cover of Stargazers Hunt 4 released

I haven't even seen or read the previous issues yet but I stumbled over this:

http://elfquest.com/see-cover-of-issue-4-of-elfquest-stargazers-hunt/

Maybe also a name will be declared for the working title Chad/CutLet? Or was it already revealed before?
http://elfquest.com/chad/

Oh WOOOOOW! Thank you very much for that picture! As a Chad-liker, I party it so much (as we say it in northern Germany: Ich feier das so! )
The name is not yet revealed as much as I know.
Oh lets hope, we see also Rayek in that issue, and maybe some more those beautiful pictures from Wendy. Since the release date is in may , it could be that Wendy could have enough time to draw with her hurting hand with pauses. I am sure, she wants to draw her Baby Elf Chad. I would!

I like this cover. Similar to good ol' EQ it would be able to capture me - to make me dream and draw me in. Let's see what we have:

Pike and Sust frame a welcome scene, completed by Pool in the background. Wait ... if it weren't Jink I'd take a bet that hisexpression hints pre-recognition. ^^ I'll ship those two a bit - just for fun!

Skywise's daughters meet for the first time. I like the scene - it feels lively and heartily. Poses and mimics go well together. Jink looks good wrapped in this fur ... and familiar! Remiscences of our first encounter with Timmain.
Yun ...  must have been very tired when I've spotted this picture last night *LOL* ... actually mistook her for Skywise and wondered about "his" strange jacket and and why Jink was successful at first try. XD Well - for a moment... just a moment.
(You know it's really puzzling. I was introduced to a white-haired Yun in Shards #16; European coloring. Then I had to "learn" that she is a pale blonde ... only to neet her with daddy's color and style again. Full circle - or ist it a coloring mistake again?)

Leetah looks more like a wolfrider than ever. At second glance she has this Savah-like expression and even mimics her clothing style as far as this is possible in the woods. And there is definitely a color fail ...  her furs are much too green. (okay - the complte picture turned out too green-tinged for my taste but I can handle it)

This time I welcome Cutlet. The new outfit and the slightly unruly hairstyle make him a character of his own. But - he's definitely Cutter's spawn! It's obviously cold winter outside, everybody is dressed in warming leathers and furs - and he prefers to display a bare chest and naked arms. And ... he's notorious in finding new elves! XD

In fact I'm moderate curious for this issue.

This reminds me: Is there already a preview for Stargazer's Hunt #3?

Found at least a cover.

Three tall ladies (note to myself: another idea for 3K!) but I'm not too fascinated how it turned out.

On Deviantart is another picture from Sonny with Timmain and Jink. It is the newest deviation, when you search for Elfquest.

Link please?

*cannot find it*

https://www.deviantart.com/sonion/art/Elfquest-promo-832314732
That one?

Yes exactly. that one.

Thanks for the service, jaRf! ... and for the catch, Yeee.

Mhhh... I really like the color mood of this cover. Starhome - a world of three moons?

The interaction of mother and daughter feels weird ... Timmain has a cold and possessive vibe while Jink is simply absent and desinterested. Actually its a lack of interaction that rubs me wrong way. Their bodies are as close as still appropriate ... they've probably met to spend some quality time together and relax ... but each of them is in her own world. They cannot be more distant in my eyes.

Stiff and distant. Doesn't match this charming caring scene.

Two people can look into the same direction and be very close together in their minds but those two even don`t look into the same direction. Timmain is personalized distance herself .

Embala wrote:

(You know it's really puzzling. I was introduced to a white-haired Yun in Shards #16; European coloring. Then I had to "learn" that she is a pale blonde ... only to neet her with daddy's color and style again. Full circle - or ist it a coloring mistake again?)

I think her hair looking white is a trick of the light, it's kind of a shadowy scene. I found my new avatar in the facebook group, I assume it is from a future issue, and there is a hint of yellow/beige in her hair there.

I've already spotted your charming new avatar, Leanan. Yun looks matured - and a bit like Urda. I löike thisa ashblond variation.

Huh, that actually looks competently made.

Yes, as if Wendy did the pencils. But it was in Sonnys own deviantart gallery, so it must have been made by himself. In his comment stands nothing of co-production.

Maybe it will make more sense for me in story context. I hope so.

So it takes apparently at least around 20 years (although time doesn't really exist for immortal elves) to come to the super smart conclusion to look on tWoTM... There's also probably a reason, why they couldn't use their surveillance system called scrolls*.

