harbinger (har'bin-jer) n: Something that presages or foretells events of significance.
HARBINGER: a wonderful title from Valiant Comics. Look for the special preview for Elfquest: Hidden Years #3 (on sale in September) within the story in Harbinger #11 (on sale in August). Ask for both series at comics shops everywhere! Also in August - ELFQUEST: New Blood #1! 64 full color pages of all new visions of Elfquest as you've never imagined it before!
He who learns must suffer.
Aeschylus
When will they ever learn?
Pete Seeger
There really are no coincidences in this world.
Last night I got home after seeing Alien 3, and I was in a foul mood. What an incredible waste, I thought, what an unforgivable negation of good stories and characters. What is it, I fumed, that motivates a writer or a director to muck about with what is good and loved and twist it into something that leaves a bad taste in the soul? What inner demon drives someone to say, "Well, the original was OK, but I can do better," and then to throw away all that's been done before in order to indulge some mutated, depressed vision?
I was pissed.
When I arrived home (it was late) I found the day's mail waiting for me, and in the pile of letters was one that touched so well on my feeling of the moment that I print some parts of it here. It is from a longtime ELFQUEST reader.
...Strongbow brought Lashpaw back to the
Holt, knowing there was no hope of a healer, and yet,
hoping beyond all hope that a way could be found to
save the wolf, to save them both. He did what he had
to. He did as his heart bade him, as his conscience
directed him to do.
And now I pause to explain why this touched me so deeply. Yesterday, I told the president of my Holt that I can no longer serve as story editor as long as a certain character continues in the manner she is acting. I told the president, frankly, that the character in question is a sociopath. How else can I describe the fact that this character Recognizes another character and, rather than accept the Recognition, she kills him. And she does so in a particularly brutal manner, and without even an ounce of "Oh High Ones, what have I done?"
I had to make the separation I made, the way I made it; my heart couldn't hold it in any more. The fact is, Elfquest means a lot to me. But I'm discovering, like so many others I've run into, that EQ fandom is just a bit too... intense. That goes for me too, as I'm the first to admit. But anyone who could take a beautiful and terrifying concept like Recognition and twist it into one of the most vile and heinous acts any sentient being can perpetrate on another, is not reading the same book I'm reading.
...Recognition isn't about death, it's about life. And, as has been said of other things, it is neither good nor evil, it just is... Why can't we stop trying to make the elves of Elfquest into something they're not? These are not short humans with funny ears, they are elves. They are not undersized Romulans, they are elves. They just are.
There are no coincidences. The reference to
Romulans got me to thinking about a bizarre offshoot
of Star Trek fandom known as Kirk-Spock fandom.
As you might guess, this sub-group specializes in
creating situations and stories in which Kirk and
Spock have all sorts of the most, um, interesting
relationships. Gene Roddenberry gave birth to a
wonderfully positive concept of humanity's potential
in Star Trek. (It's been said, and I believe it, that what
humankind is a hundred years from now will owe
more to Roddenberry than to Karl Marx.) So what, do
you suppose, drives some to slather their own, largely
inappropriate tastes onto what another has created?
(And before someone flies off the handle, no, we are
not anti-gay or any such thing. The adjective
"inappropriate" was very carefully and deliberately
chosen. Think about it.)
My answer to the previous question? Powerlessness is what does it. Personal pain. Life or love adrift. Koyaanisqatsi. The resolution that, "Well, I can't control my world, but I can make James T. Kirk (or Vincent or Cutter) do what I flipping well please!"
We're learning that there's a chunk of ELFQUEST fandom that doesn't really acknowledge anything we've done after the original, rather rough-and-tumble quest. To each his own. But you gotta know something: That story was created, written and drawn by a couple of people who were themselves in need of some healing, some learning. But we left that place; we've grown, changed, and done a bit suffering in the learning since then. The quests that have followed-- SIEGE AT BLUE MOUNTAIN, KINGS OF THE BROKEN WHEEL, and now, HIDDEN YEARS-- reflect that new spirit. We put a lot into the telling of these new stories, frankly in the hope that you, the readers, can sense the change and are willing to go and grow with it.
Growth isn't painless, but the alternative to growth is death.
Richard A Pini
PS. Don't gripe about the coupons, OK? Either
buy ELFQUEST because you like the story, in which case
you don't care about cutting a coupon, or keep a copy
in mint condition and forget the coupon offer, or get an
extra copy. The choice, as always is yours.
- NEXT ISSUE-- in two months: The story you
thought you were getting after KINGS OF THE BROKEN
WHEEL #9! A Wolfrider... raising a human child? What's
going on here?? It's not what you think!
- COMING NEXT MONTH! New writers, new artists, new visions! ELFQUEST: NEW BLOOD! ELFQUEST... from wacky to wild, dark to delightful! 64 full color pages-- tastefully dangerous! Reserve your copy today at your favorite comic shop!