The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home

The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home
Graphic Novel
Robin Furth, et al.

I had waited for about 3 months to read this, because I didn’t want to invest money and time into collecting the 5 issues when they originally came out. So, after having it on request through the library for long and long, I finally got to read it recently. I’m certainly glad I did not dump my money into it!

The art is beautiful, certainly. The colors are amazing. But in 5 issues of a comic book, at $4.00 each normally, only 2 major things happened. Sheemie got his powers from some robot (contradictory to canon) and Roland turned dark and brooding after spending time with the Crimson King in the extra dimensional grapefruit. Sure, there’s action and daring and a little characterization to Alain and Cuthbert, but since we already know they die at Jericho Hill, we know there’s no real threat. The last part of the last issue reveals more than the rest of the issues combined! The King says he’s Roland’s cousin of old, both descended from the line of Eld, and Roland hides the grapefruit from his father.

The map of End-World at the end of the volume is pretty cool. It shows the relationships of the sites in the last 3 novels – Calla Bryn Sturgis, Castle Discordia, Empathica, and the Can’ka No Ray, among others.
I was further disappointed, however, that this collection did not include the written extras from the individual issues; the historical tidbits and background pieces that added some value to the $4.00 installments.

I hope the next one is more fulfilling, d’ya ken it.