Is there a reason for the editorial page to be here? Yup.
ANNOUNCING - A DISTANT SOIL! - What's this? Is ELFQUEST 16 pregnant? It is fatter at the middle, and in a sense is giving birth to a brand new offering from WaRP Graphics. So, drum roll, please - we are very proud to premiere, as a special one-time insert, the opening chapter of A DISTANT SOIL, a different vision of science-fantasy. Created, plotted and drawn by Colleen Doran, and scripted/edited by Richard Pini, the story spans time and space with a cast of characters hailing from several nations, far-off worlds, and in one case, a non-existent land! The title comes from a line of poetry written by Thomas Gray (1716-1771)- "To seek your hero in a distant soil" - and therein lie many stories! We hope you'll enjoy this first taste of WaRP's newest concoction, and let us know your thoughts and reactions. (And for those who hate inserts, we thought of you too. If you want, you can easily tug the center section out and leave the rest of your copy intact.)
ABOUT THOSE FREEBIES - Yeah, those, advertised on the page directly to your left. They do exist. Response to last issue's ad has been so tremendous- thank you all - that we're extending the offer for a limited time. To all of you whose names we had by mid-May, your gifts have been mailed. Yes, they went out late, because three out of three suppliers were late in sending orders to us. Finally, though, the delays are behind us. Just thought you'd like to know. (Note: all subscriber and Fan Club member names are already on the list of "giftees" so you need not send your name again.)
WHO IS JANE FANCHER? - For the last couple of ELFQUESTs, you've seen a new name in the credits. Jane has been our assistant and general Jill-of-many-trades here at WaRP for the last year. Originally from Washington state, she had been running the EQ Fan Club by long distance for about a year; that, plus art and business skills she had demonstrated, made her the logical candidate when Wendy and I discovered we needed some assistance. So how does Jane earn her daily dreamberries? In addition to her continuing co-duties with the Fan Club, she keeps Datacruncher well-fed for me (no minor task) and is an absolute necessity when it comes around to subscription mailing time. She also assists Wendy on certain art chores. She paints pages of artwork for the EQ color volumes, and on ELFQUEST magazine itself, Jane aids in the final inking stages, spotting blacks, finishing backgrounds, working on details like Lord Voll's sleeves (Wendy adds maternally, "The characters, however, and especially the faces, are mine!"). On top of which, Jane holds down the fort those times when we're traveling. (Now, if I can only get her into a meaningful relationship with the lawn mower...)
LAST CHANCE TO SUBSCRIBE TO ELFQUEST! SEE INFO PAGE, PAGE 37!
I haven't said a word yet about this issue of ELFQUEST - especially since I deliberately put this editorial here so you'd read it first. I don't think I'll say anything except, "There's magic in this one, folks!" Go.
See you in 120!
Richard
***** Yes, you might say that we did receive a few comments on ELFQUEST 15. At peak, letters were coming in at over 150 per day. The spectrum of responses was (and still is) a wide one, and so to include as many different points of view and contention as possible, we're going to hold hack on answering. (Or, in the words of one wise person, "Let's you and him fight.")
***** To get started in the morning, some people like orange juice or a cold shower. What do we get to perk up the day?
You suck creeps! You communists! You
M*A*S*H HATERS! I hate you and your magazine
and I hope U.S. 1 outsells you!
No name or address
***** Doubtless.
Whose idea was it to have Santa's elves and
their mounts save the Wolfriders? Who is that in
the last frame? Dasher? Blitzen? His nose isn't
glowing so it can't be you-know-who. I have affectionately
dubbed issue #15 "The White Cold
Chain-Saw Massacre." Minus chain-saws, of
course. Loved it, just loved it.
Tom Tuerff
Phoenix, AZ
I couldn't imagine what you had in here that
would justify a warning to parents reading the
story to young children. I decided you must be
referring to Scouter's statement to Dewshine
about caring for the child she would have,
although it didn't seem enough to shock anybody.
Well. by the time I finished, I saw. Granted it
would be sort of traumatic to little kids, but what
about us big kids? You don't think One-Eye's
death wasn't traumatic? Man, I cried. Let me tell
you, the hair was standing up on the back of my
neck in this issue. You have outdone yourselves
here. I can't wait to see this whole thing in color,
not for the blood and gore, mind you, but for the
detail!
Robbie Sturm
Phoenix, AZ
You are going to catch a lot of flak for issue #15
so I will not give you any. For the Wolfriders a life
is begun and a life ends. I shall mourn for One-Eye
but not for Voll; he acted the fool and died a fool's
death. He also died happy, which is more than you
can say for most. As always you have put out a
superb work you can be proud of.
