The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead
by a wide cast of people
Marvel Books, February 2010
208 Pages

Things are finally starting to come together. After building up tension throughout the previous three books, John Farson and his army of mutants and old machines are finally at the gates of Gilead and ready to tear it down. They have some help of course from the traitors and spies that are lurking in the castle itself. Anyone who has read The Dark Tower book series (or even the title of this volume) should know that this isn’t going to end well. What surprised me was just how badly it was going to happen. A lot of important people die in this book including Roland’s father making way for Roland to lead the gunslingers in defending Gilead.

One topic that this volume covers very well is the importance of Roland’s lineage. It is often mentioned that Roland is a descendant of Arthur Eld and this is the first time readers see what Arthur Eld was like and what made him a great leader.

Also returning in the volume is Aileen who pulls a Mulan and dresses up like a boy in order to fit in with the other Gunslingers. Rightfully so! I really like her character and since she was first introduced in the comic, readers do not know what becomes of her. I can make educated guesses on the fate of Roland’s friends Cuthbert and Alain, but whether Aileen will survive or not is entirely unclear. In the novels it is stated that Roland is the last Gunslinger. But since Aileen is a girl and girls are not allowed to become Gunslingers, then there is a pretty good chance she will survive. And maybe get her own spin-off comic? Please?

So Fall of Gilead is the penultimate volume in the the first series of Dark Tower comics. The last, The Battle of Jericho Hill, promises to be a bloody bloodbath with few survivors. Sadly, I don’t have a copy of it. I guess I should get around to placing that Amazon order…

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home
by Stephen King*
Marvel Books, October 2008
160 Pages

The Long Road Home is the second volume in the comic series based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower novels. The story line featured in this book is the first original story since volume one, The Gunslinger Born, was primarily based Wizard and Glass, the fourth book in the novel series.

The Long Road Home picks up immediately after the events of the first book as the reader finds Roland, Alain, and Cuthbert on the run from the Big Coffin Hunters. The three of them have managed to steal Maerlyn’s Grapefruit which traps Roland inside, leaving Alain and Cuthbert to protect their friend while his mind is tormented.

Chances are if you haven’t read any of the Dark Tower series then none of that makes sense to you which is fine. The world of the Dark Tower is a complex one. If you were wanting to jump in and start reading the series your best bet would be to start at the first novel and go from there. The comics do a decent job explaining all the mythology that is need to make its story understandable but you would need to start from the beginning. I digress.

The Long Road Home wont be a standout comic and almost feels like a necessary filler to help establish the characters for the chapters that are to come. I’ve already read volume three, Treachery, which is vastly superior in terms of story and events that it’s okay if The Long Road Home isn’t the best the series has to offer.

My review of volume one: The Gunslinger Born

*Okay, it’s not really written by Stephen King. I think he serves as Executive Director. Robin Furth plots the story. Peter David scripts it. Plus there is Jae Lee and Richard Isanove who illustrate. I would love to give credit where credit is due but in terms of comics it’s a team effort and the subject line can only be so long.

A few years ago Stephen King wrote a little book called The Colorado Kid. The book was the first big book published through Hard Case Crime imprint which specializes in re-publishing pulp fiction novels as well as new stories. The Colorado Kid is the story of two newspaper writers who are old enough to use the phrase “back in the day” tell innocent intern the story of The Colorado Kid, a body that washed up in 1980 and the mystery of how he came to be dead in Maine. While in the end readers may not get the answers to the questions they’ve been asking for whatever amount of pages, the main theme put forth is the search of answers when there are none to be found.

It was an incredibly cruel trick on Mr. Kings part.

Anyway, recently the Syfy channel has adapted The Colorado Kid into a TV series called Haven. Three episodes in and the story has differed slightly but the possibility of finally finding out what happened to The Colorado Kid is there. Haven focus on an FBI agent who takes a temporary leave of absence from the FBI to serve as a local police officer in the town of Haven, Maine where strange things are constantly happening. Please be careful not to confuse this show with Syfy’s other series Eureka about a street-smart cop who relocates to Eureka, Oregon to investigate all the strange things that are constantly happening.

Anyway.

In the first episode Audrey, the FBI agent, discovers an old newspaper article about The Colorado Kid and in the included picture is a person she believes to be her mother. It’s a bit of a stretch. Okay, it’s a huge stretch in my opinion. “Look, this women kind of looks like me and I was adopted. She’s probably my mother.” Really. That is the extent of the explanation we get from the show and what keeps her in Haven.

Another problem I have with the show is that all the episodes so far have followed the exact same format.

1) Weird thing happens.
2) Audrey accuses the most likely person responsible.
3) If the wrong person is accused, accused the next most likely person.
4) If Audrey is wrong yet again (and so far she has been), have it dawn on her that the person responsible is the person she least suspects.
5) Case solved!

Really, she made it in to the FBI with this type of deduction skills?

Is this show worth caring about? Probably not. I see a lot of potential in it. Haven could turn out to be really interesting if only is would drop this “monster of the week” format it’s following and take the time to build some solid mythology. They are only dropping hints right now as to what causes all these supernatural things to happen. It’s been made clear that there are characters who know something about what is going on, but it has not dawned on Audrey yet to ask them because she is too busy searching for this woman who she is convinced is her mother.

Anybody else have thoughts on this show so far?