SO HERE WE ARE. This is the hardest editorial to write, because for a while anyway, it's the last. There is so much to say, and so little space. But there is one thing that will not go unsaid: we did it. Eight years and uncounted joys and sorrows later we can finally look back and say. "We started this together..." and we finished it together. ELFQUEST was not the first graphic novel (and I count nothing in that term that amounts essentially to no more than a fat comic book story) to appear or to conclude, but it was the first to successfully break into the mass market, leading the way for other comics projects to show up in stores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. And on top of that, it is in bulk the work of one person - one head, hand and heart. I hope that my own admiration and respect for this work and its maker will be mirrored by the rest of the world. This one's for you, Wendy. Yggdrasil.
AND FROM HERSELF - For twenty issues I've had these front pages to use as a forum for whatever felt right to say. A few days ago (as I write) Wendy asked for a page for herself, to pen an open letter to you all on the completion of her own quest. So when you've finished the story take a moment, turn to page 41, and listen to the lady, OK?
LEST I OVERLOOK - this is the perfect opportunity to express our appreciation to the two outfits who transform each issue's stack of art and pasteups into beautifully finished magazines. So here's to the crew at Southern Dutchess News for doing the interiors for EQ; and to the gang at Merchant's Press for the covers. Bravo!
ADD TO THAT our very heartfelt thanks to everyone connected with this project, from our distributors and retailers to the readers and subscribers; from the serious reviewers to the good-humored satirizers; from the folks we've worked closely with to the remotest postal clerk. We couldn't have done it without all of you.
AND DON'T FORGET that there is still the ELFQUEST Fan Club, in case you were thinking that there's no more point-eared fun to be had now. The Club is stronger than ever, and once you join you're in for life! So help carry the torch and keep the EQ spirit alive and growing - see page 45.
ELFQUEST 21? - If you wondered about my comments at the end of last issue's letters page, and have been hearing rumors that this is not quite the last EQ to appear, I confess. #20 does indeed wrap up the Quest - but there is one more issue in the works. See the letter column for more...
SEE YOU IN 120 - So many people have asked what it means; what started as a tiny bit of humor has blosssomed into one of the mysteries of the eighties! I'd seen "See you in 30" at the end of many monthly comics - meaning, of course, "in 30 days, or one (average) month." So (fire up your calculators now), since ELFQUEST appears every four months...
SO HERE WE ARE - that's about it - for now, anyway. On with the finale! Let us know what you think, now that you've got the entire opus to think about (reviewers take note). And one last time, see you in 120!
Richard
Dear Elf Friends,
Well, there you have it - the fulfillment of the quest - somewhat embellished, more personal than we expected, but essentially just as we conceived it almost eight years ago. The elves are not guaranteed to live happily ever after but at least they'll have a shot at it.
So many of you have written over the years to express likes, dislikes or encouragement that I feel compelled to return the favor. A unique and wonderful relationship exists between you, our readers, and us, the "pens." We have been very proud to print your letters, the vast majority of which have been a joy to read. We've learned about you even as you've gained insights into our way of looking at things. We've helped each other grow.
To those of you who have expressed feelings of lonliness, alienation or lack of love and understanding all I can say is, you are far from alone. There are many of you out there who march to different drummers. Try to find each other, as the elves did. I hope you win your castle.
To those who have been inspired by ELFQUEST to write and draw their own stories, or to express their creativity in any medium, High Ones bless you. for me it was Disney, Tezuka, Jonny Quest and Moorcock. As a kid, I went quietly mad in movie theatres watching cartoons, never to recover. ELFQUEST is the result. What wonders will some of you out there bring forth in years to come?
And on you who have been cocky and full of yourselves I wish a series of your own so you can experience the fun of reading mail from bad mannered know-it-alls who confuse insults with reasoned criticism. (Never let it be said that I'm all sweetness and light.)
"But wait," you say, "the story isn't really done! What about Two-Edge? What about Winnowill? And the Sun Village? And... and..." Calm down. Haven't we promised you that ELFQUEST the Concept will not die? These characters are too full of business to live in limbo for long. In a couple of years WaRP Graphics plans to publish a graphic novel which will take a look at the elves' lives after the Quest, and which will shed some light on the deeper mysteries of Blue Mountain. You know as well as we do that a lady like Winnowill could never be content as merely a supporting character!
