Wendy and Richard Pini’s magnum opus Elfquest is a saga. And just like every saga, it fuses creation myths with fantasy and tribe building. There are alpha males, harems, journeys and deux ex machinas. It is a nice hefty book, if you are reading the paperback version, and a good continuous read tones your biceps as much as your medulla oblongata.
What is in a name?
One of the biggest beef, which incidentally is now being banned in India (how is that for a random plug?), with ElfQuest is that the names are juvenile. Yes, we are dealing with primitive tribes and their evolution. But names such as “cutter” “strongbow” “petalwing” are all straight out of a pimply youth’s imagination.
The artwork is a mix of traditional manga and Disney. They are dissonantly boxy and sleek. However it is a matter of personal taste so while that is how I felt it, it should not be held against the book, or against me.
The fact of the matter is, I read ~600 pages of the epic overnight but did not really get into it which is kind of sad, because that a lot of reading to end up being non committal.
I am not rushing to buy the sequel omnibus unless I find one in a used rack.
The Reluctant Book Worm 
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