MattBrady

It was a very quiet announcement as far as announcements go, and, given the magnitude the first Dark Tower miniseries was announced with, the announcement of the second was positively subdued.

On the last page of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #7 was a notice that the creative team, consisting of Robin Furth, Peter David, Jae Lee and Richard Isanove would be reuniting for the second miniseries, The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home. The next miniseries in what looks to be a series of miniseries, the announcement said, would begin in February of 2008.

At the Diamond Retailer Summit in Baltimore, Marvel showed advance art from the upcoming mini. We spoke with Furth and David about the forthcoming project.

Newsarama: Robin, the final page of Gunslinger Born pretty much cleared up any ambiguity about a sequel. That said, can you remind us of the larger set up of the story as King initially saw it from that first meeting with Marvel, way back, and how what's coming out as The Long Road Home fits into that? Is what's coming in this miniseries a chunk of the larger plot that he came up with at that meeting?

Robin Furth: During that first meeting Steve really laid the groundwork for the series. He wanted the story to begin with Roland’s coming of age test, then move on to his adventures in Hambry which are recounted in Wizard and Glass. After that Roland and his friends return to Gilead, and once they return home things really start to fall apart for the Gunslingers. I don’t want to say too much, except that our tet is going to encounter a lot of death and destruction. The Good Man’s forces regroup after their defeat in Hambry, and they rise triumphant—eventually sacking Gilead. Roland and his friends survive, but . . . well I’ve probably let too many cats out of the bag already! At the end of the series we’ll witness the infamous battle of Jericho Hill, which is the Gunslingers’ last stand. Steve went into a lot of detail about that final battle! What Steve envisioned in that original meeting was a series of thirty comics divided into five individual story arcs which function as individual tales. The Long Road Home is part two of five. Because it covers a smaller time period than Gunslinger Born, it will consist of five comics whereas Gunslinger Born consisted of seven.

The Long Road Home is exactly what the title implies. It covers our tet’s difficult journey back to Gilead and is a part of the larger story that Steve envisioned, both in the novels and during that meeting. As Dark Tower fans know, over the course of the five novels Roland tells us a lot about his early adventures. The Long Road Home expands on many of those tales.

NRAMA: Peter, you'd said previously that you'd be willing to continue on with these if Marvel asked. So - from the ad in the last issue of Gunslinger Born, they asked? Did it take you very long to say, "yes?"

Peter David: Not at all. The opportunity to work with such talented individuals as Robin and Jae and Richard is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So being given a twice in a lifetime opportunity...I couldn't wait to get started.

NRAMA: Robin, can you go into the continuity and the “when” you’re going to be exploring?

RF: The Long Road Home begins where Gunslinger Born left off, namely with Susan Delgado’s terrible death and Roland’s horror as he sees that death reflected in the evil seeing sphere known as Maerlyn’s Grapefruit. In the Gunslinger Born, Cuthbert and Alain’s devotion to Roland was tested, but in The Long Road Home it’s tested again. Their leader is gone—his mind and soul have been swallowed by the Grapefruit—so they are thrown back upon themselves. As we learn at the end of the final comic book . . . “and the thing that will ride west with Alain and Bert toward Gilead will not be Roland, or even a ghost of Roland. Like the moon at the close of its cycle, Roland is gone.” Well, in The Long Road Home, we’ll find out just where Roland went, and how horrible that place was! We’ll also discover how Cuthbert and Alain managed to get Roland’s body home, and how Sheemie managed to follow them.

PAD: Right - we're now into the realm of exploring events that were only hinted at in the books. We're filling in the gaps, as it were. And there is no one better equipped to be charting this endeavor than Robin. Aside from King himself, she's the foremost expert on Midworld. If I were told to do this on my own, I'd probably be curling up in a ball somewhere.

NRAMA: So is what we're going to be seeing in Long Road Home an all original tale in that Dark Tower fans won't have read it before?

