Marvel Books is in the early days of a gutsy but respectful
adaptation of The Stand by Stephen King. The story, as
visualized through the narrative of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the art
of Mike Perkins and the colors of Laura Martin, is being published
in five-issue arcs, which are then collected in hardbound form with
creator commentary, sketches, copies of alternate covers, and the
other usual amenities. The first arc, THE STAND: CAPTAIN TRIPS, has
already been given the hardcover treatment. The second, titled THE
STAND: AMERICAN NIGHTMARES, continues in the spirit, energy and,
most importantly, quality of its predecessor.

AMERICAN NIGHTMARES begins a heartbeat after Captain Trips
leaves off, with the Captain Trips designer plague advancing
exponentially throughout the American population and leaving bodies
all over the place in its grisly wake. It is grimly effective,
killing some 99% of the population, with the rounding error
consisting of folks who survive and who are gradually and
unknowingly gravitating toward each other from all corners of the
country.

One of the original novel’s most compelling vignettes
occurs in AMERICAN NIGHTMARES wherein Larry Underwood, an immune
whose first and only hit record began its rise up the charts even
as Captain Trips started moving through the population, makes a
terrifying journey on foot through the Lincoln Tunnel. Congested
with automobiles both deserted and unfortunately occupied, jammed
with the bodies of the plague victims, the Lincoln Tunnel in the
hands of the creative team here becomes not only a dark model of a
carnival funhouse but also a claustrophobic microcosm of the
country at large. Anyone who has been through the Lincoln Tunnel
after reading The Stand cannot help but think of
the book, and the atmosphere --- dark, close, and above all, deadly
--- permeates the pages from beginning to end.

Meanwhile, a pregnant Frannie Goldsmith, accompanied by an
apparently immune teenaged boy named Harold Lauder, begin an
arduous journey to Stovington, Vermont, which housed a communicable
disease center. Lauder, a high school nerd who means well but has
the social graces of fly larvae, is full of hormones and unrequited
lust for Frannie, who keeps Lauder at a friendly arm’s
distance as she plans on using him as a midwife when her baby comes
to term. Sparks of all sorts fly when the two of them encounter
Stuart Redman in New Hampshire. Newly escaped from the very
communicable disease center toward which the pair had been
traveling, an initially resentful and reluctantly cooperative
Lauder agrees to let Redman join up with them, even as
Redman’s slowly growing attraction towards Frannie begins to
blossom.

Another individual who is immune is a dangerous loner named
Donald Merwin Elbert, also known as the Trashcan Man. A pyromaniac
hounded practically from the moment he crawled out of the womb, the
wake of Captain Trips leaves Trashcan Man gleefully unsupervised
and able to vent his wrath against his tormentor --- the world at
large --- unchecked. All the while, the man known as Flagg haunts
the sleep of the remaining few left alive, becoming a vague
presence on the periphery of their conscience, even as he acquires
a most likely and perfect ally amongst the small handful of
survivors. He is balanced, however, by the enigmatic Mother
Abagail, who is doing some reaching out of her own in the
dreamworld, as alliances are slowly formed and battle lines are
sketched, if not fully drawn.

As Flagg promises at one point in THE STAND: AMERICAN
NIGHTMARES, things are about to start moving very, very fast. Keep
the digitalis at the ready and your seatbelt buckled. As good as
this series has been to date, it is almost certain to surpass
itself in the next several months, considering the quality of the
material being adapted and the creative team at the helm.