Why in Database: We already have an entry in the database about the Dark Tower book series, in this note we will focus on the turtle content in all the comics related to this universe!
This comics can be divided into three specific chapters, Beginnings, 6 stories, 30 issues, The Gunslinger, 8 stories, 30 issues and The Drawing of the Three, 5 stories, 25 issues. In addition, there were several issues with a more “world guide” character.
These comics, single issues, consist of two parts, the first, larger, is the proper, comic part, while at the end we have several pages with additional content, various things such as texts explaining lore, short stories, a transcript of a panel with the creators of the comic, etc.
Below we describe which issues contain turtle elements, and whether they are in the comic part or, which is more common, in the additional content part.
The Dark Tower: Beginnings
The Gunslinger Born
7 issue series, with some turtle fragments!
The first fragments we found is in the extra pages of the first issue, in the text “The Sacred Geography of Mid-World”, there were two fragments talking about the Guardians, including the Turtle and the Bear.
“One by one, Alain connected opposite Portals as Cuthbert named them. Hare and Bat, Fish and Rat, Turtle and Bear, Dog and Horse, until the only Beam left unnamed was the one that began at twelve o’clock and ended at six.”
“The Eagle and Lion were strong Guardians, as strong as the Turtle and Bear, and even as strong as the Elephant and Wolf.”
The next mention is in issue four, again in additional pages, in the text “The Laughing Mirror Part 1”. There is another mention of the Guardians, including the turtle, and the first image of Maturin, in a simplified bas-relief form, with the other Guardians.
“After Maerlyn’s attack, Gan selected his twelve most loyal servants – Bear and Turtle, Dog and Horse, Eagle and Lion, Elephant and Wolf, Fish and Rat, Hare and Bat – to guard the Termination points of the magnetic beams which were simultaneously the major doorways into and out of the multiple worlds.”
In issue five, the turtles are mentioned in two texts from the bonus part! The first is a mention of the turtle in the form of a thank-you in the text “The Laughing Mirror Part 2: The Seduction of Rhea”, the second mention is in the transcript of a panel with Stephen King from NY Comic Con in 2007. In this fragment, Stephen King talks about Robin Furth, who had a large role in the creation of the series.
“If the seed was bad, then the tree was bad, and the best a farmer could do – bless the Turtle – was take an axe to it.”
“She’s drawn all the paths of the map, and she’s got a turtle down here and a tiger over here and this, that, and the other thing, and I thought, “You look like a big kid.””
The sixth issue marks the first and only time in this series that a turtle is mentioned in a dialogue bubble!
“Wake up! Wake up, sai Susan! In the name of the Turtle and the Bear, wake up!”
The Long Road Home
Five-issue series, with some turtle elements in two issues.
In issue three, in the bonus text “Welcome to the Dogan Part III: City of the Dead” we have two turtle mentions, typical, as part of listing which animals are Guardians.
“But no sooner did Sir Alfred indicate his agreement than twelve giant horsemen came galloping toward them from the compass’ twelve directions. Though they had the bodies of men, the gargantuan warriors had the heads of beasts. Rat and Fish, Bat and Hare, Eagle and Lion, Dog and Horse, Turtle and Bear, Wolf and Elephant – all moved toward them at a preternatural speed, the red roses swaying in their wakes like swirling rivers of blood.”
“Behind him stood eleven others each with the visage of a different beast. A Rat and a Fish, a Bat and a Hare, an Eagle and a Lion, a Dog and a Horse, a Turtle and Bear and of course the Elephant who, along with the Wolf, ruled Gan’s Beam, the first and most potent of all.”
Issue 5 has extra text that is the most turtle of them all, it’s called “Invoking the Guardians”, so the Guardians are the main content! We have four text fragments and three images, one of a child’s version of the map showing the Guardians, one of Maturin and one of the End-World map, this map is also shown in the “End-World Almanac”.
“Each of these portals is protected by a giant beast, known as a Totem or Guardian. At twelve o’clock stands the Elephant Guardian, at one o’clock stands the Rat, at two the BAt, at three the Eagle, at four the Dog, at five the Turtle, at six the Wolf, at seven the Fish, at eight the Hare, at nine the Lion, at ten the Horse, and at eleven the Bear. Each guardian is paired with the Guardian who stands opposite him on the far side of the world disk – the Elephant with the Wolf, the Rat with the Fish, the Bat with the Hare, the Eagle with the Lion, the Dog with the Horse, and the Turtle with the Bear.”
“Of all the Guardians, the favorite among children tends to be the Turtle Guardian, known as Maturin. Gan bore the world it almost dropped into the abyss, but it was saved by Maturin who caught it upon his shell. In fact, accordding to a popular nursery rhyme, the world still balances upon Maturin;s back:
“See the TURTLE of Enormous Girth”
“On his shell he holds the Earth.”
“His thought is slow, but always kind.”
“He holds us all within his mind.”
“On his back all vows are made;”
“He sees the truth but mayn’t aid.”
