From: Azmodus
Subj: RE: Jink
Well, I picked up my first issue of JINK, and I have to say I was impressed. I expected something about on the level of WAVEDANCERS, but I thought this was much better. The meld of sci-fi and fantasy works quite well. I especially appreciated the Star Wars references (Anaken Jerrod).
I did have a question, however. Why did the Cthuluesque aliens have spaceships that looked like their heads? Is there really some deep cultural explanation here? (Yep. - RP)
Overall, the first issue was a strong start. The art was good, the story was captivating, and the plot was interesting. It left a LOT of questions and background to be explored, but that's what keeps people coming back!
Jason Scavone
Okay-- as we all know, JINK (and THE REBELS)
presents a rather radical departure from all the previous
Warp EQ titles. I am sure that the decision to go
ahead and actually produce these two series was a very
carefully made one-- there is definitely some nontrivial
amount of risk involved here. Would EQ fans be able
to accept a "futuristic" Elfquest storyline? One
complete with spaceships, laserguns, and the like? On the
other hand, would a more "sci-fi" looking comic-- not
to mention, more "mainstream" looking-- draw comic
buyers who otherwise wouldn't buy a comic book with
the word "elf" in the title? ...Perhaps to the point where
they would get interested in the rest of the Elfquest
story? The answers to these questions won't be fully
answered for a while, but it'll be interesting to see how
it works out...
OK, coming into this issue, I really didn't know what to expect. I must admit that I've been looking towards the actual release of JINK with mixed emotions... So far, this is about the most potentially "dangerous" new EQ title ever to come out... I never really read comic books before EQ-- ELFQUEST really changed my mind as to what a comic book could be like-- and JINK (and THE REBELS) rather sounded like something that was taking something special-- Elfquest-- and turning it into Yet Another Obnoxious and Violent "Cyberpunk" Comic... But, since Wendy was behind all these new concepts at the beginning, and knowing that trusting her always seemed to work before... But, in the back of my mind, there was still this nagging thought of how bad this could be in a worst-case scenario...
Well, I needn't to have worried. Jink's world fits in rather surprisingly well with the Elfquest "feel," at least to me. The humans of Abode didn't really go "cyberpunk" either-- and Jink is definitely a true elf character in manner and spirit. From the looks of the first issue, I'd say Warp's latest experiment has a good chance of success-- I'm sure some will still complain, but I'm rather impressed by how well the patented EQ "feel" can be maintained in a futuristic sci-fi milieu.
Marty Kuhn
From: yngvar@vestnett.no (Yngvar Folling)
Subject: Jink Ink.
To: rpini@delphi.com
I can guarantee you, this series I'm going to follow.
(Someone) claimed that the humans of Abode seemed to be in much closer harmony with nature than might be expected from the "cybertech" setting. Granted, it wasn't exactly a "Blade Runner" cityscape, but the plants I can see on Abode itself are cultivated -- mostly as decorations. The only actual forests we see are the ones on Homestead (Third planet from the sun? Which is Abode?), and the one where Jink lives, which from the last panel in the scene appears to be in some sort of greenhouse satellite. I suppose the many plants on the other worlds could have been brought there for terraforming.
Despite being the title character, I rather suspect that it'll take some time before we see the story from Jink's point of view. Right now, she's the main mystery of the series, and we're likely going to see the story through Kullyn Kenn's eyes for a while.
Anyway, I like her. it doesn't matter that she's as tall as a human and has five-fingered hands. She's an elf through and through.
Notice that her clothes have the same colors as the Jack-up uniforms? My bet is, a previous encounter with Jerrod or his ilk, ended with the Jack-up left in a rather embarrassing position.
I can't help wondering if her ears are pointed under that humongous crop of hair, though. She had them on the picture on the wall on the last page, but that might be how she appeared to the Neverending.
Anyway, who are the Neverending? Iknowiknowiknow! I'll bet millions on it. Unless someone bets against me, in which case I'll bet ten kroner...
If the robot in the beginning is made somewhat in the image of its makers, they'd appear to be coneheads. Still, from what we've seen, they don't have any magic. They do have technology beyond what Abode can show, since they're star-travellers, while Abode still can't get beyond its own system.
Remember the original account of the High Ones' history, from the end of the original quest? The pressure of overpopulation forced them to leave their homeworld, and started colonies on other planets. After many generations, some descendants of these colonists returned to their original planet, and found it to be dying. During their efforts to prolong the planet's life, they developed their magic powers, which gradually replaced their science.
But the original emigration was powered by an advanced science. They didn't know anything about magic yet. What's more, only some of them returned to their homeworld. Lots of them stayed.
I suppose many readers have been awaiting a meeting with other coneheads of the last wave of emigration, when the world was practically dead. I've always hoped for an eventual encounter to be with the descendants of the first wave. They were bound to be very different from the coneheads we've known until now, because of their background in science instead of magic.
It's just that later accounts, such as HIDDEN YEARS #6 and 7, ignored this part of the history. So I was afraid that it was forgotten. In Jink, however, I see exactly what I've been waiting for.
So the Neverending are coneheads, but coneheads on a lower evolutionary scale. Or they have also evolved, but in a different direction. They can by no means be called elves, but the relationship is still close enough that Jink was able to make contact with them where the humans had failed.
Anyway, that's my bet. And now I dread the day where I find that what I've said with such certainty is dead wrong from beginning to end.
