In 1978, husband and wife team Richard and Wendy Pini turned the genre of fantasy comics on its head with the creation of ElfQuest. As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the longest-running indy fantasy comic, now is the perfect time to trace the history of these fantastic creators.
Richard Pini was born on July 19, 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. A year later, and on the opposite side of the country, Wendy Fletcher was born on June 4 in San Francisco, California. As science wiz Richard went on to study astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Wendy began to develop her talents as an illustrator. Inspired by Victorian illustrators Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, along with Walt Disney, Doug Wildey, Erté, Jack Kirby and Osamu Tezuka, Wendy found her calling in the arts. Elsewhere, while still at MIT, Richard’s love of science fiction found a new diversion in comic books.
Years later, Wendy submitted a letter that was published in the letters column of the Silver Surfer #5. After reading her letter in the comic, Richard reached out to Wendy and the pair began a correspondence that lasted four years. In 1972, the pair were married and Wendy began illustrating for sci-fi magazines Galaxy Science Fiction and Galileo. At the same time, now holding a degree in astronomy, Richard worked at Boston’s Charles Hayden Planetarium as lecturer, photographer, script writer, and special effects technician. By 1977, the pair had launched the alternative comics publisher Warp Graphics. It was through this publisher that the duo would later create and publish ElfQuest.
Elfquest is a fantasy story that follows a community of elves and various other fictional species as they struggle to coexist on the World of Two Moons. Multiple storylines follow the various Chief’s of the Wolfriders, Go-Backs, Sun Villagers, Gliders, Preservers, and Trolls. After countless adventures and stories, the main story arc concluded in ElfQuest: The Final Quest #24 on February 28, 2018, exactly 40 years after the first issue of the Original Quest was released. Along with a brief action figure line, the ElfQuest franchise has spawned a tabletop roleplaying game, and two additional board games.
Over the years, ElfQuest has won the Ed Aprill Award for Best Independent Comic, two Alley Awards, Small Press Writers and Artists Organization Award for Best Artist and Best Editor, Phantasy Press Comic Art Award for Best Alternative Comic, Golden Pen Award and in 1988, ElfQuest character Skywise was inducted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman class.
Currently, both Wendy and Richard are enjoying their celebratory Forty Years of Pointed Ears tour and reminiscing over their groundbreaking series. “We want to get out there and share the great feeling that we have of completion with everybody who reads ElfQuest. It doesn’t get any more basic than that. We have been working our tails off for a very long time. This is both a celebration and a victory lap and a vacation all rolled into one,” expressed the pair.