Search found 15 matches for 24

Ember and Teir's Recognition just really missed the mark for me. It should have happened sooner.
But it wasn't just "wait until later", they apparently Never have their kid. That last page in #24 that showed "Cutlet" as a young teen, there was no teen or young cub shown that would be Ember's and Teir's. So they didn't just put it off, they never bothered with having a cub at all as far as we can tell.
That whole thing irked the hell out of me, the way they basically ruined Ember as a character in FQ as well as ruined Teir. I actually rather liked Hidden Years and Wild Hunt (although the art was all over the place). Tier was an interesting character with an intriguing backstory, Ember got to grow and come into her own as chief and they just sort of tossed all of that. Teir had interesting powers that they never used again after those stories and honestly I could see why Ember didn't want to have a cub with him when his FQ character was a giant whiny cub already.
I was just rereading it and they should have Recognized when Ember lost the Challenge to Scouter and Teir left the tribe to be with Ember. It would have gone better storywise as well because then when they were fighting Angrif in FQ Ember and Teir's cub would be old enough to fight and Ember would have really understood more why Scouter Challenged her when Pool was threatened. (Also- what about Pool and His powers? Why was that only important in Wild Hunt and after that they just didn't matter??)

I've come to a conclusion about Wendy's art. She is a very good artist, but not a great one. She has trouble with perspective and foreshortening. Case in point: Nightfall's hand on the cover of #24. I mean...that perspective is way off. It's just wonky. And there's really no excuse for it. There is photo reference everywhere online. And if you can't find the exact pose, get a friend to pose for you and take a picture. I've noticed issues with perspective throughout the run of EQ.

Anyways, don't get me wrong, I do love most of Wendy's art. No one else can draw EQ like her. Her art is what drew me to EQ in the first place. But yeah. She has some weaknesses as an illustrator that she's never really been able to overcome in her career for some reason.

I just re-read the whole Final Quest arc and all I feel is..

disappointment.

There was a HUGE potential, though... I mean mysteries all along, the various hints in Jink and Rebels, fascinating things along the original quest that could have been finally explained in that "final quest", but... no.
Wendy chose some silly all psychological and symbolical way of "ending things", and I did NOT like it AT ALL. But it's HER story, yep.

I'm just GLAD it's OVER, with #24.

@Vaeri wrote:

all i can say is....fuck.

I suspect this is the most straight-forward review I'm going to read re: FQ #24.

For some reason I'm not eager to read FQ #24 ... probably because I know it is the last one. And despite all mixed feelings and complaints I had in the progress - I don't really want to end it! O.O

Will #24 be the final issue?
When will it be released?

I haven't read #23 yet. That's because I picked up #22 a couple of days before 23 came out and I didn't realize. I don't really follow the release dates, I just drop in on my local comic book shop and ask if there's anything new for me. They have mailboxes for their subscribed members

I do want to add something to the thread, though, if that is alright.

I am mostly on the side of the disappointed people. But, I wouldn't be an engineer if I didn't try to disassemble something and then try to understand how it fits together or *why* it isn't working. And I personally think it is this: The elves have become ridiculously overpowered.

In OQ, it was an origin quest. Leetah could only send while healing. Winnowill's (normal) sending hurt her. Redlance's gift was expected, and yet still a big surprise, somehow. Rayek could not lift himself. Slowly, their powers grew. They find the palace. Like, spaceship, whoa. But it's not until kings of the broken wheel that Rayek flies it, and then afterwards there's major trouble and ofcourse he loses that power again, resulting in the palace sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Then, the palace is taken over by Winnowill and it crashes on the rocks. There's some balance there: The elves have a big struggle. There was cunning there, in their foes and themselves, and some sort of balance when it came to their powers.

And then? The palace found, they fly to Sorrow's End (correct me if I have the order wrong). From that point on, there's teleportation and lots and lots of magic involved. There's flying pods and unlimited sending.

I personally think WaRP didn't think this through by the time KOTBW ended: How are you going to balance it out again?

What disadvantage do you introduce for the elves, or advantage for the humans, to make it an interesting storyline again?

The choices made in FQ reflect that the device they chose is "inner strife". In other words, if you can't take away the superpowers of your superheroes, then you can try to introduce some dysfunction in their relationships. Often, this results in hilarious movie scenes, like Frozone yelling at his wife "Where's my super suit?!?!". But for Elfquest, that doesn't work I think. The premise was never "fantasy with a bit of comedy".

