STEPHEN
KING: THE STAND OMNIBUS (Marvel,
First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)
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| Omnibus dustjacket cover. |
Collects
Stephen
King's The Stand: Captain Trips
#1-5, Stephen
King's The Stand: American Nightmares
#1-5, Stephen
King's The Stand: Soul Survivors
#1-5, Stephen
King's The Stand: Hardcases
#1-5, Stephen
King's The Stand: No Man's Land
#1-5, and Stephen
King's The Stand: The Night Has Come
#1-6 (cover dates December, 2008- March, 2012)
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| Companion book dustjacket cover. |
Writers:
Original story by Stephen King, comic book adaptation by Roberto
Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist:
Mike Perkins
Colorist:
Laura Martin
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| Spines with dustjackets on. |
Stephen
King is synonymous with Horror. The Stand is a fan favorite,
and while my mom was an early adopter of King in the '70s, I have
never read the book. I'm not embarrassed to admit that my only prior
knowledge of this story came from the Anthrax song Among The
Living. I have no idea how well this holds up when compared to
the source material, so my review will be based solely on how well it
reads as a comic book.
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| Slipcase spine and spines of both books sans dustjackets. |
I got a free copy of the Captain Trips Premiere Edition Hardcover a while back, read it, and loved it so much so that I
bought this. Anyone who says that free tastes don't work is wrong.
The gist of this series, for all four of you that don't know, is that
the Army accidentally releases a supervirus codenamed Captain Trips
which kills most of the population and causes the collapse of
society.
It's
through this chaos that an ultimate showdown between good and evil
surfaces. On the side of Satan comes a man named Randall Flagg, “The
Walkin' Dude”, a supernatural person with no past whose power grows
as fear increases due to society's breakdown and the Government's
attempts to suppress information. Flagg reaches out to the
disenchanted through their dreams, playing on their fears and
insecurities. He calls the survivors to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they
will make their stand.
On
the side of God is the world's oldest woman, Mother Abagail, who
lives in rural Polk County, Nebraska. She reaches out through to the
survivors through their dreams, with all of them making a perilous
cross country journey to her farm. They end up reestablishing
society, and the notion of a showdown with Flagg causes them to send
spies to find out what is going on in Nevada. One of them, Tom
Cullen, a man with special needs, ends up having a God-given shine
that Flagg cannot pierce. Cullen ends up being my favorite character
in the book, a real feat when you consider how fully formed the
entire cast of characters is.
I
won't go into the whys and hows of the battle, nor the outcome, nor
how the story seems to continue on in an anticlimactic manner only to
be saved at the last minute by a clever ending. I realize that my
synopsis is vague, but that was done deliberately. I never give a
blow by blow of the story when I do my reviews, as I am opposed to
spoilers no matter how old the material is. I prefer to offer up an
idea of what I have read as well as my thoughts about it. I am all
about the joy of discovery. If this blog has a purpose it is to turn
people onto comic books that they may missed amidst the never ending
flurry of releases.
This
was an incredibly satisfying read with beautiful artwork and tasteful
coloring. It's dense and slow burning but it's a real page turner. It
demands that you finish it, becoming more urgent with each passing
issue. This material is available across a number of formats
(original single issues, Premiere Edition hardcovers collecting each
mini-series, softcover trade paperbacks which mirror those releases,
this book, and of course digital), so there's no excuse not to check
it out. Heck, your local library might even have it.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
Stephen King's adaptations of this and both The
Dark Tower sets
received
a unique slicpase for their Omnibus
releases not found in any other book in the line. They collected
thirty or so issues in one book and then had all of the extras in a
second hardcover. They were also priced 50% higher than any other
Marvel Omnibus during this time frame. While the second book and
cardboard slipcase certainly added an expense, was it really fifty
dollars more of expense? Come on, man. That said, it is a beautiful
set.
Paper
stock: Thick glossy stock. I miss the high quality paper that
Marvel used to use in their Omniboo five years ago.
Binding:
Sewn binding, lays flat. This book will last longer than I will.
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| This stamping appears on the cover of both books in this set. |
Dustjacket,
Hardback, and Slipcase notes:
Dustjacket has that frosted matte feeling with spot varnish.
Hardbacks have the faux leather casewrap, front cover stamp, and dye
foil stamping on the spine that Marvel has sadly since done away with
on their Omnibus
line of books.
