Creative & Executive Director: Stephen King
Plotting & Consultation: Robin Furth
Script: Peter David
Art: Jae Lee & Richard Isanove
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

Review by Ben Crofts

No one was too sure what to expect from last year’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born series. How would King’s work be translated to the comic medium? Would it lose too much in the transition? Would the art work? Would readers familiar with the Dark Tower novels bother reading it given it covered some known material, albeit in a new form? The fact Marvel have continued with a second series by the same team says it must have been successful enough, but maybe now the series is about to head into new territory, it may scale greater heights of popularity.

For some, David’s script in the first series was a bit too wordy, but in my view, the style worked well. It gave the book a very different feel to any other comic I read, and showed a sense of pride in the series’ literary origin. There was no crude simplification of the dialogue just because the story was being told in a comic. The feel was the same as the fantasy-western mix that flows through the novels, so there is going to be an odd rhythm to the words, as it’s meant to be a story set in a world akin to, but distinctly different from, our own.

The other element that made the series stand out was the stunning artwork of the Lee-Isanove team, the image of Roland at sunset in the first issue being particularly iconic. Yet every image in the series was of a comparably high quality. It’s heartening to see this has not changed, as the team deliver all manner of new visuals, from Roland’s descent into Maerlyn’s Grapefruit to a pursuing posse, onto an immense waterfall and a sinister military installation. Each one unique, but perfectly composed.

So what of the story? It picks up where The Gunslinger Born ended, Roland’s ka-tet has to flee Hambry, his love Susan Delgado has been burnt to death and they are pursued, with the posse led by the last of the Big Coffin Hunters. Things take a turn for the worse when Roland shoots the malevolent orb, only for a creature to reform from the fragments and quickly attack him, ensnaring his consciousness! Not only that but Cuthbert and Alain have to deal with the problem of the shot alerting the posse. In the brief engagement that follows, they manage to kill Clay Reynoulds horse and so slow their pursuers just enough to escape, after which they have a stroke of luck and find a river they can use to lose their trail. Elsewhere Sheemie has ended up at a weird place called the Dogan, where he somehow activates some kind of robot and it isn’t one that looks to be good for his health!

Once again following in the style established by The Gunslinger Born the issue has a text piece at the back by Robin Furth, which goes into the history and nature of the Dogan and is accompanied by illustrations from Isanove. There are also a number of sketchbook pages, which really highlight the respective skills of the artists involved. On the one hand Lee’s pencils are exquisitely detailed, but seeing them on their own also emphasises how much Isanove brings to the imagery with the colours he applies.

My only concern is that the story may dwell a bit too much upon Roland’s battle with Maerlyn’s Grapefruit, but future solicits indicate that whilst it continues, it looks to develop in a way that will take it beyond a standard haunting plot that it could so easily be. That is to the good, because the last thing the series needs is the prospective reader thinking they know how the plot goes; to a degree this is good, but not if it goes so far as to kill interest in the title. Hopefully the second issue will be radical enough to dispel any such impression now this installment has got events moving.

So to buy now or get the collection later? Well, you can wait for the collected edition but I won’t because, without being the least bit unfair to the many excellent artists whose work features in other Marvel titles, the Dark Tower series is the best looking book I know of. It fuses style and depth in a way I don’t find anywhere else. The combination of main story, back-up text story that links to the main narrative, plus a creative section makes for a great comic that remains quite unique, and thus becomes a top priority purchase that I look forward to each month. A pity this arc is only five issues but I’ll enjoy it greatly while it lasts!