About Heroes

The Gunslinger Born Review
Creative & Executive Director: Stephen King
Plot: Peter Furth
Script: Peter David
Art: Jae Lee & Richard Isanove

Is there anyone left who hasn’t read this? There is? Oh, just checking before I started my review. I figured that everyone under the (desert) sun would have picked this book up, in the very least flipped through it at the comic book store. So I think it was three years ago that Marvel announced that Stephen King was going to be coming over to comics. I think they tried to boost the hype by first just eluding to the idea, but fanboys are not easily tricked these days.

Then the waiting started. Then it was announced that King himself would not be writing the book. Then it was announced that Peter David would be writing the books. You feeling the ups and downs of the roller coaster ride as I have? This is all how I remember it, mind you, I can’t be sure on the facts, and I just call them as I see them. So then word came around about Jae Lee coming on the book.

The waiting game finally concluded this week and comic book fans met with Stephen King fans at the local comic book store. Some stores even had a midnight release, which actually does sound cool, not exactly an exciting thirty minutes after midnight of course, rather dead silence, save the sound of flipping. Maybe if I were still in the States I would have cared more, or maybe if Marvel and the Industry as a whole were putting out consistently better things, than maybe I would have been more excited when this book finally did come around, but alas I have finally read it.

I am here to say that I found the book quite enjoyable on many levels. The first has to be the translation from novel to comic, done before, worked and didn’t work, depending on the content. I also have to remain skeptical about whether or not King really put forth his directors rights. He had creative and executive control but two other guys handled the translation, the plotting, and the script, so what was he there for? Oh yeah the cool shadowy yet still enormously eye catching name, right.

So how the hell did Peter David do? I’ve read only The Gunslinger from the Dark Tower series, and it was about three years ago, but from what I remember this seems to fit in perfectly. It brought back all the things I liked about the book (I stopped after Gunslinger because I just did, no reason). The narration was annoying at first but catchy as it went along and eventually became quite natural by the end, I felt like I knew the narrator personally. Roland’s character does exactly what this issue is for, flourish. He comes into his own and I found it completely believable and understandable. The supporting cast seemed distant at first but by the end I had a sense of them as well.

The art is pretty insane. I’m a huge fan of Jae Lee; I love the moody, brooding, dark aspects that creep throughout all of his work. The areas of his pictures that appear in black seem to stand out more than they regress. I am commenting of course on past Jae Lee work, I haven’t gotten to his work in this yet. Sometimes it can be a little too creepy, almost forced uneasiness and it leaves me feeling confused and numb to his artwork. I choose his work on Ultimate FF for an example. It simply didn’t fit as well as I had hoped. What about The Gunslinger Born? Now that was something to open up, set down, step back, and just enjoy. Credit must be given to Isanove too for his contribution because I was honestly blown away by the work. I don’t know about you but those first few pages that popped up every time there was an update about the mini-series, just about killed it for me. But when the world of the Gunslinger is shown and just the way Lee plays with the lighting of the desert sun and shadows it casts, mixed with the luscious palate for the coloring, I felt like the art alone could tell me this story.

I may not have been beating on the door of the comic shop to get my hands on this first issue, but man I can’t wait to read the second A+!