Stephen King Talks Dark Tower
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 27, 2007 Sign up now!
by Peter Sanderson, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 2/27/2007
Advance tickets were required for the convention's main draw, an interview with the convention guest of honor, bestselling author Stephen King, about the new high-profile Marvel comic book series adapted from his Dark Tower prose novels.
Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was the moderator for "Marvel: Stephen King's Dark Tower—The Gunslinger Born," a Saturday afternoon panel featuring King and the entire creative staff for the comic book series. The creative team includes King associate Robin Furth, who plots the comic; scripter Peter David; artist Jae Lee; colorist Richard Isanove; letterer Chris Eliopoulos and Marvel editor Ralph Macchio.
Extolling King as "one of the greatest authors and creators in the last 50 years," Quesada hailed the publication of the first issue of Dark Tower as "the coming-out party for the comics industry," noting expectations that the comics series and book collection (due in November) will attract mainstream readers and demonstrate that comics are "a serious art form." Quesada said that two years ago at San Diego's Comic-Con International he was asked what would be the "the Holy Grail" for a new comics series and he replied, "To work with Stephen King."
King was subdued but very much in character. He was a bit annoyed at questions from the audience about the comics being "spoilers" for the novels. "You might as well say I'll never watch The Wizard of Oz again because I know how it comes out," said King, adding that he was happy with the Marvel adaptation, declaring, "The comic book kicks ass." (And mock-irritated by Quesada's overly formal manner, he added, "If you keep calling me 'Mr. King,' I'm going to kick your ass!")
Writer Peter David, asked if he felt "intimidated" working on a comic that is based on a "serious book" that has reached many people, said he was intimidated only by the fact that King "goes over everything."
King was asked about concluding the Dark Tower novels, and he invoked J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter novels, noting that authors of popular series face similar problems bringing these sagas to a close. "When you do a long body of work, when you get to the end, you're going to piss off a lot of fans," said King. Readers are upset that the series has ended, or that it ended differently than they would have liked. "The story tells itself in a sense," King told the audience, "and it's your job to stand back and let it be what it is."
King described The Dark Tower as "my life's work, in a sense," explaining that he had worked on it since he was 22. But when the chance came to do The Dark Tower as a comic book, he said, "I thought this was the best of all possible worlds. This will look the way [it's] supposed to look." He said he never really visualized how the characters in the book actually look, and he considers the work of David and artist Jae Lee "as good as it gets. That's why seeing the artwork these guys put together is so fantastic."
Although King said he has rejected big bucks proposals to turn The Dark Tower into a movie, he suggested that a Dark Tower movie may be made. A huge fan of the TV series Lost, King said he sold a movie option on Dark Tower to the Lost series cocreators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof (who are in turn huge fans of his) for only $19.
He was asked if The Dark Tower will be his only venture into comics and whether he would consider writing for a Marvel superhero. "I never say never," King replied, although he insisted he has no plans at present. Pointing out the pyrokinetic Charlie McGee in his novel Firestarter, King quipped, "I've done the [Human] Torch, what's the point?" Nevertheless, King said that in the Green Room before the panel started, he and the other panelists had been discussing possibly doing a comics adaptation of his novel The Stand.