RF: Yes, it’s going to be an original tale, but it will be a familiar world for long term fans. As all Dark Tower readers know, over the course of the five Dark Tower novels Roland tells us about many of his boyhood adventures. Sometimes these adventures are told in full; sometimes we only get tantalizing hints. The Long Road Home expands upon many of those stories as well as explaining some of the mysteries of the series, such as how Sheemie’s psychic powers became so powerful. I really hope fans enjoy discovering these things as much as I did.

NRAMA: That said, you certainly proved your mettle in the back up stories in Gunslinger Born, but what's it like to be co-crafting these stories with King? As I mentioned at the panel in Charlotte, what you and Peter were doing was pretty rarefied air in sharing the storytelling with him, but this - this is like super-rarefied air...or something...

RF: Thanks so much for your kind words about the stories. I’ve loved writing them but as you can imagine the writing is a little scary at times since I’m trying to remain true to so many things—the Dark Tower universe, Roland’s mythic history and ancestry, the saga of Arthur Eld as glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels, and most of all the vision of Steve King. As I said during the panel, I try to run my story ideas past Steve just to make sure I’m hitting the mark. I think the longest back-and-forth we had over email was about the origins of the Wizard’s Rainbow. That was a lot of fun, and quite a bit of info about the relationship between Maerlyn and Walter came to light, but I’ll save that for a later story! Steve has been incredibly supportive of these tales. (He sent me an email telling me that I’ve developed into an excellent tale-spinner, which I think I’m going to have cast in gold so that I can put it above my writing desk forever!) That being said, I’m about to send him another batch of tales for The Long Road Home, so I hope he likes those too!

NRAMA: What's the working process like on this story, given that it's not coming from a previously established novel? Is Steve more actively involved in the plotting with this one, or did he deliver a outline that you and Peter are working from, and the workflow is similar to before?

RF: In many ways it’s similar to before in that the plot is based on Steve’s ideas and Steve’s plan. However, instead of drawing the details from a single novel as in Gunslinger Born, to plot The Long Road Home I had to dip into multiple sources. I had my notes from that initial meeting with Steve and I had the novels where—in more places than you might imagine—Roland tells us about his return trip from Hambry to Gilead. My Dark Tower Concordance gives descriptions and page refs for all of Roland’s early adventures, so it was pretty easy to go to the exact scenes that we needed to transform into comic book adventures. In the end though, everything goes through Steve - he’s both Creative Editor and Executive Editor. I’ve just sent him a section of The Long Road Home to look over (it’s in the process of additional changes), so we’ll see what alterations he makes! As I said, he’s been really supportive of this project and likes the fact that we’re all so enthusiastic.

NRAMA: Back when you started this and we spoke, you tried, and said you’d had some success, at covering up your nervousness. Seven issues later, and a new miniseries on the horizon, have those nerves quieted? Has the working relationships with Peter and Jae changed in the interim time?

RF: I think the nervousness has quieted down some, especially because everybody has been so enthusiastic about the project and so supportive of what we’ve done. Steve has been great, Peter, Jae, and Richard have been great, and the editors—Ralph Macchio, John Barber and Nicole Boose—have been absolutely fantastic. I think the biggest change is that Peter, Jae, and I have been working together long enough now that we’re not afraid to really hash things out when changes are needed. I think that’s great, because the final product will be a lot stronger for the group work.

NRAMA: Story-wise, and yes, we’re looking for more teases, there’s still some elements of Wizard and Glass to get through, right? A very tragic return to his mother, for one…

RF: Ah! That’s the hard part isn’t it? Telling enough but not too much . . .

There’s definitely some Wizard and Glass to get to, namely the period of time when Roland’s mind is trapped in the Grapefruit. As Steve King mentioned in one of his emails, a lot happens while Roland is in that Grapefruit—a lot of things he doesn’t consciously remember in the Dark Tower books . . . like perhaps meeting the Crimson King himself? (HA!) Readers will also see how well Cuthbert and Alain cope when their leader Roland is out of commission, and they have to take care of him while out-riding their enemies. There are going to be mutants and collapsing bridges and debilitating poisons . . . We’re also going to get to see some of Mid-World’s other Dogans—places where magic and technology can be merged by the evil followers of the Outer Dark. So, much is to come, and I don’t want to ruin it for you!

