The Way Station

Enter once more the world of Roland Deschain—and the world of the Dark Tower—presented in a stunning graphic novel form unlocking the doorways to terrifying secrets and bold storytelling as part of the dark fantasy masterwork and magnum opus from #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” With these unforgettable words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King’s iconic character Roland Deschain of Gilead. Roland is the last of his kind, a “gunslinger” charged with protecting whatever goodness and light remains in his world—a world that “moved on,” as they say. In this desolate reality—a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic, and yet one that mirrors our own in frightening ways—Roland is on a spellbinding and soul-shattering quest to locate and somehow save the mystical nexus of all worlds, all universes: the Dark Tower.

Now, in the graphic novel series adaptation Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, originally published by Marvel Comics in single-issue form and creatively overseen by Stephen King himself, the full story of Roland’s troubled past and ongoing saga is revealed. Sumptuously drawn by Richard Isanove, Sean Phillips, Luke Ross, Michael Lark, and Laurence Campbell, plotted by longtime Stephen King expert Robin Furth, and scripted by New York Times bestselling author Peter David, The Gunslinger adaptation is an extraordinary and terrifying journey—ultimately serving as the perfect introduction for new readers to Stephen King’s modern literary classic The Dark Tower, while giving longtime fans thrilling adventures transformed from his blockbuster novels.

Roland has barely escaped the frightening and deadly trap set for him by the elusive Man in Black in the sleepy little town of Tull—a place centered in the apotheosis of all deserts, and where the sinister sorcerer’s power had taken hold. Leaving death and despair in his wake, Roland soon arrives at a mysterious way station…and meets a young boy, Jake Chambers, who has seemingly appeared out of nowhere from another place and time. But who is this sophisticated child, and what is his connection to Roland’s quest and the Man in Black himself?

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, and Doctor Sleep are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Robin Furth is perhaps the only person around who knows more about the Dark Tower mythos than Stephen King himself, and is the author of The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance.

Peter David is a prolific writer whose career, and continued popularity, spans more than twenty-five years. He has worked in every conceivable media—television, film, books (fiction, nonfiction, and audio), short stories, and comic books—and acquired followings in all of them.

Richard Isanove is one of the comic book industry’s premier color artists, skillfully transforming traditional black-and-white illustrations into richly rendered final compositions on such acclaimed series as Wolverine: Origin and Neil Gaiman’s 1602.