Sometimes dreams do come true. ELFQUEST is going to be an animated movie.
Perhaps there's a touch of fate in the fact that, just as we were quielty celebrating five years of elves and wolves, a phone call came from Nelvana Limited up in Canada. Nelvana, for those who don't know, is the largest animation studio outside of Hollywood, and over the years has produced such TV animation specials as "Cosmic Christmas," "The Devil and Daniel Mouse," and the animation for the Star Wars special. They wanted to do ELFQUEST as a feature-length film.
Sometime after the phone call, when we'd started breathing again, we realized that we couldn't have chosen a better studio to do our movie if the choice had been ours. We have known of Nelvana animation for years and have admired its spunk and spirit. If anyone can do justice to ELFQUEST, these folks can, and we're pleased and excited no end to be able to say, at last, that an agreement has been signed and the wheels are rolling.
The film is still in the very early planning stages. There have been no decisions made yet about music, voices, screenwriters, or any such details. Please don't write to us asking if you can audition or whatever - it's way too early. Please DO write to us with any encouragement you feel about this project - we'd really appreciate hearing it and we'll forward your letters to Nelvana too.
When do we think it will be ready? Well, animation - especially good animation - takes time, and the movie certainly won't be done before October 1984. That's when the final issue, #20, of ELFQUEST comes out, and since the film will cover the whole saga up to that issue, the comic series has to conclude before the film is released. We hope ELFQUEST - THE MOVIE will be out soon after, perhaps early 1985 if not Christmas 1984. While we won't actually be working directly on the film (we'd have to move to Canada and stop doing everything else to do that!), we will be consulting very closely with the folks at Nelvana to make sure that everything is just right, and that the ELFQUEST movie looks and sounds and feels just as it should.
The fire's under the pot!
So after an announcement like that, how do we follow it? Well, the movie is still a ways off, and in the meantime there are a couple of things coming we think you'll like.
ELFQUEST - BOOK TWO is in the works and scheduled to be published this October. Response to Book One was so great that The Donning Company turned right around and asked Wendy to start coloring up the art from ELFQUESTs 6 through 10 for a second volume. If anything, Book Two is looking even better than Book One! For more information see the ad on the inside back cover.
ELFQUEST THE NOVEL - We know we've said this before, but this time it's official! The ELFQUEST Novel will be out and available by the middle of October. It will be a large paperback, with gorgeous wraparound cover and interior illustratons by Wendy. Look for it at all bookstores, and see the ad on page 36.
THE WOODY AWARDS. Recently we received notification that ELFQUEST had won the Phantasy Press Comic Art Award for best alternative comic. Starting in 1981, these awards were renamed the Woody Awards in memory of Wally Wood, an artist who had few peers and no superiors, and who died tragically and far, far too soon. We had the privilege to know Woody for a little while before the end, and will always remember the times we got to sit and swap stories with him. Receiving this award meant a lot to us. We are honored.
NEW ARRIVAL! Things weren't chaotic enough at 2 Reno Road with dozens of elves, wolves, trolls, zwoots, preservers, and the High Ones know what else, so on April 5th, 1982 we introduced the newest little WaRPer to the assembled crew. Her name is Feisty - which is more than appropriate - and she is 15 pounds of the liveliest, snow-white mini-Spitz you could imagine. At last, Choplicker has someone to play with!
See you in 120!
Richard
I have just discovered a marvelous new experience called ELFQUEST! Somehow I have managed to miss it until this past Easter at Balticon 16. in order to make up for lost time, I have bought copies of everything in sight and have ordered my subscription and joined the Fan Club.
Anyway, I just had to write to say "thank you" for allowing me to share your world. The delay between issues seems long to me (although probably far too short for you). However, after learning about all the projects you have going simultaneously, I wonder how you manage at all! As long as you maintain the already high quality shown so far, the wait will surely be worth it.
Bonnie Miller
Baltimore, MD
***** Ahhhhh... This is what we need every so often. No controversy, no heavy discussion -- just nice words. Thank you!
I asked my father, an Associate Professor in
psychology at Oregon State University, what he
thought of the idea of a hunter-gatherer society in
which males and females had much the same
roles and status. he replied, "First get another
intelligent species."
Next I asked him the sort of species that could produce such a society. "Decreased fertility so that the females aren't pregnant all the time, with increased life expectancy to offset that, and less sexual dimorphism than in humans."
