Marvel Comics set to adapt Stephen King's "The Stand"

During an NPR interview promoting the second comic mini-series based on his Dark Tower saga (the first issue came out earlier this month), author Stephen King announced that Marvel Comics will also adapt one of his earliest and most popular novels, The Stand.

Marvel hasn't officially announced it yet, so writer, artist, length and due date are still unknown. The first Dark Tower mini-series, Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born, was one of 2007's top selling comics, both in its serial form and in the hardback collection. The second series is called Dark Tower: The Long Road Home.

During the 17+ minute interview, he talks about adapting his work into comics, and he also mentions that one of the favorite comics he has discovered is Y: The Last Man.

Strangely enough, in addition to working on another novel, he is actually working on a musical with John Mellencamp.

I started reading the uncut version of The Stand when it came out in 1990, but it was so huge I never got through it. I lent it to someone and never got it back. I am currently reading King's 2006 novel, Cell, the first King book I have read in years. I also read his monthly column in Entertainment Weekly.

See the movie? Finish the book first!

So, last week, I made a rare trip to the movie theatre to see Sweeney Tood: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the musical directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. The movie was enjoyable, but the experience continued to remind me why there's little point in going to the theatre anymore -- the cost, the discomfort, the noise. Anyway, the one thing I continue to enjoy about going to the movies is seeing trailers, even though they are readily available online. So, I was hoping to see The Dark Knight, or Iron Man or Cloverfield, to actually see them on the big screen. Instead, I got a bunch of trailers for movies I have no desire to see on screens big or ... not as big (my TV is pretty big) -- movies aimed at kids, and other musicals. But then, there came a trailer that seemed familiar, even though I had never seen it before. It was for a movie called The Ruins.

The reason it seemed familiar is because I have been reading the book by Scott Smith that the movie is based on for months now, but was not getting far. I am so easily distracted by my iPod and DVR, that I rarely make time for reading anymore, unless it includes pictures and word balloons. But for some reason, seeing the trailer has inspired me to finish the book, even though I know I won't go to the theatre to see it when it comes out in April.

It has gotten great reviews, and I enjoyed Smith's first book, A Simple Plan, also made into a very good movie (directed by the Spider-Man film trilogy's Sam Raimi), but I had a hard time getting into The Ruins, and struggled to get past the first 100 pages (the paperback is just over 500 pages).

But since seeing the trailer last Sunday, I have made it a priority, and have read another 200+ pages, and the book has indeed picked up. I haven't touched a TV show or movie on my iPod in several days (haven't given up the DVR though), so I'm reading on the train again. I predict I'll be finished the book within the next week, and will likely be lending it out with high recommendations. But I still won't see the movie in the theatre in April. Only Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight will do that over the next several months.

Next book for me is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. See the same strategy worked for the first four books in the Potter series -- I read the books by the time the movies came out. But not this time. Now, it's on DVD and will soon be on cable, and I haven't touched the mammoth book yet. So soon that will be on the list over there on the right (the one that has had The Ruins on it for over six months along with Larry Kane's Lennon Revealed).

Updated: Stephen King Talks "Dark Tower "Comic

UPDATE: Marvel has created a mini-site for its Dark Tower series that includes a trailer, screensaver and more.

Announced over a year ago, the first issue of Stephen King's comic adaptation of his Dark Tower series, the seven-issue The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, finally hits stores in February. USA Today talked to him about the project, which focuses on the untold origins of untold origin of Roland Deschain:

"I had a lot of involvement in casting the course of the narrative," King says. "Beyond that, I wanted to give a lot of control over to these other imaginations, which I had come to respect. The first few issues, I should add, are almost entirely drawn from the books. Readers will recognize them and hopefully be as thrilled as I am."