The Dark Tower: Battle Of Jericho Hill

 I don’t know what I can say that I haven’t already about The Dark Tower graphic novels. I’ll try to keep it brief. The Battle Of Jericho Hill was an amazing installment and ending to this graphic novel arc. This is the real end of Roland’s youth. I knew a fair amount of what was going to happen before I even opened the book because they talk about the battle in the last two or three novels of the series. It was the details of the battle that were more shocking. Somehow, I kept hoping for a different outcome too.

There’s one thing that has been weighing on my mind since the last installment; I really want to know what happens to John Farson. On the Stephen King website he is described as the enemy of Roland’s youth (though someone wrote a more detailed blurb about him on Wikipedia). It’s true; Farson is only ever a threat in the past, where the graphic novels take place. In the novels, he is gone and it is Walter O’Dim/The Man In Black (he has many aliases) and the Crimson King that Roland battles. Some believe Walter and Farson are the same man. It is suggested that they are in Wolves of Calla but that they are not in The Dark Tower VII. This is clarified in the graphic novel, The Gunslinger Born. They also are seen talking to each other throughout the graphic novel series. But what happens to him? He doesn’t just disappear.

Battle Of Jericho Hill also marks the final graphic novel in which Jae Lee will be an artist. Since The Gunslinger Born it has been Jae Lee and Richard Isanove who have been the creators of the fantastic Dark Tower comic art. In the next installment, the beginning of a new arc, we’ll have someone else joining the team. After all that, what I really want to say simply is that The Dark Tower: Battle Of Jericho Hill was great. I enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the progression of a series that I’m glad isn’t over.