I handed him a copy of the ELFQUEST color volume. He was disappointed when I told him that elves don't grow as they age. Such an arrangement would help explain their extended life span, since a creature which grows all its life, such as the carp, is not subject to the decay of those who do not (such as us). Are you sure they don't grow? I think Cutter would look cute at 5' 10", Still wearing his hair in a topknot.
John M. Burt
Portsmouth, VA
***** Oh well, two out of three isn't bad. Yep, we're sure they don't grow, but perhaps they've already got some way built in to nullify the decay that comes with age.
Our first psychopathic elf, Winnowill, has made
her madness contagious, and the Wolfriders are
becoming affected, to witness Strongbow's
departure. He knows all too well the depths of her
insanity, and I suspect his gut feelings about The
Way are more telling than we think. The society of
the Blue Mountain is closed and static, and
Winnowill has the real power over its inhabitants,
not Lord Voll, who is the figurehead. A striking
comment on the dangers of telepathy is laid clear
in the story. The Way, on the other hand, is an
open and dynamic way of life, that does not
depend on coercion and control, but rather on
duty and love. Winnowill is all too aware of this.
and that explains her actions vis-a-vis slavery and
her torture of Strongbow. The Wolfriders are a
threat of immense magnitude to her rule (I
especially like the "No one may dream here,
except by my will"), and her actions will go so far
as murder, I am sure of it. How will our intrepid Elf
folk cope with that one, I wonder?
Fred Brown
Toronto, Ontario
I'm fascinated by Winnowill, though I don't like
her in the least. I think I know why, too. When I see
this dark lady with her silky superior airs and iron
will, her immortal powers so jaded that she uses
them for nothing but the satisfaction of her
perverse ambitions and the punishment of anyone
who crosses her, I don't see just an elf, High One
or no. I see a vampire.
I believe that if Winnowill's people are High Ones, she must be as severe an abberation among them as the vampire is among humankind - almost, as they are, a subspecies unto herself. She's not evil, as some of your readers have decided, but she's decadent in the true sense of the word. Like the bored and powerful even among humans, she's turned to sadism and dominance to alleviate her lack of any constructive use for her abilities, an enormous power turned inward and festering. (Shaping living flesh, for pete's sake! And the Wolfriders thought rock-shaping was bad enough!) The question is, is she the only one? How many, if any, Gliders are like her? Or how many High Ones anywhere? (I refuse to believe the mountain elves are - can be - the only High Ones!) And are these few just the rogues of their kind, or, horrid thought, the dominant type?
Paula O'Keefe
Kirksville, MO
I am very favorably impressed by the coinage of
the name "Winnowill." I have seldom seen a name
which so combines meanings. I count at least five
interpretations:
Winnow / will
Winnow / ill
Win / no / will
Win / now / will
Win / now / ill
And all of them seem to fit. James Joyce (my favorite novelist) would have been proud of you.
Bill Stoddard
Chula Vista, CA
In regard to issues 11 and 12, and in particular,
Winnowill, it is said by philosophers and
songwriters that for every man, there is a woman.
Somehow, it reassures me to know that we have
found the perfect mate for Darth Vader.
R.A. Jaruk
South Lyndeboro, NH
***** And you thought that his breathing was heavy before!
I just finished #12 for the umpteenth time, and it
still has me confused and bothered. Part of me
supperts the Wolfriders' decision to stay with the
Gliders, and the other part sways toward
Strongbow's conviction that there is absolutely
nothing good that can come from Blue Mountain.
As things appear to me, the Gliders aren't evil at
all. In fact, we've seen no real evidence that
Tyldak is evil either. Lord Voll is just befuddled by
Winnowill's delicate manipulations. As far as I
can see, she's the only one who's shown any evil
behavior. Trouble is, with Lord Voll in her control,
so is everyone else in the mountain. I'm so confused!
It just doesn't feel right.
Moonbuck of Rainwood Holt
Portland, OR
I am the happy owner of 25 ELFQUESTs. I have
a 6-year old daughter, Erin. who has read and
reread the magazine so often I had to order
another set, from the little number one to the
latest. Issue #12, however, will not have a
duplicate.
I never thought I would say such a thing, but here 'tis. I was disappointed - extremely, sadly disappointed. Or perhaps that is the wrong word; perhaps depressed would be better.
I have never read such a gloomy, spirit-dampening story as "What Is The Way?" What has happened to my elves? Dewshine was the happiest, luckiest one of the lot! Now she's sad-eyed and helpless. Cutter is out of his tree. Skywise is shaken out of his little cocksure boots. Leetah acts like she doesn't know her own name. Strongbow needs his butt kicked. And it's popular opinion around here that somebody ought to lynch Winnowill.