“He loves the land and loves the sea,”
“And even loves a child like me.”
“But as the twelve Guardians arose – Bear and Turtle, Elephant and Wolf, Rat and Fish, Bat and Hare, Eagle and Lion, Dog and Horse – they dragged from the depths of the Prim their shadow selves, those twelve Demon Aspects of the Beam created to rule the world of demons, ill-sicks, and all the pestilences and plagues that have irked mankind ever since.”
“As the parents pour libations upon each of twelve Xs, soliciting the gods to come to their circle, a relative, wearing the mask of the appropriate Guardian steps forth. To the north-ernmost edge of the circle comes the Elephant, then following clockwise around the circumference appears the Rat, the Bat, the Eagle, the Dog, the Turtle, the Wolf, the Fish, the Hare, the Lion, the Horse, and finally, the Bear.”
Treachery
A six-issue series, with a turtle element in issue number three. Within the comic we can see sculptures of the Guardians, including the turtle, on additional pages we also have the same drawing shown, but in sketch form.
The Sorcerer
1 issue, no turtle elements
Fall of Gilead
6 issues, without any turtle elements.
Battle of Jericho Hill
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
The Journey Begins
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
The Little Sisters of Eluria
A five-issue series, the Turtle appears in the issue 3 bonus text, “The Dark Bells”. Typically, this is a mention of the Turtle as part of the Guardians’ listing.
“Instead, she held up her kersone lamp and stared intently at the sculpted faces of the room’s walls. All of the Guardians were here: Bear and Turtle, Elephant and Wolf, Rat and Fish, Bat and Hare, Eagle and Lion, Dog and Horse. But from the mouth of each protruded a carved desert scorpion.”
The Battle of Tull
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
The Way Station
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
The Man in Black
Five-issue series, with turtle elements in two issues.
The first turtle fragment is in issue two, in the comic part Roland draws a map with a turtle on it.
The next turtle fragment is additional material in the fourth issue and the text “There are other worlds than these” in which the Turtle and the Bear are mentioned.
“In New York 1977, Jake’s doorway into Midworld is located in a haunted mansion in Brooklyn. In Mid-World, it is located in a Speaking Ring sitting along the Path of the Bear-Turtle Beam.”
Sheemie’s Tale
Two-issue series, the turtle element is only found in the additional materials in the second issue, it is the same map that we could see in the comic part of the second issue of the series “The Man in Black”.
Evil Ground
2 issues, without any turtle elements.
So Fell Lord Perth
1 issue, without any turtle elements.
The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three
The Prisoner
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
House of Cards
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
Lady of Shadows
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
Bitter Medicine
5 issues, without any turtle elements.
The Sailor
A five-issue series with turtle elements in two issues.
The first issue with turtle elements is issue two, in which we have art showing mechanical versions of all the Guardians, including Maturin. In the bonus materials we have a piece of script describing how this particular art is supposed to look like, and we also have this entire page and several others shown again.
“1. Let’s see an image of twelfe animal Guardians standing in pairs: Dog-Horse, Eagle-Lion, Elephant-Wolf, Fish-Rat, Bat-Hare, Turtle-Bear.”
In the third issue we have the turtle in the comic part, in two frames we can see turtle painted on a fence, with a fragment of a nursery rhyme about him, and in one frame showing an information board we have the name “Turtle Bay”.
Inności
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born Sketchbook
1 issue, without any turtle elements.
Marvel Spotlight: The Dark Tower
1 issue, without any turtle elements.
The Dark Tower: Gunslinger’s Guidebook
1 issue, without any turtle elements.
The Dark Tower: End-World Almanac
A issue with various information about the world of Dark Tower, with two turtle drawings, one of the Guardians and one being a map that can also be seen in the third issue of “The Long Road Home” series. Additionally, there are three turtle mentions in the texts.
“The Twelve Guardians. then, are instrumental to the very survival of the multivere. Perhaps the most revered of the Guardians is MAturin the Turtle. Known in folklore as the “Great Turtle Upon Whose Shell the World Rests,” legend has it that it was Maturin who caught the world upon his back shortly after it was created by Gan. Had Maturin not been there, all of Existence would have fallen into oblivion. Altough he is generally believer to be of slow thought, Maturin is nonetheless regarder as being benevolent and is often invoked in song and prayer. Maturin is paired with his fellow Guardian, Shardik the Bear.”
Also of significance, the Calla Bryn Stugis village center was built directly upon the Path of the Bear, Way of the Turtle, one of the six magnetic Beams upholding the Dark Tower.
A main road winds its way through the Badlands along the path of the Bear-Turtle Beam.
The Dark Tower: Guide to Gilead
A single-issue item with various pieces of information about the title location. There is one mention of a turtle and a rhyme related to it, on one of the pages there is also a drawing of a totem with a turtle at its base.
“Hax also taught the castle’s children the Guardian rhymes, such as the famous Turtle Rhyme that begins, “See the Turtle of enormous girth!/ On his shell he holds the earth.”
Author: XYuriTT