NRAMA: Finally then, how far are we away from the Battle at Jericho Hill, time-wise for Roland? In terms of the miniseries, is that what all of them are building to?

RF: Yep, we’re building up to that battle. We’ll be forced to witness the carnage of it in the final volume, which will be volume 5, or the last six issues of a thirty issue run. The Long Road Home is five issues long—issues 8 to 12. By the end of issue 12 the boys make it to the gates of Gilead, but Gilead itself is far from safe. John Farson and Walter O’Dim are hatching some wicked plans…

NRAMA: King went back and re-worked the first novel, he did so with an eye on making the entire work more cohesive and whole. Will he, or you, be doing any of that with The Long Road Home, that is, tightening the larger storyline, adding in references to things that were seen in the novels, either before or after Wizard and Glass, or foreshadowing specifics of what is to come?

RF: Most definitely. While working on these plots I’ve really tried to keep the bigger picture in mind. Long time readers of the Dark Tower novels will recognize references to the final books of the series every bit as much as they see the stories taken from the early books. That’s been one of the great pleasures of working on these comics. Luckily we always have Steve to back us up, otherwise it would be scary. But this way, it’s like skydiving with a parachute you know works. You throw yourself out into the blue and know that you’ll land safely, but wow—what a trip!

NRAMA: Finally Robin - you and Peter are one miniseries into this, and have started on the second. Safe to say that the Tower and Roland have a hold on you as much as you do on it?

RF: Most definitely! I’ve been dreaming about that Tower for years now. One of these days I’m going to draw me a doorway and follow Roland. Won’t he be surprised!

cernunnos

This will be added to my pull list. I can't wait!

neftones

Seven novels Robin. Seven.

I can't wait for this. Shame that it's only five issues, but at least it's (mostly) original.

NedPepper

Holy crap! They really are going to go into uncharted territory.

All right, breathe....

LaughingJak

I've been wracking my brain about that one, does she consider Wolves, Song, and the Tower one book since there were no 'endings?'

paptschik

I'm unsure about getting it or waiting for a HC...on the one hand, Dark Tower would be nice as HC and all, on the other hand, I got the single issues for Gunlinger Born....
Guess I'll live with having Gunslinger Born a single issues and the rest as HC....

neftones

I'm hoping she was thinking of five volumes for the comics, and just got mixed up during the interview.

Somebody

I think it's simply that these (from now on) aren't direct adaptations of the novels, and there's going to be five "graphic novels" when all's said and done, most of the material of which will be Companions rather than comicised equivalents.

neftones

She was talking about the original novels though.

MR2525

I've been very dissappointed with The Dark Tower book. Jae Lee is the only thing keeping me from not finishing it.

B|ackPanther

This sounds great, can't wait to read it.

Equinox

Trade.

As much as I loved picking everything up as it came out, I'm going to go trade from here on out. The wealth of extras will make it worth it I feel.

DrunkJack

Could be she meant "...the [first] five novels...", as I don't remember many flashbacks or stories of Roland's earlier adventures told in the last two, they were pretty much all 'realtime'.

pop monkey

Not to be a Negative Nellie, but I was a bit disappointed in the way the 1st miniseries glossed over or outright omitted too many important elements to the story, being an adaptation of a large chunk of the 4th novel. Most of the characters were barely introduced, and you really didn't get enough of a feel for them to get the full impact of their part in the story. The conflict between Susan and her Aunt was barely mentioned, if at all, and the strain and difficulty Susan's situation caused her wasn't nearly as weighty as it was in the book. Heck, Susan's Aunt Cordelia wasn't even shown until the last issue, and her character arc (going from quietly bitter spinster to completely losing any shred of sanity she had and dying in the throes of her madness after bringing about the horrific end of her neice) was omitted altogether. When we are introduced to Jonas in the comic, he and his gang have already been deputized for some vague reason, and his secret shame at being a failed, outcast gunslinger (which he kept from everyone in the novel) seemed to be a rather well known fact, so we lost that great moment when Roland confronts him with that secret.

