The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
We changed our minds.
Power of the press, as the man said, belongs to those who own one. And just because we've done things a certain way for the last fifteen years, we discovered, carries little weight when the penny drops and inspiration strikes. The short of it is that we underwent a massive change of mind and plan between the publication of ELFQUEST: KINGS OF THE BROKEN WHEEL #9 and this issue.
One day in February-- actually, it was Monday the 17th, Presidents' Day, a day we determined we could lose because it is a holiday-- Wendy and I felt the urge to get out and take a brain-cobweb-cleaning drive. Wendy was already at work on the Tyleet story previewed in KINGS #9, but something-- maybe incipient Spring fever-- whispered to us of things even more ambitious. Time for some mental floss.
Upstate New York is some pretty country, and I've driven enough of it that I can go to auto-pilot, enjoy the scenery, avoid accidents, and carry my half of what seemed to be shaping up into a Major Creative/Business Conversation.
Our ramble took us generally northward. Albany is only about seventy or so miles from Poughkeepsie, but if you take back roads and drive leisurely you can make the trip last for half a day-- which is precisely what we did. We talked about a number of things having to do with the future course of ELFQUEST in general and got some very neat and spiffy ideas about what to do with the World of Two Moons in the far future, when its inhabitants call it "Abode" and all the elves have left... or have they? But for HIDDEN YEARS in particular, we realized we wanted something new and unexpected, to celebrate the new series, to celebrate fifteen years as a company, to bust loose. Some delicious ideas began to jell.
That's when we had the thought to visit Tom Skulan, a friend who owns Fantaco-- a very nice comic shop in Albany-- and with whom we go way back as independent publishers. It was a whim; we didn't even know if he'd be in the store... and it turned out to be the best thing we did all day.
Tom is a boiling kettle of ideas about comics and publishing and marketing and advertising, and as we sat around a table upstairs at the shop, we arrived at Brainstorm City. Put aside what we'd done before. Why not take a major turn with the series? Not just with a new and different first story, but with the very look of the magazine itself... with, gasp, color right off the bat??
Could we do it on schedule? Yes. Could Warp Graphics pull everything together to make the big switch from black-and-white to full color? With the aid of a number of folks at Voyager Communications (Valiant Comics), most notably Fred Pierce, the answer to that was yes as well. Were we prepared to go all out to promote the new look? Yep. Was the prospect an exciting one? You bet! Scary? That too! But don't think how... just do it!
And here we are, with a story and art that I happen to think is the best ELFQUEST has ever seen. So far, that is, because I've had a peek into what the future holds, and it just gets better. Ayooooaah!
Richard A Pini
- NEXT ISSUE: So you thought all the rock-shaping
around Sorrow's End was to keep humans out, right?
It's Fire vs. Ice with an unexpected twist!
- COMING IN AUGUST! You've seen how we do it. Now experience how they do it! ELFQUEST: NEW BLOOD! Elfquest as you've never seen it before, from wacky to wild, dark to delightful! 64 full color pages-- tastefully dangerous! Reserve your copy today at your favorite comic shop!