Trips is followed by The Stand 2: American Nightmare.
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