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Elfquest DC #1
ElfQuest: Wolfrider Volume 1
On a planet where elves, humans, and trolls have lived for millions of years, conflict arises on a grand scale when Bearclaw, the tenth chief of the Wolfriders, confronts a new human settlement near an elf camp.
200 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
58 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Pini
614 books394 followersWendy Pini is one-half of a husband and wife team with Richard Pini that created, most notably, the Elfquest series.
Wendy was born in California and adopted into the Fletcher Family in Santa Clara County. Early on, she developed as an artist and was the illustrator of her high school year book. She submitted samples of her artwork to Marvel Comics at 17 that were rejected.
Pini attended Pitzer College and received her B.A. in the Arts and joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.
In 1972, she married Richard Pini and began illustrating science fiction magazines, including Galaxy, Galileo, and Worlds of If. In 1977, Richard and Wendy established a publishing company called Warp Graphics to publish their first Elfquest comic. Elfquest was self-published for 25 years and in 2003, licensed to DC Comics. The comic series has won several awards, including the Ed Aprill Award for Best Independent Comic, two Alley Awards, the Fantasy Festival Comic Book Awards for Best Alternative Comic, and the Golden Pen Award.
Wendy has illustrated other works, including Jonny Quest in 1986, Law and Chaos in 1987, and in 1989, two graphic novels of Beauty and the Beast. Recently in 2007, she completed a graphic novel entitled The Masque of Red Death.
Wendy has received several awards over the last four decades, including the San Diego Comic Convention Inkpot Award, the New York State Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, the Balrog Award for Best Artist, and was inducted into the Friends of Lulu Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wendy and her husband currently reside in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Wendy was born in California and adopted into the Fletcher Family in Santa Clara County. Early on, she developed as an artist and was the illustrator of her high school year book. She submitted samples of her artwork to Marvel Comics at 17 that were rejected.
Pini attended Pitzer College and received her B.A. in the Arts and joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.
In 1972, she married Richard Pini and began illustrating science fiction magazines, including Galaxy, Galileo, and Worlds of If. In 1977, Richard and Wendy established a publishing company called Warp Graphics to publish their first Elfquest comic. Elfquest was self-published for 25 years and in 2003, licensed to DC Comics. The comic series has won several awards, including the Ed Aprill Award for Best Independent Comic, two Alley Awards, the Fantasy Festival Comic Book Awards for Best Alternative Comic, and the Golden Pen Award.
Wendy has illustrated other works, including Jonny Quest in 1986, Law and Chaos in 1987, and in 1989, two graphic novels of Beauty and the Beast. Recently in 2007, she completed a graphic novel entitled The Masque of Red Death.
Wendy has received several awards over the last four decades, including the San Diego Comic Convention Inkpot Award, the New York State Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, the Balrog Award for Best Artist, and was inducted into the Friends of Lulu Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wendy and her husband currently reside in Poughkeepsie, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 9, 2022
I love this series and I've already read it a bunch but I feel like this book should have been last instead of first
July 6, 2012
I guess it's not really my thing. I remember reading it when I was younger, and now it tries my patience. I may have just moved on from fantasy. If you like ElfQuest in general, though, you will probably like this volume.
November 3, 2012
this is maybe my favourite elfquest issue EVER *-*
Hints of the wolfriders' previous life, deepening of lots of characters -some of them are my faves, like Strongbow-, lots of emotions, beautiful art..this is just perfection
Hints of the wolfriders' previous life, deepening of lots of characters -some of them are my faves, like Strongbow-, lots of emotions, beautiful art..this is just perfection
March 31, 2021
I grew up reading Elfquest, so of course I slavishly bought the manga when it was first released in Norwegian. I've read it many times now, but not in a few years, so I'm doing a reread these days as I hope my new glasses makes it easier to read in general.
This first album - in Norwegian - covers the events of how the trolls and wolfriders began trading, and Bearclaw's rule and how he and the humans interacted. It has some interesting takes on ''fear of the unknown'' in the battle between the humans and the elves, and the story of Skywise's birth always makes me cry.
I'm not a big fan of the black/white art, however. I wasn't back in the day, either, and it hasn't gotten better. I'm glad I have a fair bunch of the newer stuff in color, at least!
