Remember the old days when Wendy was the only Elfquest artist out there? Well, the times they are a'changing. Elf-Mama Wendy is busy-busy-highthing on the ever-expanding Elfquest projects, and dozens of new artists have lent their talents to Elfquest over the years. So in tribute to those who stepped up to the plate and took on the  "no one could be as good as Wendy" challenge, here are my top five new EQ artist pics.

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Carol Lyon
Omigod! This girl is priceless! Not only did she snag the cover for In All But Blood (her first assignment, mind you!) but she filled the story "Full Circle" with such gorgeous art it's almost enough to make one forget the name "Wendy." She nailed all the regular elves to a tee, and created an incredible grown-up Suntop (now Sunstream!). And perhaps the most incredible achievement (IMO anyway), she made Timmain look cool! For years I've been turned off by Timmain's anorexic-priestess look. But she looks totally different now. This one picture, when Timmain looks up at Father Tree, she has this lanky wild-child aura about her, and that's EXACTLY what she should look like. I sincerely hope that Carol stays around at Warp for a long time to come.

Lorraine Reyes
Elf-Mama Lorraine rules the Wild Hunt! Her manga-style illustrations are filled with energy. From the fireside dances of Teir and Ember, to the chase underbelly through the snow with the Lehrigen cycle, to the storybook style issue on Ember's banishment, each page is a marvel. Her grown-up Ember is as beautiful as we had all hoped, and she is one of the few artists out there who can draw Tyleet's hair right! Two books full of her art doesn't seem nearly enough, and I confess it's very weird reading the new Wild Hunt illustrated by anyone other than Lorraine.

 

Sonny Strait
Sonny blew us all away with his art in Wolfshadow. I couldn't even tell it wasn't Wendy when I first saw the preview pics on Elfquest.dot.com. His Cutter and Skywise are flawless, and he captured the looks of all the Wolfriders in his drawings of life at Thorny Mountain Holt. He even worked with Wendy on the centerfold that came with the Wolfshadow issue. His new fame continued in "Troll Games and Soulnames" (I didn't care for the story but his art was as good as ever.) A heavily-shadowed style captured the mood of the by turns dark and by turns comic look at Skywise and Cutter as cubs.



 

Steve Blevins
When I think of Steve Blevins, I always think of Teir. He was the first to draw my most favorite elf-boy, and preceeded Lorraine as artist of the Wild Hunt. He did the art for all five issues of issues of the Kahvi miniseries, and captured Kahvi's superior sneer perfectly! His was our first vision of Pool and Sust (excepting Tyleet's prophetic fever-dream.) The sad thing about Steve, his art often gets lots in the ink. Compare the earlier issues of Wild Hunt with those two pencil-drawn issues just before Lorraine takes over! It's a crime that those great lines got obscured by heavy ink.
 

 
 

Brandon McKinney
Okay, he's the first to admit his elves needed work in the Shards era. But when some of those pictures were inked up and coloured, I did double-takes, thinking they were Wendy's. But what I really like about Brandon (aside from that freaky King Cross story) is the way he draws humans. With some artists, humans look just like overgrown elves with round ears. But Brandon makes realistic-looking humans who contrast wonderfully with their elfin counterparts. My favourite has to be his shapechanged Winnowill. But for those who want more elves, check out his latest work in the new Wild Hunt.
 
 

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