Artwork is beautiful. Storyline is amazing. Suggested for anyone who is a Dark Tower Fan!!!!

When Marvel's first collaboration with Stephen King's Dark Tower series first hit with The Gunslinger Born, it was a revelation. Purists may see things a little different, but to me, The Gunslinger Born was a wonderfully realized comic event that even more wonderfully captured the spirit and soul of King's beloved series. Being a smash hit for Marvel, it comes to no surprise that a sequel would get greenlit, hence The Long Road Home. Picking up right where The Gunslinger Born left off, The Long Road Home finds young Roland Deschain reeling from the tragic death of his first love Susan Delgado, but it isn't long at all before Roland and his ka-tet are on the run, leading up to a meeting with none other than the Crimson King. As mentioned above in an excellent review, The Long Road Home isn't quite as gripping as The Gunslinger Born, nor is it as simple for newcomers to King's universe to get into either. Still, co-writers Peter David and Robin Furth manage to pay wonderful homage to King's epic universe, while setting up the future, catastrophic events to follow. Jae Lee continues to render some beautiful, intense, and occasionally horrifying artwork as well, which is reason enough to pick this hardcover up. All in all, The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home doesn't quite live up to The Gunslinger Born, but it still manages to leave the reader with quite an impression regardless.

Shortly after graduating high school (too many years ago to admit to), I read my first Stephen King novel called Firestarter about young Ms. Charlie McGee. Shortly after, I decided to take on King's 800+ page epic called The Stand (updated in the 90s to 1100+ pages!)....After those two novels I was hooked on anything King...couldn't wait for his next release.

In 1982 King brought back the main antagonist (albeit under a different name) of The Stand for the beginning of what turned into an awesome seven-part series called The Dark Tower. In 2007 we were treated with a new beginning to The Dark Tower series, a prequel, a graphic novel called The Gunslinger Born. Hence, I could not wait for The Long Road Home...this second installment of the spinoff comic book Dark Tower series.

King again worked closely with Marvel, his personal assistant of several years (Robin Furth) and an experienced comic book writer (Peter David) in order to deliver this second adaptation of his work. The Long Road Home is a bit more Robin Furth and Peter David than was The Gunslinger Born. In other words, any King fan(atic) knows King's signature style and typical prose. And that style and prose was clear as day in The Gunslinger Born. But in The Long Road Home, it just seemed a bit less King and a bit more Furth and David. This is not really a bad thing. It's just that King has that magic that makes you a dedicated reader; that magic is kind of MIA in The Long Road Home.

Don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed The Long Road Home. But don't expect a Stephen King novel. Sure, King had oversight, and Furth and David are good...but they are not The King.

The story picks up with Roland Deschain and friends Alain and Bert as they make their way home from their first assignment by The Elders that was played out in The Gunslinger Born. It's a cool adventure, but I'd be more interested if from here Furth, David and King took the actual Dark Tower novels and converted them into graphic novels for an amazing, image-filled, refreshing re-read. After all...it's been 25 years since I read the first Dark Tower novel, and the way my memory has been working lately, a graphic novel adaptation would be like reading it for the first time. Do ya kennit?

Regardless, whether you've ever read a comic book, graphic novel, Dark Tower or Stephen King story for that matter, The Gunslinger Born and The Long Road Home are great escapes into a world that goes on forever. I highly recommend reading them in the order that they were released.

I'm a fan of The Dark Tower series. And these comic serializations are pretty good (though so far, I don't see that they fill in gaps so much as reorder the story). But each new edition advances the storyline painfully slowly -- and by the time it is all finished, what will it have cost the reader -- several hundred dollars or so? That just seems awfully expensive compared to the seven books themselves.

I really do wish these comics would take the narrative farther each time. It's like paying four or five bucks for one day's worth of a daily comic strip.

