But first, this issue's GUEST CREATORIAL, from writer KIM YALE...
Hey, what are you doing here? Hie thee hence
and read this month's story first, then come back to
these words. Trust me - I'm not going anywhere...
When Deni Loubert asked me if I was interested in writing a guest "editorial" for this issue of New BLOOD, I said "Yes!" so fast the dot never made it to the end of the question mark. It's not totally unknown in comics for the author of the story and the writer of the editorial and/or letter column to be one and the same individual, but it's still the exception rather than the rule. The text pages are the traditional domain of the editor in comics and there are good reasons for that. For an editor, the one or two pages allotted for the text piece are often the single place in print where she establishes what I call the editor's persona - the "voice," if you will - which is used to set a certain tone and attitude toward both the book she's editing and the fans reading said book. The text page(s) is the space where an editor can respond to (in the immortal words of Chicago political satirist Mike Royko) letters, calls, complaints, and great thoughts from readers. It is also a creative space, subject to abuse on occasion by all and habitually by a few.
So this month not only do I get to be the storyteller, I get to drag in a soapbox and megaphone and expound on whatever my little heart desires. What I want to talk about - no, that's not right. What I want to share with you is what happened to me as I was writing this story. You see, I was... visited. By Timmain.
Now before anyone starts scoffing, let me say that I am a writer and a storyteller. My stock in trade are symbols - those images that, down through the centuries, embody certain concepts in ideal form. Some images are so rich and potent in their meanings that they have earned the title of archetype and are revealed through poetry, music, literature, stories, painting, religion - and comic books, if one knows what to look for and how to interpret correctly the Mask (and what an object of power a mask is!). There are times when you plug straight into that archetypal mainframe and you hear La Voz Mitalogica, the Mythological Voice speaking to you from the mists, from the maw of the cave, from the magic mirror. Sometimes it's a whisper, sometimes a roar, but when this Voice speaks, you listen. That's when the story writes itself, the paint magically ends up on the canvas in perfect composition, the chisel and mallet chip by furious chip uncover the statue inside the block of marble, the fingers wrench one shimmering, shimmying, electric blue wah-wah note after another out of the Fender Strat. If one is truly blessed, the spirits coalesce and manifest themselves, taking on form and substance - a distinct personage and embodiment of myth.
While I was writing "Long Dream's Ending," I wanted to explore how the bond between the Wolfriders and their mounts came about. Simple common sense said that Timmain was the mother of both; Timmorn Yellow-Eyes is definitely the First of the Ten Chiefs, but that first litter of wolf cubs whelped by Timmain in wolf form would also inherit some mighty interesting traits from their dam and start a lupine bloodline that logically culminated with the Wolfriders. I decided to place that story within another - that of a character in the Elfquest pantheon who intrigued me: Egg.
What would happen to someone like Egg who, after centuries of contemplation, came into contact with a High One - and not just any High One, but Timmain (whose consciousness might easily "go out" once cocooned by Petalwing). I also figured that delving into Egg's world would yield some spectacular visuals (and I think Ken Hooper, Barb Kaalberg and Suzanne Dechnik have outdone themselves, don't you?). What I did not count on was Timmain materializing in my creative psyche to guide me in writing this story. Egg was not the only person to follow that elegant shapeshifter through the Six Spheres to the Egg's Heart; I, too, walked behind her for twenty-four pages as she showed me the path she wanted "Long Dream's Ending" to take. "Now we walk this way... turn here... now this happens, and we travel thus to here, so this can come to pass... oh, by the way, meet my son Timmorn..." By the time I reached the end of the story and Timmain shared breath with Egg, I realized just who Timmain is - she is a personification of the Wild Woman about whom Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes so passionately and eloquently in her book WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES. Timmain is another name for La Loba, the Wolf Woman of lore, whose love for wolves drives her to seek out the animal's bones in the desert, carefully reconstruct the skeleton, and sing a song over the bones that brings the wolf back to life. The song Timmain sang was different from La Loba's, but no less potent - she, too, gave the gift of life to both wolves and elves. Neither Egg nor I could stop her from merging with the Egg's Heart and becoming the Queen of the Six Spheres. Both of us instinctively knew it was where she belonged.
There are times when one encounters a place that seems to exist at the nexus between the world of rational, conscious thought and the world of myth and symbol. The last time I had a Visitation (no pun intended) remotely like this was in sweet, cynical Cynosure in the company of one John Gaunt/James Edgar Twilley, AKA Grimjack. Now, thanks to Wendy and Richard Pini and the World of Two Moons, I've gotten to travel in a country where I actually met the Woman Who Runs with the Wolves.
One word of warning: Once you meet her, you are never the same again. Egg has his one wolf's eye and the wild knowledge that only a union with one like Timmain can impart. As for me... well, as Estes observes about the Wild Woman in her book's foreword, "...the shadow that trots behind us is definitely four-footed."
In my case, the shadow is cast by a white wolf.
Walk in beauty always.
* * * * *
And now... it's letter time!
"King of the Hill" in NEW BLOOD #7 has a nice twist
of humor in the storyline. I like it. Many comics today
don't have that, and are too serious - too cut and dried,
because of it. The artwork in this issue causes me mixed
emotions. Some of the art has a lot of detail and is nicely
executed. Some, though, looks chiselled, showing a lack
of recognition of the characters. It also looks like the
artist was sketching out a first draft rather than fine-
tuning each line. The story as a whole, though, does give
a good account of Cutter's early days, as he learns, gains
knowledge and wisdom in becoming a great chief of the
Wolfriders.
