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Poison Elves #1
Requiem for an Elf
Enter a dark, gothic land of elvin assassins, mythic demons and dangerous women. In the world of Amrahlynn, magic is a constant and science has yet to gain a foothold on civilization. Roaming through this hazardous land is a misanthropic elf named Lusiphur. A wanderer without allegiances, Lusiphur (no relation to the guy down below) encounters demon-summoning wizards, bumbling thieves, serial killers, purple-festooned misogynists, and plenty of shallow love interests. This series of books, which collects one of the biggest cult-favorite comics of the 90s, is perfect for any fan of gothic fantasy or vampires.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
4 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Drew Hayes
117 books32 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Drew Hayes
Drew Hayes (Lawrence Andrew Hayes, 20 July 1969 – 21 March 2007) was a writer and graphic artist who is best known as the creator of the long-running independent comic book series Poison Elves .
Hayes began self-publishing I, Lusiphur under the Mulehide Graphics imprint in 1991. He changed the series title to Poison Elves with #8, and continued through #20. During this period, he was a prominent example of creators distributing their black and white comics to the direct market. In 1995 he signed a "lifetime contract" assigning the rights to the series to Sirius Entertainment, where he produced another 79 issues and a color special, the last of which was published in September 2004. His work has been collected in ten Poison Elves paperbacks. He engaged in an ongoing mock "feud" with fellow comics creator Brian Bendis in the letters pages of their books.
Hayes suffered from health problems which hampered his ability to create comics. He was overweight, had suffered cardiac damage from sleep apnea, and had been hospitalized more than once. After undergoing treatment in the hospital and losing weight, he planned to resume creating new issues of Poison Elves, but died at the age of 37, of a heart attack while suffering from pneumonia.
From Wikipedia
Please see: Drew Hayes
Drew Hayes (Lawrence Andrew Hayes, 20 July 1969 – 21 March 2007) was a writer and graphic artist who is best known as the creator of the long-running independent comic book series Poison Elves .
Hayes began self-publishing I, Lusiphur under the Mulehide Graphics imprint in 1991. He changed the series title to Poison Elves with #8, and continued through #20. During this period, he was a prominent example of creators distributing their black and white comics to the direct market. In 1995 he signed a "lifetime contract" assigning the rights to the series to Sirius Entertainment, where he produced another 79 issues and a color special, the last of which was published in September 2004. His work has been collected in ten Poison Elves paperbacks. He engaged in an ongoing mock "feud" with fellow comics creator Brian Bendis in the letters pages of their books.
Hayes suffered from health problems which hampered his ability to create comics. He was overweight, had suffered cardiac damage from sleep apnea, and had been hospitalized more than once. After undergoing treatment in the hospital and losing weight, he planned to resume creating new issues of Poison Elves, but died at the age of 37, of a heart attack while suffering from pneumonia.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 11, 2008
It is with great sadness that I note the creator of this book has died. Drew Hayes wrote and illustrated one of the most engaging and entertaining books on the shelf.
June 16, 2007
Poison Elves is one of the best comics and Drew Hayes was certainly masterful in storytelling and art. I couldn't explain what the compels me to Lusipher and the rest. Their insanity probably plays a good part. Their sardonic humor. And, of course, the Purple Marauder. Really, what could be better than a guy running about in a feather hat and briefs with a foil yelling "Nyar!" Well, probably a lot of things, but certainly that's up there for me for being funny. Of course, if I actually saw someone doing that, my reaction might be a little different. Clever, fun, and dark, Hayes created a rich world that's well worth seeking out.
July 31, 2014
Impeccable in its own guttural way. Comics don't get much better than this. RIP, Mr. Hayes. You are sorely missed.
January 26, 2023
My mistake. I thought this was an early work by the very talented and prolific Drew Hayes. Boy was I wrong. I wasted time and money on this thing. Ugh. The writing and art were abysmal, with the amateurish formatting only adding to the overall negative experience. Oh well, I'll wait for the real Drew Hayes to write something new. It won't take long.
May 9, 2021
Some of the writing was questionable (hence the 4 stars instead of 5), but it was so fun and engaging that it didn’t matter to me personally. Lusipher is hilarious and the art is right up my alley, very ready to live out my punk-elf dreams vicariously through this hilariously pessimistic dude and series.
August 22, 2019
I imagine some of the people I buddy read with might be surprised that I read the occasional comic. And despite the five stars I don’t think I’d actually recommend Poison Elves to any of them. It’s a different, rougher read than my usual fare and I’m not sure they’d appreciate it.
So why the five stars? Because I personally freaking love it! I first picked this up years ago in the local Forbidden Planet out of curiosity, read the ‘Happiness is a temporary chemical imbalance of the true state of mind’ comment on the back and decided it was worth a punt. And I’m glad I did – this novel showed me a whole new idea of fantasy, gave me some fantastic covers (a couple of which I had printed on T-shirts), and, indirectly, introduced me to the man I married (true!)!
Our main character, Lusipher Amerellis Malache (Luse to his friends) is an elf far different from anything Tolkien may have dreamt up. A thief, an assassin, a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking aggressive anti-hero whose way to deal with problems is to use his fists or reach for his sword. The only redeeming feature the first incarnation of Luse has is a razor sharp honesty and a dark sense of humour. The fact that the people he tends to fight are even worse also helps, of course.
The setting is also different; it has a fantasy western sort of feel, as though Luse is wondering around a fantasy wild west, and the technology is more advanced than most fantasy books, particularly when it was originally written in the early 90s: Luse has a double-barrelled hand musket and there’s a mention of denim in one part.
