Marvel, in collaboration with Stephen King, is proud to announce a new chapter in the Dark Tower graphic fiction adaptation-DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER. Beginning in 2010, The New York Times Best-Selling creative team of Peter David, Robin Furth and Richard Isanove return for a new arc exploring the life of Roland Deschain, revealing how and why he began his pursuit of the man in black across Mid-World’s Mohaine Desert!

Beginning another epic tale, told over multiple limited series, DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER marks another milestone for the graphic fiction sensation that’s captivated fans worldwide. The Dark Tower collaboration between Marvel and Stephen King has drawn accolades from all corners, revolutionizing the comic book industry with previously unprecedented mainstream media coverage and the first worldwide midnight openings for a graphic fiction series.

“We are extremely excited to continue our epic journey into the DARK TOWER universe with THE GUNSLINGER,” says Ruwan Jayatilleke, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development-Acquisitions & Licensing. “And we are equally ecstatic to continue our collaboration with Stephen King as well as keeping comic book fans on their toes!”

Following the climactic Battle of Jericho Hill, Roland Deschain now begins the most important journey of his young life in DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER.

The first 100 people to pre-order the first issue of the adaptation will save 30%! Make sure to log in to your account and sign up for the Product Announcements Newsletter. We’ll send an email out as soon as the first issue goes up for sale. Don’t miss out on the savings, sign up for Product Announcements today.

Either way, it’s great to see Peter David on another high profile book. Look for it on July 22, 2009.

Here’s the synopsis:
When the colony planet Ariel sends out a mysterious distress signal, it’s up to the UNSC’s elite, highly skilled special-ops Marines, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from the 105th, to find out what’s happening. Also known as ODSTs or “Helljumpers”, these soldiers are some of the toughest in the galaxy and some of the roughest as well. When the distress signal comes, two Helljumpers will find themselves at the center of the mystery on Ariel, and before it’s solved, they’ll have to put their friendship and their lives on the line. $3.99

We’re back in the new year with brand new shows. Join us on Tuesday, January 6th, as we welcome back writer Peter David!

And, be sure to check out our regular web show at http://youtube.com/comicbookclub.

See you there,
Alex, Justin, and Pete

COMIC BOOK CLUB
A Live Weekly Talk Show about Comic Books

Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben

Tuesday, January 6th @ 8:00 PM

Featuring:
Peter David (Fallen Angel, She-Hulk, X-Factor)

Tickets: $5
Online: ThePIT-NYC.com
Phone: 1-800-838-3006
Questions? 212-563-7488

The Peoples Improv Theater
154 West 29th Street, 2nd Floor
Between 6th and 7th Aves.

This week gave us two issues of Peter David’s rather fan-beloved X-Factor, and what’s interesting is that they basically serve as a seminar on what works and doesn’t work in this series.

The former issue, a oneshot about everyone’s favorite nigh-omniscient Layla Miller, revisits perhaps the second largest dangling plot thread from Messiah CompleX and provides welcome answers to longtime fans of this series. It’s a great issue, justifying its extra length and significantly moving forward Layla’s storyline, dealing with the sort of mutant vs. government issues that have always been the major subject material of this series. As a matter of fact, it’s almost a textbook lesson on shared-universe writing regarding the deftness with which David balances the plotting demands of the X-franchise and the narrative demands of the main character. Valentine De Landro is a perfect fit for the material, providing just the right amount of noir and just the right amount of superhero bombast.

This is why I was rather glad I read this special after X-Factor #34, which manages to almost as skillfully distill everything unappealing about David’s X-Factor – ill-conceived and frustrating action sequences (even to the characters! – do we need ANOTHER team-up misunderstanding? It’s not any funnier if all the characters are going “Wow, this sure is a stereotypical team-up misunderstanding!”), tie-in material that rolls in and out without fanfare or major effect, interesting ideas (Darwin as a human-Skrull link) thrown out and never touched on, and a distinct lack of servicing the book’s needs and plots in favor of servicing the Marvel Universe, Secret Invasion and David’s own She-Hulk, with which this X-Factor arc was crossing over. All it really needed were some Star Trek jokes to complete this bizarre shrine to David’s worst excesses.

However, all of this would be passable without Larry Stroman’s astonishingly regressed art style. I remember when he was with this same writer, on this same property, in the ’90s; it was a very visually appealing sort of Mignola/Jae Lee-esque style with imaginative panel layouts. I don’t know if it’s the inking here or what, but Stroman’s art here is a disaster – anatomy that should have been exaggerated instead becoming impossibly distorted, unrecognizable characters (I *still* can only tell that’s Darwin from the dialogue) and overall poor storytelling sense all contribute to the rushed feeling. Maybe Stroman just needs more time to get his groove back. I hope so; I really, really liked early ’90s Stroman. But this is not him.

It’s really interesting how both of these books – branched off of the same narrative trunk, but so completely different – hit this week to provide such a blatant contrast. (It’s also confusing as to why Marvel would schedule things this way, but oh well.) However, while X-Factor #34 is simply a bizarre misstep in a usually consistent series, the Layla Miller Special is a great character piece and an incredibly fun chapter in the same story. The latter outweighs the former.

Layla Miller Special:

X-Factor #34: