THE DARK TOWER: TREACHERY #1 DUAL REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com & Adam Chapman adam.chapman@sympatico.ca
Quick Rating: Very Good; Excellent
Rating: Parental Advisory

The young Gunslingers return to Gilead.

Creative Director: Stephen King
Plotting and Consultation: Robin Furth
Script: Peter David
Art: Jae Lee & Richard Isanove
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Cover Art: Jae Lee & Richard Isanove
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Adam: This issue begins the third Dark Tower mini-series from Marvel, picking up right where the last one left off. Once again, I feel a little lost, because at times I feel like things should mean more to me than they do, but it's simply because I haven't read the original novels. It's weird to feel like you're missing something, and knowing it, and wishing you were in on the joke, so to speak. But that being said, even if you're not a fan of the book series, you'll still enjoy this issue of this new mini-series. By now, Peter David has truly settled into his groove, he's perfected his narrative voice, he gets these characters much better than he did in the beginning, and you really get a sense that his plotting, scripting, etc, is just getting tighter and better put together. Which isn't to say that it wasn't already of high quality in the first place, just that with time, David has improved upon himself here, is more comfortable with the characters, the voices, and the world, and it makes his writing that much better and more enjoyable.

Blake: David, most certainly, has found a very strong voice, but I don’t really think that it’s a recent development. I’ve felt that he had a very good grasp of how to tell this story since The Gunslinger Born. The diction, the dialogue, the cadence of his scripting evokes an old storyteller relating firsthand the fall of Mid-World. Robin Furth also deserves an awful lot of credit here – the plot and story here comes largely from her. Sure, she’s using Stephen King’s building blocks, but a lot of what we’re getting here is woven from new cloth.

Adam: This issue delves into the fact that Roland is drawn to the grapefruit still, and longs to keep it in his possession, to protect it from others, and others from it. With his arrival back in town with his ka-tet, they are all now gunslingers, however Bert and Alain find it isn't what they thought it would be. I really like that this series has a wide array of characters to draw upon, and not just Roland. Granted, Roland is plenty interesting himself, but I really like how we're having more development of Bert and Alain, especially after the last mini-series, and glad that David's keeping them as primary characters within his expansive cast. There's a lot of names and such thrown about, at times it threatens to get away from me somewhat.

Blake: I think the long-time fans would have been pretty upset if they didn’t have much Cuthbert and Alain. Those two characters are favorites of the followers of Roland, but they got such relatively little “screen time” in the original novels that we flocked to these comic books with the hope of seeing more of these two. Furth and David have both delivered on that big-time, taking the characters and King introduced them and developing them into much richer, fuller creations in their own right.

Adam: The artwork here is fantastic, but then after the last two mini-series, I don't feel like that's a surprise to anyone. As good as Jae Lee is, the real credit here goes to Isanove, who proves month in and month out why he's one of the single finest colorists working in the business today. There are other really talented colorists that spring to mind, Sotomayor, Martin, D'Armata, all with distinctive and memorable coloring styles, but Isanove really takes his game to a whole new level each and every issue that he colors. There's such richness, such depth to his colors, they really bring a piece of art to life, imbued with such personality and character just with the colors. Brilliant work, and the cover is another example of how well he colors, the subtleties of his technique and methods.

Blake: I couldn’t agree more. I don’t think these books would be nearly as good as they are if it weren’t for Isanove’s talents. These books have a unique look, unlike anything else on the comic book stands, and that’s something they really needed to be successful.

Adam:I'm intrigued to see where Roland's story goes, as well as the story of Roland's dad and the other Gunslingers, what their fate was, and how it
will affect Roland and his friends, as well as the perception of Alain and Bert amongst the gunslingers-in-training. Plus next issue features a new female character, which looks like it'll be quite an interesting sight, to say the least. This series looks poised to be the best written Dark Tower series so far, and the best illustrated at that, and it's only getting better with each new issues and mini-series. Brilliant work.

Blake: I liked this first issue, although not quite as much as you did, Adam. The first issue of The Long Road Home was a bit stronger, but this is just issue one. I think there’s a solid foundation here, and I’m hoping for a stronger story as the series progresses.

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