Cover: Wendy Pini

ElfQuest #17

Oct 1983 · WaRP Graphics · 1.50 USD; 1.75 CAD

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★ 1st appearance — Skot

About this Issue

ElfQuest #17 stages the climactic 'First War' — the full-scale assault by the combined Wolfrider and Go-Back forces on Guttlekraw's troll kingdom to reclaim the Palace of the High Ones — making it the action centerpiece of the 'Quest's End' arc that closes the original 20-issue run. The battle brings together virtually the entire cast assembled across the preceding issues, pays off years of world-building about troll politics and the Palace, and delivers one of the saga's most consequential deaths when Vaya sacrifices herself rather than betray her tribe to Guttlekraw. As part of a self-published, creator-owned independent series that Wendy and Richard Pini produced entirely on their own terms, the issue stands as a milestone of the early direct-market era — proof that a female writer-artist could sustain a character-driven epic fantasy to a planned, emotionally resonant conclusion.

Contains 2 stories

The First War

32 pp · Fantasy

Untitled Humor story

1 pp · Humor

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More listings for this title

VG $2.9 FN $3.2 FN $4.2 VF $4.98 VF $4.99 VF $4.99 VF/NM $5.19 VF $7.95

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History

ElfQuest #17 was published in October 1983 by WaRP Graphics — the company Wendy and Richard Pini had founded and named after themselves — as part of the 'Quest's End' story arc covering issues #16–20. The issue carries a writing credit split between Wendy Pini (plot and script) and Richard Pini (plot), with Wendy Pini on pencils and letters; inking on both the story pages and the Kahvi/Ekuar back-cover portrait was shared between Wendy Pini and Joe Barruso, one of the rare collaborative art credits in the original series. The original WaRP run published three issues per year in magazine-sized format with glossy full-color covers and a character portrait on the back cover, a production standard the Pinis had set for themselves from the beginning after being disappointed by the newsprint quality of the series' very first appearance in Fantasy Quarterly.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published October 1983 by WaRP Graphics; cover-dated and on-sale date confirmed via Amazing Heroes #33.
Story title: 'The First War'; written by Wendy Pini (plot, script) and Richard Pini (plot), with art and letters by Wendy Pini; inks by Wendy Pini and Joe Barruso.
The issue is the action climax of the 'Quest's End' arc (issues #16–20), in which the Wolfriders and Go-Backs battle Guttlekraw's mountain trolls for possession of the Palace of the High Ones.
Vaya — Kahvi's daughter and Pike's lovemate — is captured by Guttlekraw's forces during the opening skirmish; rather than surrender military information, she provokes his guards into killing her, a defining heroic death in the saga.
Guttlekraw kills his rival troll king Greymung during the war; Picknose, Oddbit, and Old Maggoty escape, setting up their ongoing roles in later stories.
Kahvi beheads Guttlekraw, ending his reign; his severed head is displayed on a spear.
Back cover features a Kahvi and Ekuar portrait, penciled and inked by Wendy Pini and Joe Barruso.
Reprinted (with the full 'Quest's End' arc) in: WaRP Graphics Reader's Collection #4 — 'Quest's End' (August 1998, black and white); DC Comics ElfQuest Archives #4 (January 2008, recolored); and Dark Horse Comics The Complete ElfQuest #1 (August 2014). No second printing of the original WaRP magazine edition exists.