In the meantime I'll be working on some new projects, oiling the machinery, getting the creative juices flowing again in a different direction. In the planning stages are conceptual designs for a non-ELFQUEST Saturday morning cartoon show, a mysterious project for DC Comics, and freelance work in a brand new style that I hope you'll enjoy. It's been a long eight years and, much as I love 'em, I'm frankly "elfed out" for a while. In spite of that, however, work on the ELFQUEST animated film (not to mention the Marvel-EQ reprints) will keep me in touch with those point-eared little devils, like it or not.
One last note - in the next year or so some of you will spot me walking with a cane at conventions. Quite simply, I have a problem with my hips that will be corrected surgically in the near future. So don't worry. And don't bug me with questions about it. I'm fine. And I can't wait to dance like an elf again!
That's all. Thank you for following this tale born of Richard's and my love and friendship. We're still here, despite some bad pressures and pains - the Quest never ends!
Wendy Pini
Mulling over the 19 issues which have gone before, and waiting for issue #20, I feel that I may have detected a flaw in ELFQUEST! You made much of the fact that when the Palace landed on the World of Two Moons, and the local humans drove the elves away from their home, that the humans stayed near the "Mountain Thing" and the stranded elves often tried to sneak back into it. Then, in issue #13 you told us of Timmain, the self-shaper, whose powers were so strong that she could change her form to that of a local life form - a wolf - in a way that was even biologically compatible!
Now then, I begin to wonder. If Timmain was that good a self-shaper, why didn't she assume the appearance of a human and slip back into the Palace? Either this is a mistake in the story (unthinkable!) or else you owe your readers an explanation as to why no self-shaping elf has ever made a try to regain the Palace.
Richard Paul Smyers
La Porte, IN
***** Much as we'd like it to be unthinkable that we make mistakes in storytelling, we know slips are possible if we're not careful, which is why we spend the time we do in making sure that everything hangs together coherently.
Like here. "No self-shaping elf" has ever tried because first, no elf other than Timmain has ever had the power necessary to change so completely. Remember that even before they landed, the High Ones knew that this world would impair their powers over time. And second, even if she had done as you suggest, it would not have gained her very much. The elves were scattered; too many of the Guiders needed to raise and direct the "ship" were gone or killed. The Palace's shell itself was damaged in the fall, and the troll helpers - essential to the maintenance of that shell - had escaped. The High Ones, particularly Timmain, knew that they were stranded, and so decided to make the best of things on this world.
I knew Leetah would be able to bring back One-Eye
and not Vaya. For one thing, Vaya was not
covered by the Preserver's web and therefore not
protected. What I believe the Preservers' web's
function is to save that very last spark of life until
a healer comes. I also believe that the Preservers
weren't created by the High Ones until they knew
they had to land on the World of Two Moons. Once
they realized that, the High Ones knew that they
were going to be driven away since the natives
were obviously primitive. They gave the Preservers
the instinctive ability to find the castle, so
that one day they could return to the Palace and
go home.
Question: When, last issue, it said that Mekda had no arms, no legs, and no mind, did Wendy mean that the trolls actually removed all ability to think or that they convinced the elf that she had no ability to resist. In other words, is it possible for Mekda to think again as a normal elf, like Ekuar?
Cary Kleiner
Chevy Chase, MD
***** As you've seen by the sad events of this issue, Mekda is now far beyond the normal cares of thinking, or even of having to act on trollish orders. Though an elf may live essentially forever, its mind can be damaged or destroyed by isolation or torture. Remember that Ekuar, when Rayek found him, was close to madness himself.
On the subject of Leetah, One-Eye, Vaya, the Palace of the High Ones, a Preserver's function, and related topics, we received almost as many different speculations on what was happening as we received letters! Herewith, a sampling...
Although I am positive that I will be totally
surprised by issue #20, I was fairly certain that
you never intended something as awesome as
resurrection to become an everyday occurrence.
After all, Savah, in the ELFQUEST novel, spoke of
death as a change, and her tone seemed to indicate
that the transformation was not unpleasant,
even though the method might be.
Perhaps death brings the elven spirit a fuller
union with the forces of nature that elves love and
appreciate.
