Cover: Wendy Pini

ElfQuest #2

Aug 1978 · WaRP Graphics · 1.00 USD

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“Raid At Sorrow's End”

About this Issue

ElfQuest #2 (August 1978) is the true founding issue of WaRP Graphics as a publisher — the first comic Wendy and Richard Pini produced entirely under their own imprint after the dismal production quality of their debut in Fantasy Quarterly #1 drove them to self-publish. The issue introduces the entire Sun Folk tribe, including Leetah, Rayek, Savah, and Sun-Toucher, fundamentally widening the series' world and planting the seeds of the Cutter–Leetah Recognition storyline that would drive the saga's emotional core for decades. As the launch of a self-published, magazine-format fantasy title created, written, and illustrated by a woman — at a moment when neither Marvel nor DC would touch the property — it became one of the defining early successes of the alternative-independent comics wave that emerged in the late 1970s. The series it inaugurated would eventually be published by all three of the 'Big Three' American comics companies, a distinction no other independent comic has matched.

writer, artist, inker, letterer Wendy Pini · writer Richard Pini · cover Wendy Pini

More listings for this title

Newsstand $2.5 CGC 6 · Signed · 3rd print $84.99 Dark Horse Comics Elfquest #2 $3.75 ElfQuest: The Grand Quest DC Volume #2 by Wendy & Richard Pini $12.25 Elfquest # 2 Warp Graphics $19.95 ElfQuest: The Original Quest: Book 2--Forbidden Grove $21.64

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History

After the Pinis' inaugural ElfQuest story appeared in Fantasy Quarterly #1 in February 1978 under the auspices of Independent Publishers Syndicate — a publisher that then attempted to retain Wendy's original artwork — the couple resolved to become their own publisher. Funded by a loan from Richard Pini's parents, they incorporated WaRP Graphics (an acronym of 'Wendy and Richard Pini') and produced issue #2 in a deliberate upgrade of format: magazine-size pages with glossy full-color covers and a character portrait on the back cover, a production standard they maintained for the entire 20-issue Original Quest run. The decision to self-publish came only after Marvel editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin declined the series in mid-1977, an irony the Pinis have often noted given Marvel's later enthusiasm to reprint the completed run through its Epic imprint beginning in 1985.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published August 1978 by WaRP Graphics; the first issue produced entirely by the Pinis' own company, making it the true launch of the WaRP Graphics publishing line.
Story title: 'Raid at Sorrow's End,' plotted by Wendy and Richard Pini, scripted and illustrated by Wendy Pini. Cover art is a painted piece by Wendy Pini; the back cover features a Leetah character portrait by Wendy Pini.
First appearance of the Sun Folk (also called Sun Villagers), including Leetah the healer, rival hunter Rayek, village elder Savah, and the blind chieftain Sun-Toucher — characters central to the remainder of the Original Quest.
The issue establishes the 'Recognition' concept — an involuntary, soul-deep bonding between elves — through Cutter's immediate, uncontrollable pull toward Leetah, which forms the emotional spine of the next several issues.
Printed in magazine format (approx. 36 pages) with a glossy full-color cover, black-and-white interior story art, and a full-color back-cover portrait print — a format sustained throughout all 20 issues of the Original Quest.
Second and third printings were produced for this issue (as for all issues #1–9 of the WaRP Graphics run); no reprints exist for issues #10–21.
The story content was subsequently reprinted in: ElfQuest (Marvel/Epic, 1985) #2–3; The Complete ElfQuest (WaRP Graphics, 1988) #1; ElfQuest Reader's Collection #1 'Fire and Flight' (WaRP, 1998); ElfQuest Archives (DC, 2003) #1; The Complete ElfQuest Vol. 1 (Dark Horse, 2014); and ElfQuest Gallery Edition (Dark Horse, 2014). International reprints appeared in German (Bastei Verlag, 1984) and Scandinavian (Semic, 1985) editions.
The letters column features correspondence from science-fiction writer David Gerrold and comics artist Sergio Aragonés (who contributed a sketch), reflecting early enthusiasm for the series from within the broader genre community.