Treachery Discussion Thread

[turtlex]

Gosh, that's very odd, indeed.

I hope we can find out what happened with the variants.

[Ruthful]

They're making a comic of The Talisman now?

When did that happen?

[turtlex]

They're making a comic of The Talisman now?

When did that happen?

Ruthful - Yuppers, for sure.

Here's the link to our thread here at the Comic Tower : http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/...ead.php?t=5362

[Ruthful]

Alright, now things have gotten out of hand.

Stop taking my money, Marvel!

[jhanic]

Alright, now things have gotten out of hand.

Stop taking my money, Marvel!

Ruthful, Marvel isn't doing The Talisman. It's being produced by Del Rey/Ballantine.

John

[Ruthful]

Okay, I just opened the link and realized it wasn't Marvel.

So is this going to be of a book-length project?

[Brainslinger]

I ordered Treachery 6 in the evening a couple of days ago, and it arrived this morning! No reason it shouldn't being first class and all, but compared to the other issues, that's pretty snappy.

I've read it already (I tend to gobble these things up shortly after they arrive... although I've often thought I should be more disciplined.) and overall I liked it.

The captions didn't seem to match the panels at the start though.

Spoiler:

The captions describe them as being in the main hall, and the panels show them amongst pillars under a starry sky. Maybe it's meant to be a metaphorical thing, i.e. the pillars being ruins, a forecast of what is to come etc... but I can't help wishing the pictures would just tell the story as it is. I've noticed with a lot of indoors shots Jae Lee seems to go for a slightly surreal look rather than, well, painting whats actually there. I'm not saying that's a bad thing necessarily. Surreality, a kind of dream-state is certainly part and parcel of that world. There is grime and grit there too though.

Also, they needn't even use so many captions if the panels do the talking...

The cheating kid though.. you'd have thought he would come up with something a bit more subtle than that, eh? Never mind. It was an interesting combination of two incidents mentioned in the books, (the spy with the poison knife, and the man who died at Cort's blade.)


Small gripes really. On a plus note I think it wrapped up this section of the story fairly well, creating a decent bridge between the feast day celebration and the grapefruit ending. I wish they had portrayed the latter as it was described in the book though (sans the other 'viewers' of course.) I.e. the grapefruit casting Rhea's image onto the mirror. I guess they wanted to bring home the fact that the glass was responsible though. Some things are easy to describe, less easy to show in a graphical way.

Oh, and shouldn't the fool on the tarot card have had a monkey on his back? I guess in this case they're making the fool Roland though.

Overall a decent ending I thought. Oh, and I guessed some of the riddles right too (although I think I remember some from the books.)

I'm looking forward to The Sorcerer!

[Aaron]

Eddie wasnt the Fool; he was the Prisoner.

[Brainslinger]

Ah right.

I associate him as the fool I guess because of the way he (and Cuthbert) tend to act. (Albeit it's only one side to them, they're still very much gunslingers.

Spoiler:

Or at least Eddie ended up one.

[Aaron]

Spoiler:

Cuthbert got his guns after returning from Mejis, along with Alain

[turtlex]

Anyone else besides me

Comic Special Content

not really thrilled with the looks of the Tarot cards in general?

[jhanic]

Has anyone seen any of the variants for Treachery #6 yet? I'm still looking.

John

[turtlex]

John - Wiz said that they wouldn't be released until tomorrow ( though I'm still not sure why the delay )....

[wizardsrainbow]

Oh Yay! I just bought both variants to Treachery #6 here in NYC. No word as to why they were delayed though. Still, I'm thrilled to have found them both in the same place. I usually have to hunt a bit harder to get the Jae Lee variant.

[turtlex]

Wiz - The report I got was.... "delay from the printers".... which I interpret as "the guys in the Marvel booth at MegaCon didn't know why".

[jhanic]

There are a couple of the color variants for Treachery #6 on eBay right now. Congratulations on getting both, wiz!

John

[turtlex]

I hope my CGC guy got my copies... waiting on his email confirmation now.

[Daghain]

Anyone else besides me

Comic Special Content

not really thrilled with the looks of the Tarot cards in general?

Seconded. And I really hope the next arc is better. This last issue was kind of disappointing.

[Oy Boy]

I really enjoyed this issue, enjoyed the extra time Cort got in the lime light.

[turtlex]

Welcome to the site Oy Boy!

I heard from my CGC guy and he got me my variant and sketch cover!!! He sent them in for grading yesterday!

[The King of Kings]

Just finished reading the Treachery arc. Very hit or miss. About half of the issues had me saying "That's it?" while the other half had me sitting on the edge of my seat.

Overall though I thought Treachery had the best dialogues of the 3 story-arc's so far. Lots of quotable stuff!

[CyberGhostface]

Well...that was underwhelming. And boy, did they really drop the ball on the Marten/Gabrielle relationship--although I'm hoping the Sorcerer oneshot will develop it more (hopefully it's going to be good since it's not written by Peter "the left nut of Satan" David) and maybe the next arc will focus more on the impact of her death on Walter.

And didn't

Spoilers

Rhea have a snake and not the garrote? I guess that's what happens when you go over important details in the previous arc...

[Brainslinger]

Well...that was underwhelming. And boy, did they really drop the ball on the Marten/Gabrielle relationship--

To be fair, the main affair was before these events. And since we've mainly been following Roland and co, we wouldn't see much more on the relationship than in the books. Treachery might cover more though, it's true.

And didn't

Spoilers

Rhea have a snake and not the garrote? I guess that's what happens when you go over important details in the previous arc...

I forgot that, you've got a good point.

Spoiler:

Roland saw Rhea sneaking up behind him with the snake. (A reflection he should see in the bedroom mirror not the grapefruit itself. The grapefruit generated the image which was reflected in the mirror, hence Roland's confusion. ) And instead of Rhea and the snake it was actually his mother and the belt. (Actually I can't remember if he actually saw the snake in the mirror but he obvious confused the belt with it.)

I wonder why they changed that? There really was no need. The snake would have worked out just as well... albeit it was dead at that point.

[CyberGhostface]

Spoiler:

In Wizard and Glass, Roland had killed Rhea's pet snake, which was one of the main reasons why Rhea hated him so much. Since the comics removed that part, they probably realized the whole "Do ye repent for killing Ermot?" bit would be out of place.

As for the affair, what I wanted to see was more of what Walter meant when he talked about Roland's involvement in the death of "the woman [he] loved". I guess since the comic ended *right* at her death, we wouldn't see it here, but I'm doubtful that it'll ever appear.

[Wuducynn]

By Neil Kleid

With the final issue of DARK TOWER: TREACHERY now concluded and the DARK TOWER: SORCERER one-shot set to make its way into stores on April 8, we look to series co-writer Robin Furth once more for safety in answers.

Robin, co-architect of the Dark Tower comic books, kindly took time from plotting the downfall of Roland Deschain's family to give us a glimpse at the future of the Dark Tower comics, what to expect after treachery has struck and some insight into the mind of Stephen King's arch-villain, Marten Broadcloak.
Marvel.com: Roland's love died in Mejis, the Grapefruit took its toll on the road home and as betrayals come to light, his state of mind can't be healthy. How, if at all, will Roland go on?

Robin Furth: Roland is a survivor and at heart he's a stoic. As readers of the original novels know, Roland always survives, though I'm sure that sometimes he wishes he wouldn't!

DARK TOWER:
SORCERER #1
prview art by
Richard Isanove

In the next story arc, Roland will really have to draw on his inner reserves. His whole world is about to collapse, but he must go on if he is to revenge his loved ones, and if he is to reach the Dark Tower.

Marvel.com: Readers have caught glimpses of the mysterious John Farson and the forces he controls. What can we expect from the Affiliation's enemy in the pages to come?

Robin Furth: More treachery! I don't want to let any cats out of bags, but as I was writing the plot for the next story arc, I spent a lot of time in tears So many of the characters I have grown to love were being picked off, one by one. Often in really gruesome ways.

Marvel.com: How much input did Stephen King have in this latest installment of the Dark Tower?

Robin Furth: As you know, Steve goes over all of our stories to give them the thumbs up or thumbs down. Luckily he has liked what we've done so far!

The events of TREACHERY are really rooted in the novels. Gabrielle's time in Debaria, her decision to try to kill her husband in order to please her lover Marten Broadcloak, all of this is either in the books or implied in them. As for the jealousy that Cuthbert, Alain, and Roland face when they return to Gilead, so much of that comes from my memory of being about 14 years old. We all remember what those years were like—not easy! Boys like Cuthbert and Alain, who seemed to have been singled out for special praise, would have been the

The Fool

target for a lot of jealousy, and that's what I wrote about in the comics. Luckily, Steve King agreed with my idea!

