I am going on vacation tomorrow and bought the next two issues as a treat to myself. I told myself to just wait and finish them over the weekend. But I have poor impulse control when it comes to reading. I am still really enjoying seeing “Wizard and Glass” brought to life in this graphic novel. The dialogue, the artwork, etc. is really well done. I think the best part though is once again seeing characters we have had in our heads sketched out in this format. Even though our Roland is not a man yet, I can see his true age in his eyes when I am reading through this. I really want to get to “The Drawing of the Three” in graphic novel format though. I really want to see Eddie, Jake, and Susannah again.
In this issue we get to see Roland and Susan Delgado formally meet and fall in love at first sight. I remember being a bit surprised by this as I read “Wizard and Glass” since the Roland we meet in “The Gunslinger” and “The Drawing of the Tree” seems too smart for that. We just got done reading about how he sacrificed his hawk David in his fight for his guns. I would also say that due to Roland’s mother affair, I am surprised he would be so willing to trust a woman anyway. The graphic novel gives more life to Susan than the book really does at times. Though I wish that the illustrators would have stopped with her being constantly swallowed up with fabric. It looks weird. Also, her eyes at times look “evil.” I don’t know what else to say about it. I don’t think they meant to do that (illustrators) but it looks odd at times when you see her face.
I did notice though that the illustrators keep Roland (or Will Dearborn) in shadows for the most part. I thought that was a good idea considering all we know that awaits Roland in the end.
We get an up close and personal look at John Farrier looks like a demon. I remember the guy wearing a fright mask in the book. Either way, it looks a bit cartoonish in this.
The writing/dialogue I thought was pitch perfect. We get to see Roland and his original ka-tet strike their first blow against The Big Coffin Hunters. I still always feel a bit pained looking at Cuthbert who Constant Readers know is a twinner of Eddie Dean. I seriously am going to go back and re-read these books this year. Who knew how much I missed them.
The book ends on another cliffhanger though with The Big Coffin Hunters going after Roland and the others. And of course we have Roland feeling torn about Susan realizing that she is set up to become the mayor’s gully.