Looking at it this way, I'm not sure they had much choice besides "inner strife" when it comes to plotlines and re-balancing the parties. The guns... ehh.. Humans would need space travel to balance things out again. Maybe that's what the Jink series was intended to be: To ease Elfquest from fantasy straight into science fiction. Rayek should have jumped another couple thousand years at least.

I think the only alternative they had, was killing Cutter and some other central figures and, in the resulting chaos, have the humans kidnap some of the central figures: Elves who are going to be the palace's pilots (whatever their group name) and who can get them off Abode. Basically: Get all the palace- and pod-flyers.

As it is now, the directions that were chosen, even before Final Quest started, I think made it pretty difficult for the Pini's to spin a fourth (OQ, SABM, KOTBW, FQ) tale of epic proportions.

Just my thoughts here.

At this point, they've spun a web they cannot gracefully untangle. Let's see what they can do with #24. Perhaps there is something to be salvaged yet. Or perhaps the palace just flies off and that's it. Without a central theme or arc, I think there's little that can be done. (Conversely, with a strong premise / arc, some of the discontinuities may have been forgiven. Or maybe not.. )

I was 13 when I discovered Elfquest. I grew up in a pretty goddamn awful household. Elfquest was one of the ways I could escape. I have fond memories, and although I am unhappy with FQ, I am faithfully following the story as a tribute to all it stood for, to me, in my formative years. In a strange way I keep coming back to FQ, because every disappointment does bring something good: It reminds me of how, back then, in a shitty childhood that left me with quite a lot of scars, a little girl found something good and beautiful. It showed me something to aspire to in my relationships. FQ is not what I had hoped for. And that's okay.

3 more, I think. #22, #23, and #24. Technically, I think it's the longest-running planned series. OQ was only 20 issues long, S@BM was 8, and KoBW was 9.

Not disparaging at all, Miss Gillespie. *chuckles* Yes, I like reading fairytales (or stories which go this style) and enjoy it. I know to choose my stories (prose, movie, TV-show) for this purpose: diving into a "fairy tale" conciously, traveling this mental refuge, and then returning to real life. I was like this since my early teens - Two worlds. Life and fiction. Carefully kept apart.
I did not long for much realism in my stories ... and did not expect much romance in life. Then I learned that there is another kind of expectation to a story, too. My mother, who disliked most fiction because it was "unreal" started to follow a show "because it was so true-to-life". What she enjoyed most was boring for me - or annoyed me. Learnt. Different ways to enjoy a story. Different kind of fan expectations. I know it and there is nothing wrong about it. Different tastes.
Of course I don't ask for sweets only - there should be suger and salt and pepper and spices, some sour and bitter for variety - but I prefer a well digestable story meal. And choose carfully according to my current appetite.


Elfquest started out as a "mere fairy tale" for me - I was a mid-twen and almost ashamed to buy a comic. A children's book. The story grabbed me much more than just the pleasant art that attracted my eye first.
Then One-Eye died ... and I was almost shocked by the death of a background character. *Oh nooo - please let it not be true. He cannot be dead!* I went all the way with Clearbrook - mourning ... HOPES ... and Acceptance. It had meaning. For the characters. For the reader (at least for me). And it was an integral part of the story. If someone would tell me: "We'll rewrite the One-Eye part the way you like." I'd say: "Leave it like it is. It's well done!"

It made clear that there is real danger. That death can happen. Not on a regular dose but it must be expected. It made me worry each Elf when there were dangers ahead, increased suspense and curiosity.
Then there was Vaya. I've worried and hoped for her just like I did for One-Eye. Yif's death in war, infant death and death of old age ... casual. Not shocking but congruously. Not causing high emotions but it was always shown as a loss, mirrored in expressions and actions of the survivors. Another war - and logically some more death. Skot, Zhantee and Winnowill too ... they all were somehow meaningful. Even Surge had a consequent build up for me.

I was prepared for more death - gentle Redlance? daring Nightfall? For quite some time (since the middle of Original Quest) I was sure that Cutter would go full circle and die in the end of the story, passing over the heritage to Ember. Then my bets were on Skywise or Leetah or both. And I was fine with it. Even if my favorite Strongbow would have bitten the dust - I'd not complained. You'd never hear me wailing "NOOOOOO! You are not allowed to kill off my darling. I hate YOUUUUUU!
Back then I could accept it as a part of story - sad but well motivated.

Then came Final Quest.

Tyldak's death was touching. I've kinda disliked Kahvi's final game - but it was in-character and I can rely to her wish to end it. Ruffel's death was the last one that had an impact on me and where I can see a meaning for the story.

Krim. Expiery-date-NOW Krim. I admit. Her death caused emotion. It annoys me.
It's Go-Back way not to fear death? Great! It's Go-Back way to die young usually? Okay. But you ... were you so desperate to grow old that you've seen a fight and went all "That's my best chance to find a fun fight and meet a fancy death! NOoooooooOW!" How old are you, girl? About 600 years give or take? You have a loving lifemating and a young son - doesn't this count? I want to slap her - "Couldn't you at least TRY to KILL the Djun? Or ... feel some regret that you didn't succeed to do so instead of boasting about your cool prank to castrate him? Giving him 10 or more years to live and plot and inject his poison into his followers?"
Not even Pike and Sust were a big help to connect emotionally. After a truely beautifully drawn death scene and a moment of mourning Pike was all: My lifemates live in the Palace and I'll move closer to them. (came across much like: Family lives in Australia now. I'll move to New Zealand.)
Your death was uncool, girl. Useless. Unnecessary. It not even had story relevance. With Angrif Djun or nutless Djun or -meanwhile - another Djun the Humans are after the Elves.

An unkown Elf died on her way to the Palace. Should this matter? Nooooo, not at all. Her bolt spirtit made it to the Palace anyway *happygolucky*. Okay, I get it - spirit life is so good. NOPE.

I havn't thought that those two could be topped. It could.
Entrance Door.
I'LL HIJACK THE PALACE AND BECOME THE MOST MIGHTY ELF IN ALL ELFWORLD!
love and peace and forgiveness and you have a son
UHM... WILL DIE. *desintegrates*
Exit Door.
His only purpose storywise was to bring the little Palace to Ember for further use. Couldn't they have cut out another chunk of the Palace for this?

Character death that doesn't leave an emotional impact anymore - neither on the other chars nor on me - and misses story relevance is worse than character death as such for me. Somehow all this announcement of "Every rule will be broken! Everything will change! No one is safe!" and the gonzo advertisement and the knowledge that expectations will not be fulfilled anyway made me indifferent. Killed my curiosity and my passion. And this is the saddest result.
I don't care anymore for the characters. And not much about how the story ends. Worst case would be if it would be stopped before issue #24 ... without the final solution.


Weird fact: I still love EQ. Love the characters I got to know in the beginning. The characters and the story I've followed for so long. I care for story and characters a lot.
It's like ... somewhere between Cutter's "No elf must die!" and Kahvi's "Spirit life is so cool!" the story switched to a parallel universe with parallel characters - and nobody told us.

my impression:

 

a lot happened, but it doesn't feel like that. Maybe it's because I don't care enough any more? Or maybe it's because what happened feels superfluous at this moment?
Ahdri hooks up with Two-Edge, some of us called. I think it's nice, this would be the first time an elf has sex with an ugly person

Leetah is pregnant. I wonder if FiQu will finish before the birth of the child, which would be interesting. Sometimes you don't have to show and tell everything. But I don't think this is going to happen. So #24 will probably have some sorts of postlude "20 years later". Which might mean a really large issue or weird pacing. On a side note, I think Leetah forced the conception.

The plastic surgery for everyone part was stupid. And since when is Mender powerful enough to heal so many trolls on the genetic level? Mutations aren't illnesses! By that logic he could reverse evolution, ugh. Also, I didn't like the concept of the Mender-look-alike troll...

Winnowill is on the light side of the force now? All we get is one sentence of Rayek...

Kathleen is going to get, with reason, angry, that that "native guy" not only speaks with broken English, he even thinks in broken English. Those primitives, eh?
He tried to help the Djun's men, right? Are there cracks in Shuna's alliance?

We have four issues left for:
1. the threatliest threat of threatliness to arrive, the humans, who still aren't that close
2. Door to arrive and be evil
3. the palace to leave the planet

Just musings, no spoiler, do you think, that maybe no elves are going to stay behind?

Yeah... Here is the message:

http://elfquest.com/final-quest-issue-19-release-date-update/[/mention] 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.

@Davrille wrote:

I think they may have moved the date back for #19 so #24 comes out in February -- 40 years after FQ#1 to the day.

That is exactly the reason.

I think they may have moved the date back for #19 so #24 comes out in February -- 40 years after FQ#1 to the day.

Useful thread: A Breakdown of What's What by Skya



My Try of a Reader's Guide

It's not "the ultimative reader's guide" but good enough for a smooth read. I'll give you some information about the different series so you can decide by yourself.


