From: yngvar@imr.no (Yngvar Foelling)
Subject: ElfQuest: KotBW -- what was it all about? (Was: Re: Yet another ElfQuest fan.)
Organization: Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway.
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 17:00:58 GMT

In article <168975E95.MHART00@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>, mason writes:
|> In article <1992Nov5.160921.27053@alf.uib.no>
|> yngvar@imr.no (Yngvar Foelling) writes:
|>  
|> >One major problem I had with the story "Kings of the Broken Wheel" was that
|> >I could never figure out what it really was _about_.  What was the title
|> >supposed to mean?
|>  
|> Remember the wheel Rayek drew in the Scroll of Colors when he was
|> explaining the Accident to Skywise?  From the beginning (at the top)
|> somewhere in the distant future, back to the past (at the bottom), when
|> the Wolfriders were born of Timmain, and finally around again toward
|> the future, where the Accident waits.  Only Rayek broght the palace
|> forward through time, passing so many years.  The Wolfriders slept
|> through them.  The wheel was broken.
|>  
|> As for the "Kings", I would say that they are the two opposing "chiefs":
|> Cutter and Rayek.  One flew the palace, the other walked the hard road
|> of years, but both "broke the wheel", if you will.
|>  
|>  
|> -- mason

This might turn into a two-person thread.  Oh, well...

In "Kings" #1 the word "wheel" was used in a different meaning.  The previous
ten chiefs were regarded as spokes in a wheel -- an era of Wolfrider history,
or something like that.  Cutter had started a new era, or a new wheel.

Well, this doesn't answer my first question: What was it about?  Meaning,
I failed to find a real connecting thread through the story.  In the first
couple of issues, the story seemed to focus on Strongbow's guilt, and Rayek's
vehement feelings about the Go-Backs.  The first was resolved after three
issues, with Strongbow gaining forgiveness from beyond the grave, after which
he practically disappeared from the story.  The second still remains
unresolved.

Then it turned towards Suntop and the mysterious "cry."  I was a bit
disappointed, though not really surprised, to find that it was something we
knew about all along.  Did Cutter find _all_ remaining tribes in a few months
during the original quest?

And then it turned to time travel and The Obliteration Of All Non-Right-
Thinking Elves Everywhere.

Finish with an enraged Winnowill creating much havoc, although she had very
little to do in the rest of the story.  It seems like there's nothing like
the concluding issue of a series to turn her into a prime contender for the
Golden Turkey Award (if there had been such a prize as "Worst Acting In A
Comic").

What is the connection between all this that warrants grouping it all under
one title?


I'm certainly one for pointing out every possible flaw in a comic.  I still
enjoyed it, and thought that it was a lot better than "Siege," despite the
fact that "Siege" _had_ a more connected storyline.

-- 
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| Yngvar Flling (yngvar@imr.no)  |   The opinions expressed are my own   |
| Institute of Marine Research    |   except for the occational glitch    |
| Bergen                          |   inserted by the Little Green Goblin |
| Norway                          |   who lives in my LAN outlet.         |
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