Final Quest #19

The preview is out:
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/28-260/ElfQuest-The-Final-Quest-19#prettyPhoto

The art is kinda good, at least at a quick glance.

Considering the ancient one of the trolls, do you think there is still some evil troll king?
I still can't bother to care for the Wavedancer.

Yeah-- I'm liking the art too. Geez-- Skywise's thoughts are so sad.

I think Skywise deserves a new name. Redlance got one for spearing a cat. Skywise mastered the Palace and learned to fly-- that's got to worth at least as much. What I really want is for Cutter to change his name from Skywise to Skywalker... Just for a tie in. May the force be with them.

You know, on second thought... sad as it is, it might just be time that Skywise grew up and learned to leave home.

Seems like Cutter is actually retiring.Actually, he and Skywise are both retiring from their old personas; Cutter as chief and Skywise as Cutter's shadow.

That may be better for both of them.

Lunakat wrote:

I think Skywise deserves a new name. Redlance got one for spearing a cat. Skywise mastered the Palace and learned to fly-- that's got to worth at least as much. What I really want is for Cutter to change his name from Skywise to Skywalker... Just for a tie in. May the force be with them.

I wonder if Chot will turn up again in this issue?

I like the art - there's movement and liveliness in it. And the colors are ... colors! ^^And a background which invites for discovery.

Starwalker ... Why not a change for Skywise? Tho - I still think he will die.


Actually I wonder most about the true date of release. Both the Pini's and Dark Horse should know well - but they obviously disagree on this point.

Embala wrote:

Actually I wonder most about the true date of release. Both the Pini's and Dark horse should know well - but they obviously disagree on this point.

Ohmagaww   When the murmurs of a possible later release went out, I (not literally) screamed "That's IT-- I QUIT!" Then eventually calmed down enough to grumblingly accept enduring the highly-plastic timeframe for the last handful of issues, in the name of closure. For now.

FQ has entailed way too much unnecessary drama, both within the book and outside of it. The lack of agreement on the upcoming release date is just one example. Everyone concerned has been in this business for a while-- this should not be a difficult task!

As it is, we wait two months for each new installment of copy-pasted goodness (don't worry Lunakat, I remember your explanation    ). When a further delay is for a solid reason--such as Elfmom's health issues-- I am sympathetic and will suck it up. If it's for obscure or cutesy-fruitsy reasons, I will yell and curse.

If it truly is being withheld and it's because they want the last issue to fall on EQ's milestone birthday, that falls under the "yelling and cursing" category. What, they can't whip out a smaller special issue or summat for the occasion? Give me a humongous fucking break! Also, in that scenario, Elfmom and Co. would have exactly ZERO wiggle-room going forward for fielding curveballs (either real or contrived-- and apparently inevitable) in order to nail that all-important Holy Grail of a deadline/milestone. So if it really is about that, Warp et. al., congratulations! You paint-tooled yourselves into a nice tight little corner, and you will have no room to moan about any repercussions from that until the last FQ is printed and distributed. By then, I for one will be quite thoroughly out of give-a-damns anyway.

Lol-- there's a lot less copy paste happening lately. And it shows in higher quality visual storytelling. I think maybe giving Sonny the leeway to do the color freed Wendy up to draw more. Doing the drawings, inking, color and lettering sounds incredibly exhausting. Usually, that's three or four people. I hope either Richard or Dark Horse are doing the lettering as well.

Yeah- I don't mind that the issue is being delayed. I mean-- sure, schedules change and whatnot. If it were me, I'd probably choose to leave myself the "wiggle room", as Bluetree put it, toward the end... just in case. But you know... we can't see behind the scenes. Maybe Wendy is tired or overworked. Maybe the next issue is taking longer than expected and she needs this adjustment to get back on track. Maybe they just realized that there was the potential line up with the anniversary and got excited about it! I'm cool with it.

Though, I'll be on my honeymoon (maybe)-- so I may miss reading it till I get back. Priorities.

