by Bev Vincent
“THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA”
Artists: Michael Whelan and Erik Wilson
For the novella’s appearance in Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg, two artists contributed illustrations. Michael Whelan created a painting of Roland standing before an open magic door with the Dark Tower in the background and a pencil drawing of Roland with crossed guns standing in a cemetery. Erik Wilson’s drawing is a montage of scenes from the story that features the sisters, the mutants, the dog with the cross-shaped patch of fur, the doctor bugs, the Tower, and Roland in bandages.
For the Grant edition of The Gunslinger combined with “The Little Sisters of Eluria,” Whelan produced another set of color paintings and black-and-white illustrations. The original artwork from The Gunslinger is also included in this edition.
1. Quest (frontis)—Roland crossing a desert. His very long shadow extends in front of him.
2. The Gunslinger Stood in His Dusty Boots—Roland, wearing a hat, with his guns crossed at his shoulders and a decrepit signpost in the background
3. Time Belongs to the Tower—A hatless Roland with the moon in the background and vultures circling
4. Sister Mary Came from the Shadows—A ghastly figure in a robe enters a tent, bearing a candle, skeletons at her feet
5. The Gunslinger Moved on West—A two-page spread featuring Roland and his horse standing before a Western scene. Behind him, mesas and Eluria on the horizon.
6. The Man in Black Fled across the Desert—A two-page spread. Walter, in his black robe, grinning fiendishly as he crosses the desert. He’s carrying tarot cards, one of which features the Tower.
7. The Gunslinger Followed—Roland stands in the swirling desert with the demonic Walter in the background. There’s a rotting signpost near him
8. Roland and the Dark Tower—Roland stands astride an Unfound Door with the Dark Tower in the background (from Legends).
THE DRAWING OF THE THREE
Artist: Phil Hale
Phil Hale is part of a group of artists who have illustrated multiple Stephen King books. He contributed one plate to the 1984 Donald M. Grant limited edition of The Talisman and illustrated Insomnia.
He was not happy with his artwork for the first edition of The Drawing of the Three so, given the opportunity twelve years later, he replaced all of it. The illustrations bear the same names as the originals, but the style and composition is markedly different. The new illustrations are less cartoonish, more subdued in color and more photorealistic.
His 1989 illustration of Roland standing in front of a door with his hand bandaged and his clothing ripped, done for the NAL audio version of The Drawing of the Three, represents an intermediate stage in his evolution. The painting is colorful but less gaudy than the work for the original Grant edition, but not as realistic or dark as those in the second edition.
In addition to small, symbolic black-and-white illustrations for the beginning of each chapter, Hale produced ten oil-on-linen color prints. They are:
1. Did-a-Chick—Roland stomps on one of the lobstrosities
2. Roland—The wounded gunslinger
3. On the Beach—Jack Andolini gets a surprise
4. Souvenir—Eddie, naked, in Balazar’s hideout, and Henry Dean’s head
5. Waiting for Roland—Eddie with a knife to Roland’s throat while Roland is with Odetta
6. Detta—Detta Walker strapped into her wheelchair
7. Waiting for the Pusher—Eddie trying to stay awake next to Roland’s body and the doorway
8. Nothing but the Hilt—During Roland’s robbery at Katz’s Drug Store
9. Jack Mort—the Pusher, after the lighter stops a police officer’s bullet
10. The Gunslinger—cover art. Roland with a fiendish rictus on his face.
THE WASTE LANDS
Artist: Ned Dameron
Ned Dameron was an artist exhibitor at Necon, the Northeast Writer’s Conference, which was cofounded by Donald M. Grant, where Stephen King saw some of his work—much of it from Grant editions of Robert E. Howard books—in the art room. Grant suggested Dameron as the illustrator for The Waste Lands and, after seeing some of his non-Howard work, King agreed.
