Elfworld Volume 1

by Jeffrey Brown (Contributor, Compiled by), François Vigneault (Editor), Martin Cendreda (Contributor)

The long-awaited indy-comics fantasy anthology is here! Elfworld brings together an amazing mix of alternative comics stars and up-and-coming creators to tackle the fantasy comic. At turns hilarious, mysterious, surprising and action-packed, these 16 stories breathe new artistic life into one of comics' most popular genres! Features 128 pages of work from Jeffery Brown (Unlikely), Martin Cendreda (Dang!), Liz Prince (Will You Still Love Me if I Wet the Bed?), Kazimir Strzepek (Mourning Star), K. Thor Jenson, Ron Rege Jr. and many more!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2007

About the author

Jeffrey Brown was born in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up reading comic books with dreams of someday drawing them, only to abandon them and focus on becoming a 'fine artist.' While earning his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Brown abandoned painting and began drawing comics with his first autobiographical book 'Clumsy' in 2001. Since then he's drawn a dozen books for publishers including TopShelf, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, McSweeney's and Chronicle Books. Simon & Schuster published his latest graphic memoir 'Funny Misshapen Body.' In addition to directing an animated video for the band Death Cab For Cutie, Brown has had his work featured on NPR's 'This American Life' His art has been shown at galleries in New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Paris. Jeffrey's work has also appeared in the Best American Comics series and received the Ignatz Award in 2003 for 'Outstanding Minicomic.'
He currently lives in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their son Oscar.

Reviews

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

My fault, right? There are occasional entries in this anthology/compilation (elf-themed) that are not bad, but there are more that are, and actively so. A lot of the art is a mess, and sometimes so is the storytelling. If you can't convey what's actually happening without words, maybe you should include some. Unfortunately, the better stories tend to be the ones that are only a page long, but that means they also tend to be quick jokes rather than real narratives. Anyway, the idea outweighs the execution by a good bit. Stupid indie comics!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elfworld: Volume 1 is a fun fantasy romp through the eyes of various independent artists. As with any compilation not all of the entries are created equally (some of them just suffer from poor execution) but overall the selection is quite nice.

From stories about monster hunters, to a boy watching an elf being pursued through the forest, to what monsters do when their dungeon has been defeated and they are now unemployed, this graphic novel is a great pick-up for fans of fantasy comics. I will definitely be on the lookout for Volume 2.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun collection edited by Jeffrey Brown of Big Head fame. As most collections has some great stories and also some stinkers. My favorites were "An Elf's Lot" by Martin Cendreda, everything by Matt Wiegle, "melee" by Francois Vigneault, and "Urwelt-Raupen" by Dave McKenna. Plenty of great stories, sometimes got the feeling they didn't have enough panels.