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suzene (suzene) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-12 09:21:00

Entry tags:

creator: richard pini, creator: wendy pini, title: elfquest

Elfquest
Series: Elfquest (not currently in print)
Creative Team: Richard and Wendy Pini
Posted 'Cuz: New old material available/Discussion bait

Elfquest is a fantasy tale about a tribe of elves known as Wolfriders seeking their place in the world and trying to come to grips with their origins. It's one of the better-known American fantasy comics, with thirty years worth of stories behind it. The creators, Richard and Wendy Pini, currently have a movie deal with Warner Bros and are gearing up for Final Quest, the last chapter in the saga of the Wolfriders. As an alternative to the prohibitive cost of trying to keep decades of stories archived on dead trees, Richard Pini has released every Elfquest issue ever to see print on the digital comics section of Elfquest.com, including some stories that never actually saw print before Warp Graphics ceased publication of the EQ anthology title back in the 90's.

I wanted to post this for a couple of reasons:

1) In the recent kerfuffle over SD 1.0's deletion, one of the arguments that kept cropping up was that giving readers a "try before you buy" option was a good way to sell more books. Warp Graphics seems to have taken that to an extreme and offered free access to their entire catalog in an attempt to build new readership for Final Quest (which may very well wind up a web publication before it sees print) and to generate interest in the upcoming film. So what are the comm's thoughts on the potential effectiveness of a move like this?

2) Some of the most recent material released was the continuation of a story called "Mender's Tale", which was in-progress when the anthology title was axed. The story involves a Wolfrider disgusing himself to move among humans and get a better idea of what makes them tick. He becomes involved in a love-triangle consisting of a young man, the woman he's betrothed to, and her sister, who is in love with her sister's affianced. In the most recent installment, Mender tricks both girls into having sex with him by telling them that he is their betrothed/beloved under the effects of a curse. My first impression is...less than positive, more in the realm of "well-intentioned rape is still rape". Thoughts from the comm?

First two parts are here and here. New installment is here.

(Post a new comment)

	(Anonymous) 2009-03-12 06:59 pm UTC (link)
	I thought they released all but one. Something about some legal hassle... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	suzene 2009-03-12 07:02 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, right. I always forget about the original Wavedancers series. Combination of it being stricken from canon and not all that great anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kaetepixie 2009-03-13 07:09 am UTC (link)
	They had a copy of Elfquest in my town library when I was a kid. Since I was used to Xmen and Disney comics, it totally blew my mind. Only problem was that there were a couple pages missing. I didn't realize until years later that someone had taken the trade and carefully sliced out any pages with "objectionable" material. Heh. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-03-13 08:31 am UTC (link)
	Assuming of course that someone didn't just decided to steal the "objectionable" material for themselves. (Reply to this) (Parent)

ashtoreth
2009-03-13 10:25 pm UTC (link)

1) Advertising will do better than free samples.

2) Rape is too charged a word to use so lightly (unless they're raping your childhood). It's dishonorable, what he's doing, but they are giving consent. More aligned to breaking someone's heart, doing someone innocent wrong..It's very Jack the trickster-ish, unlikable, yet funny in the right telling. Story karma says there'll be hell to pay!

::snerk:: And Chitter seems to be a karmic punishment on her stoney father.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

suzene
2009-03-13 11:59 pm UTC (link)

2) Rape is too charged a word to use so lightly (unless they're raping your childhood). It's dishonorable, what he's doing, but they are giving consent. More aligned to breaking someone's heart, doing someone innocent wrong..It's very Jack the trickster-ish, unlikable, yet funny in the right telling. Story karma says there'll be hell to pay!

Trust me, I'm not using it lightly. The way it's framed in the story, with Mender falsely claiming that this is something the girls have to do or their beloved is cursed forever, really reads as consent under duress to my eyes, especially given that the entire set-up causes the younger girl very obvious distress up through the act.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ashtoreth 2009-03-14 08:00 pm UTC (link)
	I just...I've had sex forced on me when I didn't want to go through with it..and I've had sex when I didn't want to, but allowed it to happen. Consent makes a difference, in my mind, even if it's trickery. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

suzene
2009-03-14 08:27 pm UTC (link)

The sticking point in my mind is that the consent is given under threat of dire consequences if the girls refuse. His ploy involved threatening Morisaitai with loss of face and Anamara with the suffering of her beloved unless they had sex with him. On top of this, he used his powers to make them more amenable to his plan, either by clouding their judgment, stoking their physical receptiveness, or both -- the exact effect isn't made clear, just that it's something he's been seen to do before to make people believe him when they might not otherwise. If it had been a case of Mender, for example, promising that he'd be able to grant a wish if they had sex with him, I'd think it was a scummy thing to do, but not rape, since the girls would have no reason to think they'd be worse off than they were before had they refused him -- there wouldn't be consequences for withholding consent, only a chance to be better off if they gave it. The fact that the whole thing is essentially, "We have to have sex for three nights running or else..." is what gets my hackles up.

(Reply to this) (Parent)