For those of you who have been following the reports and wondering what's going on -- it's over. At last.
Elfquest has come home.
For the last several months -- or the last two years, depending upon how one chooses to date things -- Warp Graphics, Inc. and The Donning Company/Publishers have been involved in litigation arising out of questions about which company has what rights to publish Elfquest.
We here at Warp Graphics and Father Tree Press are very happy to report now that the matter has been settled out of court, and that as part of the settlement, all rights to publish Elfquest have come back to us.
What this means, very simply, is that if you've been wondering whether or not Warp would be able to publish its announced 10th Anniversary edition of The Complete Elfquest Graphic Novel, the answer is a resounding yes! It also means that Warp is now the sole publisher of Elfquest comics, in whatever form.
(Now, before you ask, I'll tell you the answer. Yes, Apple Comics is indeed licensed by us to publish Siege at Blue Mountain, a copy of which you hold in your hands at this very moment -- just as Tor Books is licensed to publish The Blood of Ten Chiefs collections and Berkley Publishing is licensed to publish the novelization Journey to Sorrow's End. We're quite satisfied with the efforts that each of these licensees is making for Elfquest.
And before you ask the next question, I'll answer that one too. Siege at Blue Mountain has come out on, let us be charitable, an uneven schedule of late. This is not Apple's doing. Suffice it to say that it has been near impossible for us to carry on litigation that has cost us a great deal of time and money, and to be creative at the same time.)
And when we say "complete," we mean complete. The four current color volumes contain about 650 pages of art and story. By the time we've finished publishing the 10th anniversary edition of six volumes, you'll have nearly 1100 pages of Elfquest: every page from the original series, every new page added for the Epic series, every page from Siege, every cover, every portfolio plate... the list goes on and on! With striking new covers to boot!
If you've not seen Elfquest in color before, we hope you'll give our Father Tree series a look-see when it shows up in your comics shop or local bookstore. The elves have never looked so good! If you're already familiar with the existing color books, we know you'll like the changes and additions. These are the volumes that we're going to look back upon and say, "This is Elfquest!"
So enjoy this penultimate chapter in the saga of Siege at Blue Mountain. Issue #8 will follow in just a little while, the dark cloud has lifted, and it feels great to celebrate ten years of Elfquest. See you for the 20th!
-- Richard Pini
Dart is starting to remind me of Cutter. He's got that young, strong, explorish attitude, and I like that. Dart has really made something out of those Deserters. I also loved how the six Wolfriders battled the humans who came into the new Holt. They actually had fun! The only part I do not understand in this issue is when Winnowill is killing Two-Edge's father. It doesn't look like she's killing him in cold blood. He's holding one of the Chosen Eight. and it looks as if he was going to kill that Glider. Did Winnowill just murder him or was it because of that Glider?
Sheilah Zeszutko
Hobart, IN
Hmmm. Dart and the Deserters. I like it! Regarding Winnowill and Papa Two-Edge, let's just say that neither's hands are/were clean. And as a result, things are shaping up that will rock Blue Mountain to its core.
Why are you calling her "Lord Winnowill?"
Especially when she is not male? I know you're trying to
show that Winnowill is the absolute ruler of Blue
Mountain, and that "lord" is still considered a title of
power, but "lady" is not. Weird. Why isn't it "Lord"
Savah, then?
You've made the elves out to be an egalitarian culture. In such, female titles would have just as much power as male - and would not be interchangeable... unless you want people to go around saying "Lady" Cutter about guess who.
I've seen this in other comics, most notably in Teen TItans. Well, I am female, I am proud of it, and I do not want to be called by a male title! So let's take back those female titles and make them strong again, okay? "Lady Winnowill, Lady of Blue Mountain, Lady of all I survey!" Sounds good to me!
"Lady" Kathryn Mee
Richmond, CA
Oh, I am soooo tempted to say, "But that was no lady, that was..." -- but I won't. This time. What you've brought up is the same wrangle that arises when someone asks, "Are there any gay elves?" The answer is no -- not because elves of the same sex don't enjoy each other now and then, but because they have no concept of gayness. For the same reasons, elves don't kiss -- per se. So the Gliders don't have a male/female division of titles; they only know one word for leader, which is the word they've used for close to 10,000 years.
I just have one small question. Supposedly when
two elves discover each other's soul name, a sexual
need kicks in that needs to be fulfilled. Examples: Cutter
and Leetah, Tyldak and Dewshine, Zarhan Fastfire and
nearly everyone around him. My question is: Cutter and
Skywise know each other's soulname, so why isn't that
need there? Have they acknowledged their Recognition
and just not told anyone about it?
Jane Edgeworth
Bancroft, MI
Maybe we ought to invent another name for what it is when two or more elves willingly and voluntarily share soulnames. Recognition is that whammo event that happens when the lizards that live deep down in all elves's minds decide to get together on the subconscious level; they literally dictate the mating urge. (What is he talking about lizards?! Read the Elfquest Gatherum Vol. 2.) But there's nothing stopping two elves from letting each other in spiritually and side-stepping the genetic shove. It's really not Recognition as we've been using the term, which is why Redlance and Nightfall aren't getting all itchy all of a sudden.
And speaking of such things...
Take a look at the original series issue #13 (The
Secret of the Wolfriders), page 29, last panel. Compare it
to Siege #6, page 4, panel 2. This, to me, is a most
beautiful, physical confirmation of the results of
Recognition. Ember has the impish nose, slightly thicker
eyebrows, and "one long strand of unruly hair between
her eyes" of her father (his best features). Yet she is
undoubtedly her mother's daughter. Although Ember is
obviously a tough Wolfrider like Cutter, I am sure that
she's got more Leetah in her than we've thought before.
After all, what imp, do you recall, played a teasing game
with Rayek at the well in Sorrow's End?
And what is that infernal rumbling? My brother thinks Blue Mountain is going to collapse -- or the Egg will explode!
Springrain
Ogden, UT
Time and again you use foreshadowing, and even
tell us outright what's going to happen -- and still leave
us shocked and thrilled when it finally does occur. Case
in point: the meeting of Rayek and Winnowill. I've spent
the last few months wondering what would happen,
thinking it over, reviewing old issues. When I came to
the end of the meeting scene, I just put the book down
and said, "Boy, did she chew him up and spit him out!" I
had absolutely no idea that it would turn out that way.
Then I looked over issue #5. Yep, there it is, straight from the half-breed's mouth: "All who answer her needs are consumed." Even the cover preview, showing a stunned Rayek tangled in the web of Winnowill's hair, didn't clue me in. Fantastic!
I shouldn't try to second-guess you after complimenting your elusiveness in that respect, but it's irresistible. It seems to me that everyone in the comic admires Winnowill's goal(s) while despising her methods. In fact, Savah's "Sister, your vision can only be realized through love, not power" in Siege #3 implies that Winnowill's goal is a desirable one. All we know of it so far, however, is that it involves combining the power of many elves, somehow focussed on Egg. From the pictures in the Great Egg on page 19 of issue #5, I'd guess her goal is the same as Rayek's -- to make her dwelling fly, as the palace once did. The mountain is shaking now, and the Wolfriders and humans had better get out soon, or once again Cutter will be taken on an unwanted ride. To where? I can't guess that far!
Linda Weiss
Upland, CA
Next issue -- the big wrap-up, wherein we reveal everything! (Just like last time, you say. Riiiight) Hee.
-- Richard Pini