Stephen King is no stranger to comics now. And if the marriage of his bestselling horror novels with comic books seemed strange at first, it certainly doesn’t anymore. The Marvel Comics adaptation of his Dark Tower prose novels, a prequel miniseries called The Gunslinger Born, shot to the top of the comics sales charts both as a monthly pamphlet and a graphic novel collection in 2007. The success of the series and the book collection spurred a second Dark Tower miniseries, The Long Road Home, that began earlier this year.
Now, Marvel Comics has moved on to another King property, with a comic book adaptation of his 1978 horror classic, The Stand. A postapocalyptic vision of a world ravaged by a lethal superflu epidemic, The Stand follows two camps of survivors who are slowly drawn into confrontation. The comic book series, which is slated for 30 issues, launches September 10; it will be written by playwright and comics author Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and drawn by Captain America artist Mike Perkins. Aguirre-Sacasa and Perkins talked with PW Comics Week about the process of bringing one of King’s most popular prose works to life in the form of comics.
PW Comics Week: What kind of involvement has Stephen King had with the creation of the comic?
RobertoAguirre-Sacasa: Stephen pretty much signs off on everything, every step of the way—either through his “people” or he does directly. I have to tell you, though, it was sort of thrill when, after finishing the third issue, I got this e-mail from an address I didn’t recognize, and it was Stephen telling me how much he was enjoying what we were sending him and how proud he was of our work. Needless to say, that e-mail is now framed and hanging over my desk even as these words are being read.
Mike Perkins: I believe it was Stephen King's idea to tackle The Stand as the next Marvel adaptation [of his work] after the huge success, both commercially and critically, of The Dark Tower. I have had no problems with Mr. King's acceptance of the character studies and subsequent pages—which is always a huge relief—and he also went so far as to let me know that my visualization of the character of Frannie was exactly how he saw her when he originally started the novel.
PWCW: What makes The Stand a compelling book to translate into a graphic novel?
RAS: Truthfully, off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single Stephen King novel that wouldn’t work as a graphic novel. (For instance, I think It and Salem’s Lot are ripe for the picking.) But The Stand is about everything—the apocalypse and the kitchen sink
MP: Mr. King is an extremely visual story teller and his novels tend to lend themselves to different takes through a variety of media. The Stand, in particular, has an abundance of characters with which the reader can identify and become involved. Visually, there are many stunning situations and environments with which to play, from the superflu-ravaged streets of New York, to the claustrophobia of [protagonist] Larry Underwood's journey through the Lincoln tunnel, and continuing on throughout the length and breadth of The States.
PWCW: The Stand is a fairly long and complicated story. How is that going to translate into single issues, and ultimately to trade paperback collections?
RAS: We’re pretty much following the book’s three-act structure. Act one is “Captain Trips,” all about the plague, which as far as the adaptation goes, is going to be two five-issue arcs. Act two is called “On the Border,” and it’s all about the forces of good and the forces of evil gathering. That one’s the longest section in the novel, and will be either two five-issue arcs or three five-issue arcs; we’re still deciding. Act three is the final battle, “The Stand,” and that’s going to be one arc, I hope, between five and seven issues; again, still being determined.
PWCW: For concerned King fans, how much of the original story is going to make it into the comic? How do you make choices about what to winnow down?
RAS: First of all, to the fans (and everyone working on this adaptation is a fan, by the way), I say that we’re going to try and include as much of the story as possible, so that once you read the complete adaptation it will be as close to reading the novel as you can possibly get without reading the novel. In terms of deciding what stays and what goes, they’re all hard decisions. But I begin with what I know is absolutely essential to making the story work. Then I move on to things that “speak” to me, that I personally think are cool or interesting. It’s an inexact art, but so far, we’ve managed to include all of the major set-pieces and a surprising amount of emotional nuance, so God willing that trend will continue.
PWCW: What's the biggest challenge you've faced so far in the adaptation?
MP: When you're approaching an established piece of work that is so beloved by the fans of that work, and each of those fans have their own individual takes on how the characters should look, that can be a huge artistic challenge. How do you please all the people all the time? Luckily, Mr. King describes his protagonists perfectly and I've always gone back to the printed page to try and illustrate the original essence of each character. When reading the novel for the first time, I would underline any passages where a character was introduced or described in more detail and then write down the page number in a little index in the back of the book, [so] I could always go back and reference the character exactly when it came to illustrating those particular sequences.
PWCW: Even within King's substantial back catalog of best-sellers, The Stand remains a fan-favorite. What do you think has made it such an enduring story?
MP: I think that there's such a wealth of characters and situations throughout the novel that it keeps you engrossed; you want to know what happens to these people. The story, which scarily touches on realism, thunders forward and forces you to turn those pages. Also, there's a study of society at the heart of the novel. [It’s a story] of how disparate people can come together and what you should do once that happens. The characters have to change and grow through the decisions they make and the situations thrust upon them.
RAS: I think in terms of The Stand, people (me, included) have responded to its epic nature, its mythic themes, and more than anything else, its characters. [It’s] such a huge cast, but all of them are rendered with such depth and emotional complexity. Also, when something’s as long as The Stand is, you become emotionally connected to the characters and the world. They become your friends, in a way. I know that when I finished The Stand the first time, I cried. Seriously. For whatever reason.