Susan's end, too, is sudden and seemed shoehorned in at the last minute. We were deprived of the disturbing buildup of anxiety present in the book, especially the dashed moment of hope when it seemed Susan might escape with her life after all, only to run right into Jonas and his men on their escape route. We missed her being tied up and paraded through the town, cursed and spit upon by the very neighbors who so recently greeted her pleasantly on the street as she passed, to be set aflame due to the scheming of her Aunt and Rhea.

As for Rhea, I did not get a sense of her becoming as obsessed with the grapefruit as King made evident in the novel, and several potentially creepy moments were lost because of it. Rhea's physical appearance didn't seem to change much in the comic, whereas in the novel, she clearly deteriorated from haggard crone to decaying, putrid, skeletal ghoul whose hair had begun falling out in clumps and who couldn't even be bothered to break off her gazings to use the outhouse or feed herself (or her cat). Her motivations for turning on Susan and Roland with such murderous, revengeful intent was also lost in the comic. We were deprived of the scene where Roland visits Rhea and demands she leave Susan alone, hammering the point home by shooting her snake to bits when it is sicced on him. Rhea's snake, Ermot, is her dear friend (a bit TOO dear, if you've read the book), and her fury at seeing her friend shot to pieces by this intruding boy who also dared interrupt her previous hypnotic implant, ruining her plans for Susan is what drove her to seek such ugly revenge.

Before someone responds with the predictable comments on how some things must be lost in the translation, so to speak, of such a lengthy work as King's novel -- I do realize the difficulties of adapting such a work. I know things must be omitted and reshuffled a bit, and I don't mind that, as long as crucial scenes, plot points and character arcs/motivations are not lost in the process. While this was a beautiful work of comic art, and a fine story, it was not, I feel, as successful an adaptation as it could have been, or should have been. There was much information that was conveyed via captions, circumventing the "show, don't tell" rule.

I guess if Mr. King himself, who had final creative control over the project, is satisfied with the end result, who am I to cry foul? I had just finished rereading WIZARD AND GLASS before reading the entire comic series, though, and this made the omissions and dissimilarities even more glaringly apparent. I got frustrated, too, when I saw so much space wasted on unnecessary splash pages, or double page spreads. Sure, they were beautiful to look at, but at the expense of so much of the story, I'd rather see that stuff trimmed back a bit.

In the end, however, I guess all the important information was conveyed -- because this is, after all, a glimpse into past events that shaped the hero of the DARK TOWER saga. I was just hoping for a more thorough adaptation. The more important stuff is yet to come when they eventually (I hope) get around to adapting the rest of the books in the series. I am a bit worried, though, about the prospect of future non-Dark Tower adaptations, like the hinted-at adaptation of THE STAND. That's a massive story with many many characters and scenes, and I'm sure it will have to be trimmed dramatically, but I also hope that the creators involved will not be afraid to give the story the space it needs to be told. I can't imagine THE STAND being told in anything less than 18 issues, and I imagine it will actually need closer to 36. If it's announced as an 8-issue series, I will be very skeptical and disappointed.

Troy Brownfield

I believe that's almost certainly what she means. When she refers to the material being drawn from the "five novels", I think it indicates the five novels in which there was flashback material.

brucewayne1

Good points Pop Monkey!

However you must realize that some things might get lost in the translation, so to speak, of such a lengthy work as King's novel -- you should also realize the difficulties of adapting such a work. Things must be omitted and reshuffled a bit.

hah. Just kidding.

Simon DelMonte

Jae Lee is actually the person I hold more responsible for the failure of the first miniseries. His pretty but static artwork, and his odd choices for how to draw many of the characters, both dragged things down a lot. PAD's script had to work triple time to tell the story while Lee essentially had characters posing. and his version of Susan was far too much the damsel in distress to make her at all familiar, or likeable.

As much as i love PAD's work, I don't see the next story being any better in terms of art or in terms of Furth's input. Quite honestly, I think that King should be doing a lot more here himself instead of farming it out.