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ElfQuest: The Original Quest: Book 2--Forbidden Grove
The original ElfQuest saga continues! Wolfriders Cutter and Skywise leave Sorrow’s End in search of other elves in this classic fantasy epic—in full color for the first time from Dark Horse Comics!
Humans have discovered the desert haven called Sorrow’s End. Cutter, chief of the Wolfrider tribe of elves, must embark on a new quest—to bolster their meager numbers with new elfin allies. With his trusted companion Skywise, he ventures out once again into a world weirder and more dangerous than anything he has ever known in his young life. Along the way, the adventurous pair tangle with an old adversary long thought gone and forgotten. What is the secret of Cutter’s sword, New Moon? And what eerie creatures inhabit the sinister Forbidden Grove, guarding a mystery that will change Cutter’s life forever?
Collects The Original Quest #6–#10.
Humans have discovered the desert haven called Sorrow’s End. Cutter, chief of the Wolfrider tribe of elves, must embark on a new quest—to bolster their meager numbers with new elfin allies. With his trusted companion Skywise, he ventures out once again into a world weirder and more dangerous than anything he has ever known in his young life. Along the way, the adventurous pair tangle with an old adversary long thought gone and forgotten. What is the secret of Cutter’s sword, New Moon? And what eerie creatures inhabit the sinister Forbidden Grove, guarding a mystery that will change Cutter’s life forever?
Collects The Original Quest #6–#10.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published May 27, 2025
About the author
Wendy Pini
617 books399 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 27, 2026
Already ordered book 3 and 4… can’t wait
January 14, 2026
Volume 2 (issues 6-10) feels a lot more confident than the first five, which isn't surprising. The storytelling is richer and takes its time a bit more, and the art feels more detailed and complex as well. Overall, it's a clear step up across the board, exactly what you'd expect as a creator settles into their craft.
Like the first volume, there are still future story beats I'm looking forward to, but this time the story itself was engaging enough to keep me focused on the present. I was able to just enjoy what was happening on the page, which was a big positive for me, maybe more personally than universally, but still great to experience. Ever onward we go.
Like the first volume, there are still future story beats I'm looking forward to, but this time the story itself was engaging enough to keep me focused on the present. I was able to just enjoy what was happening on the page, which was a big positive for me, maybe more personally than universally, but still great to experience. Ever onward we go.
September 28, 2026
I am an ElfQuest fan going back to very near the beginning, and I have owned too many versions of these books, starting with some of the earlier ones. I even had the oversized pen-and-ink drawing magazines of the period. I hope I can find those, as I'm sure they are somewhat rare. But regardless, as successive versions have been published, I have bought them, each creeping a little farther into the now epic-scale storylines spread out over almost 50 years of publication history and many hundreds of years in "Elf time."
I provide that history for context. This latest release of the ElfQuest saga, which has only reached the Original Quest to date (in four volumes, this being the second), is the best version yet. The original line drawings were colored long ago in lovely watercolor, and that art is reproduced here in a beautiful, well-constructed volume that feels great in hand, large enough to do the art justice yet small enough to read conveniently. Yes, those of us who have bought previous versions are being asked to buy them again, but it is definitely worth it. And for those new to ElfQuest, there can be no better time to get started.
The art is incredible, the storylines gripping, the characters lovingly developed over long, extended narratives. This is a fantastic story told in huge, sweeping arcs, maybe the most ambitious such project in the history of the comic form. The final release was published in 2018, on exactly the fortieth anniversary of the first. Eventually, all of that material will find its way into these perfect little volumes, but for now we have a start.
I provide that history for context. This latest release of the ElfQuest saga, which has only reached the Original Quest to date (in four volumes, this being the second), is the best version yet. The original line drawings were colored long ago in lovely watercolor, and that art is reproduced here in a beautiful, well-constructed volume that feels great in hand, large enough to do the art justice yet small enough to read conveniently. Yes, those of us who have bought previous versions are being asked to buy them again, but it is definitely worth it. And for those new to ElfQuest, there can be no better time to get started.
The art is incredible, the storylines gripping, the characters lovingly developed over long, extended narratives. This is a fantastic story told in huge, sweeping arcs, maybe the most ambitious such project in the history of the comic form. The final release was published in 2018, on exactly the fortieth anniversary of the first. Eventually, all of that material will find its way into these perfect little volumes, but for now we have a start.
January 7, 2026
Los Pini siguen expandiendo su universo fantástico, añadiendo nuevos tipos de elfos y otras criaturas mágicas a este, además de presentarnos subespecies de trolls... e incluso humanos decentes, amables y/o supersticiosos que no solo son capaces de llevarse bien con nuestros protagonistas, sino incluso de venerarlos como espíritus de la naturaleza.
Este segundo tomo es incluso mejor que el primero, ya que los personajes continúan evolucionando, creciendo como si fueran criaturas de carne y hueso. Incluso los lobos desarrollan sus propias personalidades características. Normal que tanto Marvel como DC se echaran atrás ante la propuesta de los Pini de publicar su creación: demasiado compleja para sus universos simplistas. Al menos, Archie Goodwin tuvo el buen sentido de llamar a Wendy para que concibiera una maravillosa historia corta para el primer número de la revista de breve pero memorable andadura Epic Illustrated, que resulta un espléndido complemento para el presente volumen de ElfQuest.
En resumen: una serie de lo más recomendable que va de más a todavía más. Rozando las cinco estrellas.
Este segundo tomo es incluso mejor que el primero, ya que los personajes continúan evolucionando, creciendo como si fueran criaturas de carne y hueso. Incluso los lobos desarrollan sus propias personalidades características. Normal que tanto Marvel como DC se echaran atrás ante la propuesta de los Pini de publicar su creación: demasiado compleja para sus universos simplistas. Al menos, Archie Goodwin tuvo el buen sentido de llamar a Wendy para que concibiera una maravillosa historia corta para el primer número de la revista de breve pero memorable andadura Epic Illustrated, que resulta un espléndido complemento para el presente volumen de ElfQuest.
En resumen: una serie de lo más recomendable que va de más a todavía más. Rozando las cinco estrellas.
July 7, 2025
The worldbuilding of this volume is impressive, as the Pinis reveals that there are more elves out there (and that finding them is the whole ELFQUEST of the title). But it also took great chances in advancing the timeline by years and allowing us to see our characters grow and evolve past how we met them in the first book.
Beyond that all, there's some real excitement and tension as we close out the volume with many of our our heroes scattered and in danger and the Pinis' greatest villain about to come on stage.
Beyond that all, there's some real excitement and tension as we close out the volume with many of our our heroes scattered and in danger and the Pinis' greatest villain about to come on stage.
June 21, 2025
Absolutely as good as I remember.
October 17, 2025
The ideal friendship, and a wonderful family. Cutter has it all, even when he hits the road again.
November 30, 2025
Review with Book 4.
January 21, 2026
EPIC! I love this series so much.
May 18, 2026
Nostalgia catnip
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews