Elfquest Reader's Collection #12a: Reunion

Rating:
Summary: A walk through grief, toward joy
Review: "Reunion", volume 12a in the Reader's Collection and the sequel to "Ascent", features the heartrending conclusion to the story of the elves' quest to reclaim the Palace of the High Ones from Winnowill and her partner, the warlord Grohmul Djun.

The story in these episodes is the most sobering and poignant yet seen in the Elfquest series - and, ultimately, the most uplifting. Surprisingly, the suspense does not come from wondering whether the elves will survive their attack on the Djun's fortress. Rather, the story revolves around how the heroes react to the deaths of two of their own (just in the first three chapters!), and whether their quest is worth so much suffering. The sobering death-scenes early in the story serve only to heighten the effect of the climax, to make it much more meaningful. Many, indeed most, Elfquest stories have been as memorable, but none have been as moving as this one.

Although this book is not in color, a note on the production is in order. The artwork, which had been rendered in color originally, reverted to black-and-white beginning with the fourth chapter of this book; for budget reasons WaRP Graphics gave up color production in September 1995, the year the American comic-book market tanked. Understandably, some of the BW chapters look sketchy, since these were to have been colored-in originally. The last chapter, though, was drawn entirely by Wendy Pini, and is a visual treat, nothing new for her! (It also served as a preview for the artistic style she would show in the "Dreamtime" series, now published as Book 8a in the Reader's Collection.)

Despite the production troubles I have mentioned, this is a most memorable tale and a fitting capstone on this series. (Moreover, the Pinis are currently working on the _sequel_ to this story - stay tuned!)

Rating:
Summary: A walk through grief, toward joy
Review: "Reunion", volume 12a in the Reader's Collection and the sequel to "Ascent", features the heartrending conclusion to the story of the elves' quest to reclaim the Palace of the High Ones from Winnowill and her partner, the warlord Grohmul Djun.

The story in these episodes is the most sobering and poignant yet seen in the Elfquest series - and, ultimately, the most uplifting. Surprisingly, the suspense does not come from wondering whether the elves will survive their attack on the Djun's fortress. Rather, the story revolves around how the heroes react to the deaths of two of their own (just in the first three chapters!), and whether their quest is worth so much suffering. The sobering death-scenes early in the story serve only to heighten the effect of the climax, to make it much more meaningful. Many, indeed most, Elfquest stories have been as memorable, but none have been as moving as this one.

Although this book is not in color, a note on the production is in order. The artwork, which had been rendered in color originally, reverted to black-and-white beginning with the fourth chapter of this book; for budget reasons WaRP Graphics gave up color production in September 1995, the year the American comic-book market tanked. Understandably, some of the BW chapters look sketchy, since these were to have been colored-in originally. The last chapter, though, was drawn entirely by Wendy Pini, and is a visual treat, nothing new for her! (It also served as a preview for the artistic style she would show in the "Dreamtime" series, now published as Book 8a in the Reader's Collection.)

Despite the production troubles I have mentioned, this is a most memorable tale and a fitting capstone on this series. (Moreover, the Pinis are currently working on the _sequel_ to this story - stay tuned!)

Rating:
Summary: Trash.
Review: Before I begin my tirade on this disappointing addition to the Elfquest series, I would like to aquatint the reader with my past experience with Elfquest. I first discovered Elfquest when I was eight and from that encounter I learned to read well and not only that, to love reading. Ten years later I'm again interested in the series. I reread the first four books and was happily surprised that the sentimental power of Elfquest had not faded; collectively, these books are unequalled in their ability to attach the reader to the characters. However, the quality of the artwork has declined sharply since Quest's End and the narrative has suffered a similar depreciation. Don't get me wrong, I thought all the books up to Reunion were pretty good, if not at Elfquest's peak. Unfortunately, Reunion is trash. The drama begins with an interesting plot (the palace is destroyed, Rayek's duel with Cutter, etc.) but is rapidly reduced to embarrassingly trite and unoriginal characterization and story line. For example, the human girl Joan of Arc character is utterly ridiculous not to mention terribly contrived....right, this girl organizes a revolt, saves the Elves, and becomes a warrior within the course of two nights. To make it worse, the cliché of the evil warlord is repeated yet again: Evil Warlord's repressive policies incite revolt giving the heroes the time to sneak into the enemy compound and save the day. Trash. I can't understand how the gifted artist who produced Quest's End could stand to let this be printed.

If you want to read this book despite these glaring flaws, plop down in a bookstore and read it there (like I did) and save your money. With this, much of the very rich tradition of Elfquest is squandered.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Despite Poor Paperback Edition
Review: I'm a big fan of all the original Elfquest graphic novels, and while this one is far from being one of the best, it's still an excellent read. Reprinted from the second half of the "Shards" series, with excellent writing from Wendy and Richard Pini, this follows the wolfriders final ascent to restore the palace and stop Winnowill once and for all. The art, while not even close to Wendy Pini's abilities, is done particularly well by Brandon McKinney. Most notable though is the art done by Wendy who returns for the last 3 chapters of this book. The most interesting aspect is the final chapter of the book which is done in a storybook form instead of the regular comic form. The only real downside is this is one of the tortured victims of the xeroxed in black and white from the orginal color comic books (with the exception of the last few chapters which were originally published in black and while), which is unfortunate cause it deserves much better.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Despite Poor Paperback Edition
Review: I'm a big fan of all the original Elfquest graphic novels, and while this one is far from being one of the best, it's still an excellent read. Reprinted from the second half of the "Shards" series, with excellent writing from Wendy and Richard Pini, this follows the wolfriders final ascent to restore the palace and stop Winnowill once and for all. The art, while not even close to Wendy Pini's abilities, is done particularly well by Brandon McKinney. Most notable though is the art done by Wendy who returns for the last 3 chapters of this book. The most interesting aspect is the final chapter of the book which is done in a storybook form instead of the regular comic form. The only real downside is this is one of the tortured victims of the xeroxed in black and white from the orginal color comic books (with the exception of the last few chapters which were originally published in black and while), which is unfortunate cause it deserves much better.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Despite Poor Paperback Edition
Review: I'm a big fan of all the original Elfquest graphic novels, and while this one is far from being one of the best, it's still an excellent read. Reprinted from the second half of the "Shards" series, with excellent writing from Wendy and Richard Pini, this follows the wolfriders final ascent to restore the palace and stop Winnowill once and for all. The art, while not even close to Wendy Pini's abilities, is done particularly well by Brandon McKinney. Most notable though is the art done by Wendy who returns for the last 3 chapters of this book. The most interesting aspect is the final chapter of the book which is done in a storybook form instead of the regular comic form. The only real downside is this is one of the tortured victims of the xeroxed in black and white from the orginal color comic books (with the exception of the last few chapters which were originally published in black and while), which is unfortunate cause it deserves much better.