After reading the issue four or five times I got over One-Eye's death, mostly, and started thinking about the rest of the issue. I see now where Cutter gets his name, not so much for his skill but for how he holds his sword, which is not as impractical as it looks. You only need three or four inches of steel to kill in most places and by cutting instead of stabbing the chances are lessened of getting a weapon stuck. I couldn't agree more with the Wolfriders' method of combat. I heard it put best in the movie "Swashbuckler," when the hero said. "Never fight fair when you're fighting for your life."
Jonathan Hammar
No address
Issue #15 was a little late; February is the
traditional month for massacres.
Samuel Hooke
No address
Congrats on the new studio! I mean, if you're
going to trash all of our elf-friends you shouldn't
do it in the home!
Sunbow
Somewhere in Canada
I wonder where you're heading in your story.
How many more elves will be murdered. I know
that the elves are your brain-children. You refer to
them as your elves. Okay. Legally they are your
elves. But when you published ELFQUEST the
elves became ours too; all of us who love them.
And I do love them; they're very real to me. And
One-Eye - gentle, loving One-Eye. How could you?
didn't it rend you to murder him? It did me.
Please don't try to hand me any "reality" jive - you know, death is natural, inevitable, etc. Okay, so it is. But I don't read ELFQUEST for reality. I read it for escape. There's been violence and death in EQ before #15, but come on! All out mayhem and gore? I most sincerely hope you don't kill Cutter, which I don't think you will; but if Cutter dies, I don't think I would even want to finish out the series. I might even burn all my EQ material.
Tansy Wood
Mesa, AZ
Many times when I read or watch a story, I am
turned off when the writer avoids putting too
much realism into it. Rather than deal with a
situation honestly, many writers provide easy or
contrived answers to the problems they themselves
have raised for consideration. Often this
seems to indicate that the writer is not following
his creative conscience as much as he is listening
to a different conscience - the one that asks,
"What will people accept?"
In ELFQUEST 15 you had the opportunity to disappoint me the way so many others have before. I want to thank you for your integrity. In the battle with the trolls, "our side" suffered deeply; we even lost one of the good guys. As far as the "reality" of EQ is concerned, it is good that when the elves were in battle, they were in battle, and they hurt as would any group in the same setting. They are also going to have the further setback that unless the snow elves have a healer, it will fall entirely to Leetah to care for Moonshade, Nightfall, Scouter, and Cutter. This is the sort of occurrence that all too often is lightly treated. I admire your courage to let a situation play itself out to a logical end.
Ron Pangrac
No address
NOOOOOOOO! The one thing that most attracted
me to ELFQUEST has been wiped out by a
single issue, namely #15. Before, I read EQ
because it made me feel good. I guess you could
say it was a stimulant of sorts. All of my early
issues are worn thin from use. "The Quest
Usurped" will remain on the shelf for a long time.
Four months I've waited, and for what? Lord Voll
and One-Eye dead? The Wolfriders utterly
defeated by the trolls. Cutter mortally wounded?
Since when did you decide to make ELFQUEST
into a depressant? Once every four months I look
forward to having my spirits lifted to an incredible
height. Please don't let me down again.
David Batts
Atlanta, GA
"A turn that your child may find upsetting" is
right! I thought that "turn" was over when
Dewshine rode away with Tyldak on page 6, but I
was mistaken. However, I feel that the battle with
the trolls was handled much more tastefully than
the violence I've seen in recent mainstream
comics, and you certainly showed consideration
for your readers in placing the warning on the
inside cover. Though I don't agree with some of
the values reflected in ELFQUEST I will certainly
share it someday with my future children.
Elizabeth Bowler
Richmond, VA
I know a good book has its ups and downs but
you went too far this time. You let us know for
sure that Rayek is dead, and to top it off, Voll is
dead too. But One-Eye? No! I will never tolerate it!
I already ripped up #15 and I hate you forever! May
the Wolfriders hate you too!
Philip Washum
No address
I wish to commend you on issue #15. Stories
like this are what make ELFQUEST great. While
some people may dislike this issue because it
contains the deaths of Lord Voll and One-Eye, I
feel this is the very factor which made the story
excellent. When the Wolfpack fights an equal, if
not superior, enemy like the trolls and is out-numbered
as well, it is ridiculous to assume that
everyone will escape undamaged. No story is
interesting if during a battle the reader never has
to fear that the heroes might lose. The deaths of
Lord Voll and One-Eye have instilled an element of
suspence that will remain in ELFQUEST forever:
will the Wolfriders succeed in their quest? Before
this issue, I could safety assume that the
Wolfriders would overcome every obstacle they
faced, that nothing could stop them. Not I have to
worry with each issue about what could happen to
them. I prefer more to be in suspense about what
might happen to the characters I love than to see
the Wolfriders simply and easily defeat every foe
that comes at them.