Because of this, and the fact that the novel also states that the renewal of life was a mystery to the High Ones, I believe that the original elven homeworld must have been much like the Blue Mountain society. The elves had evolved as far as they could go, and, like the Gliders, were "dying, but unable to die." Maybe several of the more adventurous citizens decided to find a way to escape from such a confining place. Unfortunately, curiosity brought them to Lord Voll's fate, even as their descendants learned about life and death from their "forest brothers."
Then again, I also believed that Rayek was up at Blue Mountain. Trying to second guess the Pinis is as easy as buying tickets to the Jacksons Victory Tour! However, thank you for creating a world that pleases the eye, stimulates the mind and fosters creativity and imagination.
Rosita Elias
Brooklyn, NY
The Palace must be alive! In order to have any
true connection to such beings as elves were
(Gliders), or are (Wolfriders), it must be organic.
And if it was a huge, living, space-faring being,
then that can only mean the elves were created by
it for its own use.
Suddenly the story comes together. This fantastic 'palace'-being made beautiful, intelligent organic forms to serve it, allotting some powers to one group, and different capabilities to others as were needed for the duties they performed. With such a plan, it would be logical to create whatever was best suited for the work: elves for mental labors, and a troll race for heavy menial work.
But this careful balance was destroyed when the 'palace' life form crashed onto a planet, and in shock, encountered life forms it could not control. These 'humans' attacked and drove away the servant beings. Extremely handicapped, the palace took many eights-of-years just to recover enough to call back its creations. The trolls, previously under the direction of the elves (and not the palace itself) could resist, but they knew the elves would try to answer, and they fear the return of the old order.
Lucinda S. Foulke
Indianapolis, IN
ELFQUEST #19 was very exciting - I wonder how
you can finish it all in just one more issue.
Skywise is mad at Cutter, the elves beat the trolls,
the kids are under attack, and One-Eye is back.
(So's Spock, for that matter. Hurray, hurray! I
wonder - did you and Harve Bennett have a
conspiracy going to bring back both our pointy
eared friends at the same time? I don't think it
was mere coincidence that I got #19 the day after
Star Trek III opened.)
Last year a friend and I hazarded an opinion that we hadn't seen the last of One-Eye. What else is a Preserver for if not to preserve? But I didn't imagine it happening in quite so uneasy a manner. Why is Leetah ashamed for what she did? It will be interesting to find out if One-Eye appreciates coming back to the living.
Cathy Errickson
Franklinville, NJ
One-Eye's return from death is not cheap by any
means. If Mr. Sorrel's assessment (in last issue's
letters) of the Palace is correct, then One-Eye has
been kept in sight of heaven but refused entrance
to it. It was not a favor that Leetah has done for
him, then, but a disservice. She has finally
conquered death and found that it is one thing
that should not be tampered with.
Eric Mulheim
Eugene, OR
We agree with everything that Elizabeth Mancz
has said in her letter in issue #19. And now Leetah
has tested her healing powers against her
greatest enemy - Death. But we have a bad feeling
about this. It is reinforced by what is portrayed on
page 32. So. One-Eye's body is alive. But has her
struggle been a complete success? We think it
has not been, and Leetah's face and words to
Cutter as well as the shame that Cutter has
sensed from Leetah confirm this. His body is alive
but does One-Eye occupy it? The Wolfrlders' joy
may soon turn to horror. If One-Eye's spirit does
not occupy his body what will they do with it?
Betty Parker
Twentynine Palms, CA
Why is Leetah ashamed? Did she bring One-Eye
back from his true resting place? Well, I may be
slower than the rest of you, but I think she was
still surprised by One-Eye's recovery. Maybe had a
choice between Vaya and One-Eye and chose him
- or maybe she tried to save both and failed with
Vaya.
As for your bringing back One-Eye, I refer to Thomas Schluchter's letter. It was a mistake to bring him back. It destroyed the reality of EQ. In a comic such as X-MEN heroes and heroines have died. You can't just say, "Well, the good guys always win." I noticed that Skywise saw a dead Go-Back; in war, people (and elves) die.
Dan Blumenthal
Binghamton, NY
***** And so it went. In a sense, what has happened in this issue - to One-Eye, to Leetah, to the Wolfriders as a group, to Timmain, to the many elves who have died since the falling of the Palace - is of nearly equal importance to the finding and taking of the Palace itself. The discovery that one has a place in the physical world is a very important one to make - but what of the discovery of a place in worlds beyond?
