The second Willowgreen

The second Willowgreen ... this was Willowgreen's thread, opened by Startear, on the original Scroll of Colors. Follow old discussions and see fanart from earlier times.

Visit Willowgreen's bio page on Elfquest.com.

'Character Bio':

Willowgreen II (f)

Deceased – mortal
*Tyrr*
Lifemate of Two-Spear
Mother of Kahvi
Grandmother of Vaya, Venka, and Teir
Recognized of Greywolf

On the Facebook group, Wendy and Richard just said that they doubt that Willowgreen's canon, is too similar to Winnowil and that her and Jethel should meet in a deathmatch. So that means that the Kahvi storyline mess is or not canon.

Interesting they think they have time to come up with asinine comments like that when they should be working making their comic just somewhat decent looking.

The whole Kahvi storyline was so forced and contrived, I just couldn't read it. I don't care about the second Willowgreen. To me, she's just lazy storytelling. Someone didn't bother to figure out whether a character was still alive or dead or not. That said, I love the story (prose) of Willowgreen and Greywolf and Two Spear. Those were good tales-- and well written. The comic book version-- ehh. Lame as fuck.

Why is Elfquest such a mix of crap and greatness? Why? If it was just crap, I could toss it aside. If it were great by 100%, I could feel awesome about it. But it's just... such a combo of "oh- that's beautiful!" and wincing.

Lunakat wrote:

The whole Kahvi storyline was so forced and contrived, I just couldn't read it. I don't care about the second Willowgreen. To me, she's just lazy storytelling. Someone didn't bother to figure out whether a character was still alive or dead or not. That said, I love the story (prose) of Willowgreen and Greywolf and Two Spear. Those were good tales-- and well written. The comic book version-- ehh. Lame as fuck.

Why is Elfquest such a mix of crap and greatness? Why? If it was just crap, I could toss it aside. If it were great by 100%, I could feel awesome about it. But it's just... such a combo of "oh- that's beautiful!" and wincing.

THIS a 100 times. This is my main frustration about Elfquest. In my opinion, the Original Quest was a complete story, neatly wrapped up, and the Pinis didn't intend anything more. But it became a success, and then they had to come up with with new stuff. The excellent art became "production art". Easier, faster, less detail. You see it all the time in comics; over time, when pressure gets higher, the art deteriorates.

Then came the lousy guest artists. The guest writers. Holes and glitches in storytelling as big as the Palace itself. Messy, inconsistent, constantly contradicting earlier developments. Characters behaving irregular.
To me, the real Elfquest is the Original Quest. Everything that came after that is just soapseries.

Might be why I have just drifted away from Elfquest this year. I'm several issues behind.

I wish they had held off any further stories after the Original Quest until they developed a solid marketing plan, including building a consistent direct mail campaign from the original subscriber base. The movie would have been a reality decades ago.

I agree with Aelia-- but then, Aleia agrees with me-- so it's a little circular

Direct marketing is actually last century at this point. And I imagine the original subscriber list may be out of date. I think the movie was shelved when Warner Brothers bought the rights in order to bury it while they made The Hobbit.

To be honest, I remember most of the second Willowgreen stories. They were written by Mercedes Lackey, a writer I adored in my youth, but who I now find preachy and condescending.

It was all fairly typical Mercedes Lackey fare, including a Wise Old Woman(who was driven out of her community by a patriarchal religious leader, very fashionable amongst nineties and eighties era White Feministtm fantasy writers) the "very special" wolf friend, the persecuted, yet special, heroine. At least she was less "special" and "persecuted" than other Lackey protagonists, but not by much. Not very Winnowill, actually.

But that was all Lackey stuff, not WaRP stuff. She was okay in the comics.

As far as the whole "mother of Kahvi" thing, I don't blame the writers of that story. They were probably given a specific plot line and told to write it, but likely little guidance or supervision. The Pinis need to stop blaming other people for the situation they created themselves. They could have left Kahvi as just the chief of he Go Backs, and the story would have been just fine. they've retconned more in the past couple of years than some big companies have done in ten.

I don't think the Pinis have ever blamed other writers or illustrators. We have.

I think the movie could have been a reality long before the ill-fated Warner deal. Regarding direct marketing, it's a powerful force that generates sales and votes. The Elfquest subscriber list is definitely out of date, if they failed to maintain it with promotions. Maybe the mailing list was tossed aside as soon as the website started to draw a response?

Khavi is an interesting character, but I agree that her death was too drawn-out.

The Go-Backs being "degenerated Wolfriders" lessens them a lot, Kahvi being the daughter of Two-Spear and Willowgreen lessens her story arch (in my opinion at least).

I seriously doubt, that any Elfquest movie could ever pose a threat to 'the Hobbit'... One has a huge fanbase and a well honed, well established brand name, the other is an obscure indie fantasy comic

Miss Gillespie wrote:

The Go-Backs being "degenerated Wolfriders" lessens them a lot, Kahvi being the daughter of Two-Spear and Willowgreen lessens her story arch (in my opinion at least).

I always thought the Go Backs were meant to be descendants of Two Spear from the beginning. I don't think that means they are degenerated in any way-- just differently evolved. I never saw that as a ping on their storyline.

I do, however, see the notion that Kahvi is Two Spear and/or Willowgreen's daughter as a terrible move, storytellingwise-- and I think it does do her character specifically a dishonor.

Quote :

I seriously doubt, that any Elfquest movie could ever pose a threat to 'the Hobbit'... One has a huge fanbase and a well honed, well established brand name, the other is an obscure indie fantasy comic

Maybe not now-- but back before they made the films? When Elfquest was being shopped around- and it was (also) a story of little people on a quest in a fantasy world-- which culminates in an epic, all out battle?

Tolkien always had the larger fanbase. Heck, wasn't Wendy even inspired by the LoTR anime?
I think the bigger problem for any studio would be, if people think EQ is nothing but a LoTR rip off. Little people on a quest, elves, pointed ears sound a lot like Tolkien.

Actually, those pictures with Cutter and Skywise with their capes and the loadstone look a bit like the LoTR posters, maybe she should sue New Line Cinema?