Why I Chose this Book

One day I felt like reading a graphic novel, not a comic book, but a full story in art form. It was probably due to the relatively recent spate of comic book superhero based movies. I went to my “local” bookstore to look for one, but I also didn’t want to spend too much money on one. I was hoping to find a deal on a nice sized one too, but I guess I was hoping for too much. Your typical Marvel superheroes, DC superheroes, or Walking Dead compendiums required a little bit more cash than I wanted to spend. On the bargain shelf though, there were a few less meaty options, both in selection and size of the books. There were a few superhero books like the X-Men and there were a few Stephen King-based graphic novels. I read Stephen King’s works. Among the selection, The Stand: The Night has Come seemed like a good enough choice. 

The Stand: The Night has Come

The Stand: The Night has Come is the last volume in a six-part series comic book published by Marvel Comics based on the novel The Stand by Stephen King. The script is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the art is done by Mike Perkins, and the color art is by Laura Martin. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in which many people have died from a sickness. Now, there are disparate communities of survivors trying to make a living in the new world. Besides the mysterious plague, another threat to the survivors exists. Randall Flagg, a man of otherworldly powers, is the leader of one of the communities. Flagg uses his abilities such as animal manipulation, levitation, and physical transformation to rule through intimidation. He also has the ability to send a blood red eye to travel over the landscape to search for whatever it is he desires.

Another community in Nevada though stands to fight against Flagg’s tyranny. In this volume, three spies from the Nevada group travel to Flagg’s community to stop him for good. While the three spies travel across the desert, we learn of one spy who has already infiltrated Flagg’s group. There is also another spy who goes undetected because he is mentally handicapped, but aided by the spirit of a friend who has already died. The actions of each of the spies and others come together to end in a final attempt to stop Randall Flagg, though all will not live to see it.

Conclusion

Having thrown myself into this world at the end of the series I was still able to enjoy the story without feeling like I missed much. Maybe I didn’t catch as much of the weight of the relationships between some of the characters that was established previously or their fates, but the basic sentiment still comes through. I’m neither an expert on comic book art nor an avid reader of comic books, but the artwork seemed fine to me. The artwork was crisp and I felt that the images effectively portrayed the scenes, facial expressions, tension or feelings from the scenes. There’s even a Stan Lee-ish cameo of Stephen King in here as well. I picked this book up as a casual read to whet my appetite for a graphic novel while on a budget. I was satisfied.