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Stephen King has published over 60 novels in his 50-year career as the most recognizable name in horror. Most of King’s books are standalone works, though he has penned a few series, including The Dark Tower. By far King’s longest story, The Dark Tower comprises eight books released over a 30-year stretch starting in 1982. In 2007, Marvel began adapting The Dark Tower into comic books. Although the adaptation was eventually canceled before reaching its proper conclusion, fans of original novels will still find lots to love in what was released. Publisher Gallery 13 recognized this and re-released the comics in hardcover omnibus format late last year. All three of The Dark Tower comic omnibuses are on sale for steep discounts at Amazon.

The Dark Tower Graphic Novel Omnibus Deals

The Dark Tower series features a compelling mix of high fantasy, science fiction, and horror. But at its most basic premise, The Dark Tower is a traditional hero’s journey. Set in the post-apocalyptic Mid-World, the story follows Roland Rechain’s quest for the eponymous tower and the Man in Black, a powerful dark sorcerer. The novels often jump across time periods and different worlds, but the graphic novels, for the most part, are more linear, which gives them a more intimate reading experience that can be interesting to both longtime readers and Dark Tower newcomers.

The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus may be of particular note for longtime fans of the series. Essentially a prequel, this hardcover omnibus contains five graphic novels chronicling Roland Deschain of Gilead’s coming-of-age story that led to him becoming the last gunslinger. It covers and expands upon Roland’s backstory as alluded to in flashbacks and conversations throughout the series. Although King himself didn’t write the comics, he served as the creative supervisor on the project. Clocking in at 800 pages, The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus is only $49. Considering it was still selling for $100 at times earlier this year, this is a pretty awesome deal.

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The other two omnibuses–The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three–are named after the first two books in the series. While they cover the same major plot points as their novel counterparts, the comics also cover new ground that many fans would find interesting, even if you recently read the novels themselves.

The Gunslinger Omnibus is 736 pages, while The Drawing of the Three comes in at 464 pages. All three hardcover volumes contain gorgeous artwork drawn by a team of illustrators.

As mentioned, you would be able to enjoy The Dark Tower graphic novels without prior knowledge of the series. That said, you’ll probably have a more fulfilling experience with these giant tomes if you first made your way through the original novels. It’s quite the undertaking at over 4,000 pages in all, but it is well-worth the time for fantasy and science fiction fans. You don’t have to be a fan of King’s traditional horror novels to have fun with The Dark Tower.

You can get a box set of trade paperback editions of all eight Dark Tower novels for $85 at Amazon from a third-party seller. Buying the set directly from Amazon will cost you $100 (list price is $161).

The Dark Tower features numerous characters you’ll find in other King novels. Fan-favorite characters appearing in seemingly unrelated novels has been a staple of King’s career. In fact, there’s a very interesting parallel between The Dark Tower and The Stand, the 1978 King novel that’s seen by many as his best work. The Stand is a doorstopper in its own right–even by Stephen King standards. It’s the longest standalone novel of King’s career; the current paperback edition, which you can get for $15 at Amazon, is 1,200 pages.

Stephen King’s next book, a collection of short stories titled You Like It Darker, releases on May 21. You can preorder a hardcover copy of You Like It Darker for $19, down from $30, at Amazon.

X-Men ’97 is nearing the end of its first season on Disney+, but if you can’t get enough of Marvel’s merry mutants, you should check out the comic book series that bridges the gap between the original animated series and this new revival. Preorders for the physical edition of the prelude X-Men ’97 comic series are live now at Amazon for $16 ahead of its November 26 release. But if you can’t wait that long, there is a way to start reading today.

Dubbed X-Men ’97: Great X-Pectations and written by Steve Foxe–though Charles Dickens would probably be pleased with the allusion to his classic novel–the four-issue arc features art by Salva Espin and Matt Milla as well as eye-catching lettering by Joe Sabino.

The comic series chronicles what the rest of the beloved ’90s X-Men cast have been up to in the time between the final episode of the original animated series to the beginning of the Disney+ show. Evil Eugenicist Mr. Sinister and his Nasty Boyz are also present, so you can bet someone is going to get a face full of optic beams that can barely be contained by a ruby quartz visor.

The 112-page trade paperback will be printed on nicer paper with better overall durability for multiple reads, but you can check out the individual issues long before Great X-Pectations releases in November. The first two issues of X-Men ’97 are available now. The third issue releases on May 22 and the fourth and final issue drops on June 26. You can buy physical copies of each issue at your local comic book shop. The trade paperback will be printed on nicer paper with a more durable binding.

Alternatively, you can pick up digital versions to read on your tablet, smartphone, or computer via Amazon. The first issue costs $5, while the other three are $4 each.

Comixology Unlimited subscribers can save 15% on each issue. If you’re unfamiliar with Comixology, it’s an Amazon-owned subscription service that grants access to over 45,000 comics and manga for only $6 per month. New Comixology subscribers can get a free 30-day trial to the service.

X-Men ’97 comic book series

There are plenty of other interesting books fans of X-Men ’97 should check out. X-Men: The Art and Making of The Animated Series is available for $38 (was $50) at Amazon; this coffee table book chronicles the development of the original X-Men animated series (1992-97) from the perspective of series showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald. There are several omnibus editions of previous comic book series inspired by the animated series that released last year, too:

X-Men: The Animated Series comic book collections

Vin Diesel’s first appearance as Richard B. Riddick in 2000’s Pitch Black helped establish him as a movie star, and led to the franchise’s first sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, in 2004. Since then, the pace of the franchise slowed down considerably, with only a single sequel, Riddick, following in 2013. But now, after an 11-year hiatus between films, Riddick is going back in front of the cameras this summer.