Guess I'm much of the minority here, but rather than pretty pictures and a name for Chad, I'd prefer an interesting story. Nothing Wendy produced after discovering digital was anything other than meh. Surprisingly, SatS is probably her best work among all of them and it's not even that great.

Final Quest suffered from having happen nothing at all and then still jumping between events all the same. Stargazer's Hunt seems to be the same example of bad story telling.

*Remember the elves were afraid, that Winnowill might learn to read the scrolls in Shards, as she might use them to spy on them? Now the scrolls only show one possible event among many, making them basically pointless.

Looks like we won't get more than the cover for an indefinite time ...

Stargazer's Hunt caught the virus?

*calling Leetah*

hmm, after a quick check on the internet, the lockdown is apparently really a problem for the comic book industry. but honestly, this is an industry that should be really well equipped to go full digital.

Yes, but they argued (correctly imo) that the little comic-shops would suffer severly, cause they can hardly sell digital comics. (One could put them on CD-R or flash media, but would people really buy that?)

Small comic shops are one of those dying things, it seems.

So many of them have vanished in my area, and are now where it's a roadtrip to get there (or they've basically just become anime and manga shops) that I get most of my hard copies from online retailers, but I also have for the most part stopped buying individual issues and just wait for the graphic novels. I usually only buy floppies if I'm cover collecting or really want to support an artist or writer. (Most seem to be on the IDW imprint lately)

jaRf wrote:

Yes, but they argued (correctly imo) that the little comic-shops would suffer severly, cause they can hardly sell digital comics. (One could put them on CD-R or flash media, but would people really buy that?)

but that's the thing. most comic book readers are probably rather well-versed in technology and already use 'digital only' products are lot in their lives (not all of them, but certainly many are early adopters). even if someone would want a hard copy for their collection, there is no reason why it shouldn't be possible to deliver those the same way any other service does.

somehow I have the felling the problem lies not with the consumer but with the producers (i.e. publishers). nowadays most content is more or less completely created digitally (maybe someone like Wendy does drafts in pencil), but anything else is done on a computer.

and small shops dying? the death of brick-and-mortar stores has been ongoing for years. enough years for comic book publishers and stores to figure out a solution.

I still see a lot of "shops" but they've over the many years converted to being anime/collectible shops. I remember back ages ago anime was a tiny corner, and now when you go in, it's the entire store and maybe there's a rack of the more independent comics, like those you see with IDW imprints.

Those are the stores, at least out here, that have managed to survive the comic store glut (so far). Because you are selling not just books, but merch, too. (We have our share of bootleg-merch popups and mall corner-stores that nobody blinks at, too) Store exclusives can be quite lucrative.

Gaming stores have all but gone extinct, except for maybe ones who still do Warhammer meetups.

Then you have the fact that there's really only one distributor, and, well, one cog in the works and it all goes down the toilet.

stores vanish. this has been a development for years and corona is only accelerating this. we might not like it, but it will not stop. to see such a development and do nothing about it is a failure on the side of the shops.

@Kojiyumi, you mention gaming stores and stores selling independent comics are disappearing. but did games or independent comics disappear? as far as I know, the gaming industry is booming, I'd argue the sales just moved somewhere else. and it might just be the same for independent comics books.

lamenting the demise of comic book stores is just like lamenting the demise of travel agencies. people still travel (well, not now but in general), they just book their travels somewhere else. people still read comics, they just buy them online.

I didn't say I was lamenting them, but since it was brought up, my point is they're a dying breed, like many things. I am stating what I see, not lamenting it. There used to be one on every corner and now they're all gone. Like the bygone era of mom and pop soda shops.

I am fully aware comics haven't gone away and have gone to online. For years I've bought everything through either TFAW or Amazon. And even there I tend to lean to the graphic novels. I've been putting a lot of my individual issues in our Little Free Library.

And yes, the gaming industry is booming. I'm involved in a few D&D campaigns online. Roll20 is a beautiful site for that combined with the use of Discord.

The only small shops I'll lament if it goes away is my local feed stores. I've had more of my heart and soul in those than any comic shop... mostly because most of the creatures who've stolen my heart and soul have been brought home from them. You can't snuggle a rat or pet a lap chicken online.

My local comic shop is still there but they've given up the business of import comics. I guess they've barely survived.