What goes around, comes around.
I don't mind saying, as the co-creator of this pointy-eared phenomenon, that the idea of capturing-- let alone crystallizing-- my thoughts on the premiere of Marvel/Epic's edition of Elfquest intrigues the dreamberries out of me. There are many paths, in the world of comics, that lead from idea to execution, and Wendy and I have probably taken the convoluted granddaddy of them all to get from there and then to here and now.
Somehow, the skeins of Marvel Comics and Wendy and Richard Pini have long managed to intertwine. One could argue (if one were inclined to such things) that Marvel was very indirectly responsible for Elfquest's appearance in print, for it was through the letter's page of Silver Surfer, way back in 1969, that Wendy and I met. And although the actual ideas for Elfquest go far back into Wendy's childhood and adolescence-- the lady is a creative powerhouse-- one could say that it was the special combination of minds and talents that we brought to each other as a result of that meeting that helped to birth our newsprint offspring.
By now the story of how we took the concept package for Elfquest to Marvel (as well as to the few other publishers, large and small), and how it was turned down, probably verges on legend. Marvel said (as did the rest) that the idea wasn't commercial enough to ensure success. They were right; no one, then or now, goes into this business to lose money. And Elfquest was a strange, untested concept, written and drawn by someone without heavy comics credentials behind her.
So we set about to do it ourselves. We knew nothing at all about publishing or the business of comics; we'd both been fans up to that point. The only other "independent" comic we knew of was Jack Katz's First Kingdom; that gave us a model for format, but no other information. (Dave Sim was starting up Cerebus at the same time, but we didn't learn of that for several months.) As the saying goes, we didn't know it was impossible when we did it (though we managed to make every mistake in the book and probably discovered some new ones). We found a printer to print the book, took a loan from my parents to pay for it, and found two comics distributors-- the only two we knew about at the time, Bud Plant and Seagate-- who were willing to buy the initial print run. And off we went.
We did well. Heck, false modesty has no place here-- Elfquest became the best selling alternative comic in its market. Key words there: "in its market." We knew, as all independent publishers do, that there was and is a wider world out there that we couldn't reach with our tale-- the world of fans who never go into a direct sale shop, who purchase their comics from the corner drugstore or newsstand.
It was then (about two years ago) that a perverse idea sprang into my mind. Marvel had already begun its line of Epic comics-- these were creator-owned, but still direct sale only. I wondered out loud to Wendy one day if it might not be possible to approach Marvel with the idea of reprinting Elfquest-- a creator-owned book-- in traditional four-color comic format, but for newsstand distribution as well as direct sale. It was a bizarre thought; it had never been done before by anyone; it could be a can of worms--but I figured the idea could only be turned down again.
It wasn't turned down.
We were once told that if we wanted to set about doing a comic book wrong, we should publish it in the wrong size, at an odd frequency, at an unorthodox price, and in black-and-white instead of color. It should be a fantasy comic, since fantasy does not sell, and for good measure should be done by a woman, since comics are mostly done by men. That just about sums up Elfquest. But if we were so off the mark-- at least by the wisdom quoted above-- what made the saga of the Wolfriders the success it has been?
There can be only one answer, and that is: the story, and the characters who partake of it. Even the wonderfully expressive artwork is subordinate to that, the intricate tale that Wendy has woven over eight years.
Many of you, I think, will be joining the Quest for the first time here in these pages. Perhaps you've never heard of Elfquest before, or perhaps you have but found the original editions impossible to find. In either case prepare yourselves for a journey unlike any you've ever taken.
You're about to discover something magical, something that will grow in the months to come. The path from there and then to here and now has been long and winding, but it is wide, just the sort that one most enjoys traveling with company. Welcome, then, to the world of Elfquest.