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Cutter/Nightrunner and Skywise/Starjumper by Wendy Pini

Artist: Wendy Pini (All)

8 Comments  -   5,459 Views  -   7 Likes


Cutter/Nightrunner and Skywise/Starjumper by Wendy Pini Comic Art
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Additional Images:


Ad by original purchaser

Cutter

Nightrunner

Petalwing

2024-06-04 - CAF Roundup

 

   

Artwork Details

Title: Cutter/Nightrunner and Skywise/Starjumper by Wendy Pini
Artist: Wendy Pini (All)
Media Type: Mixed Media
Art Type: Commission
For Sale Status: NFS
Views: 5,459
Likes on CAF:
Comments: 8
Added to Site: 6/26/2016
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini is a long time favorite of mine. I bought the very first appearance in Fantasy Quarterly #1 in 1978 at a con in Houston. It was a buck. I liked the art, but figured that I'd never see a second issue.


I was right and wrong about that. There was never a second issue of Fantasy Quarterly, but Elfquest became a standout in the independent comic market as Richard and Wendy took over publication of their story.

I've followed it for years, but started collecting art and going to conventions too late to get a commission from Wendy; a page or a cover was never really a hope since they don't sell their OA and have since donated it to Columbia University.

So, I've kept my eye out for something representative and I have picked up a few pieces (see Additional Images below), but nothing that I wanted to display.

This piece appeared on the CAF website in the CAF Gallery of Dan Forman. Since I watch Dan's Gallery, I received a notification from the CAF (another reason to go Premium folks) about him posting it for sale. After a little thought and consideration of my completely spent OA budget, I decided to go for it. Such work just doesn't show up very often.

When it does show up, there's often a little damage to the piece as with this one. At some point of the last 40+ years, it suffered some water damage. Despite that, I think it's a strong image and I'm glad I got it.

Provenance
Recently, May 2020, I received a note from an OA collector friend in Japan, Daniel Middleton, saying that he found what he assumed was the original ad for this piece when it came to market from the original buyer.

With a little help from Daniel, I was able to find Lynda Leibowitz, of DevaTreasures on Etsy and I wrote to her. In a few notes, Lynda told me the origin of the piece:

"I bought it at NY ComicCon in 1979 from Wendy Pini the artist. Sorry, that was in 1980. It's been such a long time that I got the year wrong. She drew some pictures during the convention, one of which was this one. This was when elfquest was not well known and we were there early. Not many people there then."

I know from talking to Dan Forman that he saw the piece on the CAF and Lynda pointed him to her Etsy shop. He picked it up for $300. A few years later, Dan was raising funds for something else and offered it on his CAF for $675 plus S/H. I grabbed it as quickly as I could.

Personal Notes about my Experience with Wendy and Richard
A couple of other notes:

  • In 1997, my family took a driving tour through MA and NY. We stopped in all the big places, e.g., Boston's Freedom Trail, Plymouth Plantation, Sturbridge Village, Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, the Norman Rockwell Museum (beautiful), the Baseball Hall of Fame (wonderful), Hyde Park, NYC, Bristol, RI, and the Newport mansions.

    Oh yeah, we also stopped in Poughkeepsie, NY. Why? Well, that's the home of Elfquest and my daughters (10, 8, and 6) were fans of the series and we decided to drop in uninvited. :) Richard was there and he was very kind to a fan with three little girls. He gave each of them a signed comic and spoke to them like they mattered. Good guy that Richard.

  • Eight years later, Richard decided to do some attic cleaning and sent a number of items to Heritage for auction. One of them was a spectacular Superman by Curt Swan that I was able to buy and which launched my comic art collecting. I owe Richard thanks for that, too. :)

  • In 2017, we were cleaning the house and found a trove of my eldest's fan artwork for Elfquest. We were headed to SDCC that year and Richard and Wendy were going to be there. That gave me an idea - I would take a note card and envelope to SDCC and see if Wendy would write a note to the 10 year old Allie who had drawn the art some 22 years earlier. Kathy and I got to Richard and Wendy's table in the Dark Horse booth and there was no line. I introduced myself and told my stories above and then showed the art and asked for the favor. They thought about it a bit - I'm sure they wondered if I'd throw the note and art on ebay, but the decided to do it. Wendy wrote the note. At Christmas, I gave it to Allie. She cried tears of happiness. I might have given her the best present ever.

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Alex Johnson
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Joined: January 2006
Last Login: September 2025
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Comments on this Artwork

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Shelton  Bryant 
Member Since 2005

Posted on 6/26/2016

ELFQUEST!!! Major Grab!!! Congrats!!!!

steve  staszower 
Member Since 2005

Posted on 6/26/2016

Fell in love with Elfqueat in the early 80's, in my teens. Used to own a couple of commissions I got from Wendy at conventions. Regret selling them! Happy to see a beautiful piece like this in your EQ collection. : )

Timothy Finney 
Member Since 2006

Posted on 6/27/2016

Cheers! Elfquest was one of those independent comic series you can actually call groundbreaking without too much hyperbole, and you managed to find a really nice piece from her peak period.

John Bailey 
Member Since 2010

Posted on 6/27/2016

Love it. I'll buy it when you want to sell.

Jason Hussa 
Member Since 2017

Posted on 1/7/2019

Wonderful!  What a treasure!  Thanks for sharing it here, as well as for posting your great comments! :)  Congratulations on a truly beautiful piece!

Matt Kennedy 
Member Since 2014

1 - Posted on 6/4/2024

Elfquest was on the cover of the very first comics fanzine that I ever bought in the fall of 1985, COMIC COLLECTOR MAGAZINE. It had a contemporary value guide for comics that was pretty thorough for the time —and would set the template for WIZARD years later. This coincided with the announcement of the Marvel reprints of the original Warp Graphics series, and Elfquest (series 1) was a hot indie book if ever there was one. Along with Cerebus, it was one of the very few self-published books getting any press or traction at the time and the Pinis were regulars on the convention circuit, gaining the respect of comic shop owners and readers —even if they weren't big fans of the comic per sé. Elfquest was also one of the only regularly published fantasy comics at what seemed to be the height of Dungeons and Dragons Fandom in the early 80s, which became a divisive distinction among DnD players. Having met Richard and Wendy many times over the years I can say that they are warm, talented and  humble. It's still amazing to me that Elfquest never crossed over into animation like TMNT did. 

This is an ubiquitous ElfQuest piece, congrats!

CJ Design 
Member Since 2018

1 - Posted on 6/4/2024

What a nice scarce piece of ElfQuest...Grats.

ALFREDO QUINTERO 
Member Since 2006

Posted on 6/4/2024

Very Cool. I am am actually going to Heroes 2024 just to meet Wendy and Richard for the first time. I have been a fan forever.

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