The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

[Darko]

While looking through the Wiki entry of Stephen King, I stumbled upon this comic based on the Dark Tower series about Roland Deschain, the gunslinger from Gilead.

I'm really into the series at the moment (on the fifth one) and I was quite surprised that the comic has been out since February. It‘s called The Gunslinger Born. Just by skimming through the short summaries for each of the issues, I can see that the comics are focusing more on Roland's past and his katet with his childhood friends, and not with the new katet he forms as an adult. In fact, it looks like it will cover most of what appears solely on the fourth volume, Wizard and Glass, which I just finished reading a couple of weeks ago. I think that's pretty neat because I really liked reading about Roland as a youngster and the tragedy that he lived when he was just starting out as a gunslinger.

The dialouge is written by Peter Davis, who is widely known for his countless work in well-known comics like Spiderman, Batman, and others. I found a few pictures, but I believe they are actually cover art. This one is Rhea of the Coos. Damn wench looks freaky! The art is mostly done by Jae Lee and I must say I adore the art style. Lots of bright colors, and excellent use of shadows. I think it’s great. I will definitely keep an eye out for these comics in case I ever have any extra cash on me!

So my question is: If you’re a fan of the Dark Tower series, have you heard of these comics? What is your impression of it? Has anyone actually read one of the comics?

For people not too familiar to the series, do the comics interest you at all? I know that not a lot of people are into long novels, especially series that span seven books, so I would think a comic version of the Dark Tower series would appeal to those people.
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RIP Gabriel J. Figueroa 1987-2007

[Calvin]

I've been aware of these comics for quite some time and only just managed to buy the first few issues--but I haven't read them yet. The Dark Tower is an amazing series of books--The world King created is like this generation's Middle-Earth. The comics themselves look beautiful--they aren't written by Stephen King, however. Instead, the plot was created by the guy who wrote those Dark Tower Concordance books if I recall correctly, which are like encyclopedias for the Dark Tower Universe--Robin Furth. Furth also served as a consultant to Peter David, who actually put the pen to the paper as Darko mentioned.
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I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home, and you can't say those
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[Angelus]

Damn, I really want those. xD I read the first Gunslinger book, and I really enjoyed it. I haven't read anything beyond that though, but I really should. It does seem a bit complicated though, from what I've read in book summaries. o_o
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[Calvin]

The Dark Tower books are quite complicated, and it would probably take most people a few readings to pick up on all the subtle nuances of the story. Still, one should be able to get the idea of what is going on--I never really felt "lost" while reading the books. I've personally only read the whole series once and the first couple of books twice.
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I changed the number on my phone so you can't call me up at home, and you can't say those
things to me, that make me fall down on my knees.

[Darko]

Ange, if you liked the first book, you'll love the rest. The first book was started in 1978 and was finished in 1981. King himself has said that his first book is a lot different from the rest because he wasn't quite as experienced in writing when he started to write the first one as he was with the later volumes. I actually did notice this in the second book (The Drawing of The Three) and even more so in the third (The Wastelands). The chapters seem to flow more smoothly and King just gets more comfortable with the characters and the setting. They're a much faster read after the first book, that much I can say.

And they’re not really complicated per say. You just really have to pay attention to the different plot lines and the continuity. King likes to move from time period to time period but he doesn't do it in a way that confuses you, which I greatly appreciate.

[Milan Fiori]

*gawks* Good grief, I had no idea these comics existed. Anyways, the Dark Tower Series was probably my second or third book series I've ever actually read. And was by far one of the longest. I love the story itself, though I missed alot of the references and such since I'm not a very big King fan. But I've read through the series around three times now, and I'll admit the first time reading through I was completely lost, but as I reread it I picked up on alot more things. Especially since I knew the story ahead of time.

Spoilers just in case.

My favorite story was the Wizard and the Glass. His past was amazing, since so much happened in a short time. And I really want to know what happened since they returned to Gilead. The death of his father, the fall of the Gilead, the last battle where his friends die. I also wouldn't object to the final ending being his original Katet finding the Dark Tower, and the Gunslingers journey finally ending.
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Be awed by our prowess!

[Tullaryx]

I've known of the comic book adaptation of the Dark Tower series, but I've stopped buying comic books on a per issue basis. From what I've heard from those who have read both books and comic there's really no drop in quality. Peter David is not just one of the comic book industries veteran writers, but he has also a very good novelist.

The choice of Jae Lee as artist for the comic book mini-series was an interesting choice. His style has always been very dynamic in look and composition. Anyone who know their comic books know just how stylistic his artwork really was in the early days when he drew Namor and his own Image-brand title, Hellshock. His only problem in the early days was either laziness or constant perfectionism in getting his style correct. This made for late deadlines and pretty much killed his Image title completely despite Hellshock being one of the more unique and dark titles in an era full of superhero titles.

His style seem to have matured some since the early and mid-90's. While it still doesn't look like your typical comic book style of artwork it's much more subdued from his Namor and Hellshock days. Here's how Jae Lee's style used to looked like.


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