Customer Reviews

Dark Tower: Treachery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Roland Deschain has suffered a lot and lost a lot in the last two arcs of the "Dark Tower" graphic novels-- and unfortunately he doesn't have an easier time when he finally gets home.

Picking up after the end of the prior arc, Stephen King's "Dark Tower: Treachery" brings our hero and his embattled ka-tet back to Gilead and more trouble waiting for them. Between Jae Lee's gorgeously gritty, colourful artwork and King's almost Shakespearean tragedies, it's a moving piece of work that shows how Roland Deschain became the gunslinger anti-hero we know and love.

Alain and Bert are made official gunslingers, but are troubled by Roland's continuing obsession with the Grapefruit and the horrors it contains -- visions of the Crimson King, of a blood-coloured wasteland, and of his murdered father. In the meantime, their fathers set out to destroy Farson's gang, nearly costing one of the gunslingers his life; Cort's teenage niece embraces the life and practices of a gunslinger, even though she isn't allowed to technically become one.

Worst of all, Roland's disgraced mother Gabrielle (sent to repent in a nunnery) is seduced back into doing Marten's bidding, so he can destroy the "mighty beast that is the gunslingers." And after Roland almost shoots his best friends, he tries to do the right thing by handing the Grapefruit to his father -- but he already knows too much of the horrific danger approaching Gilead.

Most of "Dark Tower: Treachery" is the calm before the storm -- the forces of evil are approaching Gilead but most of the people there don't know yet. So while this is a slower-moving affair than "The Gunslinger Born" and "The Long Road Home," all the piece of an epic clash are clicking into place. And you can tell that this is not going to end well for the people around our tortured young hero.

As rewritten by Peter David, King's rich, old-time narrative translates well into comic form, almost as if he were conversing with the readers ("Now there are some who simply equate riddles with jokes..."). And his simple dialogue has a powerful sound, mingling Old West and medieval styles ("I have the rest of eternity to feel no pain. I'll endure what I must until then").

And since this is a King story, there are moments of sheer horror: the killing of Charles and his poor little baby, and Steven's ka-tet stopping a fatal wound with gunpowder. The inside of the Grapefruit is relatively tame, but the close-ups of the Crimson King are pretty nightmarish.

Jae Lee weaves a colourful, hazy painting around the entire story as well, with plenty of striking artwork (a naked, emaciated Roland hugging the glowing Grapefruit). He splits much of the narrative between where the good guys are (the dusty, rather run-down citadel of Gilead) and the bad guys' domain (blood-red skies, twisted trees, all-engulfing mist and the suitably reddish domain of the King). It's lovely work.

Roland really gets put through the grinder here -- not only is he haunted by his torture inside the Grapefruit and the loss of Susan Delgado, but he basically becomes a Grapefruit junkie. Alain and Bert get to shine as newly-minted gunslingers and steadfast friends, and Aileen adds a strong female presence to the cast. They need it, since the only other surviving woman is Gabrielle -- and it's hard to see how a strong guy like Roland could have such a pitifully weak mother.

"Dark Tower: Treachery" is the windup for a devastating blow, and its lack of a central plot is its only weakness. Glorious art, a scarred teenage hero and plenty of eerie bad guys make this a great adaptation.

To those not in the know, Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series began with one of the first stories he ever wrote, The Gunslinger, which would eventually be published in 1982 as a standalone tale in a post-apocalyptic world of a man in black who fled across the desert and the gunslinger who followed. But King had plans. Big plans. 33 years later, his magnum opus was completed with the release of the seventh and final book in the most epic undertaking of his extremely prolific career. His original notion was a The Lord of the Rings-inspired tale that would weave together genres of fiction and conglomerate them all into a single existing multiverse. I said "epic undertaking" already, right? Horror, science fiction, fantasy, and especially westerns served as jumping off points for the series' premise which then grew to include metafiction and eventually every possible work of fiction all existing simultaneously with our own world. You'd think the conclusion of the story would have been enough. But King is not only in the process of revising and rewriting the entire series to fix glaring errors that resulted from the long delays between books, but he has also teamed up with Marvel Comics to fill in the massive gaps in the origin of the series' protagonist, Roland Deschain, in style. The first arc in this prequel series, The Gunslinger Born, was little more then an abridged retelling of the tale told by Roland that takes up most of the fourth novel, Wizard and Glass, which set up the chain of events that would lead to the Fall of Gilead. It was excellent. The Long Road Home followed it up with a story that felt a bit uneventful and forced, but was visually as impressive as the first arc. Plus, there were mutant wolves. Awesome mutant wolves. With "Treachery" the event are now in full swing and writers Robin Furth and Peter David have really hit their groove and are back to doing the original series justice.

