I came to this book as a novice--I haven't read much Stephen King (the horror!) and even fewer graphic novels. So this was a bit of an experiment: would I like it; ergo, might other newbies like it? The Long Road Home has an additional difficulty--it's the second volume in a comic book series directed by King, but written by David and Furth. So I was a bit at sea. What's a ka-tet? Who are Alain and Cuthbert? But after a few pages I was completely hooked, even though the plot remains somewhat murky. Good guys, bad guys, heartbreak, horses, robots . . . The dialogue is dramatic, with a dry wit. As Alain and Cuthbert try to get away from the murderous posse of Hambry, carrying Roland, who's in a coma, Bert says, "Alain, I think less ponderings on the irony of their moral stance and more aggressive actions in our own defense are in order, don't you?" The narration is chilling, as when simple-minded Sheemie is about to be transformed by a terrifying robot: "What is it about war that it always winds up with the children suffering the most? I don't kennit it at all, I purely don't. While men in far off dark towers render decisions of life and death, it's somehow always children who're getting caught in the crossfire, which is kind of odd considering they're the ones whose futures are supposedly being fought for."
The artwork is spectacular. Reds and blacks predominate, with occasional foggy grays. The grotesquery of the lord who is the face of evil, black and twisted with a red third eye, arms expanded into spider arms, is unnerving. Of course, there are wolves with slavering fangs and a terrifying crow. The robot and Sheemie at the moment of the boy's transformation is electrifying and sorrowful, and the quiet palette of blue-green and brick underscores the wary relief when Roland returns home to his father. The details are as superb as the color. The faces of Alain, Bert, Sheemie and the hero Roland, are sometimes beautiful, sometimes distorted into visages of men who have seen too much.
At the book's end, there are many variant cover sketches and completed covers by the inkers and color artists, which is a nice bonus. Notes from Robin Furth and Peter David describe scripting and writing in Stephen King's voice. As for my experiment, I was drawn into the book almost immediately and would say that a neophyte graphic book reader or a die-hard King fan would be entranced. Caveat: there is a parental advisory on the back. Don't give this to a child.--Marilyn Dahl
Shelf Talker: A chilling, spectacular vision and continuation of Stephen King's the Dark Tower series, this graphic novel will hook you and thrill you.