Other people's letters always seemed to say
things better than I could, so I haven't written till
now, but I've assumed all along that you received
lots and lots of letters that praise the art panel-by-panel
which you didn't print for the sake of
modesty and lack of space...
Wendy, I have yet to see black-and-white drawing to equal yours for beauty, clarity, detail, and characterization. Panel by panel? Let's look at #19.
The big panel on page one - every elfin figure radiates character! Redlance, always a favorite of mine, is possibly the most sensitive and gentle Wolfrider - even Woodlock, the dedicated father in the most life-bearing partnership among the elves, has shown more savagery in the kill-the-humans scene in EQ #6. Look at Redlance's posture and expression: seated, not to overpower the young Go-Back with his height, with eyes slightly raised, rather than lowered in condescension. He plays storyteller without any artifice, but you just know that he's winning over the belligerent cub despite all that one's preconceptions of what an adult is supposed to be like (ie., a warrior with a keen sense of the bitterness of life).
Ember is even more a character study, though in the next pages she appears only twice and says nothing. She is archtypically tomboy! She sprawls in all ease and unselfconsciousness across Redlance's legs, pulling her wolf-friend's tail, and practicing her skills as a charmer on a bemused Go-Back child. Her posture, though she's lying down, is anything but restful, though it looks comfortable; you can just tell that in two seconds she'll squirm away and do something else. Sure enough, on page two she's laughing and rough-housing with the adults.
Still on page one! Contrasted directly with the pleasing sight of the elves idling in their home we have the menacingly intent look of the trolls outside. Contrast! A warm nest and the outside cold and wind; delicate elfin forms and bulky troll ones; leisure and purpose; Redlance's descriptive prose and brutish troll orders and fidgety battle nerves.
And then there are the bits of "window-dressing," like the very postures of the wolves on guard, momentarily at rest but ever vigilant. One with head raised to test the breeze, the other with head lowered to regard something - completely natural animal postures, with weight on their feet looking just right, and all in the space of an inch in one corner. Nowhere in the page is there anything requiring a second look to figure out what it is; even the mysterious wriggling hump of poor Sack-o'-Bones is exactly what it seems to be - a mysterious wriggling hump, something under a blanket (see the folds of fabric?) and we're not supposed to know more yet. Wendy's art does exactly what she wants it to do.
Larry Middleton
Edmonton, Alberta
Comment: The character development of Two-Edge
has held me quite fascinated for the last two
years. We have seen him develop from a mythical
grand-father of technology, held in awed whispers
by Picknose, to a physical presence as powerful
as the forge. Some of my friends have called him
an evil, even sadistic presence, a cruel master
schemer. Yet this last issue revealed him as
shatteringly mortal, all his years of observation
and planning, whispering to Picknose near the
Tunnel of Golden Light, his myriad cryptic clues,
his careful crafting of supreme armor and
weapons, his maneuvering troll and elf into battle,
all with one purpose, a simple question: "Who am
I?"
Not evil, sirs and madams, simply tragic.
Tragic.
Carl G. Horn
Richland, WA
***** It's interesting. Over the last couple of issues, Two-Edge and his motives and reasonings (if indeed they are born of reason) have been the focus of as much speculation as those connected with a certain looong-haired lady of Blue Mountain. Like mother, like son, eh? Perhaps there is a genetic basis for intrigue - or perhaps the one is just a very good student of the other. But which is which?
First of all, I would like to comment on
Redlance using his tree-shaping abilities to kill.
That must have been very hard for someone who,
as was said in the first ELFQUEST novel, "loved
the hunt more than the kill." Even with so many
lives at stake, it must have been difficult for
Redlance to do what he did, even to a troll.
And now, at last the light has dawned, revealing to us in part the mind of Winnowill's son. But rather than dispelling darkness, this light merely leaves a different kind of shadow. And it touches me to the quick.
Of course. What other reason would the "mad one" have for his crazy game? Previously I have, along with everyone else in nine worlds, booed Two-Edge with everything I've got. But now I see why he needed this "game" of his. And now I feel compassion for the half elf-half troll, who belongs to both kindreds, and yet to neither.