Original Quest
Siege at Blue Montain
King of te Broken Wheel
Dreamtime - happens shortly after the return of the Palace ... awesome Wendy art
Hidden Years #4, #8, #9,5 and #10-15 - single issues filling gaps and giving background information for the time from the return of the Palace until the main story lines SHARDS and HIDDEN YEARS start. Read before starting with Shards and the rest of HY!

Main storyline - Shards (#1 til #15) and Hidden Years (from #16 til the end) - run parallel and influence each other.
Shards #10 / HY #24 and Shards #12 / HY #25 are directly connected - read the Shards issue before you look in the corresponding HY issue - spoiler warning!

About same time as Shards and Ember's Hidden Years storyline
New Blood #14-35 - Forevergreen Arc ... no direct connections with Shards/HY but it has necessary informations about the Sunvillagers' and Windkin's fate.
Would be no fault to read New Blood #11, #12, #13 before you start the Forevergreen Arc with NB #14.

Shards #16 gathers both the three story lines and the scattered elves.

Here you should read In All But Blood - it starts with Cutter's youth, a story about his early time in the Sunvillage, a story centering on Skywise somewhen after the return of the Palace. The last is the important one: Full Circle closes a time and knowledge gap between the end of SHARDS and the following stories ...

The Searcher and the Sword - following Cutter's tribe after Shards
Discovery - follows directly SatS

... that's what would make most sense for me to read in row from EQ1 until "present time" (= The Final Quest)


NOT on Digital EQ:
The Final Quest Prologue
Final Quest #1-24


more or less parallel with SatS / Discovery
Wild Hunt - following Ember's tribe after the Shards War
Mender's Tale (unfinished) - follows Wild Hunt
Recognition (Summer Special) - continues Wild Hunt
partly retold and more or less retconed by the Final Quest #1-2

The Forevergreen Story arc is more or less continued by
Worldpool - following some chars from the Forevergreen Arc - and
Fire-Eye (unfinished)
both probably "non-canon"



Other series and single issues

Tales from the Elves' wild past
Blood of Ten Chiefs
Two-Spear
Wolfrider! - read it!
By any other name (in the Readers Collection "In all but Blood")
Hidden Years #5, #6, #7, #9
#5 Starfall, Starrise - pre-EQ1 (story about Skywise and his parents' fate)
#6/7 How Shall I keep from Singing - High Ones' arrival and first years
#9 The Enemy's Face - story from Leetah's birth and youth
Homespun (in the Readers Collection "In all but Blood")

Spotlights on the time of the Long Wait (disappearance of the Palace until Big Sleep)
Hidden Years #1, #2, #3
#1 Wolfwood - during Long Wait (centering on Strongbow - I love it)
#2 Going Back - during Long Wait (Kahvi "visits" Sorrow's End again)
#3 Little Patch - during Long Wait (Tyleet's "cub")
The Jury (?)
New Blood #11, #12, #13
Kahvi

Background story of the Wavedancers
Wavedancers Issue #1
Wavedancers
Wavedancers - lost chapters (unfinished)
... it might be less puzzeling to read it after Discovery (some inconsistencies and retconning)

----------------

Somewhen in not too far future
Rogue's Curse - following Rayek's journey after Shards/Final Quest

Far future
Jink
The Rebles
Futurequest (unfinished)

--------------

I have not listed EVERYTHING here!

The rest of New Blood is a mix of Wild Past, Long Wait, various Misc stuff ... many of it considered non-canon

same for Bedtime Stories

Elfquest Volume 2 - containes stories that are mostly listed and reposted in collections (ask if you want to know more ... same for stories I missed to mention)

Kings Cross - a "What-If" / alternative universe story ...

Xanth - something totally different



There is no easy way to read through - you'll have to pick when you want to follow the timeline.

As you will notice some of the stories can be found in several topics. The Elfquest Vol. 2 issues have several ongoing stories in each issue - and then and now a single one. Many of these stories are gathered in collections:

Dreamtime, Wild Hunt, Wavedancers, Rogue's Curse, Wolfrider! to mention just a few.

You can stick with the gatherings to follow my suggestions ... Elfquest Vol. 2 is a read for completation when everything else is done in my opinion.


Don't hesitate to ask in case you need more information - or help to find some issues/collections.


Welcome to the pack Enjoy and have fun! Good read!

@manga wrote:

#1: FQ is slated for 24 issues, so issue #10 isn't even the halfway point. .

If this pace goes on, than nothing will happen until #24  
Hopefully this 'moving chess pieces at their places' is finally over

Maybe the stories of future quest and rogue's curse will get rendered obsolete, I have no idea how they can fit Jink into this