These first issues have a rougher, cruder look to them then the later issues (the creator, Drew Hayes, disliked the art in the first two issues so much he refused to include them in this set – that story has been written up as a text story with the odd page-sized illustration).
Here’s our first description of Luse, from the POV of Gordy, a redneck who thinks he's going to give him 'a whuppin': He sure was a weird lookin’ critter – about five and a half feet tall give or take, slim but solid looking, and muddier than a pig, wearing all black. Black boots, black (deerskin?) pants, big black trenchcoat, long, black hair rained down over his face – but Gordy did a double take when he noticed the guy’s ears. They were long and pointed… It took a minute to sink into Gordy’s head that he was about to kick some Elvin ass. Well, well! (Just so you know, it doesn’t end well for Gordy).
These first issues are all single stories (aside from the first two); later on Drew started developing long running multiple issue plot lines, but these are all one-shots (although people who have read later Poison Elves issues may spot a few familiar characters making their first appearance here). To be honest, readers could pick up later issues of Poison Elves without necessarily bothering with these, but I think that would be a shame; these are the original stories and show us the development, both of Luse and the artist himself.
Regrettably Poison Elves is no longer a current comic book – the author died in 2007 at the age of 37 and left us with an incomplete story (I believe some other artists took over, but how successful they were is debateable).
R.I.P Mr Hayes, and thank you for these comics.
So why the five stars? Because I personally freaking love it! I first picked this up years ago in the local Forbidden Planet out of curiosity, read the ‘Happiness is a temporary chemical imbalance of the true state of mind’ comment on the back and decided it was worth a punt. And I’m glad I did – this novel showed me a whole new idea of fantasy, gave me some fantastic covers (a couple of which I had printed on T-shirts), and, indirectly, introduced me to the man I married (true!)!
Our main character, Lusipher Amerellis Malache (Luse to his friends) is an elf far different from anything Tolkien may have dreamt up. A thief, an assassin, a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking aggressive anti-hero whose way to deal with problems is to use his fists or reach for his sword. The only redeeming feature the first incarnation of Luse has is a razor sharp honesty and a dark sense of humour. The fact that the people he tends to fight are even worse also helps, of course.
The setting is also different; it has a fantasy western sort of feel, as though Luse is wondering around a fantasy wild west, and the technology is more advanced than most fantasy books, particularly when it was originally written in the early 90s: Luse has a double-barrelled hand musket and there’s a mention of denim in one part.
These first issues have a rougher, cruder look to them then the later issues (the creator, Drew Hayes, disliked the art in the first two issues so much he refused to include them in this set – that story has been written up as a text story with the odd page-sized illustration).
Here’s our first description of Luse, from the POV of Gordy, a redneck who thinks he's going to give him 'a whuppin': He sure was a weird lookin’ critter – about five and a half feet tall give or take, slim but solid looking, and muddier than a pig, wearing all black. Black boots, black (deerskin?) pants, big black trenchcoat, long, black hair rained down over his face – but Gordy did a double take when he noticed the guy’s ears. They were long and pointed… It took a minute to sink into Gordy’s head that he was about to kick some Elvin ass. Well, well! (Just so you know, it doesn’t end well for Gordy).
These first issues are all single stories (aside from the first two); later on Drew started developing long running multiple issue plot lines, but these are all one-shots (although people who have read later Poison Elves issues may spot a few familiar characters making their first appearance here). To be honest, readers could pick up later issues of Poison Elves without necessarily bothering with these, but I think that would be a shame; these are the original stories and show us the development, both of Luse and the artist himself.
Regrettably Poison Elves is no longer a current comic book – the author died in 2007 at the age of 37 and left us with an incomplete story (I believe some other artists took over, but how successful they were is debateable).
R.I.P Mr Hayes, and thank you for these comics.
May 29, 2021
I discovered Poison Elves years back, I think 2000? when visiting a friend in San Jose, CA.
Re-discovering these in my collection was quite enjoyable so far, somewhat crude as they're early in Drew Hayes career, the Elf Lusiphur is an angry, shorter elf who bad things tend to find/happen to when he isn't happening to them.
Requiem for an Elf has the starting introduction, the start of his ongoing love-story, and a couple of short-stories introducing him as a character and some "enemies"/"frenemies". Sadly, Drew Hayes passed in 2007, so I'll have to see at the end which ones I'm missing and see if I can pick them up.
Re-discovering these in my collection was quite enjoyable so far, somewhat crude as they're early in Drew Hayes career, the Elf Lusiphur is an angry, shorter elf who bad things tend to find/happen to when he isn't happening to them.
Requiem for an Elf has the starting introduction, the start of his ongoing love-story, and a couple of short-stories introducing him as a character and some "enemies"/"frenemies". Sadly, Drew Hayes passed in 2007, so I'll have to see at the end which ones I'm missing and see if I can pick them up.
February 17, 2016
This series is wonderful... in most places. Most of it is done in black and white and the characters are very similar looking, making it hard to follow sometimes. It's funny, touching, and completely ridiculous in turns. The author died after a hiatus in which people rumored he was dead but he wasn't. There's sporadic buzz of a revival.
May 11, 2015
So I finally started reading this legendary series and it's off to a bad start. The drawing was hideous (experimental I suppose?) and the dialogues were rather pretentious and did really capture my interest. The story was fragmented and did not really make much sense.
It did improve in issue 6 though so let's hope it gets better.
It did improve in issue 6 though so let's hope it gets better.
March 26, 2017
This was a reread for me. Not so good the second time around. Evocative artwork, and worthy of reading, though.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews