ElfQuest: The Searcher And The Sword by Wendy and Richard Pini
01/09/2004 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: DC Comics. 94 page graphic novel hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $37.95 (CAN). ISBN: 1-4012-0183-0. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.DCcomics.com
and www.elfquest.com It's
hard to believe that I read the first 'ElfQuest' collection back in the early
80s. Apart from the difficulty in collecting the individual issues, it was an
unusual interest for a die-hard SF reader to want to check out a comic about elves.
I think what struck me at the time was that 'ElfQuest' was internally consistent
and they were using primitive science without really understanding why things
worked that way. The best example of that being the lodestone carried by Skywise
to find the direction in their travels. To them, it was a magic rock rather than
a piece of magnetic ore. 
With this book, we have a new adventure of the Wolfriders who now they
are settled are having problems replacing their weaponry now that the tool-making
trolls have left. They also have a human female, Shuna, living amongst them after
she fled her abusing father and is now past adolescence and wants to encourage
relations between the elves and humans. These twin plots intertwine through this
graphic novel, illustrating things aren't as easy as you would imagine them to
be.
Wendy Pini has turned from colouring with a brush to doing it by
computer now having discovered how flexible the graphics software was with her
line illustration with not a pixel in sight. It's a shame that the richness of
the colours of the contents wasn't altogether caught on the cover but that's personal
opinion and probably more an editorial decision.
Those of you familiar
with Wendy Pini's art and text style will recognise she's remained consistent
throughout her 'ElfQuest' books. I think it would help the novice reader discovering
this book had there been some sort of glossary or identification of the major
characters to know them better though. Although Wendy Pini does identify as she
goes without getting bogged down with it, I can't guarantee that you can get into
it cold. Mind you, as DC also have 6 volumes of the other 'ElfQuest' books,
you might well want to dig into these first to see where all these characters
have come from. Considering the 'ElfQuest' comics were produced independently
by the Pinis and reprinted both by Marvel and DC should also indicate that they
have a vast following who will no doubt be happy to buy this new adventure. Seeing
Cutter and his Wolfrider Clan again after all these years has been fun and can't
wait for the next one. GF Willmetts
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