+- The Lurker Lounge Forums (https://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums)
+-- Forum: The Lurker Lounge (https://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The Lounge (https://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/forum-12.html)
+--- Thread: Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. (/thread-5092.html)
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Hammerskjold - 12-28-2005
http://www.marvel.com/publishing/stories/showstory.htm?id=51
Hardcore Dark Tower fans probably already know the news. But I'm curious. For me the first book is my favorite of the series. It was a fairly straight up mythic mash up of western, horror, post apoc and fantasy. The later ones seems to be either a love it or hate it with the 'meta' direction.
But based on the blurb, unless I read it wrong, it will cover Rolands' younger days, and not just an illustrated form of the books. The rumor seems to be it might have the battle of Jericho Hill in more detail. Maybe even the fall of Gilead. I'm somewhat mixed, on one hand I'm very curious. On the other, sometimes things don't need to be explained away to death. (Midichlorians anyone?)
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Doc - 12-28-2005
Stephen King can go suck eggs.
Bitterly disapointed with how the Dark Tower ended, and no writer should ever write a book and then write an apology to his readers for shoddy work.
And don't even get me started on the stupid little were-spider.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Xukuth - 12-28-2005
Doc,Dec 27 2005, 09:30 PM Wrote:Stephen King can go suck eggs.
Bitterly disapointed with how the Dark Tower ended, and no writer should ever write a book and then write an apology to his readers for shoddy work.
And don't even get me started on the stupid little were-spider.
[right][snapback]98117[/snapback][/right]
To be fair, he did tell you to stop reading.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Jeunemaitre - 12-28-2005
Doc,Dec 27 2005, 10:30 PM Wrote:Stephen King can go suck eggs.
Bitterly disapointed with how the Dark Tower ended, and no writer should ever write a book and then write an apology to his readers for shoddy work.
And don't even get me started on the stupid little were-spider.
[right][snapback]98117[/snapback][/right]
To be honest, I didn't mind the were-spider nemesis. The thing I'm not cool with is the climb-the-tower coda. Okay, you found a way to leave Roland alone in the end of his quest: fine by me. But what does the tower's contents lead us to believe about the world, if it is the axis upon which all worlds turn? Maybe I'm just not hip enough to understand, but I don't get it.
Part of me is sorry that I never got into graphic serials, but the rest of me realizes that the amount of time required to keep all of the various Marvel books about the same cast straight. A retelling of Rolands earlier days would be interesting to think about, but hopefully they'll be smart enough to stay away from everything that King has already written. I have everything from Mejis in my imagination, I don't care to know how someone else sees it.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - jahcs - 12-28-2005
Midichlorians - one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of in the Star Wars Universe - It's even worse than the Han Shoots First debacle (but not by much).
And Stephen King has always been weak with his endings. He can have the greatest mystery/horror story ever and manage to write himself such a lame ending you don't want to pick up another book.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Zippyy - 12-28-2005
Hammerskjold,Dec 27 2005, 10:26 PM Wrote:http://www.marvel.com/publishing/stories/showstory.htm?id=51I love the entire series, and over time I've been able to forgive or forget some of the major blunders of the story. Many people hated the ending, but I thought it was perfect and powerful ("flamePoster(Zippyy)"). I cried twice while reading the last book. Once at the ending. People who have read it can probably guess the other part.
Hardcore Dark Tower fans probably already know the news. But I'm curious. For me the first book is my favorite of the series. It was a fairly straight up mythic mash up of western, horror, post apoc and fantasy. The later ones seems to be either a love it or hate it with the 'meta' direction.
But based on the blurb, unless I read it wrong, it will cover Rolands' younger days, and not just an illustrated form of the books. The rumor seems to be it might have the battle of Jericho Hill in more detail. Maybe even the fall of Gilead. I'm somewhat mixed, on one hand I'm very curious. On the other, sometimes things don't need to be explained away to death. (Midichlorians anyone?)
[right][snapback]98115[/snapback][/right]
Picturing the story in comic book form doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, but I'll reserve judgement until after I've seen it. A novel (or series of novels) relies on imagination, and the whole septology has been constructed in my head. Sure, several of the books had a few illustrations. Books 1, 6, and 7 had particularly good ones. Book 5's were awful. Anyway, I was easily able to ignore the illustrations that didn't fit my own picture of the characters and locales. In a comic book that might not be so easy, since they rely much more on visuals than a novel does. The narrative is still there, but not nearly as wordy.
I'm going to cast my votes for books 1 and 4 as the best books of the series. Both could easily be great standalones. In the context of the story however, I feel that book 4 edges out book 1 ever so slightly to claim the 1st place prize.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Hammerskjold - 12-29-2005
>I love the entire series, and over time I've been able to forgive or forget some of the major blunders of the story. Many people hated the ending, but I thought it was perfect and powerful ("flamePoster(Zippyy)").
Possible spoilers:
I don't like everything in the series either, (I think he went a bit overboard with the pop references) but I think I have to give King credit for even trying to do, at least what I think he tried to do. On one level it is just a pulp mish mash story, albeit with a killer opening line to me. On another, it's all about obsession, addiction, love and it's power to redeem.
I liked this interpretation I read from another reader. Unfortunately I lost the link and have to badly paraphrase: Roland might be trying to save the tower, but it's really the Tower trying to save him. Like the Browning poem, it's entirely possible the landscape is actually a mirror of what is in Roland's heart and mind. The tower will always be turned away from him if he doesn't reclaim his soul. Seen in this light, the tower is not just a malevolent force out to punish Roland. It's trying to teach him how to love again through the Ka-Tet. Because then and only then can he truly reach the Tower, 'save' the world, and gain peace. It's not about the Tower Roland, it's about the Ka-Tet ya dummy.
Now first I was slightly pissed off with the thing about 'stop reading after this point and go do something else. You might not like what you find if you continue' part. I still think it was a fairly huge gamble to basically try to say if you continue, you might not be that different from Roland. Personally, I think it's not meant so much to be a 'choose your own adventure' type of ending. My interpretation is Roland is both the author and the reader, not literally of course. But the compulsion to reach the end is the same.
How successfully he pulled that off is entirely up to the audience. I can understand how some people wants a kick ass story about a bad ass cowboy knight, guns ablazing on a quest to reach a mysterious dark tower. Getting a sermon about it's all about the journey and not the destination might not be their immediate cup of tea.
I cried twice while reading the last book. Once at the ending. People who have read it can probably guess the other part.
Heh unfortunately I can't guess, but I did get choked up a bit when Oy said bye to Jake, with the way he speaks it has more than just that meaning.
Roland of Gilead, the Marvel comic. - Zippyy - 12-29-2005
Hammerskjold,Dec 29 2005, 12:02 AM Wrote: Heh unfortunately I can't guess, but I did get choked up a bit when Oy said bye to Jake, with the way he speaks it has more than just that meaning.Close. It involved Oy, but it was another sort of goodbye.
[right][snapback]98211[/snapback][/right]