Dark Tower: The Gunslinger: The Battle of Tull [Hardcover]

Stephen Kings literature is so rich with detail that I have always had strong mental images of the people and places he writes about. As a result I was a bit hesitant to read the Marvel illustrated version knowing that once I did it would destroy the mental image in my mind that had been created so carefully by King himself in much the same way that we are so often disappointed when we "see the movie" and are frustrated by the directors conflicting vision.

My recommendation:

If you know and love the Dark Tower Series and just can't until The Wind Through the Keyhole is released on April 24th the this is a great way to relive the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and devoured it. As far as I'm concerned Marvel walks on water. The Marvel version is filled with amazing illustrations and is a great read. All that being said, it does amount to another version of the story slightly abridged.

If you are new to the Dark Tower Series I humbly recommend that you visit them for the first time by reading Kings Novels. King is one of the great storytellers of our day and this is one of his greatest stories.

It's been a long wait, with some teasers here and there, but The Dark Tower comic series has finally reached Stephen King's beginning novel, The Gunslinger. Pieces of this book have been used at various points, most heavily during the first arc, The Gunslinger Born. In those comics, we saw Roland as a child in Gilead being manipulated into his test of manhood, but then the plot shifted to his adventures in Hambry from Dark Tower IV. After seeing Roland return to a fractured Gilead, endure the deaths of his parents and Gilead's defeat at the hands of John Farson, fall into the clutches of the Little Sisters of Eluria, and finally begin his hunt of the Man in Black, we've now come to the Mohaine desert, where King readers long ago first met Roland. Finally, the first full-scale graphic adaptation of The Dark Tower novels is here! (*spoilers in the next paragraph*)

I have to say, as a longtime fan, that I'm thrilled with the artwork included in these comics. I've waited for over a decade to see visual depictions of the countless fantastic scenes and characters that weren't illustrated in the books. The artists on this series do a truly amazing job of building drama and suspense with every panel, going to great lengths to communicate visually the emotional resonance of King's work. Whether it's an action sequence, a reaction shot, or a close-up, reading these comics has an impact very similar to that of watching a movie. Some highlights from the series include the disturbing scene in which the Man in Black resurrects Nort the weed-eater; I've always found King's writing in the novel so eerie as he describes the wizard spitting into the face of Nort's dead body, then flowing back and forth above him like water, and the illustrations perfectly convey that same sense of dread and mystery. Other great scenes are Roland's visit to Pittson's house where he terminates Marten's demon child, and the climactic showdown between Roland and the residents of Tull. That scene in particular is about as violent as anything I've seen in a comic. Overall, it's an exciting, intense ride that really is a must-have for any serious Stephen King fan, and especially readers of The Dark Tower books, who won't be able to get enough of this series.

My only complaint is that, since the series' inception, the script-writing has at times utilized a painfully corny "folksy" narrator persona, attempting to establish a homey Western tone. Most of the time, it's not a distraction, but I felt that near the end of this run, it began to get much more intrusive. My advice here is, don't try too hard. King's work has stood the test of time because people love the way he writes, and that includes The Dark Tower. These comics are at their best when the captions paraphrase King's actual writing from the books, not when they try to create a down-home, cowboy voice-over. The weird thing is that this narration style gets used sporadically, seeming to shift back and forth from cowboy to King and from King to cowboy from one issue to the next, and sometimes across consecutive pages. So again, Marvel, please keep it simple here and give us a faithful adaptation of this incredible set of novels. Keep up with the amazing artwork, and as often as you can, please let King's original voice come through. Ka is a wheel, and one that doesn't need to be re-invented. Despite this one minor complaint, the first installment of The Gunslinger, The Battle of Tull, is way too good for anything less than five stars.

Graphic novels are pricey and my DT collection is costing me a bundle but worth it I think. I've read this one through several times already and it's one of my favorites along with the very first DT graphic novel.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars