Elfquest Reader's Collection #14: Jink!

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Summary: Sex, magic, nationalism: a story of love and war
Review: The first ElfQuest story to be set in the far future, "Jink", a 12-issue series first published between 1994 and 1996, follows the adventures of the title character, an exotic woman of strange powers and questionable parentage, and her lover, Ensign Kullyn Kenn. The first half of the series, covered in this book, describes the couple's effort to stave off a catastrophic space-war between the humans of their world and a mysterious, warlike race called the Neverending. (The second half of the series will be published as the book "Mindcoil" in September.)

First, let it be known that Jink is the most charismatic new ElfQuest character in many years. She is a study in opposites - godlike foresight and amusing improvidence; hard street wisdom and a soft heart; sophistication and innocence - that make her seem at once both most adult and most childlike. The contrasts between she and Kullyn Kenn - hapless and too laid-back by half, yet uncommonly brave and clearheaded - is continually fascinating.

As vividly as the protagonists are presented, the real masterstroke is the portrayal of the "enemies", the Neverending aliens. Wendy Pini, who conceived and co-wrote the story, hints in the Afterword that the culture of the aliens is heavily based on that of the Japanese Empire of the 1930s, a regime then openly committed to world domination. Ingeniously, she presents the aliens as a symbol of the perils of nationalism, and especially of the futility of conquest as a way of life; the plot turns on Jink's revelation to the Neverending warriors that their campaign of space-conquest has not empowered their people, but has instead virtually destroyed it. This leads to a climax as sobering as the early chapters are lighthearted.

Married to this ingenious story is high-quality artwork; though the original color illustrations are presented here in black-and-white, the clarity and precision of the line-art come through. In all, _Jink_, a tale far more than skin deep, points to a fascinating new direction for the ElfQuest saga.