Subj: Everybody Read BoTC
From: Scavella
I've just now read BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS #10. If this story is from the anthologies, it's from one I haven't read yet, so I'm still on the edge of my seat waiting for the next part. The art by Blevins, Taillefer and Dechnik is superb. Yes, I still maintain that nobody will ever match Wendy's perfection, but, heck, gosh. I used to linger over pages of the old EQ, at the expense sometimes of reading the story, just to study the art - the expressions on the faces... the interactions, visually, among the characters in the background as well as the foreground... or just to reexamine the curve of a line or a patch of crosshatching. I found myself doing that with BoTC #10 - found myself torn between wanting to find out what would happen next in a very intriguing story... and getting stuck on a certain frame, a certain arch of eyebrow, a certain gradation of color. Good work. More more more, please.
Re: Cover illustration BoTC #10
Yes! Yes! Oooh! Pretty! I wanna go climb in those trees! I wanna go roll in the grass! What a howling good piece of art. Nice job, Barry! Cool! Loved the notch in Bearclaw's ear - whose idea was that? (Ohhh, callow youth! That notch is an original, going back to Bearclaw's first appearance in original Elfquest #4. All since then have been bonus notches. - RP) Aargh! I'm so jealous... wish I'd painted that.
And hey, I don't remember reading that story in the prose anthologies. Is it a new story?
Mari Hersh-Tudor
<<street address removed from archive>>
With the delays on HIDDEN YEARS and the
debut of SHARDS I literally drank in BoTC's storyline. Oh,
what a story! The Wolfrider descendants of a near-catastrophe
find themselves in the midst of rediscovering
one of many mysteries to be answered later in a
story already written. The words hit like a sledgehammer
while the art emphasizes the meaning with movement
and expression. Speaking of art, there is one
scene in BoTC #10 where Joyleaf is banging on the
stone door to the troll caverns. At first glance I almost
thought it was Cutter and not Joyleaf. If you go back to
Book 1 "Fire and Flight" you can see the close, almost
uncanny resemblance of mother and son. Even down
to the position of the legs. Another scene I thought was
well-drawn was when Bearclaw drew his sword. Very
dramatic and perfect for drawing out the point of the
story. I can't wait to find out what happens.
Stephanie Wexler
<<street address removed from archive>>
I've been thinking about the Go-Backs and
how they might link up in lineage with the Wolfriders.
And if they do happen to have common ancestors, I
was thinking it might have started with Trickster's clan.
But something just didn't run smoothly... There's something missing. Neither Rahnee nor Fastfire were very much concerned with finding the ancient Palace of the High Ones. And neither was Trickster's clan. Cripes, with Rahnee being one-fourth wolf, she was in the "now" of wolf thought most of the time. She probably wouldn't even remember if a palace even existed.
But you know who was interested in finding the Palace? Two-Spear. In fact, he was obsessed with returning to the stars. Now that opens a whole new possibility. Because I remember reading that Two-Spear's tribe met up with another tribe of full-blooded elves before they became the plains elves. Could that be Trickster's clan, perhaps?
And speaking of Trickster's clan, I remember that most of their tribe was killed off just before they met Rahnee. And before Savah came to the desert, she lived in the forest with other elves, who were almost all killed off. Could Savah and her refugees have been part of that original Trickster's clan?
At any rate, I'm mainly concerned with Two-Spear. I'm almost positive he had something to do with sparking the Go-Backs' lust for the Palace.
Jason Burns
<<street address removed from archive>>
About the discussion of the blood of the
Go-Backs: So what if Leetah sensed something while
healing Go-Backs during the war. It still doesn't mean
she told anyone, even Cutter. That also means that it
is still an open question for the storytellers. (Though
I have difficulty imagining the Go-Backs taming deer
with even a whiff of wolf to their scents.)
