The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger-The Battle of Tull #5

October 17, 2011

Creative Director: Stephen King
Plot: Robin Furth
Script: Peter David
Pencils: Michael Lark
Inks: Stefano Gaudiano with Brian Thies
Colorist: Richard Isanove
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover Artist: Michael Lark, Richard Isanove
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Roland Deschain was ready to leave the town of Tull, but Tull isn’t done with him. Silvia Pittston, the wild preacher-woman who communed with the Man in Black, leads the entire town in a frenzied attack on Roland, and the Gunslinger is forced to draw. The action is fierce, brutal, and swift, but the outcome can never be in doubt. It’s been some time since we saw the last Gunslinger really cut loose, and Lark and company do a fantastic job of showing the battle not just as a gunfight, but as a real tale of horror. Roland’s adversaries are crazed, wild, and the way he is forced to systematically gun them down isn’t really to watch. (Entertaining, but not fun. If that makes sense.) At any rate, this is the best installment of Roland’s story in quite some time. I don’t often mention the supplementary material when I review this issues, but this is an issue where it’s worth making an exception. Robin Furth, who was Stephen King’s research assistant for years before launching her own writing career, gives us something I find interesting not so much as a comic fan, but as a longtime follower of King’s work. The Gunslinger was originally published in 1982. In 2003, when the finale of the series was finally being prepared, King revised and re-released the first installment to bring it more in-line with the end of the series. In her supplementary article, Furth picks apart the differences between the two versions of the novel, particularly as relates to this section, the Battle of Tull. Although I’ve read both versions of the novel, I read them years apart and never attempted to compare the two, so the article is fascinating to me. A fan of King’s will find this well worth the read regardless of anything else.

Rating: 8/10

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger-The Battle of Tull #4

October 8, 2011

Creative Director: Stephen King
Plot and Consultation: Robin Furth
Script: Peter David
Pencils: Michael Lark
Inks: Stefano Gaudiano & Brian Thies
Colorist: Richard Isanove
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover Artist: Michael Lark & Richard Isanove
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics

In this issue, Roland meets Silvia Pittston, the mammoth woman that Walter O’Dim (the Man in Black) took into his… confidence… when passing through Tull. Pittston, convinced that she is an instrument of God’s wrath and that Roland is an agent of “The Interloper,” has prepared for this moment, and it leads Roland into a confrontation even more horrible than he’s grown accustomed to.

This sequence, the story of Tull, is one of my favorite bits of The Gunslinger. There’s something about Pittston, something incredibly dark and powerful about the character, that makes her seem like a perfect foil for Roland despite her relatively small part in the grand mythos of the Dark Tower. Furth and David do a very good job of painting her as this sort of mad, fanatical type of woman, the sort that nobody wants to associate with if they can help it, whose very insanity is what makes her so dangerous.

The artwork, by Michael Lark and Richard Isanove, is still very good. The blend of horror elements with western has never been so effective as in this series, although I still feel like their Sylvia is a bit too attractive. Again, though, it’s been some time since I read the original novel, and I may simply be misremembering her description. In my head, though, she was always a more hideous sort.

At any rate, the book is very strong, very effective, and very entertaining.

Rating: 8/10