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The Elfquest Gatherum
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Wendy Pini
615 books396 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 of 1 review
January 28, 2019
My quest to complete the original set of “Elfquest” graphic novels is quickly coming to an end. Having pushed through the first eight graphic novels and finishing what I personally consider to be the “classic Elfquest” storyline, I then decided to add a few peripheral materials to the project. After reading and reviewing the first “Elfquest Gatherum,” it seemed a natural extension to also read and review the second “Gatherum,” released in 1988, when the series was all of ten years old.
That ten year span must have seemed like a long time back in the day. Especially when one considers that here in 2019 the series will celebrate its forty-first birthday. Time does indeed fly. On a personal level, 1988 was one of the great years of my life. Many wonderful things happened, and yet I was still missing out on this beautiful and epic comic series.
So the “Gatherum, Volume Two,” is similar in format to the first edition. It contains a lot of previously published and some unpublished art by Wendy Pini, as well as several articles that cover various aspects of the “Elfquest” universe. One should keep in mind that this only covers material up the “Siege at Blue Mountain” story arc, so there was still quite a bit of the tale still yet to be told. As the Pinis forthrightly admit in this book, there was less pressure on them to get product on the stands in a timely manner. They were able to take their time producing issues and they took it. There is also another long-form interview with the Pinis, as there was in the first “Gatherum,” but with the different outlook and introspection that time will bring to any shared experience.
I appreciated Wendy Pini’s article on how to “think” like an elf. This was good insight on how she and Richard conceived the worldview of Cutter and the rest of the Elven characters in the series. It was obvious early on that the “Elfquest” elves had a decidedly unique view of their place on the World of Two Moons, and this uniqueness was one of the main things that set “Elfquest” apart from the pack where fantasy fiction was concerned. What was even more spectacular was that the Pinis had a separate vision in mind for the psychology of each different elf-tribe in the series. Each clan had its own peculiar outlook on life and how they related to the world around them. This attention to character development is one of the crowning achievements of “Elfquest” as a whole. It’s a big part of what made the series truly epic.
Another of the better articles in Richard Pini’s in-depth exploration of the Elven phenomenon of “recognition.” At first, it seemed like some sort of Elvish “love at first sight,” but it became obvious as the series progressed that it was more of a genetically designed mating function that made for successful matchmaking with optimal breeding as the desired outcome. This sort of thing was built into the Elven DNA after a time, as it was imperative to keep the species going. Recognition was a novel way of mitigating the challenges of small populations and limited range of territory.
There is one more article that bears mention, that being Deborah Dunn’s excellent write up on the women Wolfriders. Strong female characters were another of the qualities that set “Elfquest” apart from the pack in the fantasy fandom. Most fantasy writers were content to see female characters as femme fatales or witches instead of main characters. The one big exception to the rule was “Red Sonja,” the powerful sword & sorcery heroine of the 1970s Marvel machine. It is surely no coincidence that Wendy Pini first made her name at comics conventions by parading around in full Red Sonja regalia. This reliance on strong female characters made “Elfquest” a pioneering publication, showcasing a female cast that could be erotic one moment, and deadly accurate with a bow and arrow in the next. The female Pini Elves fought and provided for the holt just as much as the male Elves did.
The interview section with Wendy and Richard is fun, even if it covers a bit of the same ground that was already documented in the first “Gatherum.” The additional artwork is somewhat hit or miss, but overall it provided some interesting glimpses into how the characters “should” look. It was also fascinating to know that “Elfquest” had spawned a robust “fanfiction” subset of the fandom, one that was taking the story in all sorts of different directions. It was obvious that the Pinis valued their fans taking such an immersive interest in “Elfquest,” even if the results of such immersion were often wildly uneven.
“The Elfquest Gatherum, Volume Two” is another of those products that will probably only appeal to the real hardcore fans. It’s certainly not necessary that you read these to fully enjoy and appreciate “Elfquest.” That said, the “Gatherums” do provide a ton of fun background information on the series as a whole, and it’s worthwhile to at least take a peek at these volumes if you want to satisfy your urge for more Elven knowledge and content. It’s definitely a fun way to kill a couple of hours, short of going back and rereading the series itself. “Elfquest” is that proverbial literary onion, made up of lots of layers. The “Gatherums” go a long way towards helping you peel off a few of those bands. Get ‘em if you’re a fan.