But Petalwing! My beloved daughter's favorite character! How could you make such dire threats and leave it at that? I was fortunate that I read the issue before Erin plopped into my lap and demanded, "Find Petalwing, Mommy. Read it to me." I put her off with vague excuses. She found the few panels it was in and said she hoped Petalwing is all over issue #13. So do I.
Then we came to Nightrunner. How I hated that! I lived through such a tragedy, watching Erin mourn the death of her dog; and watching Ember weeping into Choplicker's fur can rip the soul out of a mother by the roots. I suspected Nightrunner would die; I just didn't want to see it finalized.
I'm going to hate to see New Moon broken, if that was New Moon, as hinted at in Savah/Suntop's vision. Is there nothing to be left of Cutter's former life, for gosh sakes?
I hope the stories pick up. I want my elves happy. Please tell me this is the only "downer" story - the only one I won't read to Erin and her brother. Don't let Cutter be alone at the end.
I'm looking forward to issue #13. I hope Cutter finds some sense and gets out of that mountain, and takes everybody in his tribe with him, Life was nicer in the Sun Village. I was happier there, anyway.
Shanna Smith
Springfield, OH
***** We hope that this issue felt better to you - and your daughter - than the last one did. We can appreciate your feelings, which are certainly valid from a protective mother's point of view. We know young children don't think in shades of grey, that they don't philosophize about life's hardships and injustices. But ELFQUEST is not specifically a children's story, even though we try to write it to appeal to the widest possible audience. We deal with adult themes, and ELFQUEST, like life itself, will have its ups and downs. But the downs are necessary too -- how could we appreciate "sweet" if there were no "sour?"
I was introduced to ELFQUEST by my twelve-year
old son, and have "sent" you a number of
mental communications since. I appreciate
ELFQUEST. in a world where a child's life (or an
adult's, for that matter) is dominated by the
mindless bloodbath of television, you clearly
mark the definition between action/adventure and
violence, and never lose the opportunity to emphasize
the essential point - a reverence for life
itself. Death is accepted as an integral part of life.
Sex and nudity are facts, not issues, and are
treated naturally, openly, and with love.
June Reed
Merritt Island, FL
I love ELFQUEST. I feel just a little old for them
but I can't see how I've lived without them. But in
issue #9 Loran Gayton wrote suggesting you add
more sex and violence. I know he took it back in
issue #10, but you did reply strongly that
ELFQUEST was not for those things. So why are
the pictures on page 23 of issue #10 necessary? I
think they're awful. They take a lot away from
ELFQUEST for me. Please keep it behind the
rocks!
Laura Whitton
Rowayton.CT
I have noticed that most of your letters are
written by school teachers and such. I just
thought you might like to know that I am an
eleven-year old 2nd year student at I.S. 70. I have
introduced your magazine (book? saga? novel?
comic book?) to a few of my fellow eleven and
twelve year old friends. I'm not sure if they were
really interested, but I think that all of you are
doing an exceptionally good job.
India Levine
New York, NY
***** One of the things that makes this project to satisfying is the spectrum of letters we receive. Young or old, male or female, like the story or don't like it - all of you out there, we thank you for talking to us. Don't stop.
I want to thank you for giving us a fantasy that
deals with the battle of good and bad as it does
exist in the real world. It is a powerful relief from
the usual, banal black-and-white dramas where
everyone knows that the "good" guys will win,
and nothing worthwhile is said.
Thank you for giving us many characters, all having believable personalities, who enable a variety of persons to identity with and be spoken for by them. This too is a relief from the standard system of using stereotypical stencils from the Encyclopedia of Superheroes, although Cutter does exhibit a tendency toward the typical macho stances found in that thin volume. Ditto for the poised wrists and ankles many of the women display at less than sensuous moments.
I want most especially to thank you for finally creating a character I can identify with. Someone who isn't satisfied with the kind of life everyone seems to accept. Someone who might renounce proper society and get trapped into a negative value system in pursuit of one small and basic pleasure, then discover that he is now odd man out, and it is too late to turn back. Someone who has ended up grim-faced, solitary and incomprehensible to most people.
I'm referring, of course, to Tyldak. You got the name from pterodactyl, right? He's made like one.
Dewshine is his last chance. Please don't let him screw up or get killed this time. I very much want to see more of what he is like, and I hope you will go into this Recognition with almost as much detail as you did for Leetah and Cutter. There will be a lot to be learned from him, I am sure, and he is a course that is rarely taught.
