When we last left our hero, Roland Deschain, he was mentally trapped in the Crimson King's court. His only hope to continue the long road home lies on a retard, a recurrent figure in many of King's stories, who's recently gained some sort of super-powers. Everything is set for the first great fight between good and evil that Robin Furth and Peter David narrate, thanks to their clean storytelling abilities and top-notch dialogues, in a way nobody else could, leaving open threads for the next miniseries to pick up and our hero forever scarred.

Even though the Gunslinger Born (from now on TGB) was one of last year's biggest-selling books, the Long Road Home (TLRH) didn't attempt to recreate its predecessor's success formula. TLRH is as different from TGB as the first miniseries was from everything that came before it. Whereas TGB presented readers with hundreds of previously unseen characters and a new world to discover, TLRH barely added anything new to the mix. Most of its story took place in a wasteland during just a few days time and, except the Crimson King, we didn't get to meet any new characters at all. It's actually surprising how with a much smaller scope than the previous miniseries', Furth and David managed to tell an engaging story about our hero's mental sanity at stake.

Now that everything's been said and done, it can finally be said that The Long Road Home took the boldest path there was to take and still managed to stand on its own two feet and become a worthy addition to the Dark Tower saga. With any luck, Treachery, the third installment in this story, will be as good and different as its predecessors were.

Of course, a Dark Tower comic book wouldn’t be complete without its back-up features. This time around, instead of a tale exploring the background of a secondary or legendary character, we get to read something similar to encyclopedia entries about some cornerstones of the Dark Tower mythos that have yet to make a significant appearance in the comics, but still constitute a magnificent and elightning read about this gigantic universe King crafted.

On the other side of things, Jae Lee and Ricahrd Isanove's art continues to be breathtaking. The images they've composed for this issue are as nightmarish and iconic as they can possibly get in comics. Lee was definitely born to illustrate these books and having the best colorist in the industry at his service only elevates his pencils to the category of a work of art. Just like the writing, the art has overcome the flaws I pointed out in my review of issue #1 and is now back on TGB's level.

Many books out there could learn a few things from The Dark Tower miniseries. Secret Invasion can learn what a $4-comic should be like and The Ultimates 3, one of the few books out there visually on par with this miniseries, what it really means to plan ahead and ship every issue on time. Simply put, there's not a single comic book out there capable of offering as much value as the Dark Tower miniseries.