Action/Adventure

Dark Tower Issue #1

We generally don’t review anything but graphic novels on the ‘Panel, however every once in a while a book comes along that I actually pick up and I generally can’t let it go, The Dark Tower that was released by Marvel a couple of weeks ago is one of those books. There are at least three really good reasons that I can think of as to why I should have avoided this book. I’ll start off by saying that I’ve never read a Stephen King book. In fact the closest I’ve ever come to the man’s work is watching ‘The Green Mile’, which in my book seriously doesn’t count unless the movie was as close to the book in the same way that ‘Sin City’ was, otherwise they’re two completely different things. Therefore I have no affinity to these characters as I would have, if say ‘His Dark Materials’ gets made into a comic book.

The other point is the underhanded way in which Marvel decided to promote this book. To all those thinking that Stephen King actually wrote this, think again. We’ve been buffered by not just Peter David doing the writing but another guy above him as well, before we get to the man himself at the top. King I guess acts as more of an advisor over a lunch as they hash things out. Don’t spend too much time on this, you’ve got more important things to do.

In addition to that I’m not a Peter David fan. Never have been and somehow I never think I will be. Not to get personal or anything but he’s one of the very few creators that I’ve allowed his personal politics take judgement for me over his work, which is why I tend to avoid it completely. Plenty of fish in the sea, plenty of other books to read and all that. He can continue to do his thing and I’ll do my thing.

So you’re probably wondering why I even bothered looking at this book. The honest truth is because after all the crap that Marvel pulled above, they did one thing incredibly well and that was choosing one of my favourite artists, pairing him with one of my favourite colourists, and fortunately, together they’ve made magic on a page.

I don’t tend to wax on about the artwork very often as those days where it was artwork first have faded away (and that’s kind of a good thing mind you) however Jae Lee and Richard Isanove have created one of the prettiest books on the market. I’ve been a fan of Jae Lee, since his Image days when I went out about bought Hellshock (the first series). It had this rawness that I kinda liked. I remember thinking to myself that he’d never really hit the mainstream as his work is far too much in the acquired taste category. I think Jae must have thought the same thing because after his second Hellshock series he came back with the completely sublime Inhumans with Paul Jenkins. His artwork had changed. It became more refined. There was a softer side to his lines and he seemed a lot more confident in his work (at least that how I saw it). The Dark Tower is a LEAP forward for Jae. Every one of his lines is there for a reason.

So what do you do to a guy that is currently firing on all cylinders? Easy, you team him up with one of the best colourist/painters in the industry. I’ve been watching Richard Isanove since his Top Cow days. Back when Top Cow was actually a big player in the industry, they had a crop of up and coming colouring talent that no one else in the industry could even come close to (except maybe Wildstorm). With names like JD Smith, Steve Firchow, Peter Steigerwald and of course Richard Isanove, they paved the way for some of the best looking books on the market. They stood out a mile. Thing is Top Cow recognised how great these guys where that they brought out a card set based on their painted work. Richard’s moved up in the world greatly. I put him up there with Laura Depuy (yeah I know she’s married now and changed her name but she’ll always be Depuy for me), Brian Haberlin amongst many others. He’s colouring directly off of Jae’s pencils and he’s using all manner of tricks to achieve these amazing colour tones and combinations.

So enough about the artwork which honestly is worth the price of admission alone, what’s up with the actual story and characters? Well the good news is that it’s actually not a bad story. Seriously. I put down the book and thought to myself that I have to go out and buy the Stephen King books. I mean if the comic adaptation is this interesting, imagine what the actual book it’s based on is like. I’ve got to say I’ve never heard of the Dark Towers series of books. Seems King has been writing these things since the early 80s, so we’re getting close to 30 years in the making.

For me the most interesting thing about the whole story is how King has combined the wild west with a completely different world with their own codes, languages and culture. The set up is simple Roland Deschain (love that surname) is traveling across the desert for the man in black, in search it would seem of the Dark Tower. Straight away we flip back to the past and we’re shown the route to how Deschain became a Gunslinger and received his first guns. Peter David’s dialogue gets a little getting used but I’m pretty sure that’s part of the whole Dark Tower mythos here so it’s just a question of how authentic it actually all is, I’ll only be able to comment once I’ve read the books, which will keep me going until the hardcover in like 6 or 7 months time. I will say however that the pace is good although there are elements of the story that I’m unsure about but I’m attributing this to the fact that it’s still only a first issue. They’re not so much plot holes but rather incomplete information. What is going on with Roland’s mother? What are the Gunslingers in general doing? What makes Roland Deschain an important Gunslinger to follow? Why isn’t his father there to protect his mother? And the list goes on. The problem is of course that maybe some of these questions have been answered (I found out the answer of the third question by reading the back of the first novel, he’s apparently the last one), however these questions and many more were not really answered in the comic book. Even the fact that he’s trying to find the Dark Tower by hunting the man in black isn’t all that clear (once again after I read the back of the first novel). This actually makes me wonder if the book is aimed at the complete newbie Dark Tower reader or someone that’ll get intrigued and go out and buy the novels and then gain that extra understanding of the book itself?

As a package this comic book is very well put together. We get a nice hardstock cover, some nice paper, a backup prose story (and a map). In addition next month’s cover is shown and a few sample pages as well. I’ve got to say I LOVE it when they show next month’s cover. It’s a small thing that just gets you excited about the next installment, especially when Jae+Richard have outdone themselves yet again.