Elfquest

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Elfquest (also ElfQuest ) is an extensive fantasy comic series by the couple Wendy Pini and Richard Pini , which is divided into different cycles and which has been self-published by WaRP Graphics since 1978 and later by Marvel and DC Comics from 2003 .

The series is about the epic adventures of an elven tribe who are driven from their forest by humans and search the world for their own kind. At the same time, the history of human development from the Stone Age to the Space Age is presented.

In Germany, the booklet was first published by Bastei under the series title Adventure in the Elf World , and later by Carlsen . The newer volumes ran in German under the series title Elfquest . The older volumes were translated into German by the well-known German fantasy author Wolfgang Hohlbein .

action

The tribe of the Wolfsreiter - short, long-eared elves - live with their allies, the wolves , in a huge jungle on an earth-like planet with two moons. When the Stone Age people set the forest on fire out of hatred, Reaper, the leader and his tribe flee to the caves of the trolls, with whom the elves have an old love-hate relationship. But the envious trolls lure them into a withered desert and cut off their only way back. For days the desperate wolf riders, who are not used to the heat, wander through the empty, sun-scorched land until they meet another elven people: the sun people , who live in the sun village , which is also called worrying . The arable farmers in the sun villages are much more peaceful and long-lived, and they cannot understand many of the characteristics of their apparently primitive elven relatives.

Reaper kidnaps the beautiful Leetah because he does not trust the foreign tribe, as he did with the trolls. When he looks at her, he "recognizes" her. This original way of finding a partner, in which two elves find each other in order to equip their offspring with the best qualities, is unknown to the Sun Folk (and thus also Leetah), as they choose their partners out of love. The sun people can convince the wolf riders that they do not pose a threat and many of the emaciated warriors are happy about the peace they find in worrying. Due to the kidnapping, however, Leetah rejects Schneider's animalistic side and his in her eyes non-cultural nature, although she always feels his soul name TAM in his vicinity, but she can't do anything with it. Schnitter, on the other hand, suffers from unrequited recognition. It takes some violent arguments and a duel with Leetah's childhood friend and admirer Rayek before the two elves find each other. They become companions and have two children, the blond sunbeam and the red-haired Sparkle. Out of wounded pride, Rayek withdraws from the sun people, who depended on him as their hunter and provider.

When indications of unrest in the world of the two moons emerge, initially only reaper and his best friend Himmelweis, later almost the entire tribe of wolf riders with a few from the sun people, set out to look for other elven tribes and to unite their peoples against humans . They soon discover that there are several other tribes, some of which seem even more alien and hostile than humans. Furthermore, they explore the truly galactic secret of their origins. The wolf riders also learn that their ancestor took on the shape of a wolf in order to survive and that the first wolf rider emerged from a connection, who inherited the powers and senses of a wolf, but also mortality. Later, after a conflict with the dark elf Winnowill and the megalomaniac human warlord Grohmul Djunn over their people's primal inheritance - the floating crystal palace with which the ancestors of the elves came from space to this world - the tribe of the Wolfsreiter, as their members want to seek their own tasks in the now enlarged world.

Elfquest in Germany

Album format

The Elfquest comic series was published in German from 1984 under the title Adventure in the Elfenwelt . The first edition by Bastei Verlag almost always corresponds to the first 37 volumes of the American series in terms of its individual volumes, but from the beginning all German stories were always in four colors - in the USA they were initially only black and white - and released as an album slightly enlarged (1984 -1992). There was also a "collector's edition" (1990–91) by Bastei, in which two or three of the Bastei albums were combined, but this edition was canceled after only nine anthologies.

In addition, in November 1984 Goldmann Verlag published the novel Adventure in the Elven World as a book within the black series Goldmann Fantasy . It is a translation of the US novel Journey to Sorrow's End by Wendy and Richard Pini and was translated by Lore Straßl . In terms of content, it includes a retelling of the first five Bastei comic albums with the description of the Wolfsreiter's search for Sorgeend and the union of Schnitter and Leetah, but gives many more detailed details and additional background information. There were two editions that are completely out of print.

In the new edition of the first 37 stories by Carlsen Verlag (1997-2000), also under the series title Adventure in the Elves ' World , two or three volumes of the US series were combined in a large-format, four-color album (sometimes in a different sequence than in the Bastei collector's edition). Carlsen released 20 albums and the special anniversary volume The First 20 Years .

Both Bastei and Carlsen did not take into account the original division into actually three series in the consecutive numbering of the volumes (1 to 37 or 1 to 20) ("Elfquest", 1–20; Siege at Blue Mountain , 1–8; and Kings of the Broken Wheel , 1–9; only the last cycle title was taken over by Bastei for volume 29–37 as the subtitle The Kings of the Broken Wheel ).