"Treachery" picks up with the young Roland and his band of friends (ka-tet) returning from an ill-fated mission that changed them all forever and set in motion the wheels that would eventually leave only a cold and broken-hearted Roland standing. With Roland being a mess and in the thrall of evil forces, much of the story revolves around the side characters which turns out to be a very good thing. Alain and Cuthbert receive their guns as payment for thier service, which causes a rift between them and their jealous compadres who have to face exile to earn that honor. Meanwhile the mentor of all of Gilead's gunslingers has a problem with a strong-willed niece who feels she is every bit the fighter as the men and dreams of being a gunslinger herself which is forbidden to women. Marten the sorceror, who is the ultimate Stephen King villain and has been in many books under many names (most famously Randall Flagg) concludes his complete seduction of Roland's mother, who is tapped while doing penance for her sins to commit the ultimate betrayal. Meanwhile, Roland's father, the leader of Gilead, and his company run into some serious trouble of their own. This is the most brutal entry into the series yet and features some seriously horrific imagery. Ever seen an unborn full-term child ripped from the mother's belly in a comic book? Damn. They are not messing around. This is definitely the strongest Dark Tower graphic novel to come out yet and is worth wading through the rehash of the first arc and the relative mediocrity of the second. Fans of sex and violence will be well-served and there is plenty for fantasy fanatics as well. With this set-up, the series conclusion "The Fall of Gilead" should be epic.

If you are unfamiliar with the Dark Tower series, you probably are not a legit Stephen King fan and I honestly can't tell you how much you'll get out of this comic series. The imagery is astounding at times and the story starts at the very beginning so I imagine so long as you begin with "The Gunslinger Born" you'll be fine, but there's no substitute for the original novels as far as groundwork for this comic goes. Mid World has it's own dialects, terminology, and culture that will make fans of the novels feel right at home, but the writers here were fairly accommodating in utilizing it in a way that is easy to catch onto so newcomers need not feel too intimidated. The big complaint with these collections is that they throw out the additional content found in the original comic issues. The stories and appendices are wonderful and do so much to flesh out the lore, culture, and history of Mid Land that I simply cannot believe that Marvel would leave these vital pieces of this series out. No way is any of these collection getting a perfect score like that. If you have not read the Dark Tower books, you really should. It's a remarkable series that sadly falters in the end, but is still an absolute necessity for King fans if for no other reason then it's sheer scope and ambition. Understanding those novels will certainly aid in your appreciation of this comic book series, but if you are like me and can't get a moment's peace to get into a full novel these days then give this series a try if your up for something different and cool that redefines classic western iconography and combines it with science fiction and fantasy.
4 1/2 stars, rounded down for skimping content.


"I do not aim with my hand.
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my Eye.

I do not shoot with my hand.
He who shoots with his handhas forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my Mind.

I do not kill with my gun.
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my Heart"
-Gunslinger's Creed

The images are great, Mid World is very well presented. The only problem is that the story advances very slooooooooowly. I mean in 7 issues Roland and his ka tet are very introduced.

I expected more (this is the 3rd series in the comic after all). I think the guys at Marvel Comics are milking this story for all it's worth.

I picked up on the gunslinger series long ago when I was still in the military. The concept of the earth moving on and reverting to the old west intermixed tapped into my younger days watching westerns (which are no longer in vogue) and mysticism. I finished the last novel when it was released and felt a lot had been left out. Since then, I took a job in Iraq and was surprised to see that King decided to create a graphic novel that give more information about Roland's early years.

This is the third series I purchased. The first I purchased as individual comics and appreciated the sidebar information they provided in each issue. I purchased The Long Road Home and Treachery as combined novels. They didn't give the side bar, but the content is first rate. King has a way of building you up with anticipation for the next page then shattering all faith you have left in humanity.

I went home on vacation this past May knowing my son was just finishing up the first novel in the Gunslinger series and I told him I would bring my graphic novels so he could get a better understanding of the novel. Treachery arrived just prior to me leaving and I decided to read it once I got home.

If you are like me, since I had been away for so long there was a honey do list as long as my arm and so many people to see that I didn't get a chance to start reading until my last couple days home. This volume is very intense and provided more action and suspense than The Long Road Home. It also introduces Cort's niece who has fire and bravado. It gives quite a bit more information about Roland's mother and her tragic failings. I had to take the book with me to finish once I returned to Iraq.

When I called back to announce that I had arrived, imagine my shock when my wife was interrupted by my son asking what happened to the last book. He had read all the previous graphic novels and was dying to read how the third volume turned out. I ended up having to purchase him a copy and send it to him. I called him a few days later and we talked about the story for nearly an hour.

