The Dark Tower (comics)

The Dark Tower, first published in 2007, is a series of comic books by Marvel Comics based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels. Overall, it is plotted by Robin Furth and scripted by Peter David. Stephen King serves as Creative and Executive Director of the project.

Overview

The first chapter run of the series, entitled simply The Dark Tower, consists of thirty issues that make up five volumes illustrated primarily by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. The first volume, The Gunslinger Born, is based mostly on flashbacks from The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass; the remaining volumes (The Long Road Home, Treachery, Fall of Gilead, and Battle of Jericho Hill) contain mostly new content which expands upon details and events more briefly referenced throughout the novels. In addition to the five primary story arcs, the chapter run also includes one limited series, The Sorcerer. As stated by Peter David's afterword to The Long Road Home, the chapter run details Roland Deschain's "progress from callow youth to gunslinger," starting with his adventures in Mejis from Wizard and Glass and ending with the Battle of Jericho Hill (as detailed in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla and The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower).

The second chapter run, under the title of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, consists of another thirty issues broken up into five additional volumes written by Furth and David. Following Lee's departure from the series, this chapter run featured Isanove teaming with a different artist for each story arc. The first volume, The Journey Begins, takes place twelve years after the Battle of Jericho Hill and mostly details events which occurred between the time of the battle and the start of the novel The Gunslinger. The second volume, The Little Sisters of Eluria, is based mostly upon the short story of the same name (originally published within Legends) found in the Stephen King collection Everything's Eventual. The remaining volumes are largely adaptations of the novellas within The Gunslinger. The third, The Battle of Tull, is based mostly upon content from "The Gunslinger". The fourth, The Way Station, is based mostly upon "The Way Station" and "The Oracle and the Mountains". The fifth, The Man in Black, is based mostly upon "The Slow Mutants" and "The Gunslinger and the Dark Man". In addition to the five primary story arcs, a total of three limited series (Sheemie's Tale, Evil Ground, and So Fell Lord Perth) were released as part of this chapter run.

The Dark Tower comics were planned to be finished after the August 7, 2013, release of So Fell Lord Perth.^[1] However, on April 25, 2014, a third chapter run, The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three, was announced.^[2] This chapter run, based primarily on the novel The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, continued to be written by Furth and David but featured, for the first time, new, rotating artistic teams that did not feature Isanove. The volumes in this chapter run focus on the newly gathered (or 'drawn') members of Roland's ka-tet, as divided in the novel into sections based on the mysterious doors through which Roland must travel. The first and second volumes (The Prisoner and House of Cards) focus on Eddie Dean, who was introduced in the section of the novel also named "The Prisoner". The third and fourth volumes (Lady of Shadows and Bitter Medicine) focus on Odetta Holmes, who was introduced in the section of the novel named "The Lady of Shadows". The fifth volume (The Sailor) focuses on Jake Chambers, who survived his original fate thanks to a change in the timeline (as shown in the section of the novel named "The Pusher") and who now struggles to find a way to return to Mid-World (as depicted in the first half of The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands).

As of November 7, 2007, Marvel has been publishing collections for each story arc, and on September 21, 2011, it began publishing hardcover omnibus editions collecting each chapter run, with bonus materials not contained in the original releases.

Chapter runs and story arcs

Notes

• Cover artists listed are for primary first-printing cover art, not additional printings and/or variant covers.
• The Sorcerer is a one-shot that serves as a prelude to Fall of Gilead.
• Sheemie's Tale, originally a one-shot that was meant to serve as an interlude between The Journey Begins and The Little Sisters of Eluria, was scheduled for publication in November 2010, then postponed to January 26, 2011, and later put on indefinite hiatus.^[3] The final issue of The Man in Black announced that Sheemie's Tale would be next in the series.^[4] While it was originally solicited as a one-shot, when finally released in 2013 it was announced as a two-issue limited series.^[1][5]
• Evil Ground is a two-issue limited series which, chronologically, takes place between The Journey Begins and The Little Sisters of Eluria but also features memories of a journey in the past. It is framed as a story-within-a-story-within-a-story, much like the Dark Tower novel The Wind through the Keyhole, although the plots are not directly related.
• So Fell Lord Perth is a one-shot which, when published, concluded the run of releases from The Gunslinger. Its story, featuring the fictitious legend of Arthur Eld and his battle against the towering Lord Perth, mirrors the biblical account of David and Goliath.

Other releases

Notes

• Gunslinger's Guidebook, End-World Almanac, and Guide to Gilead were each one-shot sourcebooks written by Furth and Anthony Flamini with additional interior art by David Yardin. Each publication provided background information on the people, places, and mythology of the Dark Tower series.

Collections

Story arc collections

Omnibus collections

Notes

• Story arc collections 1-10 originally were made available in both hardcover and softcover (paperback) formats. Beginning with collection 11, the only printed edition released was a paperback format. (This does not apply to the omnibus editions, which continued to be released solely in hardcover.)

Related

• The Stand (comics)

References

External links

• Official Dark Tower comics site