The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

There's a lot to love about this series. Cuthbert and Alain are some of my all-time favorite series characters and seeing new adventures with them is always a treat. Moreover, though, it's really illuminating to see what Roland looked like in his younger days, to see him capable of forming and enjoying connections with others. It makes it that much more powerful when you see him start to lose his heart and humanity, and there's something sad but comforting about the fact that his friends are mourning that along with you, the reader. This was a fantastic addition to the story, and Peter David's writing is absolutely on point.

Where [b:The Gunslinger Born|342445|Dark Tower The Gunslinger Born|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173898471s/342445.jpg|2402933] follows Roland's gunslinger apprenticeship pretty faithfully to King's original telling, The Long Road Home traverses a previously uncharted portion of the gunslinger's tale. Namely, it tells of the journey--nay, flight--of Roland and his friends from Hambry back to Gilead.

I like the story for two main reasons (other than simply being a new story). Foremost, I like it because ultimately it is more a story about the other members of Roland's ka-tet - Cuthbert and Alain - than Roland himself. This is primarily because Roland is unconscious for most of the trip. But don't worry, Roland does make show more appearances in the story, because as anyone who has ever read a King story knows, "unconscious" does not mean "inactive."

Secondly, I liked the story because it has one of the few genuinely happy endings in the gunslinger oeuvre. Well, mostly happy, since anyone who has read through the rest of the oeuvre knows what's yet to come; but still, it's purt'near as close to a happy ending to a gunslinger story as you'll ever run across. And sometimes you just damn well need a happy ending. show less

It's hard to know how people who haven't read the original Dark Tower series would find this graphic novel. It takes place during a journey that's not really explored in Stephen King's books. I enjoyed getting more time with Cuthbert and Alain, but I also think that it was not as much fun with Roland in a sort of coma throughout most of the action. Their wisecracking and squabbling were tempered by Roland most of the time. It was of course a quick read, but I wish it had been a little more in depth. Somehow I came away from it not feeling like all that much had happened.

I love the Dark Tower series - let me just say that up front. If you haven't read it, you should. When I haven't read it in a while, I miss the characters, I miss the journey, I miss Mid-world. It's King's magnum opus for a reason, and I cherish every word.

I was a bit disappointed with The Gunslinger Born, the first of the series of Dark Tower graphic novels, simply because I was looking for something to add to what we already knew of Roland's journey, and the first graphic novel didn't do that. But thinking back on it now, I'm glad that we have a place marker to start us off so that we can fill in the gaps in this new medium.

I mentioned before that I cherish King's series, and I mean that literally. I've read them several times and show more I'm jonesing for a re-read right now. But with that being said, I'm always a little bit leery of other peoples' interpretations, especially visual ones, of a story I love so much. It can go horribly, horribly wrong, and since what has been seen cannot be unseen, I'm always afraid that my mind will forever equate the horribly wrong fanfic or whatever it is with my cherished story. That would be a tragedy.

But, luckily, these graphic novels do not have that problem. Yes, the characters are interpreted differently than I see them in my head. 14 year old Roland looks a little bit like a 45 year old Marlboro Man, and 14 year old Alain looks like he's 50-possibly-going-on-90. Because these are what really comes down to pen and ink drawings with high-tech coloring, simple lines can make a huge difference in an image. They aren't supposed to look like portraits.

One of my favorite images is Roland looking into Maerlyn's Grapefruit. He looks wistful, determined, angry and sad, lonely and accepting all at the same time. In just a simple drawing of him looking down. But it's deceptively simple, because these guys can do much with very little.

I loved the depiction of Cuthbert. In fact, I think I love Bert more in the graphics than I do in the books, hard as that may seem with all my gushing fan-girl drooling above. He plays such a small (but important) role in the books, and here he takes center stage more frequently. He is witty and charming and funny and has balls the size of boulders and guts of steel. The drawings of him were amazing. Again, so simple, but beautiful. At one point, and I promise I'm not lying because this is kind of embarrassing, I found myself just looking into one of the pictures where you just see a golden glint of eye in the shadows, and I was just... drawn in. I don't know how they do it, but these guys just come alive on these pages.