Penny Blomeyer
<<street address removed from archive>>
NEW BLOOD #7 is a storyteller's dream come
true! Action! Adventure! Thrills! Exaggeration! But
wait a minute... Climbing up vines? A Giant? A Kindly
old cook? A race down the vines complete with falling
giant? Hmmm... Was there a hen or a harp lurking in
the background that I missed? No? Gee, I could've
sworn this story sounded a lot like... Nah. Couldn't be.
Seriously, Lee, Beatty and Kato did a great job translating a classic fairy tale to the World of Two Moons. If it worked for one world, why not for another?
I was pleasantly surprised by the centerspread. It's a great portrait of the current tribe. Do we get to see the original tribe? The Gliders? The Go-Backs? The Sun folk? Maybe the bad guys? The High Ones? An up-to-date map? The possibilities are endless!
I'll say shade and sweet water for now. But wait, did I ever tell you about the time..?
Kristin Gray
<<street address removed from archive>>
In answer to your question about future centerspreads, I can say "Just about all of the above!" (We don't have plans for a map just yet.) In fact, why don't I just give you a checklist of what's going to appear where for the rest of 1993, and get those anticipatory juices flowing:
NEW BLOOD #7 - the Wolfriders Now
HIDDEN YEARS #8 - the Wolfriders Then
BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS #1 - the Ten Chiefs
NEW BLOOD #8 - the Preservers
NEW BLOOD #9 - the First Comers
HIDDEN YEARS #9 - the Sun Folk
BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS #2 - the Trolls
NEW BLOOD #10 - the Humans
BLOOD OF TEN CHIEFS #3 - the Beloved Dead
HIDDEN YEARS #9 1/2 - the "Bad Guys"
NEW BLOOD #11 - the Go-Backs
NEW BLOOD #12 - the Gliders
I just finished NEW BLOOD #7 and I have to say
I was more interested in the previews of upcoming
comics. The illustrations were nice but hey, we're
supposed to be original in ELFQUEST! So why is the story
based on Jack and the Beanstalk?
When I read ELFQUEST I like to totally leave this world and drift into the Wolfriders' world. But I can't do that if the story is about a fairy tale I read when I was four years old! Come on!! I imagine you could think up something a little more unique.
Eliza Hearn
<<street address removed from archive>>
What a seed this could be for an extended conversation about the fairy tales of different cultures, their similarities and differences! But I'll resist the temptation and refer you to a longish letter and reply about this very thing that was printed in HIDDEN YEARS #9. Young readers know about the "classic" fairy tales; it's our hope that giving those tales an ELFQUEST spin helps introduce all those potential EQ fans to the World of Two Moons through an already-open door.
I really enjoyed your '93 Summer Special. The
stories "The Passage" and "Naming Day" were my
favorites. In "Rock-Shaper" it was forgotten that elves
can't shape metal. Ahdri could not have shaped her
necklace. Remember back to the war for the Palace of
the High Ones: The trolls were covering the castle with
metal because elfin powers didn't work on it.
I enjoy your comics, but I grow weary of the short stories. Please have some that are longer.
Cliff Holm
<<street address removed from archive>>
Last request first: Starting in HIDDEN YEARS #10 and NEW BLOOD #13 (with a prelude in #11 and 12) you're going to see a return to the ongoing stories of yesteryear. Regarding metal-shaping, though, it's never been established that elves can't do it; just that they haven't up until now. But it's certainly possible.
I'm so amazed! The story "Eclipse of the
Heart" was brilliantly constructed by Andy Mangels. I
love the way he depicted the sun and moon as two
living beings, two elves. What a perfect explanation for
the great phenomenon. What was his source of
inspiration?
Oh, the art was breathtaking. Especially on Lifegiver and Silverseed. Let's give a great hand for Brandon McKinney, Charles Barnett, Paty Cockrum and Lorina Mapa. Without them this great story would've been bland. The colors are so bright, so expressive. I'm entranced. This story brought me closer that I have ever been to the World of Two Moons and to the Wolfriders.
Lenora F. Radovcic
<<street address removed from archive>>
ELFQUEST is getting more fun all the time! The
NEW BLOOD SUMMER SPECIAL was great! I enjoyed the
"Eclipse" story; "Heal Thy Elf" was hysterical! The
crack about Strongbow had me almost laughing out
loud. As for FurFlower, I'm pretty sure some humans
really do have music for soul-names. The "Rock-
Shaper" story was enjoyable, and the take-off on
"Edward Scissorhands," pleasantly weird. (I hope you
guys and gals don't get into trouble with the
"Schtroumpfs" folks! But it was satisfying!)
The artwork of "Passage" was what struck me the most, though. I love this version of Skywise - so graceful! He's a knockout! Give us more, more, pleeeeze? This is the best of the new art I've seen so far; it's very nearly as good as Wendy's. As to the plot, well, it was wonderfully dramatic, but I really must question Cutter's methods. There must have been another way to get Skywise to face his phobia - maybe even a direct, open challenge would have done it - but the deception which Cutter employed is going to return to its source eventually. It was a cruel way to accomplish a good deed. In the long run, it could even result in a "cry wolf" situation. (Sorry...)
The Treestump story was cute and believable, but seeing Skywise as Indiana Jones was a scream! Probably the best single laugh I had out of the whole book came from the top three panels of the very last page. Talk about anticlimactic! Sigh...
Kellie Wallace
<<street address removed from archive>>
Glad you liked the issue! With the exception of the Great Cover Price Debacle, we had even more fun putting this SPECIAL together than last year's. See you all next month, let us know how you liked this issue, and here's a little something to add to the ever-growing collection of Strange Stuff that The Editor Puts in These Letter Columns! Some days I do lurve this job! - RP
[TRANSCRIBER NOTE: photo of a tattoo of Leetah (based on an early concept drawing originally reprinted in the first Gatherum) appears here --MK]