Comic Break: The Stand Captain Trips #2 (Marvel)

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The Stand: Captain Trips
Issue: #2
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Mike Perkins
32 pp. Marvel. $3.99

Reviewed by Paul Stotts

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“All the chickens were coming home to roost.”— The Stand: Captain Trips #2

Marvel’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Stand” may be the best thing out there currently in comic land. As fantastic as the first issue was, the second issue of The Stand: Captain Trips is even better. This is absolutely enthralling stuff here, from the incredibly shrewd script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to the amazing artwork by artist Mike Perkins and colorist Laura Martin, this issue (and series) is something special.

The mysterious and deadly A-Prime flu is quickly spreading like a proverbial wildfire. With a 99.4% communicability and fatality rate, the epidemic soon spreads throughout Texas and beyond. Meanwhile, Stu Redman, one of the men initially exposed to the infected Campion family, has been taken to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. There the doctors start to examine Stu, looking for the reason why he hasn’t contracted the A-Prime flu. The doctors hope that Stu’s hardiness to the disease will provide a starting point in their battle against the contagion.

Stu’s story seamlessly interweaves with separate interludes continuing the stories of Frannie Goldsmith and Larry Underwood, as well as introducing the newest character Nick Andros. I can’t say enough about the job writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is doing adapting the novel. His storytelling is top-notch. The two pages in which he describes the spread of A-Prime is particularly well-done and imaginative. What is truly impressive about Aguirre-Sacasa script is how he’s able to pack so much into so few pages. The interludes featuring Frannie and Larry are essentially only a couple of pages each, but within those interludes so much is learned about both of the characters. Reading an issue of The Stand: Captain Trips is more akin to reading a chapter in a novel than reading a comic book. And that’s the best you can hope for with any literary adaptation.

Not only is artist Mike Perkins’s interiors fantastic, his visual storytelling is even better. His characters express an unbelievably wide and palpable range of emotions. When Frannie tells her father that she is pregnant, the various emotions expressed on the character’s faces tell the reader so much. You can clearly see Frannie’s fear of her father’s disapproval, and her relief on learning of his acceptance. Ultimately, it makes for powerful storytelling. Colorist Laura Martin augments Perkin’s art beautifully. The coloring during Stu Redman’s nightmare is amazing stuff, and some of the character close-ups are incredible.

I can’t imagine The Stand: Captain Trips getting any better; it just doesn’t seem possible as everything is nearly perfect. Highly, highly recommended.

Final Grade: 93 out of 100

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Comic Break: The Stand Captain Trips #1 (Marvel)