I have been looking forward to this imagining of the Gunslinger novels since I heard of it, and I have not been disappointed. The artwork is wonderful; vibrant colors and gritty realism. The Long Road Home fleshes out a period of Roland's quest for the Tower that is not within King's canon, but is interesting nonetheless.
I could have done without some of the fiddling with the story (an expanded role of Sheemie), and the comics unfortunately don't convey the vastness of Roland's world and his quest as well the words "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." Still, a great addition to the Gunslinger universe.

Unlike Gunslinger Born this is pretty much new material, not a quick summary of Roland's flashbacks. The authors take some liberties with the story, especially concerning the story of Sheemie. (In DT7 Roland says he always knew Sheemie was special but according to this story that was quite the understatement.) But it also means it flows a lot better as a comic book. Read it if you're a tower junkie. If not, you probably won't get much out of it.

This book has many different covers.
I have found 4 different covers so far.
One cover is only at Amazon.
One cover is only at Borders. ISBN: 978-0-7851-3572-2
I found "two" different covers at Barnes & Noble, one cover is only at Barnes & Noble. ISBN: 978-0-7851-3573-9 the other is ISBN: 978-0-7851-2709-3
I don't know if there are more covers.
If anyone finds more than 4 different covers please add that information to this site.
Thank-You :-)

Beginning immediately where THE GUNSLINGER BORN ended, THE LONG ROAD HOME tells the story of how the young Roland Deschain, Alain Johns, and Bert Allgood returned home to Gilead after their first major adventure together. Roland shoots Maerlyn's Grapefruit which turns into a giant eyeball that jumps on Roland and sucks his soul into a neatherworld of evil. There Roland comes face to face for the first time against the Crimson King. Alain and Bert carry Roland's body with them and protect it while being chased by the last Big Coffin Hunter and mutated wolves. Meanwhile, Sheemie, the mentally-challenged boy that Roland and his ka-tet defended and took under wing, struggles alone on his own and encounters a robot that gives him special powers.

THE GUNSLINGER BORN was the beginning of an epic saga. It read like an action-filled television series leading to a climatic cliffhanger. THE LONG ROAD HOME reads as the season-opening episode of the same series that wraps up the cliffhanger from before. The story is much simpler, much more direct, and moves at a faster pace. Much of the THE GUNSLINGER BORN was given to exposition. There is no exposition in THE LONG ROAD HOME. Yet, the story is just as engaging. Where THE GUNSLINGER BORN told how Roland and his original ka-tet came together, THE LONG ROAD HOME alludes to a future in which the ka-tet will be dissolved.

The artwork is magnificent and some of the stand alone frames and scenes could be blown up and turned into wall-mounted pieces. The artists do an excellent job of capturing the pink and bleak world that Roland finds himself in when swallowed by the Eye, juxtaposing it to a more colorful, though darker world where his ka-tet are.

The only major drawback of the book is that readers who have not read the previous book, THE GUNSLINGER BORN or who have not read King's WIZARD AND GLASS might be confused when reading the book. As mentioned before, there is no exposition in this story which is a good thing for fans of the series, but something newcomers might find a bit confusing.

Overall, not a bad graphic novel that fans of Stephen King and THE DARK TOWER series will probably enjoy the most.

The folks behind this project are determined to give readers the "back story" to how Roland became the man we first meet following the dark man across the desert. The first release in this series relied on the story from "Wizard and Glass", but now the authors are on their own. From this book on, there are no more tales from Stephen King's work to guide them, only hints here and there that don't add up to much, but are quite intriguing. As to the book itself, the artwork is excellent, and the dialogue is fairly true to the King style. It appears that this is going to be a long series, going from the end of this book all the way to the battle of Jericho Hill. No matter how long it takes, or how many books need to contain it, I will certainly be along for the ride!

This is the second story arc of Roland and The Dark Tower, and it picks up right after The Gunslinger Born. Roland has Merlyn's Grapefruit and they are trying to flee back to Gilead. Along the way Roland gets trapped in the grapefruit and has to face horrors as well as the Crimson King.

