ElfQuest #8
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeElfQuest #8 opens the sustained two-person quest that gives the Original Quest its structural spine: Cutter and Skywise setting out alone across an unknown world to find other elves, leaving tribe and lifemate behind. The issue introduces Nonna and Adar — the first genuinely sympathetic human characters in the series — and through them poses the question that will drive the rest of Wendy and Richard Pini's story: can elves and humans ever truly understand one another? Just as significantly, Nonna's cave paintings of 'Bird Spirits' plant the first seeds of the Blue Mountain mystery, making this issue a quiet but pivotal hinge between the Madcoil-and-Sun-Village arc and the Glider storyline to come. As one of the Original Quest's 20 magazine-size chapters — all written, drawn, and self-published by the Pinis — it exemplifies what made ElfQuest a landmark of the direct-sales era: uncompromised creator ownership, long-form fantasy plotting, and Wendy Pini's manga-inflected draftsmanship in a landscape dominated by superhero publishers.
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ElfQuest #8 was published in September 1980 by WaRP Graphics, the self-financed independent company that Wendy and Richard Pini incorporated in 1977 after a disappointing first appearance of the strip in the short-lived Fantasy Quarterly. The story was plotted jointly by both Pinis, scripted by Wendy, and fully illustrated by Wendy in her signature high-contrast black-and-white pen-and-ink style, with a painted full-color cover and a Savah portrait on the back — the format the Pinis maintained throughout the series' entire original run. The Original Quest was released three times per year, and by the time issue #8 appeared the series had already begun attracting critical recognition: the 1980 Small Press Writers and Artists Organization honored Wendy Pini as Best Artist and the Pinis together as Best Editors. Nonna and Adar, who debut in this issue, were deliberately drawn to resemble Wendy and Richard Pini themselves, a layer of authorial self-commentary the creators have confirmed in multiple interviews.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published September 1980 by WaRP Graphics; story titled 'The Quest Begins,' plotted by Wendy Pini and Richard Pini, scripted and fully illustrated by Wendy Pini; cover art by Wendy Pini; Savah portrait on the back cover.
- First appearance of Nonna and Adar — the first sympathetic human characters in the ElfQuest saga — who nurse an ailing Cutter back to health after an infected squirrel bite; both characters are confirmed authorial self-portraits of Wendy and Richard Pini respectively.
- The issue launches the two-person quest of Cutter and Skywise to seek out other elf tribes, the central narrative engine of the Original Quest, while simultaneously following the Wolfriders and Leetah back in the Sun Village.
- Nonna's cave gallery of 'Bird Spirit' pictograms — pointy-eared figures riding giant birds — functions as the first in-story hint of the Gliders of Blue Mountain, whose storyline dominates the following arc (issues #11–15).
- Part of the 'Forbidden Grove' arc (Original Quest #6–10), which was subsequently collected in the Donning/Starblaze color graphic novel ElfQuest Book 2 (1982), the Father Tree Press recolored edition The Forbidden Grove (1988), the WaRP Reader's Collection Vol. 2 (1998), and DC's Elfquest Archives Volume 2 (2005).
- The entire Original Quest, including issue #8's story material, was reprinted in full color by Marvel Comics under its Epic imprint across 32 issues from 1985 to 1988.
- Second and third printings of this issue were produced — reprints exist for Original Quest issues #1–9 only; no reprints were made of issues #10–21.
- The series won the 1980 Small Press Writers and Artists Organization awards for Best Artist (Wendy Pini) and Best Editor (Richard and Wendy Pini), during the same publication year as this issue.
Cast · 32 characters
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Reprinted in ElfQuest #2 (1982), Abenteuer in der Elfenwelt #8 (1985), ElfQuest #12 (1986), ElfQuest #13 (1986), The Complete ElfQuest #2 (1988), Alvefolket #8 (1988), ElfQuest #2 (1994), ElfQuest Reader's Collection #2 (1998), ElfQuest: The Grand Quest #2 (2004), ElfQuest Archives #2 (2005), The Complete ElfQuest #1 (2014), Abenteuer in der Elfenwelt #4, Alverfolket #8, ElfQuest #8
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