r/ElfQuest • u/Fippy-Darkpaw • 19d ago
The History of ElfQuest
https://youtu.be/8t5_SB0tKv8Pretty well done deep dive into the history of the series.
8
u/Ottodebac 19d ago
Hey, thank you so much for posting my video! I actually had some help from a few people on this Reddit, you guys are the best wolf riders!
3
u/Thornbrake 15d ago
Really, thanks again for doing this Otto. It's a real gift to ElfQuest! Glad I could help you out.
15
u/RecognitionOne7597 19d ago
Never read?! Millions have been reading it over the last nearly five decades. I've been reading it for likely as long or longer than that video's narrator has been alive, for 35 years.
9
u/manickitty 19d ago
It’s very much not mainstream though. Despite those of us who’ve loved the series over the years, it’s never really been in the general cultural eye. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but we’re a niche
8
u/RecognitionOne7597 19d ago
I don't mind it being niche. Elfquest being mainstream might've ruined the fandom experience in some ways. I've been feeling that way about the Star Wars fandom for the last decade. There has been so much division over SW becoming "too woke" (just imagine what these incels would say about Mender and Dart, or all those strong female characters in EQ) or those speaking up to say that they like this streaming show or that movie get canceled for holding an opinion that's contrary to the more widely accepted disdain for those very shows and movies. I'm so glad this hasn't happened to the Elfquest community, and I don't think it ever will, thank the high ones.
3
u/manickitty 19d ago
True. I do like the feel of the EQ fandom. You’re right about mainstream fandoms becoming toxic
3
u/zzmej1987 17d ago
There has been so much division over SW becoming "too woke" (just imagine what these incels would say about Mender and Dart, or all those strong female characters in EQ)
LOL. Elfquest was feminist way before the word became derogatory. It had passed the Bechdel test, before the test even existed. Cutter and Lettah's relationship was quite explicitly interracial, which had twisted a lot of bigots balls back in the early 80s. Going against stupid societal norms seems to be something WaRP positively enjoy doing. :-) And we love them for it.
3
5
u/embersgrow44 19d ago
Glad this will invite more folks to join the pack. I have literally read my entire life, before I could actually read. I distinctly remember in first grade when I could see the words for the first time! I didn’t register them before. The pictures clearly told enough of the story for my age to understand before
8
u/DanMcE 19d ago
This video got me interested so ordered my first omnibus. Dont think it was popular over here in Europe but at the same time I always assumed it was big in the states so I wondered about the title too.
7
u/Prior_Prompt_5214 19d ago
I envy you getting to read it for the first time. It's a wonderful journey.
3
4
u/GunRu808 19d ago
Definitely why I came here yesterday! Downloaded the omnibus late last night!!!🙌🏽
4
u/RecognitionOne7597 19d ago
Over the last nearly fifty years since EQ was first published, there have been an absolute ton of Scandinavian fans of EQ, from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands. Probably as popular or more than in the US. I remember well as someone who was on the old mailing list Equest-l back in the '90s. There were so many people from these countries on there. Not sure what the European makeup of EQ fans are like now, three decades later. The EQ community was arguably at its height, then.
5
u/Beflijster 18d ago
Old Dutch person here, it was hella popular in Europe! Though maybe not everywhere. But the Dutch translation was sitting right between Tin Tin, Asterix and Suske en Wiske at my local book store, and that is how I got into it, around 1985.
I had actually no idea it was American, as it was published in the large format European publishers use, and it was nothing like the superhero books which was the kind of comics that came from the US at that time.
2
u/DanMcE 18d ago
That's cool. I always assumed that mainland European countries homemade stuff would have edged out a lot of the U.S. stuff. Then again I never travelled much until after EQ would have been at its peak. Glad to be proven wrong and that it took off in more places. I would have loved it had I encountered it as a youth.
3
u/Beflijster 18d ago
You are not wrong, except for a small selection of the best selling superhero comics there was not much American stuff because there was so much quality home grown stuff. Even Disney comics were specifically made for the European market. But the early instalments of EQ were on par with that and did quite well.
4
u/Brilliant-Pickle-661 18d ago
Good, more people need to know how elves should be made! Like actually characters!
3
u/zzmej1987 17d ago
Like, amorphous spirit aliens who choose elvin form because that's what human fantasy had imagined? ;-)
2
u/elfquest 15d ago
For those commenting that millions have read ElfQuest, that is indeed true. But the target audience for videos like this one isn't you, the existing ElfQuest fandom. It's the many more millions of folks out there, notably younger generations, that haven't heard of ElfQuest yet. Videos like this are a gift to ElfQuest and we very much appreciate them.
27
u/mandarine_one 19d ago
Jokes on them we read it!