Katarina Ljung
<<street address removed from archive>>
The minor temblor that rippled through Ten Chiefs reader-dom when I mentioned the possibility of a connection between Kahvi and the Wolfriders seems to have quieted down, so I figured I'd add a couple of letters on the subject to turn the heat back up. We're definitely coming into the home stretch pre-production-wise on the six-issue Kahvi mini-series on tap for mid-1995, and it's a corker. But before speculation gets too wild, let me caution that we don't have any evidence for plains elves, and some of the events you read about in the BoTC anthologies have been misted over by time and retelling. - RP
From: SkyFall
Subj: BoTC #10 & 11
To: RPini, EQUEST-L@psuvm.psu.edu
I have to start out and say that before issue 7, I never read BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS. The only issue of the series I had read to that point was #4. At the time, I wasn't really sure if I liked it enough. Then someone urged me to get issue 7 because she loved the story in the prose novel so much. Peer pressure! I figured, "OK. I'll give it a try again." And you know what? I loved it! It was great!
I've never read the anthologies. Sad thing to admit, but it's true. They don't sell them here that I've found. Then I heard you were going to do a two parter with an *original* story from the Bearclaw era. "Cool! Gotta check this one out."
Verdict on the two issues: wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW! Why did I like it so much? There are a couple of reasons.
1) I think the biggest reason was that I'm a big Skywise fan. I love reading the stories about him. They're very interesting... OK. I thumb through all the pages until I find him, read all his dialog and then I go on reading from the beginning. I know. It's strange. It does wonders for the story. Fortunately both issues were ALL about Skywise so I just read them all the way through.
2) It was a new story, not one from the novels. With the novel stories, people generally knew where the story was going. They had read it before and basically knew what to expect... Which leads to my next point.
3) The concept of the sphere from the heavens was so mysterious. With a story adapted from the novels, you didn't have as much of the element of surprise. At the end of issue 10, the story left you hanging and you HAD to get the next one. I couldn't wait for the next one to come out. I went on a mad search to find #11. I got lucky and found it a week earlier than I usually see it.
I loved the end where Cutter and Skywise are sitting there talking. Skywise saying that he thinks everything comes from "up there" and Cutter getting... annoyed?... at him because he was still thinking about the sphere. Just too cool! I love interaction like that!
Concerning the image projected from the sphere. I'm still trying to figure out if there is a reference to it somewhere else. I haven't been able to find one. Was that Timmain? It looked like her, but I couldn't tell.
And another thing. The language the sphere image (was it an image?) used was foreign to Skywise. Was that the language used on the elves' home planet? If it was, what happened to it? Was it still used when the high ones were coming to Abode or was it lost before? I think it would have been lost before they Abode-bound high ones landed. They had talked in the dialect that is used by the elves today.
Well, I've talked long enough. All in all, issues 10 and 11 were great! The creative teams and writers did a stupendous job with the art and the story. Keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to the next issues of BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS.
Sky
Some follow-up on a couple of topics from
previous Chief Shots letters pages. In the matter of
snakes (from all the way back in BoTC #7 plus a letter
from Jean McGuire taking us to task for cruelly portraying
these creatures), the mail we've received
since then has been running about half and half
between "this is not the Earth, things are not the same
as here, stop nitpicking" and "I am glad for that letter,
it's caused me to take a new look at something I'd
never thought about before." Thanks to everyone for
writing, and don't stop!
Also I've gotten several more articles from readers on the business up in Alaska surrounding the "wolf kill" program. Much as I'd like to print all of the material I get, I do have to balance that desire with the one to provide space as well for as many of your letters as possible. But the problem - and the reporting of it here - won't go away.
Finally, I've had a number of phone calls recently - must be the advent of holiday season - from people asking for information on how to "adopt" a wolf. It's well known that we adopted a beautiful wolf named Betsy well over ten years ago, and still contribute to the organization that runs the study preserve where Betsy lived and died. The wolf adoption program is still open, and for information you can write or call:
Wolf Park
Battle Ground, IN 47920
(phone) 317-567-2265
Also, Jessica Hillman reminds me that there are available, at Natural Wonders and other "nature company" type stores, Wolf Sponsorship Kits that cost about twenty dollars. For that contribution, you get your own wolf-friend and the knowledge that you've helped an endangered species. And you can keep them or give them as gifts. Sounds like a deal!
And in the meantime, keep those cards, letters and elementary particles coming in, and I'll see you in 30! - RP