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1978-2008.
Three decades of Elfquest. It's quite a milestone for
anyone to achieve. Producing anything for print can be a pain in the
tailfur. But despite the challenges and problems that come with
publishing and licensing a multifaceted line of comic books, graphic
novels, collections, and much more, Warp Graphics has managed to
dazzle readers thousands of times over with images of life. Of
feeling. Of caring. Of hardship. Of pain. And, most of all, of
love. That's what makes Elfquest... well, Elfquest.
This brief outline is meant to provide some basic information about
the different Elfquest comic book series that Warp Graphics has
published: What are the various titles? Who wrote the stories and
drew the art? Where do all the stories fit in? Which have been
collected in book form? and so on. We hope this information will help you in your quest to collect and
read all the Elfquest tales you'd like to know about.
(Note) There are several other helpful aids to finding your way through the web of Elfquest tales:
The Publications -- Comics and Graphic Novels
(A note on availability: As with most books and periodicals,
individual titles can go out of print over time. The easiest way to
determine if a volume or issue is still in print and available is to
look in the Wolfrider Shop here on this web site, and by
searching the web for comics dealers and auction sites.)
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Elfquest (the original series): 20 "magazine-sized" comic
book issues published in black and white from 1978 to 1984. These tell
the story of Cutter, his tribe the Wolfriders, and their quest to find and
unite other groups of elves against the threat of humans, trolls, and
other assorted nasties. These 20 issues (and subsequent series) have been collected over the years into different format volumes. From 1981 to 1984, the Donning/Starblaze company released collections #1-#4 in full color, magazine-size softcover (8 1/2 by 11 inches). From 1988 to 1992 Warp Graphics reissued collections #1-#8 in the same format, both hard- and softcover. The most recent offerings from Warp Graphics have been some 30-plus volumes in the softcover, comic-size (7 by 10 inches) black-and-white Elfquest Reader's Collection series. DC Comics reissued the "original quest" in its Archive series, handsome full-color, comic-size hardcover volumes.
(Note: All previous Donning/Starblaze and Father Tree Press editions of reprinted material - the large-format, full-color volumes - are out of print. Warp Graphics no longer has any copies available for direct sale.)
- Reader's Collection #1 - Fire and Flight
(reprinting issues #1-5)
- Reader's Collection #2 - The Forbidden Grove
(reprinting issues #6-10)
- Reader's Collection #3 - Captives of Blue Mountain
(reprinting issues #11-15)
- Reader's Collection #4 - Quest's End
(reprinting issues #16-20)
Story and art in these volumes by Wendy & Richard Pini.
An additional issue #21 collected reader letters and behind-the-scenes
material; this issue has not been reprinted.
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Elfquest: Siege at Blue Mountain: 8 comic book issues
published in black and white from 1986 to 1988. The next adventure for
Cutter and the Wolfriders as they deal with Winnowill in Blue
Mountain. Currently collected into volumes #5 and #6 in the Elfquest
Reader's Collection series:
- Reader's Collection #5 - Siege at Blue Mountain (reprinting issues #1-4)
- Reader's Collection #6 - The Secret of Two-Edge (reprinting issues #5-8)
Story and art in these volumes by Wendy & Richard Pini.
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Elfquest: Kings of the Broken Wheel: 9 comic book issues
published in black and white from 1988 to 1990. Further trials for
Cutter and his friends as they journey to a new land and search
through space and time for Cutter's kidnapped family. Currently collected
into volumes #7 and #8 in the Elfquest Reader's Collection series:
- Reader's Collection #7 - The Cry From Beyond (reprinting issues #1-4)
- Reader's Collection #8 - Kings of the Broken Wheel (reprinting issues #5-9)
Story and art in these volumes by Wendy & Richard Pini.
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Beginning in 1992, and for about 3 years, Warp Graphics published comic books in color, switching back to black and white when economic conditions dictated. For a while, Warp published as many as seven Elfquest comic titles each month.
