'What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.
Walter Pater
And now for something completely
different...
Monty Python
A change of pace... A new voice... Someone
else's opinion.
That would be me. I'm new here so before I get up on the soapbox allow me to introduce myself. I'm Cat Kouns, Warp Graphics's Marketing Director. I've only been on board a short time but I am living proof that this company is not the Mom and Pop operation people tend to think it is.
For one thing, I'm not Mom. Nor am I Pop. Heck, I'm not even a distant cousin. What I am is a person who grew up reading comics even though it wasn't a "girl thing" to do. Neither was building go-carts and getting in knock-down drag-out fights but that's another story.
So how did I get here? The short version is that I grew up in Peoria, Illinois, moved to Connecticut and then landed in Poughkeepsie, thanks to a friend. This friend is a comics retailer who actively reads the COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE and who writes in when something strikes a nerve. Well, something struck and he wrote and Richard read it and he wrote, which made my friend call Warp, and the two of them "established a dialog"
MEANWHILE there I was stuck in a job that I'd outgrown, and in an apartment whose lease was about up. So... this friend suggested that might be happier in a field more suited to off-the-wall loonies like me: Comics. And then he strongly hinted that I write to Warp myself.
About the same time that I was composing that missive, our beloved publisher (no, he did not make me write that but I do want to get paid this week) was wondering what he was going to do when the summer intern left for college. So when my letter and resume arrived the timing was perfect and the rest is history.
So far, so good. But what, I hear you asking, does this woman know about comics? I know that I like them. A lot. And since I do like them, and have spent the last nine years of my life marketing products I don't like, I thought it might be fun to promote something I really believe in: ELFQUEST.
I have been reading ELFQUEST since the first issue (yes, I still have them all) and what has always struck me is the quality of the work. Both the art and the writing. I loved the subtleness of the black and white issues and am thrilled with the brilliance of the new color. Wendy's art continues to get better and better! The stories still touch the heart and speak to the soul. They are tales everyone can relate to and that makes them unique. In my opinion ELFQUEST stands far above most of the other comics products out there.
The comics industry is undergoing turbulent change and growth right now. Speculation is at an all time high. This is particularly irritating to both the retailer and the creator, not to mention the marketing/public relations people-- we can't tell how sales are really going. Artists are claiming they no longer need writers cramping their style (which ought to do a lot for quality, don't you think?) and hey, Superman is dead. So's Tony Stark, sort of, but who's counting? These days, it's not enough to enjoy comics any more, to simply read them. Now you have to be concerned with how much a given issue is worth; it has to be sealed in the bag it came in, trading card included, or it has no value. Yeah, right.
The value of comics is in the enjoyment of them, in the reading of well crafted stories with characters you care about and artwork you treasure. Comics like ELFQUEST provide this kind of enjoyment. They get to you, tug at your emotions. I don't know about you but I was pretty choked up at the end of HIDDEN YEARS #3. And who couldn't relate to the parent/child struggles of HIDDEN YEARS #4? This issue is no exception.
Family has long been at the heart of ELFQUEST. There's a sense of belonging that the characters share, whether they are Wolfriders, Sun Folk, Go-backs or even the Gliders of Blue Mountain; there's the fierce loyalty such a feeling provokes. ELFQUEST is a story about family and I don't believe that anyone could possibly value it more by keeping it sealed in mylar than they would by taking the time to sit down and read it... again and again.
Maybe I'm not "with it", not in touch with the market today for saying such a thing. But I can tell you that I am thrilled to be here at Warp. Thrilled to be on hand as HIDDEN YEARS develops and NEW BLOOD takes off. And thrilled to be able to look ahead and see the future of the Elfquest Universe stretching out before me. And, damn it, I intend to enjoy it! To read the books, not hoard them. To me that's what comics - and ELFQUEST - are about: enjoyable reading.
Cat Kouns
- COMING IN MARCH! A brand new team
for HIDDEN YEARS! Welcome Eisner- and
Harvey Award nominee writer Sarah Byam
(CAPTAIN ATOM, BLACK CANARY, BILLI 99) as
she takes us back to the coming of the
High Ones. With art by Paul Abrams and
Charles Barnett. Discover, in the first of a
two-part story, all of the lost reasons for
Timmain's seeming sacrifice, as she works
her last and greatest magic! PLUS - the
return of the letters pages! Be here!