I was never the biggest fan of Bearclaw, but I understand that he has a lot of growing to do, and this book clearly showcase the differences between Cutter's parents.
This first album - in Norwegian - covers the events of how the trolls and wolfriders began trading, and Bearclaw's rule and how he and the humans interacted. It has some interesting takes on ''fear of the unknown'' in the battle between the humans and the elves, and the story of Skywise's birth always makes me cry.
I'm not a big fan of the black/white art, however. I wasn't back in the day, either, and it hasn't gotten better. I'm glad I have a fair bunch of the newer stuff in color, at least!
I was never the biggest fan of Bearclaw, but I understand that he has a lot of growing to do, and this book clearly showcase the differences between Cutter's parents.
April 7, 2020
No sabía muy bien qué esperar de esta lectura porque lo único que había leído de Elfquest me había parecido harto simplón. Sin embargo estas historias de los 90, en su mayoría guionizadas por Christy Marx y dibujadas por Wendy Pini, son una buena presentación de las cualidades de este tebeo. Historias de fantasía heroica con claras influencias new age y los encontronazos entre los europeos y las nativos americanos. A ratos un tanto naifs, pero con sus puntos de violencia y hiel para darle un poco de sabor. Sobre todo destacaría la puesta en página de Pini, con composiciones que van de lo estático y lo dinámico en función de lo que tiene que ilustrar. Y su absoluto dominio del registro gestual.
June 4, 2018
Gammel skatt jeg fant på biblioteket!
Kanskje litt preget av at jeg leste dette i min barndom...
Kanskje litt preget av at jeg leste dette i min barndom...
July 10, 2023
Mange ting blir introdusert uten forklaring på ein gang, men det er eit fantastisk oppsett til ein god serie
March 1, 2011
Elfquest: Wolfrider / 1-4012-0131-8
I absolutely *love* the "Elfquest Archives" and recommend them to anyone, whether they're already fans of the series or not. When I finished the four archive volumes, I was excited to see that there's still a lot more Elfquest material out there to sample, but I was largely disappointed with this volume and I really don't recommend it.
This volume is a series of disjointed vignettes, covering various stories before the events of the archives. The writing style and artwork varies greatly across this volume, from good to bad to cartoony, and the series is not better for it. The black-and-white artwork is too busy and cluttered to really appreciate, unlike the lavish color pictures in the archives. And the actual stories themselves... leave a lot to be desired.
Much of my biggest problem with this volume lies in the character of Bearclaw, Cutter's father. In the archives, it was stressed that Bearclaw was a good chief, but very hot-tempered and impulsive. In this volume, however, Bearclaw has become an intensely abusive tyrant - refusing to share his knowledge and hunting expertise for the good of the tribe and striking out (literally) at the other wolfriders, including striking his mate Joyleaf. Everyone treats this event as just another day in the life, and they all slavishly follow Bearclaw's "commands" as if he were some kind of monarch, and this just doesn't fit with the characters fleshed out in the original archived comics. Perhaps it's more "wolf-like" for the wolfriders to allow their leader to abuse them as he sees fit, but it's not consistent with the social dynamics that have already been established and the overall feel is that of a bad Retcon.
Indeed, there's a lot of Retconning going on here and I dislike it. The writers have decided that the eight-fingered elves count in base eight now, instead of base ten, so it's "eights of years" this and "eight of chiefs" that, and it feels jarring, like the franchise has been given totally over to the fringe fans who care less about good writing and more about pedantic obsession with detail. The wolf-riders no longer cook their meat, but rather eat it raw - because that's what wolves do, right?! I expect that in the next issue we'll find that the elves don't grow things or make things or use weapons anymore either, and then we can call them the "Wolfkins" instead of the "Wolfriders" or whatever. And recognition has no been retconned into the *only* way to have children, which makes it kind of funny when the High Elf in the archives explained that children who are "born of recognition" are especially sensitive to the spirits, as opposed to the ones who aren't - which are now, thanks to retcon, don't actually exist.
When the new authors aren't rewriting perfectly good old material, they're creating new material... that isn't terrible good at all. One of the shorter stories features a troll who manages to single-handedly capture *every single animal in the forest* and the wolfriders are driven near to death of hunger from being unable to find game. So much for being peerless trackers, huh? Another features a young human boy who teaches himself to play music from the elfin flutes he finds in the forest. It's not a bad story, but it's just not very good, and it's not very...Elfquest-y.
I wouldn't recommend this volume. Hardcore Elfquest fans will be disappointed, I think, and new fans to the series will just be confused, annoyed, or uninterested.
~ Ana Mardoll
I absolutely *love* the "Elfquest Archives" and recommend them to anyone, whether they're already fans of the series or not. When I finished the four archive volumes, I was excited to see that there's still a lot more Elfquest material out there to sample, but I was largely disappointed with this volume and I really don't recommend it.
This volume is a series of disjointed vignettes, covering various stories before the events of the archives. The writing style and artwork varies greatly across this volume, from good to bad to cartoony, and the series is not better for it. The black-and-white artwork is too busy and cluttered to really appreciate, unlike the lavish color pictures in the archives. And the actual stories themselves... leave a lot to be desired.
Much of my biggest problem with this volume lies in the character of Bearclaw, Cutter's father. In the archives, it was stressed that Bearclaw was a good chief, but very hot-tempered and impulsive. In this volume, however, Bearclaw has become an intensely abusive tyrant - refusing to share his knowledge and hunting expertise for the good of the tribe and striking out (literally) at the other wolfriders, including striking his mate Joyleaf. Everyone treats this event as just another day in the life, and they all slavishly follow Bearclaw's "commands" as if he were some kind of monarch, and this just doesn't fit with the characters fleshed out in the original archived comics. Perhaps it's more "wolf-like" for the wolfriders to allow their leader to abuse them as he sees fit, but it's not consistent with the social dynamics that have already been established and the overall feel is that of a bad Retcon.
Indeed, there's a lot of Retconning going on here and I dislike it. The writers have decided that the eight-fingered elves count in base eight now, instead of base ten, so it's "eights of years" this and "eight of chiefs" that, and it feels jarring, like the franchise has been given totally over to the fringe fans who care less about good writing and more about pedantic obsession with detail. The wolf-riders no longer cook their meat, but rather eat it raw - because that's what wolves do, right?! I expect that in the next issue we'll find that the elves don't grow things or make things or use weapons anymore either, and then we can call them the "Wolfkins" instead of the "Wolfriders" or whatever. And recognition has no been retconned into the *only* way to have children, which makes it kind of funny when the High Elf in the archives explained that children who are "born of recognition" are especially sensitive to the spirits, as opposed to the ones who aren't - which are now, thanks to retcon, don't actually exist.
When the new authors aren't rewriting perfectly good old material, they're creating new material... that isn't terrible good at all. One of the shorter stories features a troll who manages to single-handedly capture *every single animal in the forest* and the wolfriders are driven near to death of hunger from being unable to find game. So much for being peerless trackers, huh? Another features a young human boy who teaches himself to play music from the elfin flutes he finds in the forest. It's not a bad story, but it's just not very good, and it's not very...Elfquest-y.
I wouldn't recommend this volume. Hardcore Elfquest fans will be disappointed, I think, and new fans to the series will just be confused, annoyed, or uninterested.
~ Ana Mardoll
March 4, 2016
This volume is a series of disjointed vignettes, covering various stories. The artwork varies greatly across this volume and the series is not better for it. The black-and-white artwork is too busy and cluttered to really appreciate, unlike the lavish color pictures in the archives.
I'm a big fan of Elfquest and I like this volume because there were stories whose writing and artwork were good. Then there were stories that weren't. I enjoyed it overall but I don't think it's great. Worth reading, maybe worth getting if you get it for half price.
I'm a big fan of Elfquest and I like this volume because there were stories whose writing and artwork were good. Then there were stories that weren't. I enjoyed it overall but I don't think it's great. Worth reading, maybe worth getting if you get it for half price.
Want to read
March 11, 2013De las más o menos trece historias que componen este tomo llevo leída sólo la primera, que no está mal. Además de eso, también leí la intro y le pegué una ojeada a la cronología. No sé qué nivel promedio tendrán las historias, pero el mundo general de ElfQuest parece bastante rico.
November 8, 2014
I think I'm rapidly losing my ability to read about senseless violence. I felt like there was no real story here, just death.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews