I already posted reviews for the first two comics based on King's Dark Tower series. I'll be putting up reviews for the subsequent issues as well as reviewing the comic adaptation of The Stand over the next few days. Rather than pummel you with review after review after review, I'm gonna try to break em up with other articles for variety's sake. While I'm still going to talk about the comics, this is going to be more of an overview of the series that have come out so far as well as what's ahead.
The series started with The Gunslinger Born, it is essentially an adaptation of Wizard and Glass, but it acts as a great starting point to provide readers with a frame of reference as well as giving new readers a way to start fresh without feeling like they're missing something for having not read the books.
The Long Road Home picks up where the previous series leaves off. The main focus is on Roland being trapped in Maerlyn's Grapefruit with Cuthbert and Alain dragging him home and trying to figure out how to snap him out of it.
Treachery shows the aftermath of Roland's time spent in the grapefruit. We also see Roland grieving over Susan's death as well as seeing the events that Roland only mentioned in conversation at the end of Wizard and Glass as to the fate of his mother.
The Fall of Gilead is the series that is still being released. As of now only two of the six issues have been released. I haven't gotten to read these yet as I'm backed up comics, but I plan to read those when I get up to date on the reviews.
There is one final Dark Tower arc planned that will wrap up the comic book series. No details have been released in regards to the title or storyline.
After the success of the Dark Tower comics, Marvel decided to do a comic adaptation of his other epic, The Stand. Like the Dark Tower before it, the series would consist of five arcs that would result in a total of 30 issues. Unlike the Dark Tower series, this was going to be a straight up adaptation as opposed to new material.
The first series was titled, Captain Trips. It covers the outbreak of the superflu virus that wipes out a vast majority of life on Earth. We also get our introductions to the few survivors that become the focus of the novel, and by extension, the comic series.
American Nightmares is the second act of the series. We get our introduction to Randall Flagg and the characters find themselves trying to figure out where to go now.
Soul Survivors is the title for the arc that follows. There is no information beyond that
Continuing the trend, another comic company called Del Rey announced that they would release a comic adaptation of King's novel The Talisman, which he collaborated on with fellow author Peter Straub. The Editor in Chief, Betsy Mitchell, said that the story would require at least 24 issues to adapt the story, perhaps more.
What other King works could be used as comic book fodder? King himself said that he would like to see Firestarter take comic book form. If The Talisman gets adapted, it stands to reason that the sequel novel, Black House is a possibility. I wouldn't mind seeing It get a comic book adaptation. As I suggested in another article I wrote for Associated Content, King could follow up on all the hints that Pennywise survived and show a new band try to take on the monster. One person commented that perhaps the Loser's Club missed an egg and that is what has been committing acts of vandalism in its parent's name. There are several possibilities for the storyline.
One book that I think would transition well to comics is Cujo. It would allow us a viable way to get into the character's head just as we did in the books. It wouldn't require 30 issues to tell like the ones before, but it could still be pretty effective. King himself regrets not remembering much of writing Cujo due to problems he was having at the time, a comic adaptation would be a great way to revisit it.
The serial nature of comics could lend themselves to King's attempted e-serial, The Plant. People have been wondering if King would finish the story and since the story itself isn't available anywhere it would satisfy people who started reading it and want a conclusion as well as people who just want to read it period.
Stephen King has a vast library to choose from. Not every novel would adapt well to comics however. Bag of Bones and Salem's Lot, great books that they are, probably won't work too well adapting to the new medium. They're most effective in prose form in my opinion. I could be wrong though.
On the one hand, I don't want comic companies to overdo the King based comics, but on the other hand, if they are as good as what has been released so far, I wouldn't be able to really complain either. To be fair, it's not like Stephen King is the only one who's work is being adapted. I'm seeing comics adapt classic literature more and more frequently. A prime example would be the Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow series.
The series started with The Gunslinger Born, it is essentially an adaptation of Wizard and Glass, but it acts as a great starting point to provide readers with a frame of reference as well as giving new readers a way to start fresh without feeling like they're missing something for having not read the books.
The Long Road Home picks up where the previous series leaves off. The main focus is on Roland being trapped in Maerlyn's Grapefruit with Cuthbert and Alain dragging him home and trying to figure out how to snap him out of it.
Treachery shows the aftermath of Roland's time spent in the grapefruit. We also see Roland grieving over Susan's death as well as seeing the events that Roland only mentioned in conversation at the end of Wizard and Glass as to the fate of his mother.
The Fall of Gilead is the series that is still being released. As of now only two of the six issues have been released. I haven't gotten to read these yet as I'm backed up comics, but I plan to read those when I get up to date on the reviews.
There is one final Dark Tower arc planned that will wrap up the comic book series. No details have been released in regards to the title or storyline.
After the success of the Dark Tower comics, Marvel decided to do a comic adaptation of his other epic, The Stand. Like the Dark Tower before it, the series would consist of five arcs that would result in a total of 30 issues. Unlike the Dark Tower series, this was going to be a straight up adaptation as opposed to new material.
The first series was titled, Captain Trips. It covers the outbreak of the superflu virus that wipes out a vast majority of life on Earth. We also get our introductions to the few survivors that become the focus of the novel, and by extension, the comic series.
American Nightmares is the second act of the series. We get our introduction to Randall Flagg and the characters find themselves trying to figure out where to go now.
Soul Survivors is the title for the arc that follows. There is no information beyond that
Continuing the trend, another comic company called Del Rey announced that they would release a comic adaptation of King's novel The Talisman, which he collaborated on with fellow author Peter Straub. The Editor in Chief, Betsy Mitchell, said that the story would require at least 24 issues to adapt the story, perhaps more.
What other King works could be used as comic book fodder? King himself said that he would like to see Firestarter take comic book form. If The Talisman gets adapted, it stands to reason that the sequel novel, Black House is a possibility. I wouldn't mind seeing It get a comic book adaptation. As I suggested in another article I wrote for Associated Content, King could follow up on all the hints that Pennywise survived and show a new band try to take on the monster. One person commented that perhaps the Loser's Club missed an egg and that is what has been committing acts of vandalism in its parent's name. There are several possibilities for the storyline.
One book that I think would transition well to comics is Cujo. It would allow us a viable way to get into the character's head just as we did in the books. It wouldn't require 30 issues to tell like the ones before, but it could still be pretty effective. King himself regrets not remembering much of writing Cujo due to problems he was having at the time, a comic adaptation would be a great way to revisit it.
The serial nature of comics could lend themselves to King's attempted e-serial, The Plant. People have been wondering if King would finish the story and since the story itself isn't available anywhere it would satisfy people who started reading it and want a conclusion as well as people who just want to read it period.
Stephen King has a vast library to choose from. Not every novel would adapt well to comics however. Bag of Bones and Salem's Lot, great books that they are, probably won't work too well adapting to the new medium. They're most effective in prose form in my opinion. I could be wrong though.
On the one hand, I don't want comic companies to overdo the King based comics, but on the other hand, if they are as good as what has been released so far, I wouldn't be able to really complain either. To be fair, it's not like Stephen King is the only one who's work is being adapted. I'm seeing comics adapt classic literature more and more frequently. A prime example would be the Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow series.
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