April 05, 2006

King David

Marvel has now made public the news that I've been sitting on for quite some time: I'm going to be doing the scripting for the Stephen King "Dark Tower" comics that Marvel will be producing. I'm tremendously excited about the opportunity, not to mention jazzed that King was willing to entrust his baby to me. Plus it's great to be working with Jae Lee again.

PAD

Posted by Peter David at April 5, 2006 11:59 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commenting
Comments
Posted by: dave w. at April 6, 2006 12:08 AM

WOW!!!! I was half joking when I mentioned this on an earlier thread. What A Great Early Birthday Present--My TWO Favorite Authors!!!! You have no idea how excited this fanboy is right now!!!! I am going to get in line right now to make sure I get a copy!!!!

Posted by: dave w. at April 6, 2006 12:31 AM

Damn! I've been trying to find the thread in question to prove to my friends that I 'predicted' this and I can't find it. A little help?

Posted by: Andrej at April 6, 2006 12:42 AM

..I have no words to express how excited this makes me. Except for maybe "this makes me warm in my happy place".

The Dark Tower series has been my favorite book series since I got the first three volumes for Christmas in 1995 (no worries, Mr. David. "New Frontier" is right behind the Tower series).

To hear that my two favorite authors are combining their efforts is the second best news I've heard in the past year. The first being my fiancee --who I once surprised with a book signed by you, to her-- answering "yes" to The Question.


Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Posted by: Queen Anthai at April 6, 2006 12:48 AM

This is shaping up to be your year, Peter...and it's about damn time! :) Congrats!

Posted by: hdefined at April 6, 2006 01:11 AM

Regardless of anyone who could've been assigned the scripting task, I'm still disappointed King himself isn't on full writing duties.

Posted by: Peter at April 6, 2006 01:16 AM

As much as I'm "meh" about this entire deal (I find it hard to get into the Dark Tower business, and I tried), at least Marvel was smart enough to give the scripting duties to someone who's familiar with the comic book medium *and* who's a novelist as well. They love to hype novelists coming to comics, but somehow they rarely use that as a selling point for PAD books. So this is a nice step up to their usual shenanigans.

Talk about happy franchise deals though, a Spidey-book, an X-book and a Stephen King book ;) Pity DC didn't put you on a Supes- or Bat-book!

Posted by: Speaker at April 6, 2006 01:37 AM

best news i've heard all week!

Posted by: Luigi Novi at April 6, 2006 02:40 AM

Congrats, Peter! :-)

Posted by: Justin Fairfax at April 6, 2006 03:07 AM

King and David--two great tastes that will taste great together!

I'm thrilled for you, Peter--with your expertise at both fantasy and comics adaptations, this was a no-brainer for Marvel!

AND you and Jae Lee together again--fantastic!

Posted by: Alex A Sanchez at April 6, 2006 03:22 AM

Peter, have you worked with Jae Lee on anythign besides those three issues of X-Factor (during the X-cutioner's Song) in the early 90's? I was under the impression that you didn't like doing that crossover since it broke up the storyline you were working on in the book.
I also remember that you were supposed to be working with Jae Lee on the new X-Factor Invenstigations title: was Dark Tower the reason he was taken off the book?

Posted by: Vikram Singh at April 6, 2006 04:45 AM

Peter worked with Jae Lee on an issue of Incredible Hulk recently (I think it was #82). A one shot story that was, for me, the highlight of his return run on the title.

Posted by: John zacharias at April 6, 2006 06:04 AM

Nice job Peter. You and King have equal talents I cant wait to read what you write.

Posted by: JosephW at April 6, 2006 06:30 AM

Well, with PAD's name being connected to the "Dark Tower" adaptation, my interest in the project is definitely raised (after seeing Jae Lee's name being connected a few months back, I was slightly interested even though I couldn't really get into King's own Tower stories). I can see myself ordering at least the first few issues (a good thing since nearly any other writer's name--including King's--would only merit a "wait till the first issue hits the shelf and give it a quick read-through before purchasing").

Posted by: Tim Lynch at April 6, 2006 06:38 AM

Well, cool! I'm not much of a King fan, by and large, but I'll think pretty seriously about picking this up!

TWL

Posted by: Jay at April 6, 2006 06:47 AM

Very Cool! Another PAD title to add to my comic list!

Posted by: Bill Mulligan at April 6, 2006 06:57 AM

Dave W-- Here it is, posted January 2, 2006 at 02:22 AM

Could the 'major announcement' be that you will be writing the comic adaptation of S. King's Dark Tower series? I Hope-I Hope-I Hope!!!!

Most impressive. (it's in the Dec 29th thread "Getting settled back in")

Congratulations to PAD!

Posted by: John at April 6, 2006 07:19 AM

Congratulations! I'm excited in that though I have read a lot of King, I never did get into the Dark Tower series, and since this apparently will take place as a sort of 'prequel', I'm hoping I should be able to read it and enjoy it without having read King's books.

From the Newsarama article

The series will expand the saga of King's epic hero, Roland Deschain, whose quest to save the Dark Tower is captured in seven best-selling novels published over the course of twenty-five years. The new stories delve into the life and times of the young Roland, revealing the trials and conflicts that lead to the burden of destiny he must assume as a man, the last Gunslinger from a world that has moved on. The comics will work in conjunction with the novels, further supplementing and defining the saga's mythology under the direction of the acclaimed author himself.
Posted by: Mike M. at April 6, 2006 08:21 AM

My two favorite writers together!! Yippee!!!

Posted by: Rob at April 6, 2006 08:36 AM

When I first heard about King adapting his Dark Tower saga for Marvel, I started socking a little money away for the eventual hardcover. I don't read monthlies anymore, but I still do the occasional HC or TPB. When I heard yesterday on ComicBookResources.com that PAD was going to be scripting over King's plots, well, I'm now planning on buying a monthly title again...AND the eventual HC collection.

Awesome, PAD...awesome.

Posted by: Matt Adler at April 6, 2006 08:46 AM

When did Marvel first approach you about this?

Posted by: Mike Sawin at April 6, 2006 09:29 AM

Wowzers, what good news. Frankly, I've never read the Dark Tower books, but I've been looking for a reason to!

I can't wait to see this on the shelves.

Posted by: Marv at April 6, 2006 09:30 AM

That's awesome! I was on the fence about whether or not I wanted to pick this up, and now I definitely will.

Posted by: Arefin at April 6, 2006 09:50 AM

I was mainly gonna get this comic because of Jae Lee's art. I love me some Jae Lee art. Now that PAD's involved, I guess there really isn't any doubts about this book, is there?

Posted by: R. Maheras at April 6, 2006 10:50 AM

Congrats! With the Stephen King tie, I might now be able to finally talk my wife into reading a contemporary comic book!

Posted by: Chadwick H. Saxelid at April 6, 2006 11:57 AM

GEEKBASM!!!

My mind is blown, now I have to pick up the mess.

Congratulations, great news.

Posted by: UmberGryphon at April 6, 2006 12:05 PM

PAD, are you just going to be working off of the books, or will you be in any way collaborating with Stephen King?

Posted by: dave w. at April 6, 2006 03:25 PM

Thanks for the info, Bill M.

Posted by: Tosy and Cosh at April 6, 2006 03:43 PM

Color me disapointed. I hadn't realized that King wouldn't be scripting. Blech.

My interest--no disrespect to you--just went down, not up. Still, the choice is a fine one. Congrats.

Posted by: james at April 6, 2006 04:43 PM

Hello my name is james chan and I writer for a small website, Blazedent.com. I read on the Midtown Comics website that you will be at the comic book store in April. I was wondering if I would be able to conduct a small interview with you during that time. It won't take too long and it would really help out the website. Please get back to me and let me know what you think. Please email me at the address I put in or lblgproductions@gmail.com

Thank you for your time.

James chan
lblgproductions@gmail.com
jam6534@hotmail.com

Posted by: ljg at April 6, 2006 05:51 PM

I am a big King fan who loves the Dark Tower series and I am thrilled that you're doing the books for Marvel. I've pretty much had to cut my comic books to the core for the past few years but this is getting me back into the stores. Congratulations, Peter and I'm realy looking forward to the stories of the younger Roland.

Posted by: s yarish at April 6, 2006 07:07 PM

wow, great news PAD! Another of your books to add to my pull list.

Posted by: C. Nelson at April 6, 2006 08:26 PM

PAD scripting a story with Stephen King's characters, being drawn by Jae Lee.

It gets no better.

Unless it's covered in chocolate. ;)

Posted by: Daniela at April 7, 2006 08:36 AM

All Hail the King!!!!

Posted by: GammaSpidey at April 7, 2006 09:47 AM

So is Mr. King really going to be that involved with this project? Is he providing new plots of his own, or are you having to script from the source material?

In a previous interview months back, I thought he said he would be including additonal scenes not found in the books, or did I just dream that up?

I'm sure Mr. King has final script apporval before it goes to press, right?

Posted by: Matt Butcher at April 7, 2006 10:54 AM

That is a perfect combination. Marvel and Stephen King were both smart there.

Posted by: Hulkin' Vulcan at April 7, 2006 07:46 PM

Didn't Clint Eastwood have his name associated with a Dark Tower movie years ago? Clint's too mature for the current character if it is made into a film today. However, is it true that the main character was patterned after him?

Any chance of King and PAD colaborating on an original book?

I remember Peter Straub collaborated on the Talsman and Blackhouse...so perhaps there is hope of a future book?

Posted by: Shawn Backs at April 7, 2006 09:54 PM

Yeah, I just had a fanboygasam...

now to clean myself off.

Posted by: Bill Myers at April 9, 2006 08:49 AM

Shawn... eeewwww!

I lead a comic-book-centric life, and make no apologies about that. I mean, yes, I read books, watch T.V. and see movies, but comics are my number one preferred medium. In fact, I've actually never read a Stephen King novel or seen a Stephen King movie.

So, while most people would think the name "Stephen King" would be the big draw, for me the name "Peter A. David" is what has the gravitational pull. And it's that latter name that's led me to put this on my "will buy" list.

Way to go, PAD! You're a big name in comics, you've got a BSG novel coming out, a book on writing that has your name in eleventy-skillion point type on the cover, you've snagged the "Dark Tower" adaptation...

Gasp! Sorry, needed to catch my breath. And that's only a fraction of your accomplishments. Seriously, how do you avoid getting a swelled head (and in spite of what your detractors think, I've seen no evidence that you have one)?

Posted by: Thomas E. Reed at April 10, 2006 01:08 AM

Since I have real problems with horror in nearly all its forms, I won't be jumping aboard this particular carousel. I do admit to curiousity about how much Mr. David will be working with King. They're both busy guys, so I'm guessing most of the "meetings" will be by phone. And I don't think that after his accident King will be interested in bowling or anything more extracurricular than signing the back of one of those big checks.

Posted by: GreggHalecki at April 10, 2006 09:33 PM

Darn you Mr David!!!
You are making it really hard for me to quit reading comic books.