The Dark Tower Companion
Page 25
EACH ISSUE: _______________________________________________
ART EVOLUTION FROM SCRIPT TO COLOR
A four-page section shows an excerpt from Robin Furth’s script, a page of thumbnails by artist Laurence Campbell and his corresponding finished inks, and Richard Isanove’s color art. The finished page, including Peter David’s text in word bubbles, can be found in the corresponding issue.
ISSUE 1: _______________________________________________
TRANSCENDING TIME
Robin Furth discusses the publishing history of the two chapters from The Gunslinger that will be adapted in this five-issue arc. The first issue takes twenty pages to adapt a passage that is less than five pages in the novel, most of it internal dialogue. She explains how she expanded King’s prose and the decisions she made to fill out the narrative. Playing off the sense of déjà vu that King added to the novel when he rewrote it in 2003, Furth decided to open again with Brown, emphasizing the fact that Roland’s relationship to time and space is unique. She was also faced with finding things for Roland to do during his arduous trek across the desert and coming up with sources of water to get him through that journey. She reveals how she used details from future books, including a passing reference Roland made in The Waste Lands to having eaten dog meat.
ISSUE 2: _______________________________________________
JAKE CHAMBERS
Robin Furth discusses meeting Jake for the first time on a snowy day and how, when faced with the prospect of scripting his death, she relied on a passage from The Waste Lands that describes events in much greater detail than in The Gunslinger.
ISSUE 3: _______________________________________________
THE PROBLEM WITH CELLARS
Referencing the issue’s scene where Roland encounters a Speaking Demon beneath the Way Station, Furth writes about her abiding fear of cellars and how basements are associated with burial.
ISSUE 4: _______________________________________________
SPEAKING RINGS
Furth differentiates between the Great Old Ones, who formed North Central Positronics and created advanced technology that melded magic and science, and the Old People who came before them. They were a brutal people who offered human sacrifices as part of their religion. The Speaking Rings found across Mid-World were sites where these sacrifices were carried out. Furth then lays out the details of Roland and Jake’s encounter with the Oracle succubus in this issue.
ISSUE 5: _______________________________________________
THE SUCCUBUS
Furth starts by talking about genre—is the Dark Tower series fantasy or science fiction?—then discusses the differences between succubi (and their male counterparts, incubi) in the series and in folklore. In some legends, an incubus fathered Merlin. In the Dark Tower series, most succubi seem to be trapped in Speaking Circles and can appear to men when they are awake, whereas in legends they are free to roam and come only to sleeping men. In the series, they are also oracles, though whether their predictions are to be believed is another matter.
THE MAN IN BLACK
Original release dates: June 2012 through October 2012 (5 issues)
Credits:
• Creative Director and Executive Director: Stephen King
• Plotting and Consultation: Robin Furth
• Script: Peter David
• Pencils: Alex Maleev
• Color Art: Richard Isanove
• Lettering: Joe Sabino
The story told in the final miniseries of The Gunslinger arc starts with Jake and Roland camping near the cleft in the mountain into which the man in black vanished at the end of The Way Station. Impending bad weather is emphasized—it’s cold and ready to snow. Roland is tormented by the demons of his past, which he sees in a fire he builds using devil-grass. The man in black appears to him in these flames, taunting him and offering information in exchange for abandoning Jake.
The exchange between Jake and Roland after this vision is more intense than in the novel. Roland encourages Jake to turn back, going so far as to give him his compass to guide the way—though such devices are mostly useless in Mid-World. Jake seriously considers staying behind but ultimately packs up his things and follows Roland, who has gone on ahead.
It takes Jake a while to catch up with Roland. He has a torch, but it’s not enough to reveal the man in black, who is watching from the shadows, or the slow mutants who lurk in the crevices. A cave-in—reminiscent of the avalanche the slow mutants caused in “The Little Sisters of Eluria”—blocks the entrance to the tunnel. Mutant rats chase him. He falls, dropping his torch. The rats swarm past him.
After he starts a small fire and relights his torch, he finds a second tunnel with train tracks. Then he encounters the ruins of a train surrounded by skeletons in a blocked tunnel. He returns to his fire. Devil-grass demons tell him he has the touch and how to access it. When he follows their instructions, he finds himself transported into the subway car at a time when it was in service, back in the days of the Imperium.
One of the people on the subway is Walter. He gets off, leaving behind his suitcase. Poison gas emerges from the bag. A spark causes the gas to explode, sending Jake back from his vision.
Roland hears the cave-in and backtracks toward the entrance, where he finds Jake. He won’t listen to Jake’s story of his vision, blaming the whole thing on noxious smoke from the devil-grass. They start on again, following the tracks. They extinguish their torches to conserve light. During a break, Roland describes the geography of Mid-World to Jake and explains the nature of the Dark Tower. He then tells Jake the story of the Sowing Night Cotillion when he, Cuthbert and Alain spied on the festivities from a balcony and saw Marten dancing with his mother. He finishes his story by telling how the gunslingers were ambushed and his father was stabbed to death. He says that what happened to his mother is a story for another day.
As in The Gunslinger, they stumble upon the talking handcar and encounter the slow mutants, but here Walter has given them permission to eat Jake so long as they leave Roland alone. The battle plays out much as in the novel. Roland and Jake get past the barricade and eventually end up in the subway terminal filled with mummies. While Roland shops for guns and ammo, Jake is enchanted by ghostly figures called corpse lights in the water that warn him the gunslinger will betray him. Jake falls into the river, but again Roland saves his life.
The rest of the story is the same as in the novel, ending with the tarot reading at the golgotha and Roland’s dream wherein Walter explains the universe.
Characters (in order of mention): Roland Deschain, Jake Chambers, Susan Delgado, Gabrielle Deschain, Alain Johns, Allie, the man in black, Steven Deschain, slow mutants, Greta Shaw, Cuthbert Allgood, Marten Broadcloak, ka-tet, Tet of the Gun, Man Jesus, Old People, Vannay, corpse lights, Ageless Stranger, Cort, Rhea.
Places: Tull, the Dark Tower, Gilead, Mid-World, Great Hall, Jersey Turnpike, Grand Central Station, golgotha, Great All, Mohaine Desert, Na’ar, Dogans.
Things: devil-grass, Imperium, sparklights, portals, Beams, Sowing Night Cotillion, Crisp-A-La, Larchies, High Speech, tarot cards, North Central Positronics.
EXTRA FEATURES:
EACH ISSUE: _______________________________________________
ART EVOLUTION
An excerpt from Robin Furth’s script (issues 1, 4 and 5), thumbnails by artist Alex Maleev and his corresponding finished inks and Richard Isanove’s color art. The finished page, including Peter David’s text in word bubbles, can be found in the corresponding issue.
ISSUE 1: _______________________________________________
WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE CONTINUITY AND THE DARK TOWER COMICS
Robin Furth mentions a complaint from a faithful reader that King broke continuity with the Marvel adaptation in The Wind Through the Keyhole. She uses this as a launching point to explain why she sometimes chose to diverge from King’s plot in this series. Much of the conflict in The Gunslinger is internal, which is difficu
lt to convey in a comic. Having Jake go off by himself for a while was a way of building tangible suspense. She believes the Marvel series takes place in a different world from King’s novels; however, in one that is very close.
ISSUE 2: _______________________________________________
BETWEEN THE PAGES
Furth explains the reasons why she chose to alter the story line in this issue. She wanted to enhance the image of the man in black as a puppet master. Roland’s story about his battle with Cort had already been told in earlier issues, so she expanded the Sowing Night Cotillion story, underscoring the significance of Gabrielle’s treachery to Roland’s psyche. Finally, because so much of this part of the novel takes place in the dark, which isn’t interesting graphically, she decided to have Roland explain the nature of his universe here instead of later.
