Elfquest Reader's Collection #10: Shards [Paperback]

Richard Pini (Author), Wendy Pini (Author), Brandon McKinney (Author), Charles Barnett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Elfquest Graphic Novel | Publication Date: April 1998

Trade paperback.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Warp Graphics Pubns (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936861428
• ISBN-13: 978-0936861425
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A parting - and hope for reunion, April 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Elfquest Reader's Collection #10: Shards (Paperback)

Beginning in 1990, the Pinis radically expanded the scope of the story of Cutter and his Wolfrider tribe. First, "Kings of the Broken Wheel" (reprinted in Books 7 and 8) advanced the characters 10,000 years in time - causing Cutter to have to cope, first, with the sudden loss of his family and second - after the reunion with his loved ones - with the changed, more dangerous world in which he and his tribe now found themselves: a world with more, and more powerful, humans in it. Book 10, featuring issues 8 to 15 of the "Hidden Years" series, begins the new tale of the elves' adventures in the midst of human civilization - above all, the seeds of their struggle to retake their ancestral home, the Palace of the High Ones, from the human dictator Grohmul Djun.

The first two episodes in Book 10 repeat two sections of the now-withdrawn Book 9 "Rogue's Challenge", so I will not touch on those in this review. The new story begins with the third and fourth chapters, when the elves' longtime enemy Winnowill, trying to hijack the Palace for her own ends, destroys it instead; the seizure of its shards (hence the title of the book) by the Djun and his army not only robs the elves of their safe haven, but gives the five-fingers access to its magic - a power they may turn against the elves. Cutter comes to realize that his people must war with the Djun to regain their rightful home... and that the only way to avoid the extinction of the tribe is to send away some of its members. Indeed, the distinctive element of this story is the deft union of the "smaller" personal stories - the maturation of a chief-to-be, the prospect of a new birth, an elf extending her hand to humans in friendship; a leader contemplating the second separation of his family - with the larger tale of the elves' impending battle for their lives. Though Wendy and Richard Pini did not create the artwork, they did write the script for this tale, which rings as true as any of their earlier works.

The bulk of the artwork, from the fifth chapter onwards, was drawn by Brandon McKinney. While obviously not from Wendy's pen (McKinney uses a more angular pencilling style, and draws most faces somewhat wider than Wendy does), McKinney yet shows a natural feel for the distinctive qualities of each character, and the attention to detail is admirable - not only basic figure-work but also inking and coloring are well executed. Having read the original color issues, I must say that this black-and-white reproduction gives only a partial view of the quality of the artwork. That is inevitable, since most of the scenes take place at night, and darker inks and colors are difficult to reproduce well - this being the only relative flaw of this edition.

Very little in the earlier EQ stories could have prepared readers for the new directions this series has taken; but it is just such vision - worthy of Cutter himself - that has kept up, and even enhanced, the Pinis' reputation not only as artists, but as storytellers. The theme of this book, then, is neatly summarized from a quotation from it: "Change is growth; love is never lost."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What happened to EQ?, April 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Elfquest Reader's Collection #10: Shards (Paperback)

Why has the quality gone down? This black and white monstrosity looks like something I could have photocopied in my office.What the hell is going on woth these people! They have raped their own creation by letting the spark, the very life of their characters disappear!!Not only have they handed their livelihood over to mostly incompetent hacks, they don't seem to give a goddamn! The comic has bit the dust and the books should do likewise . . because all of the old favorites are being reprinted in this cheap form. It's obvious that the author-ex artist, whatever they are, want to wring as much money as possible so that their pipe dream of a direct to video movie can become reality. The originators of theis fabulous epic . . and you should have seen it in it's heyday! have become enamoured of the almighty dollar - which is fine, except they continually prech otherwise throughout their own work . . .hypocrite pie, anyone? Buy this, like I did, as a sort of salute to what EQ used to be. And weep for the loss.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No longer among my favorites, June 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Elfquest Reader's Collection #10: Shards (Paperback)

EQ used to be one of my favorite works, but the series no longer has the quality it once enjoyed. My advice is to avoid later volumes and stick to the earlier books which are among the best comics ever published. The later work is embarassing.