So really, now, why do you buy comic books? Note that I didn't ask you why you read comic books, just why you buy them. I'm curious. I figure that some of you will answer that it's because you like to read them, some because they're an investment, some because you don't want to terminate the complete run of this or that title you own.
I'm curious because, having been in this business -- independent comics -- for about as long as anyone has been, lately I wake up once or twice a week with the feeling that the screws are loose in the machinery. It's starting to gibber and drop parts here and there. The patterns and logic by which we all used to gauge what we do in this trade seem to have gone askew, and I'd like to see if some new motifs are evolving -- and if so, how long they may last.
Possibility #1: some months ago there aired a segment of the news show 20/20 that presented a look at what's going on at Marvel Comics during this, its 25th anniversary year. It was a tidy little commercial, essentially, yet surprising for its lack of coverage of Marvel's major push, the "New Universe." DC Comics has gotten a lot of press as a result of its wholesale rewrite of history via Crisis on Infinite Earths, and more recently with its revampings of Batman and Superman. Do you think these innovations and changes are permanent? Legitimate? Do you believe them?
Possibility #2: Produce a parody book and become an instant success. The attention garnered by a quartet of martial arts turtles seems to have (a) inspired any number of new publishers to take the field, (b) triggered a wave of questionable speculation in the collector's market the likes of which I've never seen, and (c) given rise to some quite detestable advertising over-employing the adjective "hot." Some of these comics are good, many are pretty mediocre. All of them are highly touted, and the print runs always sell out. What's going on in your mind, ultimate end user?
Mutant mania. Adjective adjective adjective noun title parodies. Clone books selling 80,000 copies while innovative titles sell a tenth of that. Why do you buy what you buy? I'd like to know. Write to me at: WaRP Graphics / Opinion, 5 Reno Road, Poughkeepsie NY 12603.
See you in 60.
Richard
This is where, next issue, the letters will go -- because you will write to us, won't you? For now, though, a guest editorial from Wendy Pini.
My eyes see with joy, my hand touches with joy. . .
And so old friends meet again. It's been a couple of years since the original Quest ended (or should I say "open-ended"). The time has come to pick things up where we left off and to find out what's been happening to our much-missed elf-friends.
Over the months, many readers have sent Richard and me speculations concerning future events in the lives of the Wolfriders and some of those story suggestions have been wild, to say the least! Of course, we haven't been idle ourselves. There were any number of paths we might have taken, but Cutter and crew have a way of telling us exactly what their plans are and then going ahead with or without our blessing. We wait up nights like worried parents, but we've learned not to argue with the elves. The story of Elfquest: Siege at Blue Mountain is in many ways as intriguing and unpredictable to us as we hope it will be to you.
It's both challenging and exciting for me to take pencil in hand once again and see what new personality facets the elves will reveal this time around. The nicest thing about these characters is that they never stop growing and learning. Like the wolves on whose social behavior they pattern their tribal system, the Wolfriders are curious, endlessly occupied with living life at the height of their senses and sensibilities. As we learned at Quest's End, these elves are more than creatures of far-fetched fantasy. They are mirrors for all of us, small truths inside a larger, all-encompassing truth. Thank the High Ones, though, that the elves are unaware of our intense scrutiny. For despite the door that Cutter has opened on human/elf relations, the Wolfriders are still a shy and secretive lot who prefer to go about their business in the shadows. If anything could make a free-spirited elf wither away to nothing, it would be self-consciousness. The "now of wolf thought" makes each moment new for the Wolfriders and, unknowingly, they share the immediacy of those moments with us.
As before, you will see these eight new issues of Elfquest published first in black and white, and then translated into color. We are thrilled to have our neighbor Joe Staton supply the inks for this series. Joe, creator of E-man, known for his lively, organic art style and his flowing, assured inking, tells me he would rather "ink a tree than a high-tech building." Don't worry, Joe -- you want trees, you got trees! In fact, I guarantree it!
Another neighbor of ours in the Hudson River Valley, Janice Chiang, will be putting words in our characters' mouths -- and making them like it! They should, since Janice has been relettering the Marvel/Epic Elfquest reprints nicely for many months now, tidying up my own lettering (which can only be charitably described as idiosyncratic).
As always, Richard and I share in the creation of this Elfquest story, and others that will follow. While I stand in awe of Richard's achievements on the field of battle in Hollywood and in the publishing arena -- Chroma, from Father Tree Press, is a thing of beauty, and watch for his Timmorn story in Blood of Ten Chiefs -- I will always be so very glad that we can still have fun and still lavish affection on our first and favorite endeavor, the continuing graphic saga, Elfquest.
Wendy Pini