ISSUE 3: _______________________________________________
MID-WORLD’S RAILWAYS
Furth discusses the three kinds of rail transport found in Mid-World: steam trains, such as the one that ran from Gilead to Debaria in The Wind Through the Keyhole; subways, such as the ones that used to run on the tracks Roland and Jake are following in this issue; and monorails, such as Blaine and Patricia. The steam trains are the most recent, having been built after the reign of Arthur Eld.
ISSUE 4: _______________________________________________
THERE ARE OTHER WORLDS HAN THESE
Furth discusses the significance of Jake’s final words to the nature of his existence and to the structure of the Dark Tower universe. She explains what happens to Jake after his fall, and how Roland’s actions later in the series allow the boy to return to Mid-World. Her discussion, preceded by a spoiler warning, encompasses the entire Dark Tower series.
ISSUE 5: _______________________________________________
GRASPING THE INFINITE
Furth discusses how passive Roland is in the final installment of the miniseries. Instead of acting, for the most part he is acted upon. She explains how the man in black’s tarot reading predicts events in The Drawing of the Three and explores the question of why the man in black, who has taunted and tormented the gunslinger for years, should suddenly decide to provide Roland with helpful information.
SHEEMIE’S TALE
Original release date: January 2013 through February 2013 (2 issues)
Credits:
• Creative Director and Executive Director: Stephen King
• Plotting and Consultation: Robin Furth
• Script: Peter David
• Color Art: Richard Isanove
Marvel synopsis: This is the story of one of the more powerful Breakers in Thunderclap—the mentally handicapped, formerly mute young man known as Sheemie. He possesses the awesome power to shatter the very Beams that hold the Dark Tower in place—the fulcrum of existence itself. But Sheemie does not want to destroy the underpinnings of reality. He is in the prison of Devar-Toi, and all he wants is his friends—his ka-tet to come for him. And one of them is coming for him even now. One of them known as the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain. And all the horrors of Thunderclap will not stand in his way! It’s a journey of searching and salvation you won’t soon forget.
MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVELS: GUIDES AND ALMANACS
THE DARK TOWER SKETCHBOOK
Original release date: December 13, 2006
Credits:
• Artists: Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
Two months before the launch of The Gunslinger Born, Marvel released this free sketchbook featuring character designs, penciled pages, commentary and a look at the painting process by which one of Jae Lee’s pencils became the final color art.
GUNSLINGER’S GUIDEBOOK
Original release date: August 8, 2007
Credits:
• Writer: Anthony Flamini
• Editor and Creative Consultant: Robin Furth
• Art: Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
• Series Scripter: Peter David
The Gunslinger’s Guidebook was released shortly after the final installment in The Gunslinger Born. It details the major characters, concepts and locations that have appeared in the series to date. For each character, the following information is listed: aliases, nicknames, occupation, affiliation, known relatives, education, history, physical description, special skills, equipment. Not all of the information is correct—Gabrielle Deschain is said to come from Debaria instead of Arten, for example—and other data, like the names of Aileen Ritter’s parents, seems fabricated. The book concludes with a one-page Mid-World glossary.
People: the Great Old Ones, Arthur Eld, gunslingers, Cuthbert Allgood, Cort, Jamie DeCurry, Gabrielle Deschain, Roland Deschain, Steven Deschain, Alain Johns, Aileen Ritter, Vannay, Thomas Whitman, Herk Avery, Eldred Jonas, Clay Reynolds, Roy Depape, Pat Delgado, Susan Delgado, Cordelia Delgado, Rhea of the Cöos, Kimba Rimer, Sheemie Ruiz, Coral Thorin, Hart Thorin, Olive Thorin, Walter o’Dim, John Farson, James Farson, George Latigo.
Places: Gilead, Hambry, Eyebolt Canyon, End-World.
Things: The Affiliation, Reaptide Festival, Horsemen’s Association, Big Coffin Hunters, Maerlyn’s Rainbow.
