This week’s comics included a combination of bad and good, particularly from the licensed titles released. Two titles stood out in my mind as the worst and best of the lot.

I really wanted to like the limited-run Jurassic Park series from IDW. After reading the first one last month, I had my doubts, but was hoping that it would improve. I am sorry to say that this title is not worth the time or effort to read, at least so far.

Issue No. 2 was released this week, and it seemed more convoluted than the first issue, rather than helping to make things more clear. There seems to be a bit too much going on in different places and with different characters. It’s not hard to tell where the series is going, and I am fine with that. However, it would seem that they are going through a bit of a maze to get there, making the whole story more complicated than it needs to be, and causing confusion for the readers.

This week’s best comes from Marvel Comics. It can be difficult to adapt a book into a comic book, but one of the best I have seen is The Stand. It certainly helps that Stephen King is the creative and executive director of the project. Not everything in a book (especially one the size of The Stand) can be put into the comics, but King and the others on the project are doing a wonderful job choosing which parts to include.

This week, Issue 3 (of 5) of the Hardcases chapter of the series was released. The images of Mother Abagail, particularly when she encounters Nadine for the first time, are especially well done. This is one of many chances the creative team has had in this story to say as much with the graphics as with the words, if not more.

Skip Jurassic Park and watch the first movie again if you need a dinosaur fix. Spend your time instead reading The Stand, and if you have not read the previous chapter and issues, I recommend them all.