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Elfquest: Hidden Years: 29 comic book issues dealing at first
with individual stories from the Wolfriders' past, then with their
adventures in their new land, and finally with Ember's own
tribe. The first issues (from #1 to #9 1/2) were collected first
into two color hardcover volumes:
- The Hidden Years (reprinting issues #1-5) (still available)
- Rogue's Challenge (reprinting issues #6-9 1/2) (out of print)
(see Reader's Collection #9 Rogue's Curse below)
Issues #8-29 are collected in softcover Reader's Collection volumes:
- Reader's Collection #10 - Shards (reprinting issues #8-15)
Story by Wendy & Richard Pini and Sara Byam; art by Wendy Pini, Paul Abrams and Brandon McKinney
- Reader's Collection #11 - Legacy (reprinting issues #16-22)
Story by Wendi Lee, Joellyn Auklandus and Wendy & Richard Pini; art by Brandon McKinney,
O.F. Roko and Steve Blevins
(NOTE: the first printing of this volume is numbered "11a" in error.)
- Reader's Collection #11a - Huntress (reprinting issues #22-29)
Story by Joellyn Auklandus and Wendy & Richard Pini; art by Steve Blevins
- Reader's Collection #11b - Wild Hunt (stories from the Elfquest anthology comic; see below)
- Reader's Collection #11c - Shadowstalker (stories from the Elfquest anthology comic; see below)
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Elfquest: Shards: 16 issues. A spin-off title from Hidden
Years. This series chronicles the battle between Cutter and his
Wolfriders and a tyrannical human warlord, the Grohmul Djun, who wants
to destroy the elves' Holt.
- Reader's Collection #12 - Ascent (reprinting issues #1-8)
Story by Wendy & Richard Pini; art by Brandon McKinney
- Reader's Collection #12a - Reunion (reprinting issues #9-16)
Story by Wendy & Richard Pini; art by Brandon McKinney
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Elfquest: New Blood: 35 issues. The first 10 issues contain
individual what-if stories by different artists and writers. Issues #11
on tell the story of Dart and his companions from the Sun Village as they
journey to the land of the Forevergreen jungle. Several stories from
early issues have been collected in the hardcover volume:
- Elfquest: New Blood (still available)
Issues #11-35 are collected in softcover Reader's Collection volumes:
- Reader's Collection #15 - Forevergreen (reprinting issues #11-19)
Story by Barry Blair and Wendy & Richard Pini; art by Barry Blair and Colin Chan
- Reader's Collection #15a - Dream's End (reprinting issues #20-27)
Story by Barry Blair and Richard Pini; art by Barry Blair and Colin Chan
- Reader's Collection #15b - Phoenix (reprinting issues #28-35)
Story by Barry Blair and Richard Pini; art by Barry Blair and Colin Chan (available April 2002)
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Elfquest: Blood of Ten Chiefs: 20 issues. Stories from the
history of the Wolfriders, some of which are taken from the Blood of Ten
Chiefs short story anthologies, some of which were written specifically
for this series.
- Reader's Collection #9a - Wolfrider! (stories from the Elfquest anthology comic; see below)
- Reader's Collection #9b - Blood of Ten Chiefs (reprinting issues #1-7, 10, 11)
Stories by Richard Pini, Andy Mangels and Terry Collins; art by Janine Johnston, Brandon McKinney, Paul Bonanno, Ken Hooper and Steve Blevins
- Reader's Collection #9c - Kahvi (stories from the Kahvi and Two-Spear series; see below)
- Reader's Collection #9d - Chief's Howl (reprinting issue #12-15 and 18-20)
Stories and art by various
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Elfquest: The Rebels: 12 issues. A series from the
future of the world of Elfquest. The Rebels are a group of young men,
women, and... other beings who find themselves in the middle of an
interplanetary war with the Palace of the High Ones as a
prize.
- Reader's Collection #13 - The Rebels (reprinting issues #1-6)
Story by Bern Harkins and Richard Pini; art by Delfin Barral
(NOTE: the first printing of this volume is numbered "13a" in error.)
- Reader's Collection #13a - Skyward Shadow (reprinting issues #7-12)
Story by Bern Harkins and Richard Pini; art by Delfin Barral
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Elfquest: Jink: 12 issues. A companion series from the future
of the world of Elfquest. Hundreds of years after the time of Cutter, the
elves have disappeared. No one knows what may have happened but Jink -- who is a shapeshifting descendant of the elves -- wants to find out.
