Dark Tower Launches at Midnight, February 7th
Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born #1 is going to be released this coming Wednesday. Here’s the press release from King’s website:
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To celebrate the launch of the ground-breaking new comic book series adapted from Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, Marvel Comics will offer a first-ever midnight release of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 the night of Tuesday, February 6, 2007. Nearly 150 retailers across the United States will open at midnight on Tuesday (effectively 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, February 7, 2007) so Stephen King fans can get their hands on the debut issue of this historic comic.
Want to know how close you are to any of the nearly 150 stores who’ve signed up to participate in the midnight launch of Stephen King’s Dark Tower The Gunslinger Born #1? Check out the full list here, organized by state and store name. Also visit Marvel’s Dark Tower site for all things related to the Gunslinger!
The English version of The Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born #1 are available to retailers around the world, but the retailer must have already ordered copies. If your local comic book dealer hasn’t ordered it, your best bet may be to search out U.S. retailers that ship internationally. The foreign translated version deals are being worked through now.
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I won’t be at the one Minnesota comic shop participating in the event at midnight, but will certainly pick up a copy Wednesday. I am still a little apprehensive about the project, but it sounds as if this will be more than just an adaptation of the Wizards and Glass book as I was afraid it was from earlier reports. Maybe it will provide more backstory. I’ll post a review after I check it out.
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I’ve noted frustration with Dark Tower fans over the constantly-shifting positioning of what this series was originally sold as, and what it’s become over its two year journey to the stands. Initially peddaled as new material from King himself gradually became a series taking place within the already-established storylines, written by others with only King’s supervision. Granted, King takes a very “hands on” approach to the material, but it still must be perplexing to fans as they wonder how much of King’s real input is being channeled into the project.
Another thing that jumped out at me was the press release characterizing the series as “ground-breaking”. Yeah, it’s standard “press release speak”, but from what I can gather about the series, I’m not sure what’s groundbreaking about it. Other novelists have written comics before (admittedly not of King’s stratospheric calibre), and there have certainly been cross-media adaptations of other popular books and movies into comic book form…so I guess I’m not seeing what the hype machine is selling.
Still…I’ll probably give the first issue a whirl.
My thoughts exactly. Like you, I have a short fuse for comic storylines and titles… at the prices they charge these days they have to get on with it quickly or the lose me. Hopefully this will be up to scratch.
Well, as you’re probably aware, modern comics are typically “paced for the trades”, meaning they generally follow a six to seven issue arc and, like a movie or a novel, have an introduction, a slow build to the conflict, resolution and, occasionally, a coda or epilogue. As such, the individual issues often feel artificially slowed or padded, unless the writer really knows what he or she is doing. Fortunately, Peter David (the writer for the Dark Tower comics) is one of those writers, so hopefully he’ll make the experience less “flabby” than most of the “paced for the trade” story arcs.
So, despite David being able to move things along, I would still expect to see the first story arc last at least six issues (which, in today’s terms, is an $18 commitment).