Dark Tower

Last year a good friend of mine got me reading the Dark Tower cycle by Stephen King. Looking back, I'm still a bit fuzzy about precisely how that happened. I guess he must have used hypnosis because I remember him telling me how it all ends and me saying that I'll never read them after that. It's more about the journey than the end though and now that I finally got past Wizard and Glass (quick summary; the first 100 pages or so is basically the last 100 or so pages of the Third book, then there's a massive flashback about him as a teenager hiding basically) I'm reading it every night pretty obsessively (I'm on Wolves of the Calla now).

For those not savvy to it, it's an epic fantasy series but instead of swords and sorcery, King deliberately went for a Western motif and if weekday afternoon movies on Channel Five are any indication, then Westerns are coming back.

The story centres around Roland Deschain, the Last Gunslinger of Gilead and his search for the elusive Dark Tower. He's a man who is described as being a) incredibly old because the way his world is moving on is affecting time somehow b) sharp, both with his guns and with his perceptions c) short on imagination d) short on humour e) complete badass.

The Tower itself stands at the centre of all things, the nexus of all worlds and times. And it's crumbling.

Plot aside (I'm sure I'll bring it up again at some point anyway) I spent some time last weekend drawing Roland in front of the Tower and spent a while today meticulously colouring it in (click to full zoom of course).



























And then I went and defaced all of my hard work.




























And then I wondered how it might look on an old edition book.




























But it kinda came out more like an olde timey wanted poster.