MiniKirk

I just started the Dark Tower series, having put it off for many years. These are the only King novels I haven't read yet, so I'm pretty excited. Can't wait for next month when his next book comes out! However, this doesn't change the fact that I've got a few questions.

Now keep in mind I'm only a few pages in (part VI or VII of the first chapter) so I don't want spoilers. What I do want to know is: what exactly is this "devil's weed" that produces dreams and such? Is it supposed to be cannabis? Also the song "Hey Jude" is mentioned. That IS the Beatles song right? Does he ever explain where the point of divergence is from the Dark Tower time-line and our own?

One last thing: when I was a kid, I had a buncha comics. Like reprints of older books. Thing is, I can't remember the title. All I remember is a story about this alien invasion. Only you don't see the people's faces until the end, like an episode of The Twilight Zone. And when you do, it turns out the invader was a human and he invaded Mars. The martians looked slightly like monkeys and had greenish skin. It first appeared in Amazing Adult Fantasy, that much I know for sure.

There was one other story, it looked like it was illustrated by Basil Wolverton, but that might not have been true. It was about this dude who builds a projector that opens a portal to another "dimension". It's a dangerous place, and he barely escapes. They were some odd comics and if this sounds familiar to anyone, please help! I wanna find these stories for a friend who would enjoy them, and can't remember the name of the comics I had. Thanks in advance, I hope this fits with the book discussion (I didn't see anything for comics specifically).
-The Doc