Stephen King Writes First Marvel Comic Book

• Stephen King and Marvel Comics will premiere a comic book next week, "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born,". King, an iconic novelist with a huge fan base will be debuting in a form traditionally associated with teenagers of another era.

I will be giving away my age when I recall how my bother and I lovingly received some 'Superman' comics from a school friend. Comics preceded TV for us and added a visual element to our reading. I haven't read one since the late sixties. I have noticed the growing movie stardom of some of Marvel's heroes. So King's entrance into this field arouses great interest. I understand that The Dark Tower's will get Harry Potter like treatment with about 150 retailers across the country having "midnight release" parties, as Tuesday turns to Wednesday, to celebrate the release of the first of a planned seven issues.

STEPHEN KING's "The Dark Tower," is a huge sprawling work about a haunted gunslinger on a quest for a mysterious spire. It has stretched out over 22 years, and seven novels.

"The Dark Tower" seemingly ended like a damp squid in 2004. Some readers felt letdown with the saga's final pages and the blurred fate of its hero, Roland Deschain.

"With the last novel's ending, there really was a sense of 'You must be kidding,' so that certainly adds to the anticipation for the comics," Marvel's Meyers said.

"This is Stephen King's first dip into this pop-culture medium, and there's a lot of excitement. You haven't seen anything like this in comics, so we're getting this 'Harry Potter'-style event.

Pet Grooming

King has promised promises plenty of shocks in the "Dark Tower" universe in the series, which will be drawn by fan-favorite comics artist Jae Lee.

The public appetite for King's works appear to be bottomless. He is reported to be working on three novels in various stages of completion (a resuscitated 1970s manuscript called "Blaze," a new work called "Duma Key" and another installment of "The Talisman" with Peter Straub. King also writes a column for Entertainment Weekly and keeps tabs on Hollywood adaptations of his work, like the current Frank Darabont film of "The Mist" and a TV miniseries of "The Talisman."