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EQ cover collection musings
11 months ago
A while ago I backed a Flesk Publications Kickstarter that collected all the Elfquest covers in one volume, along with commentary about each cover and that particular issues' contents. In this case one definitely got their money's worth--I got the book this week and it is freaking HUGE. It must weigh 5 or 6 pounds. It has every cover, from the first books through the 90's where they had a ton of titles, up to the last series which was finished over Covid.
https://www.fleskpublications.com/wendy-pini
(I got the book featured on the far left, the premium paperback version.)
In addition to Wendy Pini there are a bunch of other artists represented who worked on various issues. Some were excellent--Brandon McKinney, John Byrne, Lea Hernadez, O. F. Roko, Dennis Fujitake and Lorraine Reyes. Other artists ranged from decent to ‘meh,’ some were flat-ass bad. And then there was Barry Blair.
I realize you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but damn, I’d forgotten how freaking creepy his work was. He had an unhealthy fixation on drawing children, particularly young boys, wearing nothing but skimpy loincloths or skin-tight hose, with lots of crotch and butt shots. The adult characters, particularly the humans, were uniformly ugly. Even the adult elves were kind of ugly. On one cover he completely dispenses with any pretense of decency and has a naked elf that looks about 9 years old. To paraphrase a review I read once—I feel like I should be on a government watch list after looking at this stuff. I suppose the only good thing about his work, from a publisher’s point of view, is that he could crank out pages and pages of it, while most of the A-list artists were much less prolific.
Another obscure EQ title that bears mention is the original Wave Dancers miniseries. That thing could have an entire article devoted to it. I remember at the time that creative team’s split from Pinis was pretty contentious, but I’ve long forgotten all the details. The most notable thing about the series was the absolutely gorgeous art, done by Jozef Szekeres, who worked at Disney Australia (If I remember correctly).The story itself was a confusing mess. I got the distinct feeling the creative team had this mermaid story they wanted to do, and tried (unsuccessfully) to shoehorn it into the Elfquest universe. In any event, the issues are still fairly easy to find. Which is fortunate, because, due to whatever legal agreement was reached, they won’t ever be reprinted.
For long-time EQ fans, the book is definitely a trip down memory lane. But do keep in mind its daunting size and weight. This is not a book that can be approached lightly! (pun intended)
https://www.fleskpublications.com/wendy-pini
(I got the book featured on the far left, the premium paperback version.)
In addition to Wendy Pini there are a bunch of other artists represented who worked on various issues. Some were excellent--Brandon McKinney, John Byrne, Lea Hernadez, O. F. Roko, Dennis Fujitake and Lorraine Reyes. Other artists ranged from decent to ‘meh,’ some were flat-ass bad. And then there was Barry Blair.
I realize you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but damn, I’d forgotten how freaking creepy his work was. He had an unhealthy fixation on drawing children, particularly young boys, wearing nothing but skimpy loincloths or skin-tight hose, with lots of crotch and butt shots. The adult characters, particularly the humans, were uniformly ugly. Even the adult elves were kind of ugly. On one cover he completely dispenses with any pretense of decency and has a naked elf that looks about 9 years old. To paraphrase a review I read once—I feel like I should be on a government watch list after looking at this stuff. I suppose the only good thing about his work, from a publisher’s point of view, is that he could crank out pages and pages of it, while most of the A-list artists were much less prolific.
Another obscure EQ title that bears mention is the original Wave Dancers miniseries. That thing could have an entire article devoted to it. I remember at the time that creative team’s split from Pinis was pretty contentious, but I’ve long forgotten all the details. The most notable thing about the series was the absolutely gorgeous art, done by Jozef Szekeres, who worked at Disney Australia (If I remember correctly).The story itself was a confusing mess. I got the distinct feeling the creative team had this mermaid story they wanted to do, and tried (unsuccessfully) to shoehorn it into the Elfquest universe. In any event, the issues are still fairly easy to find. Which is fortunate, because, due to whatever legal agreement was reached, they won’t ever be reprinted.
For long-time EQ fans, the book is definitely a trip down memory lane. But do keep in mind its daunting size and weight. This is not a book that can be approached lightly! (pun intended)
Wendy's art was a bit of a hard sell for me at first, because it was so... "girly".. reminded me of things that the girls did in high school (big eyes, big hair, all those curvy lines. No real 'strength" to any of the art) I'm expressing it badly because I'm not sure how to say it. What I did like about it was that it was distinctive. You could tell her art from everyone else's at a glance.
Overall, I did enjoy the books and certainly read any that I come across and am sort of an "adjunct" fan.
Too bad cause a futuristic Red Death might have been fun.
I'm only just now going through the Covers book since I've been Mom-sitting while Dad recovers from heart surgery. I'm tickled at all the memories seeing them again is bringing.
I was surprised W&R let him do it, frankly...