I am not saying he was right in what he did. But as an adolescent searching for my own identity, I sympathize deeply with Two-Edge. His expressions in the last two panels of #19 say everything I am unable to express. I sincerely hope that either the elves or the trolls will, in spite of all the trouble he has caused, take Two-Edge to their hearts and love him for what he is.
Cynthia Wolf
Placentia, CA
***** Only trouble is, they'll have to find him first.
So that was Two Edge's game! At first, it seems
incredible that so much cunning, so much
planning, so much preparation, so many lives
would be spent merely in a trial-by-combat between
one soul's two selves. Yet what would mean
more to this immortal and already ancient being
than the torturous strife within himself? Surely
the long years would turn such a creature's
concerns from the progressively petty problems
of the outside world to the unbridged chasms of
the world within - and for an elf-troll amalgam
whose gifts give him such great power over the
lives and deaths of others, the manipulation of the
outside reality in a way that might ease his inner
pain.
In truth, I see TwoEdge not so much as a catalyst In Cutter's quest and the Go-Backs' war, but more (to carry on the chemical imagery) as an enzyme. He may have affected many of the events of the saga, by manipulating Rayek, Ekuar, Picknose and New Moon's key, the Wolfriders' final (?) confrontation with Winnowill, and the resulting revelation of Petalwlng to Lord Voll, then by Voll's ensuing murder and he overt intrigues of the part few issues; but he never controlled, or even completely knew, the whole situation as he thought he did, enough to deduce the drives of his pawns and exploit those drives for the benefit of his plan. And his final downfall, propagated by people who refused to fit the roles he had confidently cast them into, was the ultimate result of this. Two-Edge always asserted that "the waiting is all" - that he had deduced the future actions of his pawns so well that he merely had to wait for them to fulfill his expectations. He gloats to Cutter in #18 that the Wolfriders' desire to find their elfin kin served but to play a part in his plan, and affirms that "l'd had roused you out of the desert if you, yourself, had not gone, never fear!" The poor, overconfident, deluded fool. To paraphrase: "Two-Edge... poor Two-Edge... manipulate he could... control he could not."
Danny Barer
Walla Walls, WA
All I can say is, that Two-Edge has one heck of a
way of flipping a coin!
Runemaker
Portland, OR
***** Sort of the ultimate "Executive Decision Maker..."
While reading over my ELFQUEST collection
(again) I realized that elves did not evolve from an
ape-like ancestor, as humans did. My curiosity
was aroused, so I did some research and found
that elves evolved from (horror of horrors!)
salamanders! At least I think from salamanders.
Nightfall's soul name - TWEN - spelled backwards
is NEWT.
Kenny Reeves
Pullman, WA
***** Hmmmm. Strange letters from the Pacific Northwest this time around, fighting for supremacy. Must be all the reign... er, rain. However, I will let all you folks out there SLUG it out among yourselves.
The Skywise/Cutter incident seems puzzling in
that it posits a human relationship between the
two. On the surface it appears that Skywise feels
that Cutter has betrayed him by turning away in
his time of need. He knows that had the situation
been reversed he would not have "failed" Cutter
(which is why Skywise would not be a great
leader). But Skywise knows Cutter's soul name,
the essence of all Cutter is. He should know instinctively
and to his very bones that for Cutter to
have done otherwise would have been a violation
of his Self and all he stands for. In humans this
sort of reaction I could accept, but surely there
can be no misunderstanding of motives between
two elves as close as Skywise and Cutter? Certainly
I hope you have no serious permanent
change planned for Skywise. He has always been
my favorite elf and while we all grow and change,
the process doesn't have to leave us grimmer
people.
Ted Nolan
Columbia, SC
***** No, it doesn't - and we hope that the events of this issue demonstrate that the relationship between the two has, and at the same time hasn't, changed. The two will always be friends. What Skywise had to learn - what he did not understand before - is that he must share Cutter with a chief's responsibilities; he is now able to accept that. As for why it happened in the first place, all I can say is, "You had to be there."
Guttlekraw's last stand, pages 15-29, was incredible.
For my money there's nobody who can
draw a fight scene better than Wendy. A real fight
scene, I mean, with battle in all its ugliness, not
just the typical Marvel or DC fistfight. The individual
close-ups, leading to the panorama on
pages 20-21, excellently portray the action and
chaos of the event.
