The Dark Tower 8: The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull

dark tower volume 8 the gunslinger the battle of tull cover review stephen king
7.5 Overall Score
Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10

Finally gets moving on the adaptation of The Gunslinger

Slow paced

Comic Info

Comic Name: The Dark Tower:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Writer: Peter David/Robin Furth

Artist: Michael Lark

# of Issues: 5

Release Date:  2012

dark tower the gunslinger the battle of tull #2 cover broadcloak

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull #2

Reprints Dark Tower:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull #1-5 (August 2011-December 2011).  Roland Deschain continues to search for the Dark Tower and comes upon the town of Tull.  Roland learns that the Man in Black has passed through Tull and raised a man from the dead.  Now Roland must face Martin Broadcloak’s followers in the hopes he can find the Man in Black and the Dark Tower, but with a whole town gunning for him, Roland could be in for the battle of a lifetime.

Written by Peter David and Robin Furth, The Dark Tower Volume 8:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull continues Marvel’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.  Following The Dark Tower Volume 7:  The Gunslinger—The Little Sisters of Eluria, the book continues the adaptation of Stephen King’s first novel in the series The Dark Tower I:  The Gunslinger which was originally published in 1982.  The series features art by Michael Lark.

The Dark Tower is a strong series and a nice break when you are used to reading superhero comics.  While the series is sometimes plodding and takes too long, The Dark Tower 8:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull is a nice return to the Dark Tower traditional series.

dark tower the gunslinger the battle of tull #5 cover review stephen king

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull #5

The previous entry was a stand alone story that didn’t originally premiere in the seven volume series, but this returns to the original text.  The pacing for the series is unfortunately rather slow.  The comics feel rather art heavy and plot thin and five issues feel like they could be boiled down to one or two in traditional comic book writing.  With so many comics and stories to cover, I wish the series would speed up…because I know that it will never reach conclusion if it doesn’t (which is almost more frustrating than the pace.

Fortunately, The Dark Tower comic book series does feature strong art.  I always liked reading The Dark Tower series often just for the fantasy (sometimes bad) artwork that filled it.  Michael Lark as a result gets a lot of room for exploration in the volume.  Part of the shortness of the comics is because lots of supporting material like scripts and sample art.  Sometimes I’d just like more comic.

The Dark Tower 8:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull is a nice, short story that helps get the series back on track.  The Dark Tower I:  The Gunslinger is the shortest entry in King’s opus and the fact it is taking so long to tell the story is concerning (especially after the adaptation of Dark Tower IV:  Wizard and Glass went smoothly).  I want The Dark Tower to get moving quickly.  The Dark Tower 8:  The Gunslinger—The Battle of Tull is followed by The Dark Tower 9:  The Gunslinger—The Way Station (which introduces the important Jake character to the story).

Preceded By:

The Dark Tower Volume 7:  The Gunslinger—The Little Sisters of Eluria

Followed By:

The Dark Tower Volume 9:  The Gunslinger—The Way Station

Related Links:

The Dark Tower I:  The Gunslinger

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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