NEW YORK, March 29 — Horror writer Stephen King is being sued by the comic book creator of The Rook over his Dark Tower series.
In the lawsuit filed, King is being sued US$500 million (RM2.2 billion) for allegedly basing the idea for the main character in his book series — gunslinger Roland Deschain — on the protagonist in The Rook, Restin Dane.
Similar to Dane, The Rook creator noted that King’s Deschain dresses like a cowboy despite not being from the Old West, and the towers on the cover of both books look similar.
The complaint also claims that both characters are “time-traveling, monster-fighting, quasi-immortal, romantic adventure heroes,” according to a TMZ report.
The TMZ report also stated that The Rook character was featured in more than five million comic magazines from 1977-1983 — which King had admitted to reading — whereas the first book in King’s Dark Tower series was released in 1982.
The lawsuit comes just hours after the release of the first footage from the upcoming Dark Tower movie at CinemaCon.
The movie stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey and is set to hit cinemas in July.