If that doesn't tell you how compelling these novels are, I don't have the capacity to explain it better. I am patiently waiting for the next volume The Fall of Gilead to be complete so I can find out what happens next. I now understand the crazed woman in Misery who went to such ends to force the writer to keep it going. Good luck dealing with your addiction should you start this journey.

Treachery is the third volume of comics based on Stephen King's Dark Tower series and the second to be an entirely new narrative. This volume, made up of six comics, is imperfect like the previous two, but Treachery may be the strongest volume yet. With Robin Furth and Peter David handling plotting and scripting, respectively they are beginning to really grasp the tone of King's writing and the landscape that he created, staying true as possible to the source material while creating something that is very much their own.

Cuthbert and Alain, the two members of Roland's ka-tet, are officially named gunslingers upon returning home to Gilead. Rather than celebrate, they worry about Roland, who withers away in his room, transfixed by Maerlyn's Grapefruit, the evil orb that exposes him to horrifying visions. While Roland carelessly tempts danger, his father Steven Deschain and his followers are tracking down Farson's gang. Roland's estranged mother meanwhile is in Debaria, atoning for her sins, but is once again seduced into the clutches of evil by the sinister Marten Broadcloak. Then there's Aileen Ritter, Cort's niece, a young girl who has both the drive and ability to become a gunslinger but is unable to fulfill that ambition on account of her gender.

This volume has less of a plot than the previous two, with Treachery functioning mostly as buildup yet I found this one to be more well-written than the previous two. Yes, the first volume is taken directly from Wizard and Glass, the fourth book in King's series, but I enjoyed the novel much more. While it must be noted that Furth and David are working with what many King fans consider a sacred text and are doing a splendid job with it, the real magic of these comics come from Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, the illustrators who bring these characters to life with a unique vision and stunning clarity. Without belittling the effect of the writing here, the artwork has been much stronger than the story thus far. It really gives it a movie-like feel and not only provides images to go along with the words, but captures a tone, mood, and landscape that is essential to experiencing the full breadth of The Dark Tower series. It's a daunting task applying images to words that many have already applied their own images to. In doing this, they've been setting themselves up and preparing for failure, but Lee and Isanove have had not a misstep. I have been stunned, pleased, and drawn-in by their efforts in bringing mid-world to life. Some of the images too are like their own works of art and have a haunting power; the panel featuring the fate of Charles and his unborn child is the stuff of nightmares.

As I said earlier, Treachery is imperfect but is the strongest volume yet. Sure, it's a build-up for what's to come but it has some of the most exciting passages of the first three...And that ending. It's marvelous and far and beyond the strongest writing Furth and David have yet produced. Although this is mostly owed to King's prowess as a novelist, this volume and the Dark Tower series as a whole is a masterful blending of genres; fantasy, western, and horror being the most prominent here. And, that ending, that incredible, surprising, and well-written ending that is shockingly powerful and left me salivating for more. There is a lot of potential in these comic adaptations certainly, but, it must be said again, that they exist only for the Dark Tower fans. Since they function as prequels to King's books, they could, technically, be read before to give you a feel for the story...But The Gunslinger Born would completely ruin Wizard and Glass, which many find to be one of the best in the series, for you. The comics' reliance on the source material will likely be the main cause of complaint about the series as a whole, but I applaud the work that has gone into them. These could have been cash-ins on The Dark Tower brand, instead there's a real sense of cohesiveness to it and it feels like there's some true creative work going into the creation of all of it. Neither The Gunslinger Born, The Long Road Home, nor Treachery are perfect but they seem to be getting better with each volume and have me on the edge of my seat to see what's next. They are essential companion pieces for the Dark Tower fan.

GRADE: A-

This book is the third in a series of graphic novels based on Stephen King's Dark Tower series. In this book, Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have recently returned to Gilead after the disaster in Hambry where Roland saw his love Susan Delgado burned alive. Roland does more than brood in his room; he is in thrall to the Maerlyn's Grapefruit, an evil object that shows Roland troubling visions of evil that have snatches of truth swathed in a cloak of lies.

Much of this book involves Alain, Bert and Aileen. All three characters face derision or scorn for reasons undeserved. Alain and Bert's peers suggest that the two received their gunslinger status too easily, which is easy for them to say since they were not in Hambry. Aileen faces a different problem. Gilead's leaders do not permit women to handle guns or to become gunslingers, and Aileen may well be a better shot than the vast majority of her contemporaries. Sadly, the side stories about Alain, Bert and Aileen do little to advance the plot in this particular book.

In fact, most of the book verges on filler, because the real story is Roland's mother Gabrielle and her relationship with Marten, who is one of The Good Man's henchmen. Gabrielle seems unable to see Marten for what he is and she allows Marten to seduce her to do his bidding. Of course, even though Roland is mostly in the background for the entire book, he manages to rouse himself near the end for a dramatic, and somehow vaguely unfulfilling, end to this book. I say unfulfilling because what happens at the end is setup for future events and is but a milestone in King's original novels.

