ElfQuest: Stargazer’s Hunt vol. 2

Vol. 1 left off with Stargazer having departed the World of Two Moons on a quest to find what was missing in his life.  What he didn’t realize was that this was due to his daughter Jink taking his memories of Cutter away in order to ease his anguish.  This has led the white-haired Wolfrider to another planet with a race of hybrid troll-elves who live beneath its poisoned surface.  While Stargazer gets acclimated to life there, Jink, her sister Yun and Princess Trinket (of all characters) make plans to go after him in their starhome.  Even if they do manage to find him, a better question is how Stargazer is going to be able to find any peace after what he’s lost.

I didn’t think much of the first volume of “Stargazer’s Hunt” as it felt like a means of extending the main story of “ElfQuest” though some artificially generated drama.  Vol. 2 doesn’t quite wipe those concerns away, but it sees this tale working better as a coda to the main story.  We get to see more of this strange new troll-elf species, get more of an update on what the Wolfriders are up to these days, and see that while the humans are becoming increasingly more civilized, some of them haven’t forgotten about those strange little creatures of myth.  

While that, and other minor plot points feel like creators Wendy and Richard Pini setting up potential future storylines, should they decide to do more “ElfQuest” stories after this, the focus in this volume is squarely on Stargazer coming to terms with the death of his brother in all but blood.  That part of the story is handled quite well by the end in a way that I think will satisfy longtime readers of this series.  I do wish that Dark Horse hadn’t seen fit to split up this miniseries into two collections as the story reads better in one sitting when you’re able to take everything in.  On that note, anyone who wasn’t impressed with the first volume will likely want to pick up this one just to see how everything comes together in the end.