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SPOILER - Micheal Whalen Drawings

edited September 2004 in Dark Tower
First off I have to reiterate that this book has the best of illustrations out of them all.



I do need someone to clear one item up for me. All the drawings, with one exception I believe, accurately portray an event from the book.



The one exception is that of the Crimson King. Unless I glossed over it in my reading there was no scene such as that one depicted, was there? It is this picture that is probably causing a lot of the dissatisfaction over at the Dark Tower site. For it shows characters lying at his feet that creates expectations that Roland would have a more direct confrontation with the Crimson King.



The picture is, I believe, intended as a representation of all the people the Crimson King either directly or indirectly killed. Unfortunately, it has led many to envisage a false story point. I know I was waiting for a scenario where CK tempted Roland with all his dead friends.



Anyone else have the same experience?

Comments

  • I see it as depicting the scene when CK kills everyone in his castle before he heads off to the Tower. The three Kings relate this tale to Roland and Susannah.
  • Yep, Bev is right as always :).



    It is the one where Feemalo, Fumalo and Fimalo depicts how the CK lined up the kitchen staff and women o' work and have them take rat poison and when they lay there begging and dying of thirst "he sat on his throne which was made of bone" quite like the title of the illustration.



    Page 604 or 605 of the trade edition if I remember correctly. :)
  • Yes just confirmed it. Too bad the one girl evokes Susan Delgado and the old man Pere Callahan. The fault lies within myself. :-[
  • Lou_Sytsma wrote: Yes just confirmed it.  Too bad the one girl evokes Susan Delgado and the old man Pere Callahan.  The fault lies within myself. :-[


    It could be though. We'll never know. Perhaps they are the twinners of Susan and the Pere ;)
  • The one picture that I have an issue with is on pg 750 and is of Roland sitting on the ground in fron of the door after Susannah has gone through. The door shows the crossed pencils on the knob and the sign that says "The Artist". While these were seen on the door in Susannah's dream, Susannah has Patrick leave them out of the actual drawing, correct?



    Page 740:



    "Patrick made a hooting sound and they both looked. He was holding his pad up, turned towards them so they could see what he had drawn. It was a perfect representation of the Unfound Door, she thought. THE ARTIST wasn't printed on it, and the doorknob was plain shiny metal -- no croseed pencils adorned it -- but that was all right. She hadn't bothered to tell him about those things, which has been for her benefit and understanding."



    Just pickin' some nits, y'all... :)
  • The one picture I was confused with was the one of the Spider and the man holding his face. At first when I saw the picture before reading any of the book I thought for sure it was Roland, so after I read it it still looked like Roland to me, not Walter. Walter looks different in the two pictures.
  • I think the CK picture caused us all to assume things that were out of context. i assumed that picture was from The court of the CK and that Roland or someone in the ka-tet was confronting him there.
  • Nitpicks aside, I also loved the illustrations in this volume.



    Normally, I don't like the more literal interpretations (i.e. I prefer the pictures in vols 2, 4 and 6 to those in 1, 3 and 5). But in vol 7, Whelan has such a great skill in capturing the emotion or dramatic tension in a scene through his composition and colour. I also liked the sketches at the end of each chapter. An amazing accomplishment.



    HBJ
  • Tobey_Starburst wrote: The one picture I was confused with was the one of the Spider and the man holding his face. At first when I saw the picture before reading any of the book I thought for sure it was Roland, so after I read it it still looked like Roland to me, not Walter. Walter looks different in the two pictures.


    The only scene that illustration fitted was Mordred plucking our Flagg's eyes.



    I think the illustrations are more interpretations than actual events, and though the two illustrations of Flagg differ, I wonder if Whelan created two different versions of Flagg for the fans...a dark haired one and a blond haired one.
  • His clothes seemed different as well.
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