ElfQuest: The Original Quest: Book 4--The First War

by Wendy Pini, Richard Pini

The Wolfriders face war with the Northern Troll Warriors in the fourth and final book of the original ElfQuest saga—in full color for the first time from Dark Horse Comics!

“Do you know what war is?”

With that question, Cutter and his companions are plunged into the most dangerous, life-threatening conflict they could never have imagined. In their quest for the legendary lost Palace of the High Ones, they are betrayed by the Gliders of Blue Mountain and left to perish on the snow-swept wastes of the Frozen Mountains.

Now the Wolfriders must face savage Northern Troll Warriors who stand between Cutter’s tribe and their goal. Even if they are able to join forces with the pugnacious, stag-riding Go-Back elves, can any elfin alliance survive the sheer force and brutality of the troll army? 

Collects The Original Quest #16–#20

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

200 pages, Hardcover

Published November 18, 2025

About the author

Wendy 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.

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This third volume completes the Blue Mountain Arc and stands the test of time as one of the best arcs in the entire decades-long series. Full of action and emotion, a lot happens here.

Story: The trolls have attacked the elves and for the first time, Cutter may lose tribemates in the process. But when all seems lost, strange new elves appear and help the wolfriders survive the troll onslaught. But who are these new elves and are they also as duplicitous as the Blue Mountain elves?

The artwork is, of course, gorgeous. Where we had a gentle tale for most of the first two volumes, things get grim with this third volume. Cutter is wounded and having to deal with the guilt of having endangered his tribe through his dream to unite the elves. Meanwhile, old friends will reappear and Cutter will have to survive and lead his tribe in order to decide if they really do want to go find the palace of their ancestors.

In all, beautiful full color pages of Wendy Pini's wonderful artwork and the Pinis' strong storytelling. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Siri Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

ElfQuest is a very nostalgic series for me, especially The Original Quest, which I first read in Danish as a child. Upon re-read, however, I think I fell even more deeply in love with the story and its characters than I have ever been before, not least because reading the full Original Quest from start to finish within a limited timespan allowed me to fully appreciate the subtler instances of characterisation and worldbuilding, which I feel that I had skimmed over when I was younger. ElfQuest is, quite simply, one of the most complex and fascinating fantasy universes I know of, with some of the most multifaceted yet human characters around. Although the story is told from the perspective of the elves, and through the Wolfriders in particular, the true narrative depth in ElfQuest lies in the careful breaking down of misconceptions and subjective biases as the tale unfolds, with a straightforward story of animosity and persecution gradually giving way to a deeper understanding of the roots of conflict, which in turn aid in crossing boundaries and seeking resolutions. An incredible fantasy, and a very important message for the world today.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that this still remains an amazing comic, 40 years after the Pinis wrote it shows how ahead of the times they were.

This is a great climax to the "original" quest of the Wolfriders, but it's also a great comic about the characters, with major emotional arcs for several of them.

And though the world-building that we get is a bit info-dumpy, it was almost a requirement of the quest that Cutter set out on, and details a lot of fun lore that would be the basis of decades of comics to come.

Now it's a darned shame that Dark Horse has not decided to continue straight on with Siege of Blue Mountain in 2026, but hopefully we'll instead get four more beautiful volumes covering the Siege and Kings of the Broken Wheel after they've put out the omnibus of the Final Quest.