S.A. Olson
Milwaukee, WI
Let me heartily congratulate you on having
Dewshine Recognize Tyldak. Stroke of genius!
Don't disappoint me by making Tyldak a jerk. I
haven't seen much of him, but I really think that at
heart he is a wonderful, sensitive and loving elf.
He obviously sees how much Dewshine is suffering,
and doesn't want to hurt her. I think, also,
that he is almost afraid to force the issue because
of the form he has chosen. For all the freedom it
gives him, it's an alien and at first almost
grotesque form, and he knows it.
Carolyn Miller
Arlington, VA
I think ELFQUEST #12 has a flavor all its own.
Instead of the action filled pages of previous
issues, this episode gives us a closer look into the
elves' personalities. Foremost in everyone's
minds, of course, is the Recognition of Dewshine
and Tyldak. The sequence on page 10 is the most
powerful in the book. Dewshine's wide-eyed
expression in the third panel displays a touch of
awe and fascination for Tyldak that underlies her
frightened acceptance of him. The woebegone
look she gives Leetah is full of irony.
The comparisons and contrasts that can be made between this unwilling Recognition and the fiery Recognition between Cutter and Leetah show how different Recognition can be for different elves due to their individualities. I begin to wonder if Recognition can ever be pleasant. Leetah first saw Cutter as a barbarian. He was a monster in her eyes. But she accepted him and afterwards she did learn to love him. If Dewshine were to look to Leetah for help or example, what kind of comfort would she get?
The one elf for whom I feel, and worry, is Scouter. He is a charming fellow, both sensitive and, until now, carefree. Rayek was infuriated at Leetah's Recognition to Cutter and that frustration stemmed from his feelings of his own loss. Scouter, on the other hand, feels for Dewshine. We saw that love back In EQ #5 when Leetah healed Dewshine's injury. Rayek could not comply with Savah's suggestion of Leetah having more than one mate. Would Scouter's love for Dewshine allow them to stay together even if Dewshine is Recognized to Tyldak? That Scouter is willing to wait her decision speaks in favor of his strong character and true love and devotion to her.
Tyldak seems gentle with Dewshine and apparently is not too pleased with sly Winnowill's scheming. Has he some finer qualities that we've yet to discover?
Caedmon Gordon
Sepulveda, CA
I confess when I first saw Cutter I thought
something on the lines of, "Oh, Ishtar! Another
Conan the Barbarian clone!" But upon reading
the first few pages, forgive me! Tam/Cutter is now
among my favorite heroes of fantasy. Barbarian
Cutter is, but a Conan-clone he most definitely is
not. Cutter is a more complex character than
Conan ever was, braver because he's more intelligent,
sensitive, and has more to lose by
getting his head bashed in. He is also tough; he
has to be, to survive in his world and bear the
burden of leading the Wolfriders. I question the
use of the word macho, however, to describe
Cutter. As you can see from my address, I live in
an area where machismo is considered both
normal and admirable male behavior, and it is my
opinion, based an a lifetime of observing macho
men, that Cutter is not - never was - a particularly
macho male. Nor are any of the other male elves
so far depicted, even Tyldak and Strongbow, who
come closest; none of them have what Carl Sagan
calls "a devotion to the inferiority of women,"
which is one of the basic tenets of machismo; nor
do they exhibit any confusion over what
masculinity is or uncertainty about possessing it.
They are refreshingly certain of their own
masculinity...
What sets Cutter apart from the other elves is the depth and extent of his growth. The potential for growth must exist in all elves, just as it exists in humankind, and if the elves are not growing it's for the same not very admirable reasons that humans aren't - witness Leetah's explanation to Nighfall of the real reasons she didn't accompany Cutter on his quest at first. And what does Strongbow's behavior indicate but a static personality?
Carol Miller
Dallas, TX
It is sad that Strongbow seemed to follow
Cutter only because it was the "Way" of the
Wolfrider tribe. Because change is unsettling and
he fears a loss of identity, Strongbow gives in to
non-historical orthodoxy; that is, he seeks and is
singularly content with a past way of life and
refuses to accept change. By clinging to only the
Way of the Wolfriders, as it once was, Strongbow
does not allow for the history of all elfkind to
continue. For if there is no apparent growth or
change with his "Way," it will fade out of
existence on its own. Moreover, when Strongbow
dies, he will carry his conceptualization of the
Way with him into the grave. History means
growth, change, and identity. How could
Strongbow look to the future if he is bent on a
past way, looking back? It is sad indeed.