There were some very legitimate issues with the art and coloring in earlier issues. I think it could have had a lot to do with inexperience-- Wendy not realizing, maybe, how obvious it was to cut and past body parts or what shrinking and enlarging did to line quality or using Photoshop's preprogrammed "nature" brushes (like the leaf or grass brush)-- and Sonny... not having a strong understanding of how to use value and saturation. It all seems to be worked out now. The last issue was pretty strong, art-wise. I had no problem with the coloring-- I even liked it. It seems to be working here really well too. And Wendy is back to her old school standards of dynamic poses and natural-looking action and lots of emotion in facial expressions. The writing seems solid. I'm down for the rest of this ride. I hope it stays this good. Elfquest should exit on a strong and lovely note.

That's true, the copy-pasting is less; there didn't seem to be much in 19's preview, which is a little more reminiscent of the EQ I know and love. But yeah, I'd rather have a little extra time and not need it than vice-versa, especially since unanticipated stuff and/or complications tend to crop up fairly reliably.

Haven't said it yet, Lunakat-- congratulations!  I hope the planning and wedding all go well, and are just the first of many beautiful memories you create with your lifemate.

Thank you so much!!

The whole thing just feels so freakin' defanged.

Zadzi wrote:

The whole thing just feels so freakin' defanged.

I know... i used to be such a freewheeling girl... traveling around the world, living by my own rules....answering to no one! And now, hitched to the ol ball and chain! Baby on the way... kicking it in the kitchen. Ah, life.

(Just kidding)

I would like to see something like that in EQ. When Leetah recognised Cutter, she was said to be afraid of loosing her freedom; but she never came of as that freedom-loving (disclaimer: never read the novels). It would've been nice to see that choices can have negative consequences, even for the heroes. Elves seem to be always at peace...

@Luna: that wasn't directed at you

I know- I was just kidding

Cutter: I'm chief-of-chiefs, and I decide... you're in charge now!

I also like how the party is for Skywise (presumably)- but it's all about Cutter.

At Dark Horse the release date is now "April 26, 2017", too. So I guess that is official now.

About time! XD

Zadzi wrote:

The whole thing just feels so freakin' defanged.

Lol, I so hear ya, lady!

LurkingCat wrote:

At Dark Horse the release date is now "April 26, 2017", too. So I guess that is official now.

Guess it's time to give the ol' swear muscles a workout, then!

Seriously, though. I am so ready for this trainwreck of a project to be done, once and for friggin' all. Still not sure I'll stick around for the actual end; there hasn't been much aside from (misguided) loyalty as motivation.

Hey y'all-- so it's out tomorrow after all.

Wow this is not confusing at all.

Yeah... Here is the message:

http://elfquest.com/final-quest-issue-19-release-date-update/ wrote:

From Dark Horse: “Final Quest #19 is in fact coming out tomorrow 3/29/17. This is a failure on our side to make sure that the new schedule was in place with everyone here at Dark Horse with enough time to pull it from the pipeline. We thought that this was handled by our scheduling, print and production team. … So EQFQ #19 is out tomorrow (March 28, 2017). What this means for the rest of the schedule doesn’t change. EQFQ #20 will arrive June 28th. So the three month gap will arrive between #19 and #20. The rest of the schedule is in place for #20-24 to lead us to the final Feb. 28th 2018 release for #24. But the 3 month gap we had hoped to come between #18 and #19 will come between #19 and #20.”

There you have it. I’m sure there will be the usual scrambling to download the digital version, as well as the usual observance of spoiler rules for those who are waiting for the print edition. The lesson in all this? Once in a while, the Palace blows up, and then behind the scenes we work our butts off to put it back together. All is well now.

I guess that lets Wendy get ahead in the pipeline

Can confirm. I just talked with the company that I use to send a copy to my friend in the US as well as my local comic shop and they both have it.

I will have it as soon as I can feed the baby and myself and get in the car.