Stephen King fans can now pick up a new deluxe edition of one of the best graphic novels based on his fiction. Sleeping Beauties: Deluxe Remastered Edition released this month and is available for $34 at Amazon. The graphic novel is adapted from the 2017 novel of the same name written by King and his son Owen. Though we'd recommend reading the terrifying apocalyptic novel first--it's fantastic--you can read and enjoy the impressive adaptation without prior knowledge of the story.
Sleeping Beauties: Deluxe Remastered Edition
$34
Originally released as a two-volume series in 2021-22, IDW Publishing compiled both parts into one premium 280-page hardcover that's loaded with extra content detailing the process of turning Stephen and Owen King's mammoth manuscript into a graphic novel. It includes a gallery of cover art, character design concepts, and commentary and annotations discussing the choices the team behind the graphic novel made when adapting the book.
Stephen and Owen King's names are prominently featured on the cover, but to be clear, the father-son duo didn't write or illustrate the graphic novel. A team of three creators--Rio Youers, Alison Sampson, and Triona Farrell--handled the adaptation.
Sleeping Beauties centers around a pandemic of sorts called Aurora, which leads to never-ending sleep (basically a coma). Naturally, this causes worldwide panic, chaos, and lawlessness. Against this horrifying backdrop, the story hones in on a woman named Eve, who seemingly appears out of thin air. Eve is the only woman known to have immunity to the illness. Why?
It's worth noting you can still buy new copies of both volumes individually, too. At Amazon, the hardcover edition of Volume 1 is $14.69 (was $20), and Volume 2 is $14.49 (was $20). You'll save a few bucks going this route, but you will miss out on the extra content as a result.
PSA: You should read the original novel, too
The graphic novel does an admirable job of adapting the lengthy novel into a digestible 280-page story. That's a fairly high page count for a graphic novel, but the creators were tasked with turning a 720-page novel into a two-volume series. As a result, the graphic novel understandably cuts a lot from the original novel.
If you decide to read the graphic novel first, it'd still be well-worth your time to dive into the prose novel after you're done. The hardcover edition of Stephen and Owen King's Sleeping Beauties is available for only $17 (was $32.50) at Amazon. That's actually cheaper than the paperback edition, which is going for $20.63 at the moment. It's also available in audiobook format for $21, or Audible Premium Plus subscribers can use their monthly credit to get the novel, which is wonderfully performed by Marin Ireland and has a runtime of roughly 25 hours.
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