Roy C. Merien
St. Meinrad, IN
***** Roy, Carol, we'd like you to meet Fred Brown up there earlier on. It looks a like we have the makings of a very interesting debate on "The Way - Dynamic Force or Static Restriction."
I I think Strongbow is absolutely right. Cutter
and the rest should get out of Blue Mountain
quick. Winnowill was the one who messed up
Savah's mind. I always suspected this, but now
confirmation has come, "just like the fluttering of
a moth's wing." Maybe the wolves will come and
tear her to little bitty pieces. I hope so.
John Hunter
Raleigh, NC
***** Well, if you're not sure...
"A tired mind becomes a shape-shifter" - so
said an ambitious Canadian, Mr. Neil Peart of
Rush. This line got me thinking about the duties
of Door and Brace, the two High Ones whose sole
purposes are to act as rock-shifters. Although
they may not necessarily have "tired minds" they
certainly appear to be ancient. So, when I think of
"tired." I think of it being used as an adjective for
old. You can find hidden meaning in almost
everything, no?
Mike Mettiar
Clifton Forge, VA
Why do I get the feeling that Winnowill has
Savah's, Door's and Brace's soul selves just
tucked away somewhere for her own amusement?
Patty Schwerin
Houston, TX
After what I consider to be a bit of a lull in
issues #8-10, #12 continued the recent upswing in
the progress of your series. To the continued
development of your characters have been added
increased amounts of suspense and tension as
well as deepening complexities and speculations
about the makeup of the world in which the elves
live.
However, I'm writing more because of the letter column than because of the story. In your replies to letters from Thornton Kline and Stephen Clark you give someting of your views on the nature of the elves. In particular, you say, "The elves just don't think like we do in those ways... we like to identify with this one or that one but have to keep in mind that the differences are always there."
I must take exception to this. First, it brings up the old problem of how an author can write about characters who are nonhuman in their thought patterns when these very thought patterns must somehow be accessible to the human author. But more than that, I have found your elves (and other characters) to be very human in their thoughts and actions. This is one of the great attractions and utilities of your series, that even though your characters are faced with a world and problems different from our own, they react quite humanly, thus providing the reader with insights and resonances with their own lives. This is not to say that your characters are uniform or stereotyped, but rather that they reflect part of the great diversity that is humankind (another strength of the series).
It is also clear from your answers to those letters that the elves reflect some of your own views. Your reply to Mr. Kline talks of the elves not having the "prejudices" (a term with negative implications) about morality that humans have and in reply to Mr. Clark you enumerate various "hangups," such as prudery, that humans have which are absent in elves. Thus, you are clearly holding out the elves' "liberated" sexuality as superior to that traditionally prevalent in our society; in this way the elves think like you do. Also, the elves' setup is hardly nonhuman but is one quite consistent with many of the various styles of human living.
So, I think you're fooling yourselves if you think that the elves don't think as "we" do (particularly since you say elsewhere that "in many ways... the quest is a mirror of our own evolution."). Since everyone is different, the elves are not exactly like us but their society is a composite of human ones and their reactions are human in nature. And moreover, this is a strength, not a failing, of your work.
T.M. Maple
Toronto, Ontario
***** We enjoyed your letter, but think you've missed a point in our use of the term "we humans." "We" is us, Wendy and Richard, not all of humankind; we wouldn't dare pass judgment on other peoples' moral codes (and hope for the same courtesy in return). ELFQUEST is, more than anything else, an expression of how we would like the world to be for ourselves; it is an experiment with ideas. Not everything in EQ is a concrete exposition of our personal philosophies, which is one of the things that makes fantasy fun - we get the chance to take new ideas to a conclusion and see how they fare.
And by the way, there are indeed some absolutely nonhuman concepts in ELFQUEST with which the characters have to deal, with which we don't. For example, no human knows what it's like to be immortal. How then would an elf deal with knowing that he or she is going to live forever (a question all the more ironic after the events of this issue). Somehow, we have to come up with feelings for the elves that we ourselves cannot know; this is one of those "differences" we spoke about.
I LOVE your magazine!!! I hope it never ends!!
My brother thinks Winnowill is Rayek in disguise
(har har har). If you don't mind, could you make a
picture of Cutter, Leetah, Skywise, Suntop, and
Ember for me?
Wofen
Fallbrook, CA
***** Sigh. Just what we needed - a good solid shot of reality to wrap things up for this issue. We'll get to your picture right after the rest of the ELFQUEST issues, the color volumes, the novels, the portfolios, the movie... why, it shouldn't take more than five or six years... Shade and Sweet Water, all.