The one thing that I didn't care for is what I call the Peach-Fuzzy-Face-Effect. It seems like rather than giving the guys a bit of maybe a 5 o'clock shadow, their wispy peach-fuzz was kind of drawn on and blurred out, making their faces look distorted and strange. But that's just a small nitpick when it comes to the artwork.

Regarding the writing, I mostly loved it. I found myself laughing at times, between Bert and Alain's witty back and forth and the narration. I loved the narration. It felt as if I was sitting on a porch with a wily old grandpa who just loves to tell a good story and make it interesting, not tedious. So you WANT to sit there with some lemonade and hear what he's got to say, rather than waiting for someone to free you so that you can go do anything else. The narration was wry and humorous, like you could just see the narrator hoisting an eyebrow in the air while he spoke, but wise and honest too, so while you feel like he might be half-kidding, you don't dare question him, because deep down you know he's not. Unless he is.

Some of the dialogue between Bert and Alain sounded a little formal and illogical, like when they were attacked by mutant wolves and Alain says:
"Bert... If you were wondering WHEN would be a good time to get out of my line of fire... NOW would be good." (May not be the exact wording - I'm quoting from memory.) But the point is - If I was being attacked by wolves, and I had a gun and someone was standing between said gun and the wolves, I'd probably just say "MOVE!!!" or something equally succinct, not a soliloquy expounding the merits of not standing in the line of fire and in the way of some hungry mutant wolves.

But that's just me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, and can't wait to get to the next one. :D show less

This continues the fantastic first few issues. The artwork is amazingly detailed, and the story is well adapted. Each place they come upon makes me want to know all of the details and history behind them... the Citgo fields, the psychic enhancer, Maerlyn's orbs... I can't wait to read the next installment!

I didn't like "The Long Road Home" near as much as the first comic "The Gunslinger Born" for two reasons: the writing and the art. "The Gunslinger Born" was good mostly because the writing was in fact Stephen King's, albeit truncated for the appropriate medium. But the writing in "The Long Road Home" is far from King's voice. Ironically, a note from the comic's writer, Peter David, is included at the end of the book noting how scared he was of this task--writing without existing material of King's from which to pull. And, to his credit, he says it was all approved by King himself so who am I to say?

As to the art, it is amazing. But why they chose to draw Alain so oddly I've no idea. Strange shadows mark his face; in fact, he looks more show more like what I'd imagines Sheemie to look like.

Still, "The Long Road Home" is an interesting interpretation of what happened during Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain's trip back to Gilead from Mejis. This content is barely referenced at the end of "Wizard and Glass" (which I happened to be finishing at the same time) so it offers a unique perspective. show less

There is so much to love in these Dark Tower comics, and while I've only read two at this point, the artwork is absolutely brilliant. Shocking, evocative, colorful, crazy, and simply gorgeous.

The stories have so far retold and filled in aspects of Dark Tower #4, Wizard and Glass, which is Roland's young days and his initial tragedies, but I should point out that there is MORE story and less. Aspects are filled in that are freaking amazing while a lot of the palaver and mystery from the original book are streamlined nicely in the comic. :)

That's all great. No problems here. I would, however, recommend reading these AFTER you've read the original books. The spoilers are mild for the most part, EXCEPT in one specific way.

After the comic, show more proper, there are short stories. These shorts carry us back to the days of Eld and give us a glorious look into Arthur, his Ka-Tet, the birth of the Crimson King, and even some rather fantastic insights into the North Central Positronics Corporation. The bestiaries are quite nice, too. :) In other words, we are glutted with great information. It really DEEPENS your understanding of King's worlds. :)

I am tempted to say that these extras are somehow more important and impressive than the glorious artwork. show less