SPLASHES OF DARKNESS: THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA (COMIC REVIEW)

13/7/2021

Adaptation is a tricky thing to pull off though, particularly when it involves the written word. Strip away too much, and you can lose the authorial tone. Keep too much in, and you can overwhelm the imagery

Comic-books are a medium, not a genre; they can tell any story and suit any palate. You want horror? I've got bottles of the stuff. Welcome to 'Splashes of Darkness.'

SPLASHES OF DARKNESS: THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA
(COMIC REVIEW by DION WINTON-POLAK)

The Little Sisters of Eluria is a row of shots in a grimy saloon on a bleak, baking-hot day. Every glass knocked back leaves you gasping for air, eyes wide, lips twisted, but you'll reach for another. And another. The slugs are cruel, creepy, tense, harrowing, and heartbreaking by turn. They won't quench your thirst, but there's an aftertaste on your tongue that might just be hope.

The world has moved on but Roland, last of the legendary Gunslingers, will not be left behind. Badly shaken but dogged, he rides out from the ashes of Gilead seeking the Dark Tower...and vengeance for his fallen friends. He comes now - on a dying nag - to the festering town of Eluria and a deadly trap. The monstrous nuns encamped there hold him in the balance between life and death. Webbed up and gunless, Roland will need to use all of his wits and his courage to escape the bloody embrace of The Little Sisters and resume his quest.

The Dark Tower is Stephen King's magnum opus - the central spoke around which the wheel of his writing career has spun. For those of you new to the world, it's a post-apocalyptic melange of spaghetti western, Arthurian legend, brutal horror and a deep, throbbing tragedy.

Marvel began a chronological adaptation of The Dark Tower back in 2007, guided by Robin Furth. Though currently incomplete, it remains a stunning set of books, vividly depicting Mid-World and its denizens in ways that both honour and expand upon King's magnificent world. The Little Sisters of Eluria began life as an offshoot from the main series, a novella written for the Legends anthology which finds new life and a new audience here, in comic form.

I must begin with the artwork, because it draws me back to this series time and again. That in its self is remarkable because - in reading for pleasure - my tendency is usually to focus on the words, with the images a secondary, swiftly glimpsed bonus. Richard Isanove's colours are arresting though, bursting with warmth yet using subtle gradations for depth and intensity. His skies are particularly effective, whether lit by sun or moon, and his firelight is dazzling. He is one of the finest exponents I've seen in the field of comics.

The fact that he has Luke Ross' fine penmanship to embellish only ups the ante. This man can draw, and no mistake! He seems equally adept at towering landscapes and the intracacies of the flesh, using a combination of linework and hatching techniques for those ever-important shadow. His Little Sisters manage to be just as terrifying in their looming human forms as their vampiric alter-egos but, perhaps strangely, I found myself most impressed by the fingers he draws. They are elegant and mobile - taloned or otherwise - captured in all sorts of configurations, and it is their physicality which helps to sell the rest of Roland's living nightmare.

The script on this story arc is by Peter David, perhaps best known for his seminal run on The Incredible Hulk. He captures King's folksy narrative voice well (d'ya kennit) so it's an easy slide into Mid-World for the constant reader. Adaptation is a tricky thing to pull off though, particularly when it involves the written word. Strip away too much, and you can lose the authorial tone. Keep too much in, and you can overwhelm the imagery. David manages the balance pretty well throughout, but I felt there were a few occasions in The Little Sisters of Eluria when I'd have preferred to be shown rather than told, trusting the reader to infer Roland's feelings, keeping the gunslinger inscrutable like his spaghetti-western forebears.

I've been a fan of The Dark Tower books since I was a school lad, and I've greedily gathered up the complete hardback collection of these comics, delighted at the chance to revisit the world and see it through new eyes. I've chosen The Little Sisters of Eluria to discuss today because it's a corner of King's creation that you may not have encountered yet. It does have one or two flaws, not least of which is a certain lack of clarity in the ending (Ed. hark at this hypocrite reader who wanted to be trusted in the previous paragraph) but the story stands up on its own.

THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA

Written by Peter David
Illustrated by Luke Ross
Coloured by Richard Isanove
Published by Marvel
Republished by Gallery 13
Available now!

I'd give this adaptation 4/5
but the series as a whole gets full marks.
I can only pray it's completed one day...
Reviewer - Dion Winton-Polak

Check out Dion's other comic book reviews here