Booklet format

After that, Carlsen only published all sequels of the experiences of the elf tribe in the smaller magazine format , in which all Elfquest stories in the USA were always published:

  • Initially, the US-American Elfquest series offshoots "Hidden Years" and "Shards" were used, which were published in 18 issues from 1998-99 under the series title Elfquest - New Adventures in the Elf World . With the exception of the first, each issue contained a chapter from each of the two US series, so that one could follow the two different storylines in parallel. These 18 issues were later reissued by Carlsen (in a different order in terms of content) under the title Elfquest - New Adventures in the Elves' World in nine large albums.
  • Some of the missing episodes of the series Hidden Years were initially published by Carlsen in two booklet editions as Elfquest - Special , later the missing episodes appeared completely as Elfquest - The Hidden Years in four book-sized albums, supplemented by two stories from the US series Blood of Ten Chiefs .
  • Carlsen then published the two short series Zeit der Träume (in the original Dreamtime , 12 US issues in four German small albums from 2002) and Kahvi (six US issues in two German small albums from 2003). Most recently, Carlsen released the volume Der Sucher und das Schwert in 2005, shortly after its appearance in the USA, as a book-sized single album in Germany.

The other U.S. Elfquest sub-series New Blood (35 issues), Two Spear (5 issues), WaveDancers (six issues), Blood of Ten Chiefs (20 issues), The Rebels (12 issues) and Jink (12 issues) are not yet published in German. Carlsen Verlag does not currently plan to publish any further Elfquest volumes in German.

The individual German comics

All of the comics mentioned here are authors of Richard and Wendy Pini.

Adventure in the elven world

First German edition (Bastei)

  1. When the evil gnomes came
  2. The way to worrying
  3. The challenge
  4. The song of the wolves
  5. In the sun valley
  6. The search begins
  7. The trick of the trolls
  8. The hands of the cave painters
  9. The magnetic stone
  10. The forbidden grove
  11. In the clutches of the bird spirits
  12. On the right track
  13. The secret of the wolf riders
  14. The fall
  15. The trap in the mountains
  16. The people of the snow elves
  17. The first battle
  18. The hunt for the lost treasure
  19. The cave of victory
  20. The end of the search
  21. The web of vengeance
  22. Under the spell of the falcon riders
  23. The mistress of the bird spirits
  24. The Battle of the Blue Mountain
  25. The curse of the black snake
  26. The den of betrayal
  27. In the labyrinth of horror
  28. The hour of reconciliation
  29. The curse of old enmity
  30. In the mountain of trolls
  31. The mother of the wolves
  32. Scream from afar
  33. The world of the exiles
  34. Snow elves and hawk riders
  35. The tree of memory
  36. The castle under the stars
  37. The duel of the shadows

Bastei collector's edition

  1. Fire and curse
  2. Duel in Sorrow
  3. Peace and new beginnings
  4. Trolls and people
  5. Bird spirits and demons
  6. Hunter and hunted
  7. Tricks and traps
  8. Wolves and hawks
  9. fight and win

Second German edition (Carlsen)

  1. Through the Empty Land ( ISBN 3-551-72991-3 )
  2. The final exam ( ISBN 3-551-72992-1 )
  3. The search begins ( ISBN 3-551-72993-X )
  4. The cave painters ( ISBN 3-551-72994-8 )
  5. The magnetic stone ( ISBN 3-551-72995-6 )
  6. The bird spirits ( ISBN 3-551-72996-4 )
  7. The secret of the wolf riders ( ISBN 3-551-72997-2 )
  8. Winnowill's Revenge ( ISBN 3-551-72998-0 )
  9. Fight against the trolls ( ISBN 3-551-72999-9 )
  10. The Victory Cave ( ISBN 3-551-73000-8 )
  11. The end of the search ( ISBN 3-551-73081-4 )
  12. The mistress of the bird spirits ( ISBN 3-551-73085-7 )
  13. The Battle of the Blue Mountain ( ISBN 3-551-73086-5 )
  14. Under the spell of the black snake ( ISBN 3-551-73087-3 )
  15. The Hour of Reconciliation ( ISBN 3-551-73088-1 )
  16. The Master of the Palace ( ISBN 3-551-73089-X )
  17. Scream from afar ( ISBN 3-551-73094-6 )
  18. The Exiles ( ISBN 3-551-73095-4 )
  19. The Tree of Memory ( ISBN 3-551-73096-2 )
  20. The way of the wolf riders ( ISBN 3-551-73097-0 )

Elfquest - The Hidden Years

In the "Hidden Years" series, individual stories were published that fill gaps in the stories that have already been told, explain the prehistory of the elven race or offer deeper insights into individual characters. Each story is self-contained, each album comprises 2 to 4 US stories of varying sizes.

  1. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-76481-6 ) without title
  2. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-76482-4 ) without title
  3. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-76483-2 ) without title
  4. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-76484-0 ) without title

Elfquest - The New Adventure

Here the stories of the American "Shards" series and the "Hidden Years" series from episode 10 onwards were published, first as 18 issues, then as nine large-format albums.

