The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

A faithful and quality interpretation of the beginning of Roland's life, if not the beginning of the actual Dark Tower series, if ye kennit. It was so good, I asked for the next one for Christmas from my parents. I may be a thirty-something geek, but I'm not living in their basement. And I asked them anyway. :)

Wizard and Glass in Pencil and Ink

I can’t even tell you how happy I am to have stumbled upon a copy of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born at a recent library book sale. (Mine for just two bucks! Man, how I love library book sales.) I’m a bit of a newbie to comic books – mostly I stick to titles I’ve enjoyed in other mediums, such as Buffy, Dollhouse, and The X-Files – and don’t follow the trade news at all. Thus, I had not the slightest clue that Marvel has been producing a number of series based on various Stephen King novels. In addition to The Dark Tower (of which there are currently no fewer than eleven collections), The Stand (six collections), the short story “N.” (one collection), and The Talisman (also one show more collection to date) have received the Marvel treatment. I’ve already snatched most of these up – five pages into The Gunslinger Born, and I was hooked.

The artwork by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove is simply stunning. Beautiful, but with a dark gothic feel, it perfectly encapsulates the mood of the story. Shades of deep purple, rich gold, and breathtaking orange change and evolve with the plot. As a fan of The Dark Tower series, it’s fascinating to see which characters conform to my preconceptions: Roland (who, let’s face it, is a total babe), Depape, Jonas, Mayor Thorin, Coral Thorin, Aunt Cordelia; and which ones look altogether different from how I imagined them: Alain, Cuthbert, Rhea, Susan, Sheemie, Marten (surprisingly, this seducer of women is as ugly as sin).

The story follows the events recounted by Roland to Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy in The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. It begins with Roland’s childhood – if, that is, Roland can be said to have had a childhood – when he discovers his mother Gabrielle in bed with Marten, advisor to his father. Incensed and quite possibly emasculated on behalf of his frequently absent father, 14-year-old Roland prematurely challenges teacher Cort to the contest which will determine whether he becomes a Gunslinger – or an outcast. Though he triumphs (with no small amount of help from David the hawk!) his father sends him away, in hopes of keeping his son safe from Marten’s machinations. Accompanied by best friends Alain and Cuthbert, they travel to the Barony of Mejis, ostensibly to compile an inventory of supplies on behalf of the Affiliation for the coming war with the “Good Man” John Farson. While there, Roland falls in love with Susan Delgado, who’s already been promised to Mayor Thorin as his “gilly.” And, well, you know the rest. (And on the off chance you don’t, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.)

Fans of The Dark Tower series are likely to get more out of The Gunslinger Born than non-fans (or potential fans, as I’d rather call you!), but one needn’t have a preexisting knowledge of the series in order to enjoy the comics. While significant pieces of the story are lost in translation – in fact, the narrator cheekily comments on Cordelia’s absence from the comic book adaptation thusly: “I’ve mentioned Susan’s maiden aunt in passing here and there. Frankly, I don’t like t’dwell on her overmuch.” - the result is nonetheless a cohesive narrative that still retains many of the major plot points.

The ultimate fan – Robin Furth, author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance – is listed as a consultant, which speaks to the care taken in translating Stephen King’s vision from written to visual art. The writers in particular nail Mid-Worlders’ oddly charming manner of speaking; it’s all “do ya kennit” this and “thanksee sai” that, and their overall knowledge of the series is impressive.

On the downside, I couldn’t stop myself snickering at Susan’s hair which, when gathered in a braid, sticks out from her head at all sorts of odd and physically improbable angles. As a result, she often resembles a blonde, lopsided, less kempt version of Pippi Longstocking.

Also something to consider: A number of reviewers have noted that the collection omits quite a bit of material found in the individual comics, including stories penned by Robin Furth that help to flesh out King canon. This is disappointing to hear - hence the 4/5 star rating - though probably not enough to compel me to buy the individual comics. I generally prefer collections, and this one is gorgeous.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2013/10/14/the-dark-tower-the-gunslinger-born-by-steph... show less

Although I am not a huge fan of Stephen King's writing, I really enjoyed this graphic novel adaptation and I found it an easier way to access this work. It has full-colour gorgeous, brooding artwork by Richard Isanove (who also illustrated one of my favourite graphic novels, 'Marvel 1602'). The weird atmosphere of Stephen King's post-apocalyptic Western dark fantasy is well realised by the twisted, amorphous landscapes and rock formations (not to mention characters) throughout the book.

