Reviews

The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three - The Prisoner by Piotr Kowalski, Robin Furth, Peter David

book_nerd_1's review against another edition

This retells Eddie's part of The Drawing of the Three. It's interesting to see it from his point of view.

But I didn't think the parts about his earlier life really went anywhere.

Spoiler

Henry stole a low man's car, they went for a joyride, and that's it.
Walter tried to kill Eddie ONCE in his childhood. Couldn't he have tried again? Eddie was just a kid. It couldn't have been that hard.

ibnjah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

michael_benavidez's review against another edition

3.0

I'm torn...see I like this because Eddie Dean (the character they introduce) is my favorite character King has written. However, this isn't King writing, this is someone writing new work from King's. They're inventing things, they're building up with it. which I like, I do. I always felt like King just skipped too much on the death of Dean's sister. so that going into play is nice.
However, the art is different. Which would normally be good, but it seems like there were too many panels that just took the lazy route. It just didn't do too well for me.
I will still be collecting these though.

thebookmagpie1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

trudilibrarian's review against another edition

3.0

Here we go again: The Drawing of The Three: The Prisoner marks Marvel's third iteration of its ongoing, ambitious adaptation of King's Dark Tower magnum opus. The results have been mixed for me. I started out in a fangirl tizzy, but my excitement soon waned for quite a stretch (in which I stopped reading altogether), then it peaked again like a firecracker going off, only to dampen and fizzle once more at the conclusion of the last two volumes.

Sigh. Look, don't get me wrong. I get a thrill and a chill every time I pick up one of these volumes. Because it holds so much potential. And sometimes I think just the sheer anticipation is worth its weight in gold no matter how conflicted or underwhelmed or disappointed I am by the time the reading is done.

This latest volume likely didn't stand a chance from the get-go, I had placed such GINORMOUS expectations of want and need on its slim modest frame. Out of all of King's seven Dark Tower books (I refuse to count [b:The Wind Through the Keyhole|12341557|The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328001524s/12341557.jpg|15678889] in that number), [b:The Drawing of the Three|5094|The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370918050s/5094.jpg|2113248] is my absolute favorite. For a lot of reasons. Not the least of which, Three is what got me addicted to the series in the first place.

When I read it that first time lo those many, many years ago (can you kennit?) I had never read anything else like it. I didn't even know books could do that to your brain and emotions, get in there and live there and completely wrap you up in its world and life and characters. I had loved other books before The Drawing of the Three, but I think it's safe to say this was the first time I had become obsessed - possessed by one. Books have been having that effect on me since but that time, was the first time, and you never forget your first, do you?

At the end of the day, these graphic novels are not, and can never be the books. At their best they are lovely companion pieces to tickle that nostalgia part of every DT fans brain; at their worst, they are very poor substitutes with the power to egregiously spoil the books for any reader ill-advised enough to start with the graphic novels. DON'T DO THAT, OKAY?? Read the books first. Will you promise me that?

There are parts of this one that I did enjoy -- going back to 1980's New York and hanging out with a young Eddie and his big brother Henry was a bittersweet, and due to knowing what's coming, an ultimately heartbreaking affair. The artwork is weak though, and Roland just looks like a caricature sketch of himself. And let's just say the lobstrocities scene fell as flat as a pancake. Boo. But there was astin! And tooter fish! So I shall read on. If only for the anticipation, if not the disappointment.

laughinglibra84's review

5.0

The Drawing of the Three book is my favorite in the series. Seeing it come alive in pictures is so very cool.

jedi_indyjones's review

4.0

I really love these adaptations of The Dark Tower. This one was one of my favorite so far. It really stuck to the novel and provided amazing illustrations of the story. It's a great way to re-live the adventure. I'm ready for the next one!

vylotte's review

4.0

Drawing of the Three is where I finally became invested in the Dark Tower stories, so I was excited to see that not only was there a graphic adaptation, but there are quite a few volumes out already. I got a lump of them from the library all at once and had a quite lovely Sunday morning.

This isn't a retelling of the book, instead it's a companion (so far). We get to see the stories of our ka tet from when their stories began ... this one is Eddie's tale. As a baby, child, teen, these are the backstories that we only saw in flashback or hinted at in conversation.