posted
And so I get to the final comics in my huge pile of 6+ weeks, and they are two of the best, the first two issues of the latest Dark Tower volume, "Fall of Gilead" (I also have Wednesday Comics but have to wait until my CBS gets #1 in, since I didn't orginally order it).
Well, they are excellent as I suspected they would be and the series continues to be a masterful blend of Stephen King, PAD's dialogue and pacing, Richard Isanove's immaculate art and Robin Furth's presence being on every page, guiding us through it.
I won't reveal too much on the actual plot, other than at this point things begin to go wrong for Gilead and everyone Roland loves and it will be a sad journey--some of which has already begun to happen. In the meantime, the creators are able to keep the tension up to the extreme and each scene invokes a ton of emotion even though the pacing immediately moves on to the next sequence. And all the while, the sense of being incredibly epic and grandiose is there too.
I continue to enjoy seeing one of my favorites, Cuthbert, on in comic book form and I love that Aileen has turned into a wonderful character after being only a brief mention in passing previously.
Robin Furth has done a tremendous job bringing in so many elements from the series that otherwise never appeared to be connected, and in #2's back-up she explains how she did that. In fact, her little essays at the end of each issue are equally as enjoyable.
There's little tidbits too in the art some may not pick up on. For instance, in #1, the clown painting shown in the background? That's the clown from It. His fate ultimately is handed out by Roland in the later Dark Tower books.
Richard Isanove is the artist as someone in this thread previously pointed out to me, which led me to relaly take a look at his artwork more thoroughly this time around. And its spectacular. I see he's doing both pencils and inks (as well as layouts following PAD's script), and you can see that this guy is a tremendous inker. The shadows play such a subtle and important part in places and just come through on every page. He's added a level of the mysterious and fantastic in places and yet in others makes things realistic and gritty.
Looking forward to more--I wish this project could go on perpetually.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: That's the clown from It. His fate ultimately is handed out by Roland in the later Dark Tower books.
Are you referring to Dandelo being IT, it has been stated by King that IT is not Dandelo, but the same type of creature.
Registered: Jul 2003
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Reading #2, I was glad to see the creative team moves things along a bit more quickly than the slow burn the series has been in for awhile. I hope now we get to see more of Alain, Cuthbert, Jamie DeCurry and the rest before the actual battle at Jericho Hill happens.
I'm still enjoying the Dark Tower comics immensely. I love the characters from King's novels but this is one of those titles where I actually think the artwork is my favorite part. The black inks are really rich and the art captures King's style so well.
Robin Furth's back-page essays are always great but this one was very welcome in which she expands a bit on the Old People, which are only really ever mentioned in the books but never really explained in full. Its kind of obvious the Old People are us if we kept creating newer and better technology and then ultimately destroyed one another through war. It was good to have that confirmed. What's really interesting is that in the back it says they were expert time travelers--if that was in the books, I must have missed it. It would be cool to see Roland meet a time traveler at some point.
I'm also exciting to see Roland's adventures continue once he starts pursuing the Man in Black. I hope they continue to expand on his story and don't simply retell the books.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
With the end of Roland's younger years done, I'm pumped that Marvel is going to keep making Gunslinger comics so we can get to old Roland of the novels! And even better, it appears this first arc deals with the years between Jericho Hill and the first Gunslinger book of which we know next to nothing about.
The surprise ending made my jaw drop.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I’m still enjoying the Dark Tower comic books from Marvel and have begun the most recent miniseries, the “Sister of Eluria”. One of the problems, however, is not every story is consistently as good as the previous ones, despite having pretty much the same creators involved. It certainly is a little jarring.
In the back of each issue, plotter Robin Firth talks quite a bit about what she’s done in the story; I can’t help but feel at times, however, that she should be actually doing it more than just talking about doing it. It’s still a good comic book most of the time, but it in a way is like when she falls a bit flat, there is an explanation in back that explains why.
The artwork by Luke Ross and Richard Isanove is very good. They provide a very eerie, very “Stephen King” feel to the series. I’m curious how things will play out because the settings for the next few years of Roland’s life is mainly the desert and in desolate towns—which can be pretty bland from a visual perspective. I wonder if they’ll be able to make it visually interesting. I guess we’ll find out soon…
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
With the "Sisters of Eluria" collected, that brings us up to seven beautiful hardcover trades. SoE felt like a nicely flesh-out sidebar... I'm looking forward to where the next chapter in Roland's life takes us.
But even more, I'm eager to start reading the Dark Tower books-- so much so that I requested the first volume from the visiting librarian today. I was trying to explain how the Marvel mini's were drawing me to the actual books-- But I soon gave up talking about them in favor of actually *showing* her...
