I have just put down the first issue of The Gunslinger Born and I was just blown away by it. The first thing that hits you is how good the illustrations are! In fact, they are more then just good, they are fantastic. Jae Lee and Richard Isanove has done a marvelous job with them. It’s just as good as I was hoping for…if not better. The drawing and the coloring is superb! My favorite character is Cort. He is so powerfully drawn that he almost jumps right out of the pages and grab you by the throat.

I’m also very pleased with Peter David’s scripting. I feel that he has really captured the spirit of King’s saga in the comic. It’s the same language as in the books and it fits the images very well.

The first issue gives us some background. It’s adapted from the King’s book and shows how Roland becomes a gunslinger. The comic is very true to the book and it really doesn’t give you any ideas on how the team (Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee and Richard Isanove) will do when it comes time to make stories that isn’t a direct adaptation from King’s books. If they do it as well as when they adapted this there won’t be a problem though and we will all be very happy. I personally have faith in them and think they will pull it of…but that still remains to be seen.

The only thing that throws me of a bit is the section called The Sacred Geography of Mid-World. I thought those parts would be more like reading from a history book. Now they are told like a story in the story and I’m not sure that is the best way to do it. I feel that there might be to much story and to little fact about the issue at hand when it’s done that way.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy it. It’s very well written (by Robin Furth) and it explains what it’s supposed to explain... It’s just that I always saw it as pieces from a history book. I think however, that I’ll get used to this way of doing it once I get to read more of it. It’s just not the way I imagined it would be…which doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not good I assure you. I’ll get back on this subject in my review of issue #2…

After I finished issue #1 I really wanted more and felt it was way to short, the same I felt after finishing each of King’s seven books, and I think that might be a problem when it comes to non King fans who read this first issue. Lets face it, The Dark Tower is a story that it takes some time getting into and if you don’t know King’s books I’m not sure this first issue is going to do it for you. I hope it will but I’m not sure…


Besides the 31 pages that the comic itself takes up this first issue also includes a one page letter form the series editor Ralph Macchio, a map over Barony of New Canaan, six pages of The Sacred Geography of Mid-World and four pages of previews for issue 2.

In the preview for next issue it’s hinted that we’ll get to see more of the Big Coffin Hunters and that’s something I personally look forward to a lot, that and getting the chance to meet Susan…Roland’s true love.

As I said in the beginning of this review. I was totally blown away by this first issue. Yes, it is that good! So, if you’re one of those waiting for the collection with all seven issues, you have a lot more patience then I do I can tell you that. I’m going to be like a hawk over each issue of this series and not wasting any time reading them. That, is a promise!