Comic Book Journal

No, not that king (B.B. King) or even that king (Elvis). Or even that king (Jack Kirby).

Stephen King.

Marvel has ushered in a new collaboration with the one-of-a-kind author with the launch of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Reborn.

The Dark Tower prequel brings a super-team-up worthy of as much hype you can pack into the pages of a comic book - writer of stuff Peter David, Jae Lee of Inhumans and Origins colorist Richard Isanove.

The collaboration is further heightened by the arrival of Robin Furth, King’s personal research assistant and author of The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance, who weaves together the mythology of the early days of Mid-World in a series of short stories at the end of each issue.

So with a team this good, there is, paradoxically, just one element missing - Stephen King. Yes, he is part of the team - he approves each issue and works with the writers, but problematically, I really don’t see him in any of the issues. I see everyone else.

And I know Stephen King is probably one busy guy, but I still think King contributing more to the writing of the issue would boost the project’s potency.

Peter David writes perfect dialogue for this anyway - he completely emerges himself in the customs and languages of Mid-World while maintaining his wry, witty tone. This works great for the characters, but I’d rather see King himself writing the expostion. Just a page or two of Stephen King’s lyrical prose would make this world leap of the page.

But once again, I find myself answering my own criticism. I was reading an interview with Brad Meltzer the other day, where Meltzer said comic book writers, as opposed to prose writers, “have to learn to shut up.” In other words, you can build an image over the course of one page, or oven twenty, but happens on a comic panel usually stays in a panel - you have to make the words fit the sequence of art.

So maybe it’s better that Peter David, a seasoned comic writer, handle the exposition after all. But eventually, I won’t mind seeing Stephen King taking a crack at it.

But its good to have King writing shotgun regardless, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him at the wheel one of these days.