- Reader's Collection #14 - Jink! (reprinting issues #1-6)
Story by John Ostrander with Wendy Pini; art by David Boller
- Reader's Collection #14a - Mindcoil (reprinting issues #7-12)
Story by John Ostrander with Wendy Pini; art by Dennis Fujitake
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Elfquest: Kahvi: 6 issues. A mini-series focusing on the
hot-tempered leader of the Go-Back tribe. Tells of Kahvi's attempt to
find the Wolfriders as they sleep for 10,000 years (from Kings of the
Broken Wheel) and what she learns of herself in the process. These
issues and the following are collected into Reader's Collection
volume #9c, below.
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Elfquest: Two-Spear: 5 issues. A mini-series all about the
mad chief of the Wolfriders who nearly destroyed the tribe many
thousands of years ago.
- Reader's Collection #9c - Kahvi (reprinting Kahvi issues #1-6, Two-Spear issues #1-5)
Stories by Joellyn Auklandus, Kim Yale and Terry Collins; art by Steve Blevins and Delfin Barral
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In 1996, Warp made the decision to cease the publication of many different titles, and instead to concentrate all its efforts into a single, multi-story Elfquest anthology comic magazine, published in black and white. The contents of each issue vary, and have been drawn from several storylines.
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Dreamtime - the visions and omens experienced by the Wolfriders during their 10,000 year sleep.
- Reader's Collection #8a - Dreamtime
Story by Wendy Pini with Richard Pini; art by Wendy Pini
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Wild Hunt - the further adventures of Ember, now grown up, and her own Wolfrider tribe.
- Reader's Collection #11b - Wild Hunt
Story by Joellyn Auklandus with Wendy Pini; art by Steve Blevins and Lorraine Reyes.
- Reader's Collection #11c - Shadowstalker
Story by Joellyn Auklandus with Wendy Pini; art by Lorraine Reyes.
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Fire-Eye - the tale of a young elf from the Forevergreen and the human children he protects. |
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WaveDancers - the story of sea-elves and their efforts to save the ocean from a madman's plot.
- Reader's Collection #16 - WaveDancers
Story by Richard Pini, Vickie Murphy and Kathryn Bolinger; art by Steve Blevins, Craig Taillefer and Wendi Strang-Frost
NOTE: For legal reasons, the "WaveDancers" series appearing in issues #1-6 of that title in 1993-4 cannot be reprinted.
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Rogue's Curse - Rayek and Ekuar wander the world as Rayek holds Winnowill's spirit inside him.
- Reader's Collection #9 - Rogue's Curse
Story by Wendy Pini, Brandon McKinney and Bern Harkins; art by Wendy Pini, Delfin Barral and Brandon McKinney
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FutureQuest - the further adventures of Jink and The Rebels |
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Wolfrider! - a peek into the dark history of Bearclaw and his tribe before Cutter was born.
- Reader's Collection #9a - Wolfrider!
Story by Christy Marx and Wendy Pini; art by Wendy Pini and Jeff Zugale
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Worldpool - new What-if stories that could never happen -- or could they?
- Reader's Collection #? - Worldpool
Stories by Richard Pini, Christopher Lane, Brandon McKinney, Terry Collins, Pam Fremon, Bill Neville, Kim Yale and Carla Speed-McNeil; art by Wendy Pini, Brandon McKinney, Bill Neville, Barry Blair, Ken Hooper and Carla Speed-McNeil
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The Publications -- Other Books
In addition, Warp Graphics has published several other books that
compliment the Elfquest titles listed above:
Elfquest: Bedtime Stories is a color hardcover collection
of tales, some of which are taken from New Blood, and some of which
were written just for this volume. These stories, characterized as "fairy
tales with an Elfquest twist," are intended for younger readers
Stories by Wendi Lee and Terry Beatty; art by Gary Kato
The Big Elfquest Gatherum is a thick hardcover volume full
of information about Elfquest: interviews with the creators, articles
about different aspects of the stories and projects that have sprung
up around Elfquest, artwork that has not been published anywhere
else, and more. This material goes up to about the mid-1990s.
The Wolfrider's Guide to the World of Elfquest is a
companion volume to the Big Elfquest Gatherum. Very much an
encyclopedia of things Elfquest, the Guide contains references to over
650 characters and hundreds of places and things to be found throughout
thousands of pages of stories. Current to about 1996.
