Comic Info
Comic Name: The Stand: American Nightmares
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2009
The Stand: American Nightmares #1 (Variant)
Reprints The Stand: American Nightmares #1-5 (May 2009-October 2009). 99% of the population has been killed by the superflu Captain Trips, and now the survivors find that living might be worse. Nick Andros finds himself almost blind in addition to being deaf and unable to speak. Harold Laudner discovers he’s falling in love with his fellow survivor Franny Goldsmith. Larry Underwood tries to get over the feeling that he was not worthy to survive while escaping New York City. A man known as the Trashcan Man starts burning his way across America. Stu Redman escapes the disease center where he’s being held and meets another survivor named Glen Bateman. All the survivors are haunted by dreams…one of a old woman and one of the Dark Man who is now building his army in the West.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, The Stand Volume 2: American Nightmares continues the Marvel Comics adaptation of the 1978 Stephen King post-apocalypse novel. Following The Stand Volume 1: Captain Trips, the comic book features art by Mike Perkins and was well received.
The immediate events following the release of Captain Trips was my favorite part of The Stand. The idea of how a real world would deal with a modern plague was both terrifying and interesting in that it completely upends civilization quickly…something that probably would be true if something was so communicable and deadly.
The best parts of this collection are the parts not dealing with the characters. The little stories about other survivors and stories of America’s collapse. The stories of the characters begin to come together as they meet up on the road, and the introduction of the Trashcan Man do help develop the story as a whole.
Though there are no monsters, scenes like the scary Lincoln Tunnel passage by Larry Underwood and the idea of a prisoner trapped in cell like Lloyd Henreid are great sources of fear and terror. The stories in this collection are less about the fight of good versus evil that comes later in the novel but a fight for life itself.
The Stand 2: American Nightmares is a good follow up to the strong first book The Stand 1: Captain Trips. It starts to develop the stories of Randall Flagg and Mother Abigail. As stand alone issues, the story does drag a bit, but as a collection, it works very well. The Stand 2: American Nightmares is followed by The Stand 3: Soul Survivors.
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