She was impressed by the quality and the artwork. I highly recommended she get these for her Teen Reading section, if they don't have a GN section. She remarked her daughter is a big DT fan, that the Library has all of the books because of her... I'd be interested to see if she gets into the GN's!
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
You're going to love them. The first one is a bit slow but the second one is mind-blowingly good.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I'm not finding The Gunslinger slow at all, actually... It's a cool mix of stuff I "know" from the DT mini's and new(to me) elements like the town of Tull and Jake...
I'm just starting "The Slow Mutants". I'll probably give Ginny a call midweek to drop by with the second book.
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Jump ahead six months, and I'm starting the fifth DT novel, Wolves of the Calla... I'm addicted, LOL. I've also continued getting the Marvel HC's, having read The Battle of Tull, which fleshed out the story from the original Gunslinger novel. I'm looking forward to the continuation and intro of Jake Chambers in The Waystation... I'm wondering if the mini takes thru the end of The Gunslinger and Roland's meeting with The Man in Black.
One question, and I'll ask it in a spoiler in case it's a salient story point: Click Here For A SpoilerIn the novels, Marten and Walter are separate characters: Marten, the wizard in Stephen Deschain's court, and Walter, a half-human Necromancer Roland is chasing in pursuit of the Dark Tower. But in the Marvel mini's, they're portrayed as being the same person?
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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One question, and I'll ask it in a spoiler in case it's a salient story point: Click Here For A SpoilerIn the novels, Marten and Walter are separate characters: Marten, the wizard in Stephen Deschain's court, and Walter, a half-human Necromancer Roland is chasing in pursuit of the Dark Tower. But in the Marvel mini's, they're portrayed as being the same person?
Click Here For A Spoiler It's been a while since I read the novels, but I believe that in Wizard And Glass (or maybe one of the later novels) King retconned Marten and Walter (and Randall Flagg from the Stand) to be different aspects of the same character.
-------------------- First comic books ever bought: A DC four-for-47-cents grab bag that included Adventure #331. Been addicted ever since.
From: Stuck in the Psychedelic Era | Registered: Jan 2010
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posted
Okay... I'm just over halfway through Wolves of the Calla and it's addressed. King had written that Click Here For A SpoilerFlagg and Marten were one and the same in the previous novel, but here he adds Walter and possibly Click Here For A SpoilerMerlyn to that mix, LOL...
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Pov, it becomes clear they are all one and the same. They are also Flagg from the Stand and Eyes of the Dragon, two other King novels.
The only one that doesn't fit, which King first says and then back tracks, is Martyn being John Farson. Eventually it becomes clear that he is an entirely separate character.
Isn't Wolves awesome? It has such an epic build up! And the chapter where Father Callahan gives his story after Salem's Lot--I got literally goosebumps.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
The whole epic has me wanting to go and read King's other stuff that he's tied into it... Salem's Lot, The Stand, Insomnia, It ... I'm almost done with the final book. It's really good, if not a bit meta-textual... Click Here For A SpoilerKing writing himself into the story threw me out of it for a bit, but like Roland, I have to see it through to the end!
Not sure if anybody's aware or not but King just released another Dark Tower novel, The Wind Through the Keyhole. My town librarian Ginny called this morning and asked if I was ready for it, LOL. I should be done with The Dark Tower by the weekend, so she's got me first on the list for it. I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason than Jae Lee did the art for the limited HC editions... It'll be interesting to see exactly where it falls chronologically in the series...
-------------------- "Anytime a good book like this is cancelled, I hope another Teen Titan is murdered." --Cobalt
"Anytime an awesome book like S6 is cancelled, I hope EVERY Titan is murdered." --Me
From: Up a Gumtree | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Really? I had no idea there was another one. Or maybe I did and forgot, because I seem to remember hearing of one out of order.
The last Dark Tower book is...an experience. With King, you always have to be prepared to not have the ending you wanted or even anticipated. I'll leave it at that, and once you've read it, we can discuss!
His best series that tie in, like Salem's Lot and the Stand aren't obvious tie-ins. I've never read Insomnia or some of the more direct tie-ins. IMO, his best books are Salem's Lot and Dolores Claybourne (which doesn't tie-in at all). The Stand is a masterpiece but those two have it beat.
I'm currently reading his 'Under the Dome'. It's about 200,000 pages so it's taking me my entire 30's.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I lobve Kings stuff, and need to get back to the Dark Tower stuff.
I loved IT, The Stand (except for the (what I feel was) rushed ending. One that I thought was fantastic was The Girl who loved Tom Gordon. Totally not what you would expect.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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