Elfquest: Wolfrider Vol. 1 (Paperback)

~ Wendy Pini (Author), Richard Pini (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally appearing in 1978, Elfquest broke new ground as a comics fantasy that mixed manga-influenced art with fantasy elements and an addictive, soap opera story line about brave, passionate elves trying to survive in a world beset with dangers. This volume collects stories from 1992 to 1998, featuring the elves against one of their toughest opponents ever: humankind. When humans make their new home near the elven holt, they mistake the new creatures for demons and believe their god wants them to annihilate the elves. This puts the humans in constant conflict with the elves, whose jovial teasing and trickery infuriate the humans. Luckily, the nimble elves have their wolf friends to help them escape and avoid the humans. But when the humans start poisoning the wolves and killing an increasing number of both the elf and wolf packs, things begin to look bleak. It appears as if this generation of Wolfriders may be the last. This edition's stories are drawn by a variety of artists, and creator Wendy Pini's are the most memorable, with their nuanced shadings and intricate detail. The writing, however, is consistently strong throughout. The writers weave an engrossing fantasy tale that should leave readers itching to see more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Originally published in several installments of the series, this collection binds the episodes into a captivating, continuous story. The Wolfrider tribe has to overcome fear and misunderstanding as it comes into contact with a host of characters that includes trolls, humans, and the animals of the forests. The elves face moments of tragedy and victory. The black-and-white ink drawings are very detailed and expressive. The writers and artists have created an appealing setting and characters that will keep readers interested. Overall, this is a well-written book that comes from a very recognizable series.
Joel Bangilan, Houston Public Library, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Elfquest (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401201318
• ISBN-13: 978-1401201319
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #846,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy it with caution, August 7, 2004

By	Tallin (U.S.) - See all my reviews

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This book has the good, the bad and the ugly all rolled into one and out of order. All in black and white, 3 or 4 comics have been taken apart and re-assembled in this little volume. Yes, it's manga style, but usually manga has consistent art and story, which this does not. Some of the stories thrown in here are just terrible, and those not familiar with EQ may be turned off forever. Those who have been with the series for almost 20 years already know to avoid the really rotten stuff that came out after the original artist stopped doing the series. Some of the new work is ok, but alot was just garbage. I am disappointed to see that they threw in the really lame stories alongside Wendy's superb stories and considered all of it true EQ, even the stuff that was just called 'what if?' by Richard when it came out in comic form 10 years ago. That was the only consolation in seeing the type of sub-par talent take over EQ for almost 10 years the way the way it has. Now Wendy has come back, but it may be too late -( see Searcher and the Sword).
But in this book, for example, those who remember the heart wrenching tale of how Skywise's parents were killed, get to see that magnificent 30 page story is now broken up into scattered pieces, and you go from admiring the flawless rendering of Skywise when he was young and 'in love' to the blocky, off tilted drawing showing a robot/satellite laying waste to the Wolfrider tribe in which Skywise is barely recognizeable. This is actually part of one of the 'New Blood' tales done when the rules about continuity were largely ignored and the stories agonizingly hokey. Those new to these stories may be in for some confusion. The sudden transition from one fragment of a story with some guy's half-a**ed art to Wendy's superb flowing lines and subtlety is confusing. I'm not sure why the terrible is being mixed with the good here and all being considered EQ canon.
Having said all that, if you are new to the series and just trying it out, maybe you'll like it, maybe just shrug and throw it out, whatever. The price isn't bad for what it is, but calling it manga is excessive - it's a poor copy and maybe not the best initiation into either manga or Elfquest

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For Godsakes, stick to one format!!!, July 10, 2005

By	Daiku "We do not stop playing because we grow... (USA) - See all my reviews

I've been following the Elfquest series since 1982. Once the extremely talented Wendy Pini started using different writers and artists, I stopped buying them by issues, instead waiting for compilations. The only problem is that while I keep waiting for 'coming soon' compilations, the damned formats of these various volumes keep changing. Sometimes the titles are different. Sometimes the art has been rearranged here and there. When a new version of an old compilation is released, it doesn't list the original publishing date, it lists the current publishing date. I'm getting frustrated and tired of buying issues that I believe are new stories only to find that, hey, I have this in a different format. In this case, I bought both 1 and 2 of this manga-like format. The format I already had, as it turned out, fit easily into one volume, but shrinking them down to manga-sized not only takes away from the artwork, but ends up spreading out into multiple volumes. I had backed away for a very long time on buying any more compilations because of the constant confusion of reprinting in different formats. Now it is going to take Wendy Pini handing me a collection personally before I even attempt to sort out what's new and what's not.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very good - read the archives again instead, November 1, 2009

By	Ana Mardoll (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Elfquest: Wolfrider / 1-4012-0131-8

I absolutely *love* the Elfquest archives (Elfquest Archives) and recommend them to anyone, whether they're already fans of the series or not. When I finished the four archive volumes, I was excited to see that there's still a lot more Elfquest material out there to sample, but I was largely disappointed with this volume and I really don't recommend it.

This volume is a series of disjointed vignettes, covering various stories before the events of the archives. The writing style and artwork varies greatly across this volume, from good to bad to cartoony, and the series is not better for it. The black-and-white artwork is too busy and cluttered to really appreciate, unlike the lavish color pictures in the archives. And the actual stories themselves... leave a lot to be desired.

Much of my biggest problem with this volume lies in the character of Bearclaw, Cutter's father. In the archives, it was stressed that Bearclaw was a good chief, but very hot-tempered and impulsive. In this volume, however, Bearclaw has become an intensely abusive tyrant - refusing to share his knowledge and hunting expertise for the good of the tribe and striking out (literally) at the other wolfriders, including striking his mate Joyleaf. Everyone treats this event as just another day in the life, and they all slavishly follow Bearclaw's "commands" as if he were some kind of monarch, and this just doesn't fit with the characters fleshed out in the original archived comics. Perhaps it's more "wolf-like" for the wolfriders to allow their leader to abuse them as he sees fit, but it's not consistent with the social dynamics that have already been established and the overall feel is that of a bad Retcon or simply Bad Writing.

Indeed, there's a lot of Retconning going on here and I dislike it. The writers have decided that the eight-fingered elves count in base eight now, instead of base ten, so it's "eights of years" this and "eight of chiefs" that, and it feels jarring, like the franchise has been given totally over to the fringe fans who care less about good writing and more about pedantic obsession with detail. The wolf-riders no longer cook their meat, but rather eat it raw - because that's what wolves do, right?! I expect that in the next issue we'll find that the elves don't grow things or make things or use weapons anymore either, and then we can call them the "Wolfkins" instead of the "Wolfriders" or whatever. And recognition has no been retconned into the *only* way to have children, which makes it kind of funny when the High Elf in the archives explained that children "born of recognition" are especially sensitive to the spirits, as opposed to the ones who aren't - which are now, thanks to retcon, impossible.

When the new authors aren't rewriting perfectly good old material, they're creating new material... that isn't terrible good at all. One of the shorter stories features a troll who manages to single-handedly capture *every single animal in the forest* and the wolfriders are driven near to death of hunger from being unable to find game. So much for being peerless trackers, huh? Another features a young human boy who teaches himself to play music from the elfin flutes he finds in the forest. It's not a bad story, but it's just not very good, and it's not very...Elfquest-y.

I wouldn't recommend this volume. Hardcore Elfquest fans will be disappointed, I think, and new fans to the series will just be confused, annoyed, or uninterested.