One of my favorite characters in this story arc is Aileen. In many ways, Aileen reflects my own experience of growing up a girl in the 1970's, in a world that was quite different than it is today. When I was a girl, nobody thought that a woman could be president. I remember overhearing somebody say, "but if she had to go to war, she'd cry!" Women were either "Miss" or "Mrs." To use "Ms." was still a bit of a joke. I remember playing sci-fi games with my friends. You know, you are exploring an alien planet and monsters attack. Well, in those games I always thought I had to be a boy. I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen, so I took on a boy's name and a boy's persona and went forth to explore! So, as you can guess, Aileen's frustration is a frustration I remember. She wants to be a champion, but her society says no, she can't .

Marvel.com: You're following TREACHERY with DARK TOWER: SORCERER, a one-shot that explores the motives of Marten Broadcloak—aka Walter o'Dim, Roland's archenemy. Can you tell us what to expect?

Robin Furth: Hopefully, a pretty creepy experience! In my opinion, Marten Broadcloak—who is also known as Walter, the man in black, and Randall Flagg—is one of the scariest characters that Stephen King has ever created. He moves from book to book, bringing chaos and anarchy with him. He can be found in [the] Dark Tower [series] of course, but he is also the evil force found in "The Stand" and in "Eyes

The Magician

of the Dragon." He is quite a demonic figure, and as such he is one of the great anti-heroes of contemporary popular fiction.

I've always been fascinated by anti-heroes. How do they see the world and what are their motivations? Journeying into Walter's mind is a pretty wild experience and at times a little frightening. You have to travel to very dark places. For a long time now I've had email exchanges with Steve King about Walter/Marten/Randall Flagg, and so SORCERER will contain some never-before-seen information about Walter's origins, all of it straight from the King himself! I think that this new information—I won't tell you what it is yet—really tells us more about Walter's deeper self; who he is and why he does what he does. And it also addresses [if he] is actually human.

Not only does SORCERER look at the Dark Tower mythos from Walter's perspective, but it also explores the origin, and the nature, of Maerlyn's Grapefruit. In the original novel Steve King talks about the Grapefruit as being alive and almost seductive. In fact, he says it is labial pink, giving it a particularly sexual aura. This becomes a very important part of Walter's story—and indirectly but importantly part of Roland's. I don't dare say any more, since I want to keep some surprises, but I will add that if you read this tale you will encounter some pretty strange demons. Richard [Isanove] has done a fantastic job with the art. It is truly inspired.

Oh yes, for you longtime fans of "The Gunslinger," you'll actually get to see more of Walter's Tarot Cards—the deck he uses to tell Roland's future at the end of that

The Tower

first novel of the series. In SORCERER, he uses his cards to tell the future of the House of Deschain—somehow I doubt they'd be pleased with what he sees!

I must say, I've had the time of my life writing SORCERER and collaborating with Richard to bring the tale to life, so I really hope that comes across in the story! As a lot of my fellow Dark Tower junkies have pointed out to me, Walter tends to like pseudonyms with the initials "R.F."—in other words, pseudonyms with my initials! Sometimes I wonder if my initials were part of the reason Steve was intrigued enough to hire me as a research assistant. If so, I owe Walter a debt. Maybe giving him voice is my way of paying that debt!

Marvel.com: Are further stand-alone stories planned for the other denizens of In-World?

Robin Furth: I certainly hope so. There are so many characters that deserve to have their stories told, or perhaps to tell their own stories. I think it would be really great to be able to tell Steven Deschain's story, and about his life with Gabrielle. What went wrong there? We're given lots of hints in the books, but it would be an amazing subject to explore. I'd also like to explore Sheemie's tale, and Cort's story. And to tell the truth, I wouldn't mind spending some more time in End-World with the Crimson King, since he scares me silly. Luckily, in the final story arcs we'll get to spend more time with Cuthbert, Alain—all longtime favorites of mine. And then there is Aileen…

As you can tell, the possibilities are endless!

http://marvel.com/news/comicstories....s_of_Treachery