REQUIEM FOR AN ELF AND TRAUMATIC DOGS

Poison Elves was an indie fantasy comic written and drawn by Drew Hayes that lasted from 1991 to Hayes’s untimely death in 2007. The series tells of the adventures of Lusiphur, an elf who loves violence, drinking, and women—though not necessarily in that order. This is definitely a “dark fantasy” comic, often indulging in grotesquery for its own sake, but it’s not without a humorous streak either. (Although, whether the brand of humor on offer will appeal to you is a matter of [bad] taste.) Lusiphur’s travails take place in a fantasy world that is not unlike Middle earth, if Middle earth were scummier, more vicious, and featured rife technological anachronisms. Modern elements frequently crop up throughout the series; you get a peak at Hayes’s love of industrial music, goth culture, and other subcultural weirdness as the series progresses. In this post, I’m covering the issues collected in Requiem for an Elf and Traumatic Dogs. God willing and the creak don’t rise, I’ll be back to feature more collections until we turn the page on this epic re-read.

At the very start of Poison Elves (or as it was known in the first issues I, Lusiphur), you can see all the hallmarks of the black and white indie comics boom of the early 1990s: scratchy art with tons of black ink on the page, an edgy jerkass protagonist prone to solving his problems with extreme violence, shapely women with unlikely large breasts, and a propensity for dark subject matter with nothing off the table.

It's tempted to read the first batch of issues as Drew Hayes working through some issues with older men in his life--perhaps father figures?--with the comic's elf protagonist Lusiphur (yes, the main character is named Lusiphur; it was the edgy 90s, as I've said) as his proxy cypher. In the first two issues, Lusiphur is honey-potted by a wizard's svelte daughter so her nihilistic father can summon a demon into the world using his eye; then, a wounded Lusiphur stumbles into the home of a kindly older man who plans to kill him and sell his corpse; later still, Lusiphur is forcefully recruited by the father figure who taught him the ways of crime into a deadly mission to steal a fabled gem. There is a lot of betrayal experienced by the protagonist at the hands of older male figures who either aren't what they seem or who believe that Lusiphur owes them some sort of fealty in return for a bare minimum of care.

Aside from the potential daddy issues, re-reading Poison Elves is an exercise in being reminded that the past is indeed a different country. To but it bluntly, there is content in these comics that probably would not meet with a warm reception in today's climate. For example, one of the noteworthy issues of this early run details Lusiphur's first encounter with a recurring character called the Purple Marauder. The Purple Marauder wears a Zorro-esque swashbuckling outfit in hues of pink and purple--on top, at least. Below, he sports nothing more than a banana hammock. The thrust of the Purple Marauder's purpose in life is to stop his fellow men from enjoying sexual exploits with the fairer sex.

Although the Purple Marauder cites being jilted by the lady-love of his life as his motivation, his quest to prevent heterosexual liaisons coupled with his flamboyant attitude and attire renders him queer-coded in a stereotypically negative way. The Purple Marauder's appearance is clearly intended as comic relief, but it's difficult to say whether a reader with fresh eyes would find this amusing or cause for offence.

Similarly, Traumatic Dogs features an issue where Lusiphur ingratiates himself with a wealthy woman so he can enjoy the high life. The catch is that the wealthy matron is extremely fat. Her obesity is a punchline, as Lusiphur finds himself having to cozy up to her without letting things get too physical between them because that would just be disgusting and unthinkable. When the reveal of her monstrosity arrives, and nearly everyone Lusiphur meets is revealed to be a monster at some point, her body is linked to her beastliness. Body positivity? Poison Elves never heard of it.

Though these elements of the comic are not well-suited to the tastes of the current moment, I find it difficult to fault them in context. The comic is admittedly edgelordy, and I don't think Drew Hayes would have denied that allegation; as it is, it feels like a moment of the comedic sensibility of the past trapped in amber. But then, I was there at the time, so it doesn't feel outrageous to me since I come from an era when kids were shouting Dice Clay's dirty nursery rhymes at each other. I dearly wish I could read the comic again from a Zoomer's perspective, but alas--what they would see is likely beyond my comprehension.

Aside from the Purple Marauder, these issues also introduce a couple other characters who are important in Lusiphur’s life. One is Parintachin, a skull-faced jester who lives in Lusiphur’s head as a manifestion of his neuroses. Parintachin is part of a long line of annoying, comical clown-like figures to emerge from the ‘tude-laden 80s; he’s the fantasy equivalent of the Insane Clown Posse or the Domino’s Noid, but instead of rapping about the Dark Carnival or selling pizza, he breaks the fourth wall and gives Lusiphur the occasion to argue with himself. Another character introduced here is Hyena, Lusiphur’s ex-wife, who is a sorceress with the looks of Siouxsie Sioux and a wardrobe of pointy shoes and fishnets that would make any 90s goth girl lose her pallor with envy. (She also has a rack that would give Elvira’s bags a run for their money.) Both characters exist to show the reader different shades of Lusiphur’s character. For example, although Lusiphur is brash, confrontational, and as obnoxious as ever when he shows up on Hyena’s doorstep to trade a doppelganger corpse for a magic bauble, he eventually drops the bluster and it becomes clear that he is actually capable of caring about another person.

And that magic doodad Lusiphur got from Hyena? It’s a genie-imprisoning magic lamp that Lusiphur intends to take out to the wastelands and mess around with. Stay tuned and we'll see what happens as Drew Hayes settles into the comic's rhyme, begins to chart larger arcs, and starts building the world around Lusiphur into something unique.