STEPHEN KING'S dark tower series both comics and books:
- Thread starter timothy
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There doesn't seem to be an easy answer to your question. The reason for that being that King has seeded references to his other books within The Dark Tower Series, that play major parts in advancing the overall plot of the series and effect The Gunslinger's quest. Make sense?
I suppose my question for you would be, are you a fan that reads his other works? If so, the reading order gets smaller. If you are new to King, do you care to understand the inside references, or do you just want to progress with the main plot and follow The Gunslinger's quest without and extras?
My apologies for answering a question, with a question, but as I have found conflicting answers myself, I figured I would ask your opinion.
I suppose my question for you would be, are you a fan that reads his other works? If so, the reading order gets smaller. If you are new to King, do you care to understand the inside references, or do you just want to progress with the main plot and follow The Gunslinger's quest without and extras?
My apologies for answering a question, with a question, but as I have found conflicting answers myself, I figured I would ask your opinion.
well I am fan of kings and I have read some of his books and just started rereading some of his older books starting with carrie and going forward. I am now up to the point of the gunslinger dark tower book 1 and I was just wondering if I read the comics first and then go into the books or is the comic series a adapation of the novels which I don't think they are.
I'd start with The Gunslinger and read all seven books to end with The Dark Tower. Then I'd go back and read the comics in order, starting with "Gunslinger Born." The comics were clearly written as prequels meant to be read after the novels.
The first comic series basically retells Wizard and Glass, but after that they go into a pretty good and unique storyline that was hinted at in the books but never fleshed out. I really enjoyed them (and the art is gorgeous), but I doubt they'd stand alone very well without having read the novels.
The first comic series basically retells Wizard and Glass, but after that they go into a pretty good and unique storyline that was hinted at in the books but never fleshed out. I really enjoyed them (and the art is gorgeous), but I doubt they'd stand alone very well without having read the novels.
There really are two ways to answer this question, and, as someone else said, they really hinge on just how much of King's literary works you are willing to expose yourself to, and whether or not you're a fan of the particular genre (horror) into which the majority of his novels fall.
If you simply want to follow the core storyline of The Dark Tower, I would suggest reading the following, in the following order:
Novels
The Gunslinger (revised and expanded edition, published 2003)
The Drawing of the Three (revised edition, published 2003)
The Waste Lands (revised edition, published 2003)
Wizard and Glass (revised edition, published 2003)
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower
The Wind through the Keyhole (forthcoming in April 2012)
Comics
The Gunslinger Born
The Long Road Home
Treachery
The Sorcerer
The Fall of Gilead
Battle of Jericho Hill
The Journey Begins
Little Sisters of Eluria
The Battle of Tull
The Way Station
Short Stories
The Little Sisters of Eluria (published in the novel Everything's Eventual)
However, if you'd like to delve deeper into the world of The Dark Tower and explore the ways in which King links it to his other works, the following is a listing of novels that connect to the Dark Tower series in some fashion:
Salem's Lot
The Stand
Black House (co-written with Peter Straub; a sequel to The Talisman [see below])
The Talisman (co-written with Peter Straub)
IT
Insomnia
Regulators
Desperation
Rose Madder
The Eyes of the Dragon
Bag of Bones
From a Buik 8
Skeleton Crew
Hearts in Atlantis
Everything's Eventual
BTW, even if you're not interested in delving into the various ways in which King connects The Dark Tower to the rest of his massive literary library, I'd suggest reading The Talisman and Black House anyway. They are fantastic novels in their own right, and would be perfectly suited, IMO, for anyone who enjoys Fantasy/Sci Fi and/or Horror/Suspense fiction.
If you simply want to follow the core storyline of The Dark Tower, I would suggest reading the following, in the following order:
Novels
The Gunslinger (revised and expanded edition, published 2003)
The Drawing of the Three (revised edition, published 2003)
The Waste Lands (revised edition, published 2003)
Wizard and Glass (revised edition, published 2003)
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower
The Wind through the Keyhole (forthcoming in April 2012)
Comics
The Gunslinger Born
The Long Road Home
Treachery
The Sorcerer
The Fall of Gilead
Battle of Jericho Hill
The Journey Begins
Little Sisters of Eluria
The Battle of Tull
The Way Station
Short Stories
The Little Sisters of Eluria (published in the novel Everything's Eventual)
However, if you'd like to delve deeper into the world of The Dark Tower and explore the ways in which King links it to his other works, the following is a listing of novels that connect to the Dark Tower series in some fashion:
Salem's Lot
The Stand
Black House (co-written with Peter Straub; a sequel to The Talisman [see below])
The Talisman (co-written with Peter Straub)
IT
Insomnia
Regulators
Desperation
Rose Madder
The Eyes of the Dragon
Bag of Bones
From a Buik 8
Skeleton Crew
Hearts in Atlantis
Everything's Eventual
BTW, even if you're not interested in delving into the various ways in which King connects The Dark Tower to the rest of his massive literary library, I'd suggest reading The Talisman and Black House anyway. They are fantastic novels in their own right, and would be perfectly suited, IMO, for anyone who enjoys Fantasy/Sci Fi and/or Horror/Suspense fiction.
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I've just started the series for the fisrt time and am sticking to the books for now. Am on book four, Wizard and Glass.
One of my all time favorite book series. 
Lots of authors revise books. He did it to actually go back and correct mistakes he made.
I don't think they were "mistakes," it was more a case making some revisions so that it did not conflict with the later books.
I've read both versions and didn't feel like the updated novel was diminished in any way by the changes (most of which I didn't even notice).
The Talisman is one of the best books I've ever read. By any writer. Black House wasn't quite as good IMO.
I thought they were both excellent.
BTW, I really want King and Straub to write a third novel to finish off the story and create a trilogy.
now is there a reading order for these books or is this it since there connected to the dark tower universe.
No reading order.. unless you want to read them in publication order. And you can find that on any bibliography.
None of them are connected enough to really matter.
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