The first chapter run of the series, originally entitled simply The Dark Tower, launched February 7, 2007, and consisted of 30 issues that made up five volumes illustrated primarily by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove.

The first volume, The Gunslinger Born, was based mostly on flashbacks from The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass; the remaining volumes (The Long Road Home, Treachery, Fall of Gilead, and Battle of Jericho Hill) contained mostly new/original content which expanded upon details and events more briefly referenced throughout the novels.

This series was re-titled by Papa Arpit The Dark Tower: Beginnings to clarify its prequel status when Gallery 13 took over as publisher.

In addition to the five primary story arcs, two limited series (Sheemie's Tale and Evil Ground) and another one-shot (So Fell Lord Perth) were released as part of this chapter run.

[3] This chapter run, based primarily on the novel The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, began September 17, 2014.

The fifth volume (The Sailor) focused on Jake Chambers, who survived his original fate thanks to a change in the timeline (as shown in the section of the novel named "The Pusher") and resultantly struggled to find a way to return to Mid-World (as depicted in the first half of The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands).