New Elfquest story to make online debut at Boing Boing! 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (September 5, 2012) — After decades of epic adventure, the heroes of Wendy and Richard Pini‘s indie hit Elfquest still haven’t settled down. But for now, they’ll be found at top blog Boing Boing, taking their place in its first ongoing narrative comic presentation.

“We’re stoked to be able to take the next chapter in the series ‘online-first’,” said Boing Boing’s Rob Beschizza. “For anyone who grew up reading indie comics or who loves a fantastic yarn, this is a dream come true.”

Elfquest, a fantasy epic first published in 1978, replaced the era’s Tolkien-esque tropes with a more modern—and less foofy—vision of point-eared peril. The story of Cutter’s barbaric tribe of elves, and their quest to discover their cosmic origins, was one of the first independently-published comics to achieve mainstream success.

“Wendy and I never set out, thirty-five years ago, to take the indie comics world by storm,” said Richard Pini. “But there the history is, in the sales and—more importantly—in the fandom that’s stayed with us. Now we get to relive those scary, heady days once again as Elfquest makes its online debut to fans old and new.”

Among other graphic novel firsts counted by Wendy and Richard: a massive female audience, publishing deals with both Marvel and DC Comics, and translation into dozens of languages.

Boing Boing is one of the top blogs in the U.S., with more than 4 million visitors a month and a long tradition of showcasing the unusual, the spectacular and the wildly talented.

The prologue to the new tale, to be published weekly over several months, gears up the decades-long story for its long-awaited next major chapter.

“Elfquest’s World of Two Moons—its landscapes, inhabitants, dangers—is familiar yet always unpredictable territory,” said Wendy Pini. “After five years’ hiatus, I’ve come home to the Holt and to my main characters, Cutter and the Wolfriders, only to wreak storytelling havoc on them as never before. In ‘Elfquest – the Final Quest’ sturdy, stable characters will react in totally unexpected ways as they face devastating, unavoidable change. I’m scared and exhilarated by what’s going to happen!”

Each page of the story will be published at boingboing.net on Mondays, beginning next week on September 10. New readers can read the story so far, free of charge, at http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics3.html