ElfQuest: The Final Quest #2
Script by Wendy Pini & Richard Pini
Art by Wendy Pini
Colors by Sonny Strait
Letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover by Wendy Pini
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 26, 2014
Cover Price: $3.50
The legendary fantasy series ElfQuest rekindled the spark for many fans with its recent comeback, and the story in ElfQuest: The Final Quest #2 by Richard Pini and Wendy Pini from Dark Horse turns those sparks into flames.
With more than three decades of storytelling under their belts, it’s no wonder the Pini team has amassed such a voracious following of their feisty Wolf Rider tribe. ElfQuest: The Final Quest #2 continues the battle from the previous issue, but punctuates the action with pauses of tender emotion and sensual moments that fans have come to expect. (Don’t let the Wendy Pini’s fresh-faced elves fool you into thinking this is a fantasy for kids””ElfQuest is definitely a series for more mature readers.)
It’s tough to review a “revival” work from a long-standing storyline–especially as a fan–but this issue has no problem holding its own with fantasy readers new to the series. Know first, though, that stepping into a tale that’s been unraveling since 1978 is going to take some getting used to and there may be a bit of homework necessary to make the characters’ current actions have the impact that Richard Pini intended. Is it worth digging up some backstory? Absolutely.
As I admitted, I am a longtime ElfQuest fan. Back in the 1980s, many Dungeons & Dragons games I played were directly influenced by scenes in early ElfQuest issues. About twenty years ago, I had two boxes filled with copies of the series in the trunk of my car when I was involved in a pretty ugly automobile accident. I distinctly remember asking the firefighters who were cutting me out of the car if they could check on my comics and make sure that they were okay. So yeah, you could definitely say I have a soft spot in my heart for the Wolf Riders, but I never expected ElfQuest: The Final Quest to have the same nostalgic look and feel of the classics. If anything, I’d say that the Pinis have only gotten better in terms of the chemistry between Richard’s scriptwriting and Wendy’s visual interpretation of it.
I suppose the Pini team and Dark Horse have proven with ElfQuest: The Final Quest #2 that things truly do improve with age. Would I recommend this newest yarn in the expansive weave of ElfQuest to existing fans?
Without a doubt.
Richard Pini here: Our thanks for the glowing review, but I must point out an error in the credits given above. In the comic, they read “Script – Wendy & Richard Pini” and then “Art – Wendy Pini.” There seems to be a strong impulse to assume that if Wendy (clearly) does the art then I, by some yin-yang balancing act, must provide the script. Not true. We do cobble up the story together. Then Wendy scripts, I edit, she draws, and finally we give it one more editorial pass together. Here’s to credit where it’s due.
Comment by Richard Pini — April 4, 2014 @ 1:16 am
Hi Richard. My personal apologies. I’m honestly unsure why the credits were altered. Our standard policy is to list credits exactly as they appear in an issue. I’ve updated them to reflect that.
Comment by Dave3 — April 4, 2014 @ 2:10 pm