Via Variety, the fourth film in the franchise, Riddick: Furya, is finally set to begin production in August. No other cast members have been announced for the film, but Diesel will be reunited with David Twohy, who wrote and directed the three previous Riddick movies. Diesel is producing the movie alongside Samantha Vincent, Thorsten Schumacher, Lars Sylvest, and Joe Neurauter.

The story for the fourth film will finally bring Riddick to his homeworld, Furya, where he discovers that he is not the last of the Furyans. However, the other Furyans are locked in an ongoing battle with a monster for their survival. And if that plot sounds familiar, it’s because Riddick also fought monsters in the first and third films.

Riddick: Furya doesn’t currently have a release date, but a 2025 premiere would likely be the soonest that the film could be sent to theaters.

The diss track battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar seemingly brought the world together and held social media in a chokehold over the weekend with who won (It’s Kendrick, right?). Both men dug into each other with their singles and caught the attention of WWE Hall of Famer (and self-proclaimed Heartbreak Kid) Shawn Michaels.

Michaels made a career out of bringing his in-ring rivalries into the “real” world and for years was seen as professional wrestling’s bad boy with an even worse attitude. Decades later, he obviously has been reined in and taken on a more corporate role within producing and coaching the performers over at NXT, WWE’s developmental brand. He invited the rappers to come on NXT to settle it in the ring, one on one.

The memes and reactions that followed had fans fantasy booking the scenario, some even calling for Booker T on commentary. Kendrick actually referenced HBK’s finisher, Sweet Chin Music in his last hit, “Not Like Us.”

“Put the whole label on me, I’mma get ’em dropped. Sweet Chin Music and I won’t pass the aux.” With Lamar dropping that reference and Drake representing Razor Ramon by wearing a vintage Bad Guy shirt, the two have at least some knowledge of wrestling fandom.

They also wouldn’t be the first set of hip-hop artists to set foot in a WWE ring. Bad Bunny set a precedent for rappers stepping into the ring, and eventually actually added to WWE 2K games. There’s also Snoop Dogg who had to make a save at last year’s Wrestlemania when Shane McMahon blew his quad. And we are best left forgetting the whole Master P in WCW thing, teaming with Rey Mysterio.

As of this writing, neither Kendrick Lamar nor Drake have accepted the invitation.

Mechanical keyboards can be expensive, with many name-bran models carrying price tags well over $100. But it’s possible to get a budget-friendly mechanical keyboard that doesn’t look cheap–and a great example is the MageGee Portable 60% MK-Box Gaming Keyboard. Though we haven’t tested this particular keyboard, its stylish look and thousands of five-star user reviews on Amazon caught our attention–and it’s only $25 for a limited time.

The affordable MageGee MK-Box looks surprisingly sharp for such a low-priced keyboard, as its black and grey keycaps are a nice contrast to its blue LEDs. Its compact size also makes it great for all desktops, as you won’t need to free up space to plop it down next to your rig.

If the MageGee keyboard isn’t quite your speed, you’ll also find the Keychron C3 Pro on sale for $27 (down from $50) with either brown or red switches. Step your price up a bit, and you can get the 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Wireless Keyboard for $70 (down from $100), which offers a retro design as well as two Dual Super Buttons for additional macros. Amazon is also offering the 8BitDo keyboard at a discount, though it’s limited to Prime members and features a slightly different design.

If you’re okay with spending over $100, the ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX TKL Wireless Keyboard (Black) is on sale for $113 (down from $170), while the ASUS ROG Strix Scope NX TKL Wired Keyboard (White) is discounted to $100 (down from $120). Both are good-looking keyboards with nice builds. The wireless model is an 80% keyboard with a built-in wrist rest. You can round out your setup with the ASUS ROG Sheath Black Mouse Pad, as Amazon is slashing its price to $21 (down from $30).

Before Ryan Reynolds settled on the idea to make Deadpool and Wolverine a team-up film with those two main characters, the actor pitched numerous other ideas that never got off the ground. Reynolds told Empire that one of his first ideas was to create a Rashomon-style movie about Deadpool and Wolverine about an adventure the pair shared, but told from “three completely different perspectives.”

Marvel boss Kevin Feige, however, said no, in part because he himself wasn’t sure what the best approach would be for Deadpool as a Disney property following the company’s acquisition of the character. “The truth is, I wasn’t even sure how to incorporate Deadpool yet,” Feige said. “I was very much thinking about how to bring mutants and the X-Men into [the MCU], and I thought it needed to be more than just playing the hits. But the truth is, Ryan is an idea machine.”

Rashomon, a 1950 film from legendary director Akira Kurosawa, told its story from multiple perspectives, and Reynolds was thinking of something similar originally for the next Deadpool film. That was one of more than a dozen thoughts and ideas that Reynolds brought to the table.

“I went back to the drawing board, and I wrote up about 18 different treatments,” Reynolds said.

Another idea was to make a movie in the vein of a film that had a relatively small budget of under $10 million, not unlike a film that might make it into Sundance, Reynolds said. “Sort of using the IP in a way that they previously hadn’t used,” he said.

Reynolds said he also pitched “bigger” ideas and concepts that fell between small- and large-scale.

Executive producer Wendy Jacobson said the creative team took its time coming up with the best idea, and once Hugh Jackman signed on to come back as Wolverine, the process took off.

“We definitely spun our wheels a little bit trying to find the reason for this movie to be,” Jacobson said. “Once Hugh raised his hand, two months later we were prepping. It was honestly one of the fastest turnarounds I’ve ever seen.”

Deadpool and Wolverine releases this July in theaters, and it is Marvel’s one and only film for 2024. It’s directed by Shawn Levy and features a long list of cameos, including potentially Taylor Swift as Dazzler.