The Dark Tower series is a fantastic collection written by Stephen King. I read the first four many, many years ago, and had to endure years of waiting before he released the last three. Knowing how much I enjoyed the exploits of Roland and co., Steve purchased me the first graphic novel from Marvel based on the books, which is titled “The Gunslinger Born.”
First and foremost, if you have not read the books, you will not be able to follow along with the graphic novel. It is definitely written by fans of the series who know the books, and presented in such a way that you will get lost. Heck, I got lost a few times, and I read the books! However, this is necessary to allow as much detail from King’s books to get in without being bogged down with background explanation like the books have. What the graphic novel does is presents the story of Roland linearly. In the books, his story is jumbled about a bit, and you learn about his past throughout different books, in a way of flashback. However, The Gunslinger Born starts right away by introducing you to Roland as a young man, how he became a gunslinger, and his early adventures when he meets Susan Delgado.
The illustration is done superbly well, bringing to life Roland and other characters. I enjoyed reading on Roland’s rite of passage, and it was done expertly. As I said, the writers and illustrators are clearly fans of the series, and really succeed in bringing it to life.
I hope to get the other collections in the series, to continue experiencing Roland’s quest for the Tower from this new perspective. However, as I mentioned, these graphic novels are truly only accessible to fans of the books. Anyone else who does not have background on the story will have no clue as to what is going on, and will quickly be lost in a sea of seemingly pointless information.