Steven Caplan
Baltimore, MD
I believe that "The Quest Usurped" firmly
establishes ELFQUEST as one of the great epics
of human literature. That is not hyperbole. A
detailed analysis could run pages. Let's simply
say that you have shown us the dark side of all
obsessions, the visions that lie at the heart of all
quest tales, a dark side so in contrast with the
innocence of Cutter's original dream. The fate of
Voll, coming as it did on the tail of Cutter's
decision to forego the Quest, was stunning. As
always you astonish me. You sat through the
whole Winnowill is good/evll/misguided debate,
knowing what was coming, and not tipping your
hand. Who can say that Winnowill was wrong
now? She saw where this road would lead and
fought against it with all her strength. She was
attempting to save her way of life no less than
Cutter was when he defended the Holt against the
humans.
Jim Van Waggoner
Toronto, Ontario
***** The following excerpt, written by Michael
F. Hopkins, is reprinted from and copyrighted by
the Buffalo, New York "Prodigal Sun."
The element of surprise is dynamically high in ELFQUEST, and this is matched by the Pinis' consideration for their readership. It cannot be stressed enough. How many underground, or overground "adult" comics for that matter, would have run the deftly upsetting events of issue #15 without a note of warning to parents? Most would run no kind of explanation whatsoever, and pass the move off as "editorial freedom." The Pinis' will allow no such irresponsibility, and so demonstrate their deeper appreciation for the audience at large, as well as a more sweeping freedom to be as stark or as subtle as the story itself demands.
It is well, especially for the current issue #15, since "The Quest Usurped" is one of shocking upheaval, moving from exhilaration to dismay and betrayal, back to resilient splendor and suddenly, piercingly finding the Wolfriders jolted by the terror of unexpected tragedy and abruptly thrown into oppressive battle which winds up in the most unglamorous, brutal, and utterly frightening scenes of armed conflict ever depicted in Sword & Sorcery or anywhere else, more than an answer for those who naively hold such activities to be "glorious."
Any who wish to discern vast difference between ELFQUEST and its predecessors have much ground for observation, but the way in which violence is depicted is a vital, unignorable aspect. In ELFQUEST, violence is a pitiful thing which can cost so much and leave so little. And, in a battle which can leave many - including several of the key characters - maimed or dead, it is no glory, no source of pride, no divine justification to win, lose, or even survive.
You mentioned in one issue that you had
acquired a puppy. Said puppy no doubt has a
habit of getting underfoot, which means that she
has been accidentally kicked. Recall the look in
her eyes when this has happened - she doesn't
blame you, she doesn't presume to demand, or
even request, an explanation - she just wishes to
understand why. Now attach that look to this
letter, end you have my comment on ELFQUEST
#15.
Francis Herman
Charlottesvllle, VA
My husband Jim and I have been fans of yours
for quite some time. We are collectors whose
hobby blossomed into a small comic shop last
June. Among our customers are several dozen
people who are ELFQUEST supporters. You will
probably be hearing from most of them in
response to EQ #15.
We know that you hear from hundreds of fans who eagerly await the next issue, and thought you might like to know that some of the shop owners are equally anxious. Owning a shop has taken some of the fun out of collecting. One finds oneself becoming too critical of titles for reasons such as: poor sales, sloppy appearance, too expensive, etc. However, we have not lost our awe of your saga. The elves never cease to touch us with their struggles and triumphs. As long as there are books such as yours on the market, we can still experience the thrill which is part of collecting.
Laurie Wanser
Collector's Comics
Wantaugh, NY
***** And in related news...
There is one thing that irritates me. WHY DO
YOU REPRINT BACK ISSUES?! This wrecks the
value of the comic book/graphic novel/whatever.
The value is only as great as the cover price.
Please explain.
D.M. Pratt
Union, NJ
***** Glad to. We made the decision at the start always to keep every issue in print so that new readers would not have to pay inflated prices to find out what had gone on in earlier issues. We are much more interested in gaining these new readers than we an in hearing that ELFQUEST #1 is now selling for an outrageous price.
When the dust and blood and hysteria clears,
and we readers have the chance to sit back and
think through what has happened, one fact
becomes very clear: Winnowill knew that this was
going to happen all along. She knew Lord Voll
much longer than we did, and she knew full well
that if his old obsession were revived, he would
inevitably ride off into disaster. The fact is, her
purpose in all her actions, however outrageous,
was not to harm, but to save the life of her chief,
and probably the "invaders" as well. The concept
is a simple one: to stand the typical comic-book
fan's idea of heroes and villains completely on its
head. The execution of this idea is one of the most
mind-boggling conceptual reversals that this
reader has ever seen. If storytelling is a form of
genial trickery, then this is one of the finest tricks
possible, as the supposed heroes of the series
take the form of villains, and a "master villain" is
seen to have been working toward a positive end.
