Chrome Violet is back with another guest post, this time she takes a look back at the Elf Quest comics. Without further ado:
In the year of 1977 two wondrous things occurred:
- Wendy Pini began writing and illustrating the graphic novel ElfQuest with the help of her husband Richard Pini and,
- I was born just a few days shy of Christmas. .
Now it took me a year or two to manipulate my arms and hands enough to hold a book and then another few years to master reading (note I said my birth was wondrous, not “super amazing” since I wasn’t born reading…hell I probably didn’t even see all that well to begin with!) but once I did I learned to love all things fairy tale and fantasy. At about 12 years old I came across the self-published Elfquest at the old comic book store in downtown Salt Lake. See my dad would stop in and peruse figurines to paint and use in his DnD games and I’d get super bored waiting for him leading me to check out the reading material that wasn’t hermetically sealed in plastic sleeves (there wasn’t much let me tell you).
ElfQuest hooked me from the very first time I gazed upon Cutter – the main protaganist – and found myself entranced by his massive limpid eyes. I was a sucker for anything having to do with pointy eared humanoids – commonly known as “elves” – then and I’m still a sucker now. I owned three volumes when I was a kid but as the years went by and with it other media, people, places, and things to geek out on I forgot to check on the story of these fierce elves. This year I made it a point to revisit the saga and I fell in love all over again with the story and my instantly blossoming admiration for the creators that brought it into being.
There’s probably a multitude of reasons this particular comic book has a cult following that’s still strong today but let me share with you why it hits all the right notes in that holy trinity of the comic book medium:
1) ARTWORK/ILLUSTRATION: This is the first element that pulled me in when I was an impressionable pre-teen. Lush, dynamic, clean, ornate. Wendy is an amazing artist who has honed her skills mostly on her own steam which stellar in of itself. I like pretty things and her artwork has that in spades. But there’s plenty of movement and emotion going on in her stories making it both compelling, easy to connect with, and fun. There’s action, adventure, drama, humor, and of course romance and Wendy’s illustrations are a perfect and engaging visual vehicle.
2) STORY: The story is fanciful of course being about elves with magical (or uber enhanced) abilities. But unlike other myths and fairy tales this one deviates from the traditional by focusing on the very real struggles of a particular fierce but tight knit tribe of exiled elves that have bonded with wolves and are on the adventure to find their others of their race and also establish a new home. This isn’t a looping love story about humans perpetually falling under the glamorous spell of fairy creatures but rather the saga of a people trying to keep their culture alive amidst upheaval and all the relationships that join and split in the journey. The lovely thing is there’s plenty of juicy “micro-stories” in between the characters to make it even more easy to connect. Humans, refreshingly enough, play very very minor characters in the greater story even as themes of family, culture, change, relationships, personal power and choice are brought up in very real ways.
3) WRITING: One of the great things about Wendy’s writing style is it’s not sappy. It’s approachable and real. It’s not trumped up with seriousness like a superhero comic and it’s also not overloaded with fluffy language or prose like a fairy story. The dialog is true to life (albeit peppered with a few otherworldly concepts as per the environment of course) and also soulful.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ IT: If you enjoy a good fantasy story or fairy tale check it out for the innovative spin on the elven race.
If you’re an old school fantasy geek crack this open cause it’s a cult classic.
And if you just really like a good dramatic story with lush artwork that was lovingly created and independently published by passionate storytellers pick this up and consider adding it to your own library as I have. OR happily indulge in the digital archive Wendy and Richard have generously made available on the web!
Go forth my imaginative adults and immerse yourself in books with pictures!