Following The Release of the Final Issue on February 28, The Pinis Have Embarked On a Year-Long “40 Years of Pointed Ears” Appearance Tour
Celebration to Include Exclusive Social Media Giveaway
Poughkeepsie, NY— On February 28, 2018, the fantasy graphic novel series ElfQuest came to its grand conclusion, ending a four-decade run with the publication of issue 24 of the comic series “The Final Quest.” America’s longest-running fantasy comic book series, with tens of millions of copies of comics and graphic novels in print worldwide, ElfQuest will come to an end on the same day it first appeared 40 years ago, February 28, 1978.
To celebrate, creators Wendy and Richard Pini have embarked on the “Forty Years of Pointed Ears” tour, a year-long victory-lap of appearances that will take the Pinis across the country and even to Europe. At each appearance on the tour, the Pinis will be available to meet fans, answer questions, take photos, and sign books and other ElfQuest merchandise. In some locations, the Pinis will also speak or participate in panels. “We’ve been out of the public eye while wrapping up this huge saga,” says series co-creator, writer, and artist Wendy Pini. “Fans have begged us for years to appear at this bookstore or that convention, and now we finally have the time to do just that.”
The Pinis also launched a special social media campaign and exclusive giveaway. Fans who share photos on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #FortyYearsofPointedEars that feature ElfQuest books, other merchandise, or cosplay will be entered to win an exclusive ElfQuest Prize Box filled with items selected by the Pinis themselves. The winner will be selected at random and announced in December 2018.
ElfQuest was originally self-published by the Pinis out of their small apartment in southeast Massachusetts. Independent comic book titles at the time typically sold a few hundred copies, so ElfQuest’s first issue print run of 10,000 created a sensation. It quickly sold out and went back to press for additional printings, a then-unheard-of practice. “We had no idea it would take off like that,” says co-creator and editor Richard Pini. “All we wanted to do was tell the story and not go broke doing it.” By the wrap-up of the title’s first series in 1984, sales had reached 100,000 copies, competing with a number of X-Men and Batman circulation figures.
Still owned and shepherded by solely by the Pinis, ElfQuest can claim a number of superlatives. It is the longest-running American fantasy comic series. It has been called “the first American manga” in recognition of Wendy Pini’s art, a unique blend of Eastern and Western styles. It was voted the “Most Life-Changing Graphic Novel” by Buzzfeed, selected as one of NPR’s “100 Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels,” and is a New York Times Best Seller. It is the only independent title to have also been published (under license) by the three largest US comic book publishers: Marvel, DC Comics, and Dark Horse Comics.
While the Pinis have stepped back from the daily grind of comics creation after forty years and have wrapped the main storyline they began in 1978, this is not the ultimate end of ElfQuest. Dark Horse Comics is currently publishing a series of graphic novel collections and the Pinis stand ready to serve as story and art advisors on future ElfQuest projects.
The full Forty Years of Pointed Ears tour schedule:
- February 28, 2018 – Things From Another World – Portland, Oregon
- March 1-4, 2018 – Emerald City ComicCon – Seattle, Washington
- March 18, 2018 – LA Vintage Paperback Show – Glendale, California
- April 6-8, 2018 – C2E2 – Chicago, Illinois
- April 21-22, 2018 – Hudson Valley Comic Con – Poughkeepsie, New York
- April 27-29, 2018 – East Coast Comic Con – Meadowlands, New Jersey
- May 5, 2018 – Mile High Comics Mega-Store – Denver, Colorado
- June 2, 2018 – Atlantis Fantasyworld – Santa Cruz, California
- July 19-22, 2018 – Comic-Con International – San Diego, California
- September 28-30, 2018 – Baltimore Comic-Con – Baltimore, Maryland
October 4-7, 2018 – New Year Comic-Con, New York, NY
About Author
