Stephen King had a great discussion about The Dark Tower, comic books and Marvel’s Gunslinger Born/The Long Road Home series on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. Although brief, it’s very interesting. Check it out here
Copy from the NPR website:
To the delight of Stephen King fans, the latest installment in the Marvel comic book series inspired by his Dark Tower epic was released in early March.
The illustrated saga was kicked off in the graphic novel Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born, which introduced young hero Roland Deschain in the midst of his coming-of-age journey. The newly released Dark Tower: The Long Road Home, is a continuation of the narrative, with the young gunslinger on the run with his posse.
King collaborated with writer Peter David, consultant Robin Furth, and illustrators Jae Lee and Richard Isanove on the project.
"I'm just somebody who's always been interested in how things work in different medium," King says. "I have a tendency to say 'yes' to projects rather than to say 'no' just because I'm curious. I want to see how things turn out."
The best-selling novelist has written more than 40 novels, and his books appear in 33 languages in 35 different countries.
"Comic books are almost like movies on paper," King says. "They came to interest me as a medium because they exist in their own category."
It’s great because Mr. King is bringing new fans into the medium. In fact, during the discussion he plugs Y: The Last Man and gets one of his call-in fans to take a look at Vaughan's fantastic comic. The big news for me is that Marvel will adapt The Stand into comic book form.
-Swinebread
5 comments:
I started reading the Gunslinger novels back when the first came out. What was that, like 30 frickin' years ago? I like much of King's work (the Regulators/ Desperation pairing is my favorite), but I found the Gunslinger series to be a slog and a half. It seemed convoluted, bloated and in need of a good edit.
The Stand would work well as long as it isn't based on the (convoluted and bloated ) un-edited version.
I think Bill Sceinkwicz should do it. He would do a great Flagg.
The Stand? Yikes. I actually kind of like the convoluted and bloated version :) but in either case, it's going to have to be spread over plenty o' issues.
Thanks for the link- I had forgotten I wanted to check out that interview.
I am a huge fan of the Dark Tower series and have enjoyed the comic version as well.
I'm not sure that King has any book out there that is not a bit on the bloated style. I find that is a trait you just have to get used to and accept in order to appreciate the incredible imagination he shares in his work.
I actually think the Gunslinger works better as a comic-they've really got a good team that "get's it"..also all the issues have really neat explanatory back stories-to really set the reader up for the time/space continuum stuff to come.
Extremely interesting mythos on how good and evil come to be in this world.
I wanted to buy the harback novel of the 1st issues, but since it didn't indicate it had the back stories too, will hold off until I can get the whole shebang.
I will be VERY excited about The Stand if they have the same type of creative time with sufficient financial backing.
Arkonbey – I think the comics are that good edit. They are really well done. I think the team effort that went into the DT comics helps cut out the bloat.
As for the Stand, I’m not sure of the approach they are going to take. I only read the smaller version.
Randal – I think they might not adapt the main story but we’ll have to see.
DT – I forgot too, and figured there were others that did as well. I like DT a lot. I think you are spot on when it comes to getting past the bloat to enjoy what is going on in the SK’s world.
LB – You are right. I think the team aspect and the visual nature of the comic really makes it palatable to folks that don’t want to chew on the huge stuffed books.
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