What made the fight even more effective was that I couldn't be sure who would come out of it alive. Take Skywise's plight, which was the portrayed most in-depth. Knowing as I did that he was originally to have died long ago, I was by no means certain of his fate.
He conquered his fear, but only after learning that, soul-brother or no, Cutter considers him expendable. It's not Cutter's fault - that's the way war is, and Skywise realizes it. Intellectually, anyway. How his experience has affected him emotionally is another question.
Alien Wilkins
Pelham, MA
I must say this business about Skywise and
Cutter really touches bone. This is what happens
to friendships, and it's hard to see it happening
here. But you folks have aimed for realism and grit
(still with a light hand) and you deliver it. I hope of
course that the two heal the wound, but you catch
some of your readers flatfooted when it comes to
what happens in complex lives. Nothing is as
simple as it seemed to be, and there's no going
"back to the woods." The woods may be nearly
the same as the Holt, but the elves are "changed
inside," as Dewshine says. This whole story is
about changing inside.
Jean E. Eustence
Latham, NY
I was very impressed with issue #19. Mostly
because I believe that you showed me a new side
of the relationship between Cutter and Skywise. I
enjoyed seeing Cutter help Skywise in a mental
rather than physical way (pages 19-22).
James Keene
Sarasota, FL
Just thought I'd take the time to commit some
comments on issue #19 to paper before summer
lethargy finally catches up with me and I become
a prime target for some wandering Preservers.
Beautiful Moments In Art: Two particular panels in #19 are entirely (if not outstandingly) effective in capturing the mood at hand. The first of these is at the top of page 17 - Kahvi leaping forward into battle as troll quarrels ricochet off her armor. The caption lead "This is her meat and milk. This is her life. The castle be cursed!" Well, I personally believed every word of It! Kahvi's broad grin and the fact that she has been drawn in mid-leap convinced me that she was having the time of her life.
The second Beautiful Moment was at the top of page 23, when the destructive potential of Redlance's powers was suddenly realized. The harsh underlighting combined with Redlance's flying mane and white-pupiled eyes worked to create the powerful moment of fury and horror that it was. The only thing missing was a greater expression of agony on the troll's face (and no, I'm not just being sadistic).
Ed Magalong
New York, NY
There were many sad things about ELFQUEST
#19. Skywise's resentment, Leetah's lost battle,
the loss of so many during the battle between troll
and elf. But the saddest thing of all were the three
little words I see at the end of each issue. They
had changed. They no longer said "To Be Continued;"
they stated "To Be Concluded." This is
the saddest thing of all. Thank you for the wonder
of fantasy; thank you for creating something that
is so damn hard to say good-bye to.
Angela Sulipa
Winnipeg, Manitoba
***** If you don't think those three words didn't have the same effect on us. you've got another think coming.
The "child" we created has grown up and gone away - for awhile, anyway. And not just ELFQUEST, either. We've all grown some since this all started. Some of you who were teens when FANTASY QUARTERLY #1 appeared now have families. Some who were just entering high school are now graduating college into the job market. Nearly eight turns of seasons have come and gone.
But it's not quite over, not just yet. You see, it occurred to me that, since this is issue #20 and we're printing letters that talk about issue #19, where on earth would I print the letters that will be written not only about ELFQUEST #20 but the entire saga? The only logical answer seemed to be - ELFQUEST #21! Which will be coming your way around Thanksgiving.
Now, despite one wag of a distributor who is describing EQ #21 as "the giant letters page issue," it will not be all letters - no one wants to read 32 pages of letters! It will contain several pages of the best comments we receive, it's true. However, the bulk of the issue will be a look behind the scenes of eight years of ELFQUEST, with art you've never seen before, commentary on the evolution of the quest, photos, cartoons... In short, we feel, a perfect way to ease the sting of ELFQUEST's completion. If you're already a subscriber, don't worry - EQ #21 will be our gift to you. And your comics dealer should carry this issue just as he's carried all the rest.
And for the future? These characters of ours are pretty scrappy - we're pretty sure they won't take retirement for too long, and there are still many stories to tell. Keep a pointed ear cocked in the direction of Poughkeepsie - you never know when the sound of "There's a new ELFQUEST coming out!" might he heard. Shade and Sweet Water to you all!