Welcome, one and all! I’m Bryce Holland, and this is the first edition of “Blood Between the Panels,” Brutal As Hell’s new spot for news and reviews in the realm of horror comic books. Much like anybody who visits this site, I consider myself something of a horror fanatic, but more than that I am a comic book geek of the highest order. So naturally, any combination of my two great loves makes me happier than a pig in shit. If it’s got zombies, vampires, monsters, psychotic killers, or just a ton of gore and blood-shed, and it’s on the four-color page, I am there.

Enough with the introductions, though. Let’s get to some reviews.

The Stand: Captain Trips #1-5 & The Stand: American Nightmares #1-2

While it is pretty much indisputable that Stephen King is a writer par excellence, his relationship with any type of media outside of books has been tumultuous, at best. Sure, there have been a handful of awesome movies based on his works, and he has had some great television based on his works, but overall, I would say that when it comes to any kind of adaptation of King’s work, there have been far more misses than hits.

For me, this is a damn shame, because, like I said before, I think the man is one of finest writers of the past several decades. Luckily, the comic book medium has been more than kind to the legacy of one of the most prolific horror purveyors of all time. Over the past couple of years, Marvel Comics has set about creating comic book adaptations of some of the most beloved works in all of King’s oeuvre. The trend started with a series of prequel stories to the lauded fantasy epic “The Dark Tower,” and has now continued with a straight adaptation of one of King’s most heady tales, “The Stand.”

I’m not sure if there is enough space here to a story as immense as this one, so I’ll just try and be brief: “The Stand” tells the tale of several random people trying to survive in a world that has been decimated by a particularly nasty virus known popularly as “Captain Trips.” The virus rips across the United States killing nearly every person in it’s path, and forcing those few lucky enough  to somehow be immune to survive by any means necessary. The virus somehow also acts as a harbinger for the arrival of a mysterious otherworldly evil known as Randall Flagg. Flagg begins moving his way across the now desolate U.S., while the spotlit survivors try to make sense of the new world they now inhabit.

While only seven issues into a proposed thirty issue run, this series has already cemented itself as one of the best series on the racks today. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has somehow been able to accomplish what so many other have failed at by perfectly capturing the voice of King’s writing without copying it directly. Even though this series is essentially a straight adaptation of a novel over thirty years-old, he is able to make all of the drama and shock moments seem as fresh and unique as when they were first penned. His characterization of the huge cast of characters is top notch as well. Each individual in the story has their own very distinct personality and Aguirre-Sacasa devotes an ample amount of time to each of their individual back-stories. Unlike so many epic stories with immense casts, none of the players in “The Stand” get lost in the shuffle of this immense saga.

Beyond the pitch perfect writing, “The Stand” also features some of the best art available in comics today. Mike Perkins’ pencils have been able to perfectly capture the desolate tone of the story without resorting to the tired clichés found in some works of post-apocalyptic fiction (i.e., burned out towns, wrecked cars littering the landscape, smoke emanating out of everything, etc.). Perkins’ has also been able to perfectly complement Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing by giving each and every character their on unique face. Again, in a story this huge, it’s easy for characters to fade into the background, but Perkin’s deft line work does it’s part t prevent this.

When talking about comics though, one can’t forget one of the most important pieces of art in the entire package: the cover. For a series with no standout, recognizable character, like a Batman or Spider-Man, it’s important to have something visually striking to lure people in, and Lee Bermejo’s amazing cover paintings do more than the trick. Bermejo has crafted some striking images, like his messianic-looking Randall Flagg for “Captain Trips” #1, or his eerie rendition of the Trashcan Man for “American Nightmares” #2, that would probably be just as well suited gracing a gallery wall as they would be on a comic cover.

Marvel Comics has made the smart decision of packaging this massive tale as a collection of five issue mini-series’, making them very accessible and easy to follow. The first mini, “Captain Trips,” ended a few months ago, but is still available in single issue format and trade-paperback, and the second mini, “American Nightmares,” is only a of couple issues in. Overall, this is a series not to be missed. In a sea of super-hero books that keep re-treading the same stories and concepts over and over again, it’s nice to see one of the big comic companies putting out a quality story not dependent on spandex and super-powers.