Roy Veldboom
Cedar Grove, WI
Tell me - on page 27, top panels. Pike comments
to Redlance, "Hah! You're good at that!" Was he
referring to when Redmark saved Bearclaw's life
by killing the long-tooth? Redmark (whose name
then changed to Redlance) killed it in much the
same way as he did the troll just then.
Ted Blasingame
Midwest City, OK
***** Hee hee. There were a couple of sharp-eyed readers who picked up that glancing reference to the novel.
I dislike ELFQUEST. Yet I buy it, read it, and
usually find several good things to say about the
latest issue (and if that isn't a complete contradiction...)
My main objection to your latest issue (#15) was the depiction of violence. This is not a cry for complete graphic reality. Far from it. I refuse to pay money to see films where the primary idea is to show how many ways a person can buy the farm. If violence is depicted, for example, the scene in "Sharky's Machine" where Burt Reynolds is getting his fingers chopped off for refusing to divulge information, is more chilling and disturbing than the scene in "Poltergeist" where the man is looking at his disintegrating face in the mirror. The former scene didn't depict blood or excess gore, but you knew nothing was being glamorized or meant to give you a thrill. The latter scene, on the other hand, was certainly no model of taste or subtlety and left me cold.
ELFQUEST has heart, but in its depiction of the confrontation between the elves and trolls, and in her desire not to upset anyone - yet remain true to her vision - Wendy presents a savage, vicious battle comparable to anything ever seen in Conan, and ends up blowing it. One-Eye's death was not as peaceful and serene as it ultimately appears. It was horrible. The thing is, I don't need to see One-Eye's bashed-in skull and brains oozing out. I prefer it off-camera. It's just that if you want to portray it, let's be honest and acknowledge it as a nasty, brutal event - one not to be emulated or glamorized. An excellent example is Marv Wolfman's Dracula. Marv didn't agree with anything the main character did, but he acknowledged the ruthlessness of it all, which made it a pretty grim book most of the time. This despite the fact that there was never any really upsetting graphic visual presentation.
Ken Penders
West Seneca, NY
Having spent the last two years washing,
trimming, conditioning, and giving plenty of T.L.C.
to my hair to get it just past my shoulder blades, I
can appreciate the sacrifice and symbolism of
Clearbrook's actions. You folks ingeniously, in
just two panels, used a very powerful symbol.
Think of Sampson and Delilah! Hair is the main
ingredient in a voodoo doll. Some "primitive"
cultures burn fingernail and hair clippings so as
not to have any evil spirits get hold of them and
use them against the hapless clipper. "Crowning
glory" is right - hair is powerful stuff! ELFQUEST
has always, to me, had a lot of soul. I never
realized just how much until now.
Cate Blackley
Pennsauken, NJ
As a fan of ELFQUEST, and especially of your
unique and endlessly fascinating artwork, I was
bothered to find myself unsatisfied with the look
of the last two issues - especially certain faces
(usually your best point) which came out unfamiliar
and clumsy. I was at a loss to explain this
until I noticed that you have taken on an assistant
inker, presumably because your other concerns
have left you too tight on time to finish your own
work. I do not mean to insult Jane Fancher, who is
undoubtedly very good, but she is not you, and
she cannot do your work. Please give us back the
ELFQUEST we love, and the faces we know.
If I am wrong about what is responsible for the drop in quality, I do not apologize. Whatever the reason, the work is poorer, and you should know it. Find the time to do ELFQUEST right, and keep faith with us whom you have taught to love your elves.
Nonie Quinlan
Iowa City, IA
What a cliffhanger! I can only sympathize and
agree with the fan who wondered, in #15, how the
quality of ELFQUEST can continue improving. The
artwork is profoundly moving, with some incredibly
emotive expressions on the first half-dozen
pages. That understanding look between
Dewshine and Tyldak speaks volumes. Each is
revealed to the other as their true selves
Dewshine as a furred half-wolf, Tyldak as he was
before Winnowill changed him. In my opinion, the
artwork in this issue alone deserves another
award or two.
Bruce W. Grant
Aberdeen Scotland
My wife and I spoke at length about this issue,
and I won't go into all the details here. But, we had
a raging discussion over the following point: are
the Wolfriders' saviors (we hope they are saviors,
anyway, and not a fire that the Wolfriders are
jumping into by way of getting out of the frying
pan!)... Where was I? Ah! Are the Wolfriders'
saviors to be called Elfskimos (my choice) or
Eskimelfs (my wife's choice)? Please let us know!
Who's right?
David & Marian Gibbons
Sacramento, CA
***** Yes.
***** And that wraps up another letters page. Keep those Elfquotes coming in; being at the eye of a hurricane is an interesting profession! And be sure to let us know what you think of A DISTANT SOIL; we'd love to hear from you. See you all next issue!