Patrons

Poison Elves #4

by Drew Hayes

This fourth volume wraps up the first stage in the history of Lusiphur, wherein he and his new associate, Jace, save a damsel in distress from a giant Dark Troll living on the outskirts of the Cambridge Mountains. The only problem is, a Dark Troll's blood, when spilled, transforms into more Dark Trolls. This makes them kind-of hard to kill. Nevertheless, our intrepid heroes do their best to find a way around such technicalities. But even when victory is accomplished, Lusiphur's real trouble begins when the infamous Purple Maurader appears This book also includes a map of Amrahly'nn, Lusiphur's world.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Adventure, Comic Book

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian 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

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short in comparison to the others.

I guess it's a plot mover? Showing how things are "waking up" with the appearance of a super-sized troll not seen in thousands of years. Otherwise, mostly worth the read for the friendship between Jace and Luse.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since you're checking out the Amazon listing for the 4th volume in the Poison Elves saga, I'll assume you're familiar with the series and the twisted genius that is Drew Hayes. If you're not familiar with Poison Elves, you're probably better off checking out Poison Elves Vol. 1 (Requiem for an Elf) (Poison Elves) or even Poison Elves, Volume Five: Sanctuary (Poison Elves), both of which are good jumping-on points for new readers.

This brief volume collects the final two issues of the original Poison Elves series, and can be seen as a quick "road trip" interlude between the events chronicled in Poison Elves, Vol. 3 (Desert of the Third Sin) (Poison Elves) and the major Sanctuary storyline that starts in Volume 5. In Patrons, Lusiphur and Jace hit the road, only to encounter a Dark Troll. This may not sound like a big deal, but apparently Dark Trolls are freakin' huge and each drop of their blood can grow new Dark Trolls. Oh yes, Dark Trolls are supposed to be extinct, so the fact that the guys run into one means bad things for the entire world.

Ending things on something of a lighter note, the Purple Marauder makes another hilarious and bizarre appearance. The dialogue in this issue is priceless.

While both issues in this volume are quite good, I'm not sure why they couldn't have been added to the Desert of the Third Sin trade paperback. They follow the events in that volume, and wouldn't have added that many pages. Oh well.

NOTE: The issues contained in this book are also available in Poison Elves: The Mulehide Years (Volume 1-4) (Poison Elves), which collects volumes 1-4 into one huge trade paperback. If you don't already own the individual books, that may be your best bet.

NOTE 2: This TP had a cover price of $4.95. Keep that in mind if you see it listed at some ridiculously high price.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

A contrast to the last volume, Lusipher travels through the frozen plain and battles with trolls to rescue a mysterious woman. It was a bit annoying with the long prologues but otherwise the artwork was certainly improved.