Dameron produced twelve full-color paintings (oil on acetate) for The Waste Lands, spot illustrations for the book’s sections, and a gouache and watercolor on scratchboard drawing of Jake and Oy for the endpapers. Several of his illustrations are two-page spreads. They are:
1. Mir Embraced the Tree
2. Hold Me Still, Roland—Susannah on Roland’s shoulders, firing at Shardik
3. The Dark Tower
4. The Rose—Jake in the vacant lot
5. Charlie the Choo-Choo—reproducing a page from the book
6. The Plaster Man Roared—featuring the doorkeeper
7. Roland Knelt before Her—Aunt Talitha from River Crossing
8. Better Duck, Dearie—Gasher with Jake in Lud
9. He Fired—Roland, wearing Aunt Talitha’s cross
10. Blaine the Mono—after they left Lud
11. Leather Wings—pterodactyl-like creatures outside Lud
12. The Waste Lands.
Dameron also contributed artwork to the Donald M. Grant limited edition of The Talisman. He sells his artwork—oil paintings and sculptures—in galleries in Louisiana under his given name, Edward Palfrey Dameron, using Ned Dameron for his commercial illustrations.
WIZARD AND GLASS
Artist: Dave McKean
Dave McKean became well known as the cover artist for the Sandman graphic novels. He uses Photoshop to combine a variety of images to create pieces that resemble dioramas. One gets the impression that these abstract photomontages have a third dimension, as with found objects affixed to a canvas.
McKean produced fourteen color plates. He also did full-page black-and-white sketches for the prologue, afterword and each of the four major sections.
The color plates are:
1. Rose
2. God Help Us—the ka-tet in Topeka with the last page of the Topeka Capital-Journal showing the crucifixion*
3. All Hail the Crimson King—Eddie’s dream of the bulldozer in the vacant lot
4. Two Drops of Poison—Rhea extracting poison from Ermot*
5. Her Arms and Belly and Breasts Breaking Out in Gooseflesh—Susan Delgado being tested for purity
6. And at the Bar, a Whole Line of Assorted Toughs—inside the Travellers’ Rest, featuring “The Romp”*
7. Cuthbert, Meanwhile, Had Reloaded—the showdown in the Travellers’ Rest with the Big Coffin Hunters
8. But He and His Love Were No Longer Children—Roland and Susan and their clandestine meetings in Hambry
9. Pinch and Jilly—a puppet show for the Reap Fair*
10. Smiling Lips Revealed Cunning Little Teeth—Randall Flagg
11. There They Died Together-o—the story of Robert and Francesca, the Hambry version of Romeo and Juliet
12. Of the Three of Them, Only Roland Saw Her—Roland, Alain and Cuthbert on horseback, with Susan, the girl in the window, waving
13. The Firelight Made Baleful Streaks on her Face—Cordelia Delgado*
14. It cut the old man’s throat efficiently enough—Roy Depape murdering Mayor Hart Thorin
15. The Dark Tower Rearing to the Sky—part of Roland’s vision in the pink Wizard’s Glass
16. A Flash as the Big Bang Exploded—Roland, Alain and Cuthbert attacking the tankers at Hanging Rock
17. The Wicked Witch of the East—part of the ka-tet’s vision in the pink Wizard’s Glass
18. And Then That Strange Albino Leaf Caught His Eye—Eddie finds Randall Flagg’s message after they leave the Green Palace*
* omitted from Plume paperback
THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE
Artist: Jae Lee with coloring by June Chung
Jae Lee produced a series of black-and-white and color illustrations. See the interview concerning his work on The Wind Through the Keyhole and on The Gunslinger Born elsewhe
re in this book.
Color:
1. They Regard Each Other—Tim Ross and the tyger, used as both the cover and the frontispiece
2. I Turned to Run…It Caught Me—Sister Fortuna from Serenity and the skin-man
3. He Kneed His Mount in a Circle—The Covenant Man with Tim Ross on his horse
4. She Was Looking at Him from Beady, Red-Veined Eyes—Tim Ross and the dragon
5. Ancient Tumblers Turned—Tim Ross frees the tyger from its cage
6. It Lunged, Fangs Flashing—The skin-man as a pooky
B&W:
1. Jake Snatched Him Up—Jake with Oy as the starkblast approached
2. Scales Instead of Skin—the skin-man as described by Sister Fortuna
3. Those Were Good Years—Tim Ross on his father’s shoulders
4. Perhaps it Would Work—young Roland looking at a bullet
5. Storm’s over, Sugar—a bin-rustie on a limb with icicles
In addition, there are black-and-white drawings on the section pages.
1. Starkblast—a billy-bumbler
2. The Skin-Man—the shape-shifter in one of its many guises
3. The Wind Through the Keyhole—Armaneeta, the sighe
4. The Skin-Man—the miners from Little Debaria
5. Storm’s Over—Roland
Bin-rusties appear throughout, and what appears to be a cave drawing forms the book’s endpapers.
WOLVES OF THE CALLA
Artist: Bernie Wrightson
Like Michael Whelan, Bernie Wrightson is another artist with a long and varied history of illustrating Stephen King projects. He produced the movie poster and the comic book associated with the anthology movie Creepshow and illustrated the limited editions of Cycle of the Werewolf, The Stand and From a Buick 8.
Wrightson was on the set of The Green Mile with his friend, director Frank Darabont, to celebrate King’s birthday in 1998. Someone made a cake that reproduced the cover of the final installment of the serialized novel, and King played around with the cast, agreeing to take his place in the electric chair. During that party, King asked Wrightson if he would illustrate the fifth book in the Dark Tower series. He agreed and reread the previous four books before tackling the new manuscript. Wrightson contributed twelve acrylic-on-board paintings, plus black-and-white spot illustrations and endpaper artwork featuring Susannah as Mia. They are:
1. Time to Be Men—Father Callahan speaks up in Calla Bryn Sturgis
2. She Lifted It to Her Mouth—Susannah on her nightly foraging expedition
3. Gunslingers, to Me!—The battle at Jericho Hill
4. Do You See Him?—Eddie and Susannah confront one of the vagrant dead
5. Come-Come-Commala—Roland dances for the people of Calla Bryn Sturgis
6. Its Blade Gleams Brightly—Father Callahan prepares to kill a vampire attacking Lupe Delgado
7. She Throws It Hard—Molly Doolin kills one of the Wolves
8. The Searchlight Goes on Again—Calvin Tower saves Father Callahan from the Hitler Brothers
9. Riza—Susannah Dean demonstrates her skills with the Oriza
10. The Reclining Skeleton Grinned at Him—Jake and Oy in the Dogan
11. You Stainless-steel Bastard—Eddie shoots Andy
12. For Gilead and the Calla—Roland takes the first shot in the battle with the Wolves
SONG OF SUSANNAH
Artist: Darrell Anderson
Like Dave McKean, Anderson’s artwork stands apart from the rest because of its abstract composition. He deliberately made the color paintings suggestive and abstract so that there would be room for interpretation by the viewer, though they are, in general, more accessible than McKean’s. He contributed ten color paintings, along with endpaper artwork and spot illustrations for the beginnings of each of the thirteen “stanzas” and the coda.
The color prints are:
1. Bursts of Green Lightning—the Beamquake
2. He Sees the Doors, at Least a Thousand of Them—Jake’s vision of a multitude of doors as he works with the Manni to open the Unfound Door
3. Huge Rock Formations Sawed at the Sky—Discordia as seen from the Castle on the Abyss
4. “Down!” Roland Bellowed—the gunfight in Bridgton, Maine
5. …Signed His Name in a Quick Scrawl—Calvin Tower signs over the vacant lot to Tet Corporation
6. Susannah Closes Her Eyes—Susannah enters her mental Dogan (also the cover art)
7. Into a Forest of Watching Faces—Roland and Eddie approach Stephen King’s house
8. … Ka Comes to Me—Stephen King
9. Two Hammarskjöld Plaza—the Black Tower in Manhattan, with the rose overlaid
10. Emerging from the Shirt’s Collar Was the Head of a Bird—A taheen in the Dixie Pig
THE DARK TOWER
Artist: Michael Whelan
In an interview printed in Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King, Whelan admits that he was “stoked” when he was asked to illustrate the final book in the series. In addition to the wraparound painting for the dust jacket that shows Roland standing at the base of the Tower among roses, with a Beam in the background—which is also included as an interior two-page illustration—Whelan contributed eleven paintings to the final book in the series. He also designed the endpapers and full-page black-and-white illustrations for the book’s major sections and contributed nearly three dozen black-and-white drawings, one for the end of each of the novel’s chapters.
The color illustrations are:
1. The White Commands You—Father Callahan in the Dixie Pig
2. Come on Then, You Bastards—Jake (armed with Orizas) and Oy at the New York–Fedic door
3. Will You?—Randall Flagg
4. He Reached for It Again—Walter and Mordred
5. Below Them in the Seeping Light Was the Village—Roland, Jake and Oy above Blue Heaven
6. He Moved in Between Jake and Eddie—Susannah, Jake, Eddie, Oy and Roland after the battle in Blue Heaven, with dead humes and taheen scattered around them
7. The Place Where Roland Finally Stopped Felt More Like a Church Than a Clearing—Roland carries Jake into the woods
8. He Sat on His Throne, Which Is Made of Skulls—the Crimson King
9. Woe to Whoever Happened to Be in His Path—Mordred Deschain in Empathica
10. It Would Never Open Again—Roland in front of the doorway marked THE ARTIST
11. His Face Went Slack with a Peculiar Sort of Ecstasy—Patrick Danville
12. The Dark Tower—a two-page spread reproducing the cover art
OTHER ARTISTS
Other artists have tackled the subject of the Dark Tower over the years. These include Alan M. Clark, who chose Roland at the Tower for his subject matter for the cover of The Stephen King Universe by Stanley Wiater, Christopher Golden and Hank Wagner. Movie poster artist Drew Struzan created a painting of Roland and the Tower to be used in the movie The Mist.
Though much of this artwork can be found online in various forms, the ideal place to see it is in a book called Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King from Centipede Press. Though the book is rare and quite expensive, it is enormous, which means the artwork is displayed in a format even bigger than the “originals” in the Grant books.
Illustrating the Dark Tower series went in a completely different direction in 2007 with the launch of Marvel’s graphic novel adaptation of the early parts of Roland Deschain’s life and quest.
MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVELS: THE GUNSLINGER BORN
INTRODUCTION
In 2006, two years after the final book in the Dark Tower series was published, Marvel announced plans to release a series of Dark Tower graphic novels. From Marvel’s perspective, it was a chance to open up the world of comics to a whole new audience, and from King’s perspective it was an opportunity to introduce the Dark Tower series to a new generation of readers, people who might migrate from the graphic novels to the books themselves.
King said that one rea
son he agreed to the plan was that he felt there probably would never be a Dark Tower movie and that this adaptation would be the next best thing.
Before the deal was announced, King visited the Marvel offices to discuss what kind of Dark Tower stories he could tell in this format. According to Joe Quesada, Marvel’s editor in chief, within ten minutes King reeled off a number of complete stories about Roland’s adventures, enough to fill several paperbacks.
While some fans of the series hoped that these monthly installments would pick up with the story where it ends at the conclusion of The Dark Tower, King wanted the story to begin with Roland’s coming of age, moving on to the Mejis story that is told in Wizard and Glass. He wanted to explore events that were important in Roland’s development as the last gunslinger.
From that point, it expands on things that are not mentioned or only briefly alluded to in the novels. The journey back to Gilead is greatly expanded. For the first time, readers learn how Farson’s forces regroup after their defeat in Hamby and rise against Gilead, eventually sacking it. The climax of the series was to be the battle of Jericho Hill, where the gunslingers made their last stand. King went into a lot of detail about what happened during that final battle.
His research assistant, Robin Furth, was listening in on the phone and transcribing these stories. It would be her job to write the scripts for the graphic novels. As the author of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: A Concordance, she had access to the fruits of her vast research into the mythos and was able to bring in and develop characters who were only briefly mentioned in the novels.
The adaptation was conceived as thirty issues broken up into five self-contained arcs or miniseries. These were titled The Gunslinger Born, The Long Road Home, Treachery, Fall of Gilead and Battle of Jericho Hill, each with between five and seven issues. The Gunslinger Born was released in February 2007, with new issues appearing at one-month intervals. Originally, Marvel planned a five-to-six-week break between each miniseries to allow the artists to get a head start on the next installment. However, they discovered they were losing readers during those breaks, so they were shortened.