A Gift of Her Own is a children's book using the Elfquest
characters to tell a story of a young human girl who learns that she
has magic of her own. This is not a comic book, but a children's book
with text and illustrations by Wendy Pini, for readers aged 4-8.
There are two series of prose paperbacks about Elfquest published by
other publishers, available online and in bookstores. These are:
A trilogy of novelizations of the original quest adventure, published
by Berkley/Ace: Journey to Sorrow's End, The Quest
Begins, and Captives of Blue Mountain.
Five collections of short stories written by various science fiction
and fantasy authors and published by Tor Books: Blood of Ten
Chiefs, Wolfsong, Winds of Change,
Against the Wind,and Dark Hours. A sixth
volume, Hunter's Dawn, was projected but cancelled.
The Order of the Stories
The tales told in the complex and ever-growing ongoing Elfquest saga
span an entire world and thousands of years of history. This could
present a problem, particularly to the new reader: the chronological
order of publication, or the numbering order within a series, may
not necessarily be the best reading order if you want to start at
the beginning of Elfquest history and move up through the present
into the future. (For another look at the ordering of the stories, see the Elfquest story timeline elsewhere in the "Publications" section.)
We recommend that you begin with the original series, collected in
Elfquest Reader's Collections #1-4. Siege at Blue Mountain and Kings
of the Broken Wheel, collected in Reader's Collections #5-8 follow.
The Wolfrider!, Blood of Ten Chiefs and Two-Spear series are "past
history," so to speak. They take place before the main series begins,
though they were published later. They may, however, reveal events
prematurely that might be better learned in the original series
first. (Reader's Collections #8a and 9c)
New Blood issues #1-10, and the Summer Specials, are mostly single
stand-alone stories. However, #11-12 take place at the same time as
some events in Kings of the Broken Wheel, while the events in #13 on
are concurrent with those in Hidden Years #10 and later, and Shards.
(Reader's Collections #15, 15a and 15b)
Jink and The Rebels are also more or less contemporary, but the events
portrayed in those series happen in the far future relative to the
other series. FutureQuest stories (not yet completed or reprinted)
combine both Jink and Rebels storylines. (Reader's Collections #13,
13a, 14 and 14a)
The Kahvi series takes place between issues #7 and #8 (reprinted
within Reader's Collection #8) of the Kings of the Broken Wheel
series.
After Kahvi leaves the Wolfriders in Kings #7, her story continues in
the following comic book issues:
- Hidden Years #2
- New Blood #11-12
- Kahvi #1-6
There are strong links between Two-Spear and Kahvi, even though they
occur thousands of years apart. (Reader's Collection #9c)
Hidden Years (the series) began publication after Kings of the Broken
Wheel ended, but the events in some issues, such as #4 and #8, take
place even later than that in story chronology (curiously, #8 must
happen before #4). Other issues up to #9 occur at various times in
the past. Issues #6-7 are a two-part tale portraying events that
occur earlier than any other story in Elfquest.
Hidden Years #9.5 bridges the shift. It is the last more or less
self-contained story, but it leads directly to the longer plot begun
in issue #10, and also to some degree to the Forevergreen plot in
New Blood (issues #13 on). (Reader's Collection #10)
Another plot split occurs after Hidden Years #15. Both issue #16 and
Shards #1 follow that issue. (Reader's Collections #11, 11a, 12 and 12a)
Out of the Order...
There have also been various special issues and features published
since the end of the main story arcs in Hidden Years and
Shards. These are Worldpool ("what-if") stories that take known
characters into seemingly impossible situations, such as what
Wolfrider history might have been like had Cutter been the offspring
of an elf and a human. (Reader's Collection #?)
The Future
What lies ahead? The Elfquest universe is ripe with stories yet to be
told, and every character wants his or her say! Over the years,
Elfquest stories have been released in many different forms, and
even though it began existence as a comic book series, there is
nothing saying that Elfquest will be constrained to this
format. The "FutureQuest" stories of The Rebels and Jink are still
being spun. The further adventures of Ember and her splinter tribe
of Wolfriders is being crafted as these words are being typed. Rumors
abound concerning the "Final Quest," a tale to be revealed at some point
in the future, although its contents remain a mystery!
With a full slate of projects stretching into the indeterminate future,
Warp Graphics isn't saying precisely when or how all these stories
will come forth... but time will indeed tell.
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