That ten year span must have seemed like a long time back in the day. Especially when one considers that here in 2019 the series will celebrate its forty-first birthday. Time does indeed fly. On a personal level, 1988 was one of the great years of my life. Many wonderful things happened, and yet I was still missing out on this beautiful and epic comic series.
So the “Gatherum, Volume Two,” is similar in format to the first edition. It contains a lot of previously published and some unpublished art by Wendy Pini, as well as several articles that cover various aspects of the “Elfquest” universe. One should keep in mind that this only covers material up the “Siege at Blue Mountain” story arc, so there was still quite a bit of the tale still yet to be told. As the Pinis forthrightly admit in this book, there was less pressure on them to get product on the stands in a timely manner. They were able to take their time producing issues and they took it. There is also another long-form interview with the Pinis, as there was in the first “Gatherum,” but with the different outlook and introspection that time will bring to any shared experience.
I appreciated Wendy Pini’s article on how to “think” like an elf. This was good insight on how she and Richard conceived the worldview of Cutter and the rest of the Elven characters in the series. It was obvious early on that the “Elfquest” elves had a decidedly unique view of their place on the World of Two Moons, and this uniqueness was one of the main things that set “Elfquest” apart from the pack where fantasy fiction was concerned. What was even more spectacular was that the Pinis had a separate vision in mind for the psychology of each different elf-tribe in the series. Each clan had its own peculiar outlook on life and how they related to the world around them. This attention to character development is one of the crowning achievements of “Elfquest” as a whole. It’s a big part of what made the series truly epic.
Another of the better articles in Richard Pini’s in-depth exploration of the Elven phenomenon of “recognition.” At first, it seemed like some sort of Elvish “love at first sight,” but it became obvious as the series progressed that it was more of a genetically designed mating function that made for successful matchmaking with optimal breeding as the desired outcome. This sort of thing was built into the Elven DNA after a time, as it was imperative to keep the species going. Recognition was a novel way of mitigating the challenges of small populations and limited range of territory.
There is one more article that bears mention, that being Deborah Dunn’s excellent write up on the women Wolfriders. Strong female characters were another of the qualities that set “Elfquest” apart from the pack in the fantasy fandom. Most fantasy writers were content to see female characters as femme fatales or witches instead of main characters. The one big exception to the rule was “Red Sonja,” the powerful sword & sorcery heroine of the 1970s Marvel machine. It is surely no coincidence that Wendy Pini first made her name at comics conventions by parading around in full Red Sonja regalia. This reliance on strong female characters made “Elfquest” a pioneering publication, showcasing a female cast that could be erotic one moment, and deadly accurate with a bow and arrow in the next. The female Pini Elves fought and provided for the holt just as much as the male Elves did.
The interview section with Wendy and Richard is fun, even if it covers a bit of the same ground that was already documented in the first “Gatherum.” The additional artwork is somewhat hit or miss, but overall it provided some interesting glimpses into how the characters “should” look. It was also fascinating to know that “Elfquest” had spawned a robust “fanfiction” subset of the fandom, one that was taking the story in all sorts of different directions. It was obvious that the Pinis valued their fans taking such an immersive interest in “Elfquest,” even if the results of such immersion were often wildly uneven.
“The Elfquest Gatherum, Volume Two” is another of those products that will probably only appeal to the real hardcore fans. It’s certainly not necessary that you read these to fully enjoy and appreciate “Elfquest.” That said, the “Gatherums” do provide a ton of fun background information on the series as a whole, and it’s worthwhile to at least take a peek at these volumes if you want to satisfy your urge for more Elven knowledge and content. It’s definitely a fun way to kill a couple of hours, short of going back and rereading the series itself. “Elfquest” is that proverbial literary onion, made up of lots of layers. The “Gatherums” go a long way towards helping you peel off a few of those bands. Get ‘em if you’re a fan.
Displaying 1 of 1 review