Flashback: An Interview with Michael Whelan

Episode 252,   Oct 09, 08:00 AM

Vespe digs deep into the Kingcast Archives and comes up with a 2021 interview Wampler and Vespe conducted with Michael Whelan, the man responsible for defining the look of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. This episode has lived the last 3 years behind a paywall and now you can hear it even if you're not a Patreon subscriber.

Whelan is a renowned sci-fi and fantasy artist who was commissioned by King to provide all the artwork for the first and final Dark Tower books.

We talk about his process there, why his vision of the titular tower and the main protagonist evolved over the years, who owns a good chunk of that original art now, his process, and his audio book addiction.

WARNING: Dark Tower spoilers aplenty this episode!

Whelan is the recipient of 15 Hugo awards for his work illustrating for the most popular names in genre storytelling, including Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert A. Heinlein, Brandon Sanderson, and, of course, Stephen King.