Dark Tower Comic Series Confirmed

uberbastard writes "For all of you die-hard fans of Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series, it looks like we're in for an extension. Stephen King and Marvel comics will be teaming up along with renowned artist Jae Lee to create an original comic series based on The Dark Tower. From the article: 'The comics will work in conjunction with the novels, further supplementing and defining the saga's mythology under the direction of the acclaimed author himself.'"

Comments

Nice trend

[free space]

Marvel has brought high profile writers from outside the comic genre before, like Scott Orson Card on Ultimate Iron Man
I wonder how DC will respond, if they'll respond at all.

Awesome

[somethinghollow]

I loved the series. My only gripe was King slowly added more "stuff" to the universe that wasn't there in the first one (where the universe was introduced). So, it'll be nice to get the back story and more information on stuff that "appeared" 1/2 through the series. I guess I'll have to shell out the cash for this one.

Re:Awesome

[JeremyALogan]

I'll whole-heartedly agree that it feels like he's just making stuff up at some points. When you're reading alsong and everything's going well them BAM you're in The Wizard of Oz it'a bit unsetteling. I feel like he had a good enough epic tale to tell without gettin into modern-day mythos. I understand that he wrote what felt right at the time, but I feel like some of it wa cheapened by harking on topics we all know. My argumnets being said... I'm looking forward to a comic and, hopefully, a 10+ hour movie (worked for LOTR)... it's a great story that deserves to reach anyone it can. I just hope it can be told faithfully...

Don't extend the end

[GroeFaZ]

The end to the series, the final solution as to what lies behind the final door, was the probably the best I've ever read (only second to Asimov's The Last Question .

Re:Don't extend the end

[Anonymous Coward]

They're not going to. http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JoeFridays23.h tml is a long interview with Marvel about the series. The first 6 comics are going to be about Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain while they're in Mejis (DT4.)

The Dark Tower series in incomplete, anyway

[WilyKit]

Many Dark Tower fans praise Wizard and Glass as the best of the series. And most fans will agree that there are many unanswered questions at the end of Dark Tower VII, so any exposition, even a comic book, is most welcome. I did not like the way Randall Flagg was handled at all. The "resolution" of his story clashed jarringly with everything that was known about Maerlyn, and about what kind of creature he was ("His name is Legion. He is the King of Nowhere.") There is a lot missing about the nature of the Guardians, Maturin especially. Most of all, the connections with other books aren't satisfactorily resolved.. for instance, It... is It simply a glammer, a vampire, or something more? Is It the Crimson King himself, and is Black Thirteen the object that It arrived in? Are the Deadlights what everyone thinks they are? What is the connection between The Mist and the Dark Tower series? And what are the names of the rest of the Guardians, besides Shardik and Maturin?

Re:Stephen King is not a Good Writer

[LordNightwalker]

I for one found the end to be very fitting, plus it opens up an interesting possibility: another writer could now pick up the story of the Dark Tower, and write it as he sees fit, tying it into his own bibliography... I know it ain't gonna happen, no way King is gonna sign the rights to TDT away, but maybe someone might pick up the story again once it ends up in the public domain. Doubt I'd still be around to read the result though; last time I checked my due date was way before 2500AD. ;)

No, what I had more trouble with was the rushed feel to the last couple of novels... The first one is a mess, to be sure, but it was a charming little mess and it wasn't too long... Books 2 and 3 were goddamn genius. But then it went downhill; the cliffhanger with Blaine was concluded too easily and felt like a rather cliché way of moving the story on so he could get sidetracked by the whole "Roland's Youth" story.

After that there were too many loose ends, like what the heck was Father Callahan doing in Wolves of the Calla? If King needed an ally there, anyone would do, but why did he have to pick Father Callahan? He makes it look like it has some sort of deeper meaning, as if the Father will become part of the ka-tet, and then the poor sod dies in the stupidest way ever: "Run, Jake! There's no particular reason why we couldn't escape together, but I wanna sacrifice myself. Sorry if it's hard for you to emotionally detach yourself and get running, but I feel like dying for no particular reason today"...

And please, don't get me started on Flagg and the Red King... They were supposed to be the god damn major enemies, men of great power and cunning, yet they died easier than a blindfolded slow mutant in a boobytrapped maze. And what the heck was with the Harry Potter thing anyway? If you gotta reference stuff from our world, at least reference the classics, not that J.K. Rowling kiddy crap.

Don't get me wrong; I still love the series, but book 4 was somewhat of a disappointment: waiting for years for the story to progress, and being treated to a history lesson instead. And everything after that felt somehow rushed and... cheap...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees it this way...