I enjoyed this story arc better than the first because this was all new material, so I was being told a tale of Roland than was previously untold. But I will admit it wasn't great, just good. In fact I really can't see someone really getting into this story unless they've read The Dark Tower by King because so much of it is based on other events that have been previously told, and events that happen reference the books. So you catch those references if you've read the books, but you'll miss them if you haven't.

And once again the best parts of these comics are the in-depth detail about the cannon of The Dark Tower stories and world. At the end of each comic is text that goes of for at least 4 pages explaining some detail of The Dark Tower cannon. I somehow feel that something's not right when I actually enjoy these parts better than the comic story arc itself. Regardless, if you are a fan of The Dark Tower these comics are becoming very valuable companion pieces to the stories.

If you're a fan of the Dark Tower Comics, then this book is a must have.

Gathered here is the Long Road Home story arc.

Please be aware - there is another Hardcover available only here at Amazon which features a different "sketch" cover.

"The Gunslinger Born" explored the origins and early struggles of young Roland Deschain, as well as the loss of his first true love, Susan Delgado.

And Stephen King's "Dark Tower: The Long Road Home" picks up right after that, showing us more devastating events that shaped Roland Deschain into the gunslinger anti-hero we know and love. While the first part is rather slow, it has plenty of horrific moments and the haunting quality of a "world that has moved on."

A devastated Roland takes down Susan's charred body, as Alain and Bert argue about whether they should be stopping. But suddenly Roland fires at Maerlyn's Grapefruit -- which suddenly turns into a tentacled eyeball that jumps on Roland's face, and enthralls his very soul before they can peel it off. His ka-tet is chased by a bunch of local thugs, the last Big Coffin Hunter, and a ghastly pack of mutated wolves.

Nearby, a mentally challenged boy named Sheemie was seen climbing into old war machines, only to encounter a strange robot that is somehow still "alive."And inside Maerlyn's Grapefruit, Roland is slowly being driven mad in his own memories -- right before being dragged to the hellish citadel of the Crimson King, who reveals a ghastly secret to the young boy from long ago, which will change him forever...

"The Dark Tower: Long Road Home" isn't quite as gripping as its predecessor, "The Gunslinger Born" -- partly because it's a briefer story, and partly because it's simpler. It's a tribute to Stephen King's original story -- and to the hauntingly vivid artwork -- that it's still such an intense rollercoaster ride.

After the heartbreaking first few pages, the plot speeds into a suitably confusing, desperate chase through a lonely wilderness, with plenty of gunshots and dying creatures. Things actually get rather gory as Roland's pals struggle over rickety bridges and across a red-tinged wilderness, since one of them almost gets his arm bitten off (and announces that he'd rather die than shoot left-handed forever. Hardcore, kid).

And since this is a world made by Stephen King, we have plenty of the eerie and the horrible -- Sheemie's confrontation with a baby-faced robot is just one example. King's rich, old-time narrative translates well into comic form, almost as if he were conversing with the readers ("But don't be laughing at Sheemie, I beg ya, because he's been through considerable trials").

And Jae Lee and Richard Isanove really bring this story to life -- they create a world split between bright bloody red mist and autumnal twilight, filled with shadowy faces, barren lands, and ghastly pursuers. And inside the Grapefruit, we get a full cornucopia of horrors, with Roland defiantly trying to keep his sanity and soul intact in a dusty, hazy landscape full of withered trees, tragic future selves, evil crows, lumpy castles, and the vaguely spidery King with his hellish magic and his suitably evil offers to Roland.

"The Gunslinger Born" introduced Roland as a boy, but "The Long Road Home" has undeniably made him a man. He has the guts and integrity to snarl not just at Marte but at the King himself. And after being in Roland's shadow for so long, Alain and Cuthbert also get to take center stage here -- we get to see just how strong and capable they are.

"Dark Tower: The Long Road Home" is not as tightly-written as its predecessor, but it's filled with a sense of overhanging horror and some solid action for the sidekicks. Definitely worth checking out.