It might have been better if this book had been released at the same time as next book in the series, "The Fall of Gilead," because you know there has to be a lot more that happens next. Of course, it took 33 years for King to finish the Dark Tower series, so perhaps a few months wait between books requires comparatively little patience.

Perhaps the real star of this book is the artwork. A couple of moments are genuinely horrific. Perhaps the most horrific involves Charles and his baby. There are other moments involving wounds, blood and the Crimson King. While some of the images are hard to see, they are also hard to avoid with their vivid colors and sharpness. There are moments where I was more fascinated, and a bit grossed out, by the artwork than by the story itself.

One of the problems I had with King's Dark Tower series was that there were places where the story plodded along. Yes, the plodding was somewhat necessary to get to the next moment of crisis, but in a novel, the next crisis was generally just up ahead. In this book, there is a lot of plodding to set up the climax. Then, just when you hit the climax, you think that there has to be more to the story. There is more to the story; it is just not in this book.

If you have started the graphic novels that lead to this third book, then of course you must have this book. However, you might want to get "The Fall of Gilead" at the same time or you may feel a bit of anguish at the end of this book.

Enjoy!

Finally, we're breaking new ground here. While the last volume of the Dark Tower comic series contained some insight into what was going on with Sheemie in the immediate aftermath of the events in Hambry, this collection really does break into some new territory with the addition of a new character, Aileen. I find the addition of a strong-willed girl into Roland's life a welcome complication, and I'm really interested in seeing where this will ultimately lead. The overall arc of the story is laid out already by the events narrated by King in DT 6, as Roland relates to his companions what he did with Maerlyn's Grapefruit upon return to Gilead, and the ultimate fate of his mother. The next volume will have to be brand new material which we haven't seen before....

Oh. And the artwork is awesome.

If you have read the Dark Tower novels, then you will surely love to know how Roland's story began. This is the third collection of the graphic novels and it is simply getting better. The artwork alone is reason to buy this book. I am a Dark Tower admirer and loved the story plot. It takes place after Roland and his tet have returned to Gilead. Roland is still in the grips of Maerlyn's Grapefruit and it's only a matter of time before it destroys him.

Peter David, The Dark Tower vol. 3: Treachery (Marvel, 2008)

Having established the tangential precedent for this series in The Long Road Home, Peter David and his band of merry men decided to try and see how thin the canonical line was in Treachery. Aileen, Cort's niece, is introduced; she wants to break the traditional social mores and become a gunslinger, while both Cort and Roland's father Stephen have their eye on her as a prospective match for Roland. As such, she becomes a major character in this story arc (and, we assume, in the foreseeable future). That alone isn't enough to push it, but the more Aileen interacts with Roland, the closer we get. Canon doesn't get broken in this volume, but it's obvious David (and King, presumably) are tempted... we'll have to see where this goes. *** ½

If you're a Dark Tower fan who's interested in a visual representation of the story, or if you're a comic fan interested in getting into a non-comic origin story line I highly recommend this.

Stephen King himself stated that he somewhat regretted that Wizard and Glass was going to have to be a prequel for the most part, but that it had to be done in order to make the rest of the series work. In this comic book (really graphic novel) adaptation the prequel comes before the rest of the Dark Tower, as King himself wants.

The Dark Tower series spans so many interest, so many topics, so many works of fiction, from Stephen King and other sources, I recommend this series of graphic novels to anyone who is interested in any type of fantasy fiction, multiple universe theories, or is simply interested in epic storytelling.

I consider this a companion to the original novels, not a replacement (though it does stand alone quite well). The in world history and summarization section at the end of the book does an incredibly good job of describing All-World, the peoples, the characters, and the histories involved. Reading the back section makes the original seven novel series easier to understand.

Disclosure:
I was a heavy collector of comic in my teens, from about 1990 to 1995 or so, but getting a car put a stop to that. I started reading the Dark Tower during that time period. Even though I no longer collect comics (they're an addiction, like crack) I still make exceptions for certain special things. The Stephen King comics and the Tick are among them.

If you are new to the Dark Tower may I suggest reading a few other things first:

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)
The Eyes of the Dragon
Salem's Lot
The Talisman

The Stand and Salem's Lot are absolute must-reads to make sense of the series, especially two or three novels in, which as of the time of the writing is beyond the point the graphic novel collections have gotten to. The good news is The Stand is getting the same treatment as the Dark Tower, so you can read that as graphic novels also.

Having some background on Star Wars, Harry Potter, Charlie the Choo Choo, and the Fantastic Four can't hurt either. (yes, I'm serious - but only further in)