Got a calendar handy? - RP
From: Foxphire
Subj: Re: Jink
I read JINK number 1 this weekend. I never thought I would be a skeptic, but I admit as I started reading, I was. It surprised me. I found it all too easy to remove my thinking from the Era of Cutter, accept that this was Abode with history and legends of elves. and ended up enjoying the story very much. So what if it had the undercurrent motif of any of a number of action/adventure movies you can name ("The city is being overrun by the Mysterious Threat. Go find that retired recluse who saved us last time."); I like action/adventure movies! I enjoyed the read and look forward to the next issue.
(AcCORDion lessons?! Well, that may explain some things...<g>!)
Mary Jo Jeffers
<<street address removed from archive>>
From: Clarissa G Hoover
<cgh8@columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: Jink-ing
[Mythical Mystical Monica writes: You know... looking through all the posts about Jink, it kinda amazes me that no one has mentioned her 'pop'-ing around the room. Now I looked at this.. and I really really tried to find an easy explanation for it... but... well.. the only semi-logical explanation for it I could think of is ... well... short-distance molecular displacement (read: new elf magic power).]
Marty Kuhn replies: Weeeeel, Okaaaay... Personally, I figured the "pop"s merely were to suggest moving so fast from one place to another that you could hardly see her in motion-- in other words, she's just real quick!]
I think one key thing about the "pops" is that everything Jink does on those few pages is accompanied by a pop. I wouldn't think she would molecularly displace only her arm, because that seems like a good way to misplace appendages. So I come in on the "moves really fast" camp (anyone seen "Interview With the Vampire"?). I would agree that "pop" is kind of a weird convention to use for this - hopefully they will come up with something a little more distinctive (like, heh heh, "bamf", or at least "whoosh"). Suggestions?
And, omigosh, that is a black snake tattoo on the hands of the jack-ups. It seems more and more likely that Djun, Winnowill and the Wolfriders had major influence on the direction this society has taken (which may explain the shift up in date from 10,000 to 1000 years later). This also explains how such a short time period was possible. Yeah, sure, there were several hundred years between medieval times and the Industrial Revolution in Europe, but Two-Edge is already producing steam engines, suggesting that the period is a lot shorter on Abode.
Clarissa Hoover
It's true - she moves really fast but doesn't teleport. "Pop" might not be quite the right effect, but hey, it does get people's attention! (And anything else I can come up with right at the moment just doesn't seem to work as well...) - RP
Jink, high heels, and spoilers.
From: Elizabeth McCoy
<emccoy@mv.mv.com>
I fail to understand what a matriarchal culture is doing putting high (3+ inches) heels on their members -- especially military! Heels that high are painful! The skirts are unlikely as well. Shades of Star Trek: The Old Series. Hm -- what are those wristbands they're wearing? They change dot-patterns... Are those some kind of psi-tech thingamies? The "computers" referred to that "jack-up" a potential psi to operancy? Only Jack-ups and Tweaks are wearing 'em. (What's the tattoo on Jerrod's hand, anyway?)
Jink is cute. (Face could get a little thinner -- occasional plump cheeks seem to be show up rather a lot, just in general.) I think I like her style.
Now, the obvious question is "whose bloodline is Jink?" I've seen someone wondering if she's the product of the Skywise-Timmain Recognition (that has been hinted so much that it's got to be a red herring...). My spouse looked at it, saw the back cover (The Back Cover of Controversy), and decided to look at it. He thinks that the combo of white hair and self-shaping could also be explained by... Skywise-Winnowill. (Also, he thinks that the Jink sketches in the back look sorta like Winnie's features.) Would also explain her strong-sending abilities (though it's possible that any full-blood elf could slap a Jack-up mentally), and her looks of mischief. Not to mention that totally gratuitous "black snake" comment!!!
Now, this is one of the more *eep* theories, and rather "out in left field" which means it's either very very wrong, or on the mark. One thing's sure -- she's got old elf blood in her to be so tall (unless she's a really good shaper...). This kinds limits her to the bloodlines of the ancients left: Timmain, Winnowill, Aroree, Savah, and Tyldak. I suppose Aroree is kinda possible, in that Jink's got some kind of hyper-speed (POP!) that could be explained as a limited form of floating -- on the other hand, elves are just generally faster, and Winnie's got floater in her as well, I betcha.
Next fun theory -- (Deleted by ye editor, because it presumes elf-human hybrids. Repeat after me, there are no elf-human hybrids, there never have been, there never will be. - RP)
Random musings:
The commander calls her leader "Doma" -- a corruption of "Dominance"? Yet they're obviously matriarchal -- did Winnie off the Djun and take over rule for some long time? Doma Marya does have exceedingly long hair... A tradition from generations untold ago, or just her personal decision?
The silver robot at the beginning is obviously a variant conehead -- are the Neverending other groups of coneheads that have finally found Abode? Or are they the returning descendants of elves who *left* Abode for unknown generations? This talk of "abominations" at the end -- the "abomi- nation" of elf-blooded humans? The faction-members have the starred eyes that the High Ones had, once upon a time...
Jink isn't wearing heels. I approve -- wandering around in the trees in heels is probably impossible! (And the heels on the back cover aren't that tall, though they're a little taller than I'd use.)
Hey, is Kullyn wearing Palace-shards around his neck on the back cover? Where'd the trolls go? They breed easier than elves. Did they all retreat into the ground, and hide out really well? I wonder what level of sensor-tech Abode has at this point...
emccoy@jade.mv.net
Thanks to everyone who wrote or "sent" feedback on JINK - I wish I could print more than a small fraction of the letters. But everyone on Team Elfquest reads them, so keep 'em coming! See you in 30, and think Jink! - RP
PS. Is the following some sort of precognitive blast from the past? Does Joe, really??
[ NOTE: Originally printed here is a copy of an old newspaper comic strip
titled "Joe Jinks". This graphic is not included in this archive. --MK ]