END-WORLD ALMANAC
Original release date: July 2, 2008
Credits:
• Writer: Anthony Flamini
• Editor and Creative Consultant: Robin Furth
• Art: David Yardin and Val Staples; Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
• Series Scripter: Peter David
The End-World Almanac was released shortly after the final installment of The Long Road Home. It begins with a map of End-World, the territory closest to the Dark Tower, which contains some of its most luxurious regions and some of its most horrific terrains. Information from The Wind Through the Keyhole placing the western (major) branch of the Whye River far west of any of the Callas wasn’t available to the cartographer.
The almanac contains detailed descriptions and illustrations of the Guardians of the Beam, the demon elementals, billy-bumblers, boom-flurries, the low men (aka the can toi), mutants, taheen, vampires, Wolves, the Calla region and Calla Bryn Sturgis, Lady Oriza, the Manni, Thunderclap, the Discordia Badlands, Fedic, North Central Positronics, the Dogans, the Devil’s Arse, Le Casse Roi Russe, the White Lands of Empathica and the Dark Tower.
Though much of the information is derived from the graphic novels or King’s books, some of it is fanciful—like the temperature observed in Empathica during certain moons.
GUIDE TO GILEAD
Original release date: April 8, 2009
Credits:
• Writer: Anthony Flamini
• Editor and Creative Consultant: Robin Furth
• Art: David Yardin and Val Staples; Jae Lee and Richard Isanove
• Series Scripter: Peter David
Guide to Gilead was released shortly after the final installment in Treachery. As with the other books of this type, some of the information is incorrect (the name of Gabrielle Deschain’s mother, for example) and much of it is fanciful, providing details of places that are mentioned only by name in King’s novels and the Marvel comics. The nature of not-men is negated by an incident from later in the Marvel comics.
People: Stephen Deschain, Robert Allgood, Christopher Johns, Charles Champignon, Chloe and S’Mana, Selena and Morphia, Queen o’ Green Days, Raf, Lord Perth, Hax, Grissom’s Blue-Faced Barbarians, Kuvian night-soldiers, not-men.
Places: Barony of New Canaan, Hemphill, Hendrickson, Kingstown, Taunton, Pennilton, Jericho Hill, Debaria, Gilead.
Things: Gan and Bessa, Buffalo Star, Lesser Demons of the Prim, Nis.
MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVELS: THE CONTRIBUTORS
INTRODUCTION
Like most comics, the Marvel graphic novels are collaborative efforts. Robin Furth writes stories that the pencil artists break down into pages and panels, converting the prose into visual images. Some pencil artists ink their own pages. In other cases, a dedicated inker performs this work. Most of the time, though, the pencil art is
passed directly on to Richard Isanove, who digitally colors the work. From Furth’s story and the illustrations, Peter David creates a script that includes the dialogue and narrative text that a letterer adds to the colored artwork.
ROBIN FURTH
As the writer for Marvel’s Dark Tower graphic novels, Robin Furth has been responsible for translating the story of Roland’s early years into scripts from which her collaborators produce the individual installments of the comic. Her comprehensive knowledge of the series has allowed her to expand obscure references from King’s text into characters and events. At times she has been forced to compress the story line, condensing most of Wizard and Glass down to seven comics, while at other times she has to create stories for times in Roland’s life where King’s books provide only a loose framework.
Furth is originally from Pennsylvania, but summered in Maine, less than an hour from King’s home in Bangor and only a couple of hours from the fictional town of ’Salem’s Lot. She moved to England to do a master’s degree in English Literature at the University of York, which is where she met her husband, British poet Mark Rutter. They both subsequently enrolled at the University of Maine in Orono, which was King’s alma mater. One of her advisers, Burt Hatlen, was one of King’s undergraduate advisers from thirty years earlier, and a close friend of his. When King was looking for a research assistant, Hatlen recommended her.
She continues to freelance for King, is director of the Discordia project for his Web site, and spent time in Hollywood as part of the pre-pre-production team for the Dark Tower films.
The following interview was conducted via e-mail in November 2011.
Q: How did you come to the Dark Tower books and then to the graphic novels?