Content : The trunk is divided into two parts. One part, led by Schnitter, goes in search of the shards of the palace in "Shards"; the other part is looking for a new home under the direction of Schnitter's daughter Fünkchen. Every German comic book deals with one as well as the other storyline, so that a feeling of simultaneity is conveyed. In America, the two strands appeared in separate publications.

  1. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74441-6 ) without title
  2. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74442-4 ) without title
  3. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74443-2 ) without title
  4. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74444-0 ) without title
  5. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74445-9 ) without title
  6. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74446-7 ) without title
  7. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74447-5 ) without title
  8. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74448-3 ) without title
  9. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74449-1 ) without title

Elfquest - Time of Dreams

In this cycle of their own, the Wolfsreiter tell one after the other what preoccupied them in their dreams during their centuries of sleep.

  1. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74081-X ) without title
  2. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74082-8 ) without title
  3. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74083-6 ) without title
  4. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-74084-4 ) without title

Elfquest - Kahvi

This independent cycle is about the experiences of Kahvi, the legendary leader of the Snow Elves.

  1. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-77341-6 ) without title
  2. Volume ( ISBN 3-551-77342-4 ) without title

Single volumes

  • 1984: Goldmann Fantasy- Taschenbuch Abenteuer in der Elfenwelt ( ISBN 3-442-23847-1 ), a novel retelling of the first five Bastei comic albums with many details that were neglected in the comic (with some page-sized black and white pictures of Wendy Pini)
  • 1998: Adventures in the Elves' World - The First 20 Years ( ISBN 3-551-73385-6 ), Carlsen special volume with unpublished covers, interviews with the author couple, a few short comics and the chronology of the series
  • 2005: Elfquest - The Seeker and the Sword ( ISBN 3-551-78184-2 ), a completed individual comic story

Exclusive title in the English-speaking area

Series

  • Blood of Ten Chiefs - a comic book series in 20 parts, which deals with the stories of Schnitter's ancestors, the legendary "Ten Chiefs" of the Wolf Riders, and Schnitter's own youth.
  • Wave Dancers - a series of magazines in six parts about an elven tribe whose members have adapted to life in the sea. Your story takes place in parallel, but independently of the Elfquest series about the wolf riders.
  • Elfquest: The Discovery - a short series in four parts about the meeting of the two elf tribes Wolfsreiter and Wave Dancers .
  • Jink and The Rebels - two 12-part magazine series that are set in the distant future of the world of elves, in which the legacy of the wolf riders and their fellow elves can still be clearly felt long after they have disappeared from this world.

Single volumes

  • Big Elfquest Gatherum ( ISBN 0-936861-13-4 ) - a detailed book “Behind the Scenes” with interviews, chronology, synopsis on all Elfquest series and some individual drawings by Wendy Pini (no comic stories) .
  • Elfquest - The Official Role Playing Game ( ISBN 0-933635-54-0 ) - Role-play book about the search for the other elven tribes.
  • A Gift of Her Own ( ISBN 0-936861-38-X ) - more of a fairy tale book than a comic in which the wolf riders encounter a little human girl and inspire their trust in their own hidden talent. The story was written and illustrated by Wendy Pini.
  • Bedtime Stories ( ISBN 0-936861-37-1 ) - a collection of short stories outside of the series canon: Schnitter, Himmelweis and Leetah tell the children Sonnenstrahl and Fünkchen fairy tales that ultimately become their own story. The comics were drawn by Gary Kato and are based in part on the fairy tales Hansel and Gretel , Jack and the Beanstalk , Little Red Riding Hood and The Wish Ring . The last story "Ever After" combines the previous stories into its own ending.

Complete edition

All Elfquest comic series, from the beginning of the Wolfsreiter to all Elfquest subsidiary series, were re-edited as a complete edition by WaRP Graphics in a total of 31 anthologies under the title "Elfquest Reader's Collection" from 1998–2002 .

filming

Rumors of an intended film adaptation of the hugely popular Elfquest comics have been circulating since the early 1980s. Although the Pini couple was very interested in a cinematic implementation of the "Adventures in the Elven World" main series and made several attempts - several exposés were completed by Wendy Pini - they all fell apart.

Most recently, on July 8, 2008, the film company Warner Brothers announced that they wanted to film the Elfquest series with Rawson Thurber . Thurber is supposed to write the script, direct and also act as producer. This project has been considered discontinued since the beginning of 2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Krägerermann's comic catalog 97/98. Berlin (Krägerermann Verlag) 1996, ISBN 3-9804970-1-1 , p. 511.
  2. ↑ Overview of all volumes of the Elfquest Reader's Collection ( Memento of the original from January 22nd, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.elfquest.com
  3. ↑ Fictionbox.de: “Elfquest” is being filmed!
  4. ↑ http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/01/23/warner-bros-nix-elfquest-movie-pin-blame-on-hobbit/