| Wendy Pini | |
|---|---|
 Richard and Wendy Pini atFanimeCon 2010 inSan Jose, California | |
| Born | Wendy Fletcher (1951-06-04)June 4, 1951 (age 74) San Francisco, California, United States |
| Areas |
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Notable works | Elfquest,Wendy Pini's Masque of the Red Death |
| elfquest | |
| Richard Pini | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-07-19)July 19, 1950 (age 75) New Haven, Connecticut, United States |
| Areas |
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Notable works | Elfquest |
Wendy Pini[a] (néeFletcher; born June 4, 1951)[1] andRichard Pini (born July 19, 1950)[1] are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-knownElfquest series ofcomics,graphic novels and prose works. They are also known asWaRP (as inWarp Graphics).
Wendy Fletcher was born inSan Francisco in 1951, and from an early age demonstrated the talents later to come to fruition as a professional illustrator, and eventually as the creator ofElfquest.
Wendy's youthful interest in fantasy was inspired in part byShakespeare andKipling. She took artistic inspiration fromVictorian illustrators such asArthur Rackham andEdmund Dulac, designers such asWalt Disney,Doug Wildey, andErté, as well as comic book greats such asJack Kirby and Japanesemanga artistOsamu Tezuka.
Richard Pini was born in 1950, inNew Haven, Connecticut. After an exemplary academic performance at school, he was accepted into theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for anastrophysics degree. Always a fan of science fiction, at college he found a new diversion in comic books.
Wendy Fletcher and Richard Pini met when Pini read aletter of Fletcher's that had been published in issue #5 of theSilver Surfer comic book.[2][3] A correspondence began, spanning a period of four years. The two eventually married in 1972, and Wendy embarked upon a career as an illustrator for sci-fi magazines. A degree in astronomy from MIT led Richard to a position at Boston'sCharles Hayden Planetarium as lecturer, photographer, script writer and special effects technician. Later, he taught high school astronomy, then worked for IBM untilElfquest became a full-time occupation.[4]
Fletcher contributed several covers and illustrations toGalaxy Science Fiction andGalileo magazines in the mid-1970s. Prior to the widespread publication ofElfquest, Wendy was also known for dressing up atcomic book conventions asRed Sonja.[5][6]
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Elfquest, a fantasy story about a community of elves, was launched in 1978 with art and co-writing by Wendy Pini. Richard Pini, who had been working for IBM,[7] is credited as co-writer and editor onElfquest, as well as handling all of the publishing and business aspects of Warp Graphics.
Wendy Pini wrote a book documenting her attempt to make an animated film project of theStormbringer stories.Law and Chaos: The "Stormbringer" Animated Film Project was published byFather Tree Press (an imprint of the Pinis'WaRP Graphics) in 1987. The book contains original artwork, information on the characters, an overview of the plot, and Wendy Pini's personal investment in the project. The film never reached completion, but the full content ofLaw and Chaos may be found on the Masque of the Red Death website.[8]
In 2007, Wendy Pini turned her attention to a new project unrelated toElfquest. Taking the Edgar Allan Poe short story "Masque of the Red Death" as a starting point, she adapted the tale into bothgraphic novel andweb comic formats, giving it a futuristic, dystopic slant.[9]
In addition toElfquest, Wendy Pini also created two graphic novels based on the TV seriesBeauty and the Beast and has illustrated occasional stories for bothMarvel Comics andDC Comics. She wrote an introduction to the first volume of theGargoyles trade paperback and mentions being a fan of theshow.
Characters based on Richard and Wendy Pini appear inGhost Rider volume 1, #14 (Oct. 1975), as well as issues #15, #17, #18, and #19, which were written byTony Isabella. Richard is a special effects technician and props arranger for a Hollywood movie studio, and Wendy is a costume designer.
Elfquest and Wendy Pini are both referenced in Marvel'sUncanny X-Men #153 (January 1982), "Kitty's Fairy Tale", written byChris Claremont. In that issue,Kitty Pryde wears anElfquest T-shirt throughout, while asprite named "Pini" makes an appearance with "Bamf" on p. 16.
InFantastic Four #242 (May 1982), series writer/artistJohn Byrne portrays anElfquest play staged at a theatre built over the site of theflophouse where theHuman Torch found the amnesiacNamor inFantastic Four #4.
Richard Pini is caricatured as a mad scientist inCharlton Bullseye #10 (December 1982) in aThunderbunny story written byMartin Greim.
In Robert Lynn Asprin'sMythAdventures series, Wendy and Richard appear in the dimension of Limbo as Drahcir and Idnew: the Woof Writers, a husband and wife team of werewolves.