Some of the narration is a bit overdone and there were points in the story where I had to check if I had missed a page (in one case I had!) because things jump around a bit disjointedly at times. However it is far from the most wordy graphic novel I've show more seen and I heartily enjoyed it. There is sex and violence, though a little coy about the former (perhaps it is the Marvel Way). Overall, an excellent introduction to the Dark Tower world and I am intrigued to learn more. show less

I am not a comic book/graphic novel guy but I am PASSIONATE about The Dark Tower. I saw that this first collection was on Amazon for $12.50 and figured, why not? I enjoyed "The Gunslinger Born" quite a lot. The writing was spot-on (in fact, I assumed much of it was taken directly from the books but this doesn't appear exactly so), and the illustrations are amazing. (Although there were several panels where I wondered why the artists chose a particular angle, facial expression, or in a few cases, what I was looking at to begin with. I chalk that up, however, to my ignorance of the style.)

While I did greatly enjoy the series, I was somehow under the impression that it was a new adventure but at least for "The Gunslinger Born," this is not show more the case as it combines part of "The Gunslinger" and parts of "Wizard and Glass."

Still, if you're a fan of King's "The Dark Tower," I don't think you'll be disappointed at all with this series. show less

This is the first book in the graphic novel series based off of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. This was actually a reread for me; I read it quite awhile ago and never wrote a review for it. I decided to read it again so I could read the rest of the series and review them. I have read the first four or five Dark Tower series books; I enjoyed how the graphic novel series starts with Roland as a boy and gives his background.

In this book we are introduced to Roland who is training to become a Gunslinger. He ends up testing early and defeats his brutal teacher, Cort, in one on one combat earning him the right to wield guns. Then him and his buddies, his ka tet, are given a mission. They are supposed to go undercover in the town of show more Hambry and figure out what is going on there. Roland and crew discover that some of the people there are trying to revitalize and use weapons of the Great Old Ones (think our modern day weapons). It is also in Hambry that Roland meets the love of his live Susan.

I really really enjoyed the art throughout this book. It’s full color, beautifully drawn, and very easy to follow. The backgrounds are lush and beautiful as well.

I loved the story too. The whole story is set in a sort of spaghetti western post-apocalyptic fantasy world. The characters all have distinct and interesting personalities.

This is a fairly brutal story; it’s a violent world and the pictures can get fairly gory. The one thing I don’t like about this book (and this was true for the original books as well) is this a very much a male centric old-school type of fantasy. The women in here don’t have many options and are treated pretty disrespectfully. There aren’t a lot of women, but with the exception of Susan, they are shown as being deceitful and powerless.

It’s a very dark story and a very dark world; however I did enjoy the detailed world-building and the heroic vibe to the main characters. I also loved how we get to see the back story for Roland right at the beginning of the series. It really helps the reader to understand Roland better as a character.

Overall this is a very well done graphic novel based on Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I enjoyed the world, the characters, and the beautiful illustration. In true Stephen King fashion it is a pretty brutal story. My only complaint is that I wish the female characters had more interesting and prominent roles. I will definitely continue to read this series. show less

You know, even if I wasn't already a die-hard fan of King in general and a super-fan of the DT in specific, I have to say that the quality of this artwork is EASILY enough to deserve a 5-star rating while totally skimming the text.

That being said, I DID NOT skim the text. :) And what did I find?

I didn't find The Gunslinger. Nope. I found KID GUNSLINGER. You know, a wealth of details about the dark YA version of Roland and his youthful Ka-tet. Not to mention a wealth of information only gleaned books later on, including more magic, more history lessons, and really delicious hints of the REALLY big stuff to come. Like, much later. lol

So what am I hinting at here?

Ah, nothin'. It's fantastic no matter how you look at it. It's show more chronologically sound. You get started at the very beginning of Roland when he fights his teacher. You get his first quest that goes extremely sideways. You get Susan Delgado. All that angst from an older man as he trudges through the wasteland, alone, having seen all his friends go the way of the clearing at the end of the path, has not happened yet.

I LIKE seeing this side of things first. It doesn't show me just how HUGE and EPIC the rest of the DT is, not like the end of The Gunslinger, but it might just be enough to hook any kind of new fan by way of a different medium.

Either way, the books still need a great reading. :) Before? After? I don't think it'll ever really matter. show less

I've been a fan of the Dark Tower series since the first book came out in the early 1980s, so I was excited to see Roland transformed into a graphic novel character. The artwork, particularly the color palette is stunning. However I was a little disappointed in the narrative portion of the book. Maybe I'm just such as Stephen King fan that I missed his literary touch.