SnarfQuest
A fantasy comic strip with sci-fi and modern twists.
SnarfQuest is a fantasy comic strip written and drawn by Larry Elmore, blending epic fantasy adventure with sci-fi and modern elements. Its black-and-white art, quirky humor, satire, and anachronistic touches have drawn comparisons to Jeff Smith's Bone series. It is Elmore's only comic series, as he is primarily known for his fantasy art paintings.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Larry Elmore
- Publisher
- Dragon Magazine
- First
- 1983
- Last
- 1989
- Genre
- Humor, Fantasy
Facts from the source article.
Publication history
SnarfQuest debuted in Dragon Magazine in 1983 with issue #75 and ran until issue #145, appearing in issues 75–78 and 80–145. The first story arc, covering Snarf's quest to become king, was collected into a 144-page book titled SnarfQuest: The Book, published by TSR in 1987. This edition included several never-before-published pages in full color, among them a story set five years after the previous arc in which Snarf and his friends confront a werewolf. A special one-shot color episode appeared in Dragon #200 (December 1993), where Snarf and Telerie help remove a wizard's curse on a forest. In 2000, Dynasty Presentations released a 224-page collection, SnarfQuest: The Graphic Novel, which reprinted the 1987 edition's material and the remainder of the Dragon Magazine Snarf story arc, excluding the 1993 one-shot. The full-color pages from the 1987 version were presented in greyscale in this compilation. A second edition followed in 2002 from Larry Elmore Productions, differing only in its cover. The SnarfQuest RPG Worldbook was published in 2003, containing stats, episode guides, character backgrounds, role-playing mechanics, and comments by Elmore. An all-new full-color SnarfQuest story ran bimonthly in Games Unplugged starting in 2000, with gradually fewer pages per issue until the magazine ceased publication. In 2011, Elmore began republishing the Games Unplugged strips on the official SnarfQuest website, planning to create new strips after finishing that content, and also posting the classic Dragon strips twice weekly. He soon stopped updating the page, and the strips were removed in 2012. In January 2013, Elmore's blog announced that the Games Unplugged strips would instead run in Knights of the Dinner Table starting with issue #195, in grayscale.
Other media
The SnarfQuest Card Game, a boardless card game, was published in the late 1990s and rereleased in 2001, including an unpainted Snarf miniature and a 100-card deck. Four expansion packs featured miniatures and storylines for Suthaze, Telerie, Aveeare, and Raffendorf, along with five additional Snarf miniatures and a bonus pack containing all nine extra miniatures and ten bonus cards. A point-and-click video game adaptation, Snarfquest Tales, was planned by Cellbloc Studios for a 2016 release but had not been released as of July 2021.
Cast of characters
Snarf, the title character, is a male zeetvah—a humanoid with long batwing-like ears and a dragonlike snout—from the village of Zeetville in the Vallys of Exotic Beings. He is an adventurer of the comic-hero type, more clever and opportunistic than brave, though he shows courage under pressure and often talks or bluffs his way through danger. His goals are wealth and fame, and he prefers stealing treasure to direct fighting. His full name, known only to family and close friends, is Snarfenia Dé Gottago (also spelled Snarfenja). Aveeare is a robot from space whose ship crashed while surveying Snarf's homeworld. Snarf convinced the gullible Aveeare that he was a being of great importance by rummaging through a magical pack of holding, which Aveeare interpreted as altering physics. Aveeare became Snarf's faithful sidekick; his name is short for his identity code, a VR-X9-4-M2 Galactic Probe, Government Issue Robot. Snarf believes Aveeare is an armored wizard. Telerie Windyarm is a beautiful human woman and professional warrior, Snarf's faithful companion and romantic interest. She is more courageous than Snarf in some ways and lacks a sense of modesty, which embarrasses Snarf but which he learns to enjoy. Her surname comes from her magical sword that can split the wind and deflect spells like lightning bolts. Prince Raffendorf, Snarf's first traveling companion, is a human turned into a humanoid rat by the evil wizard Suthaze. He wears an eye patch over his right eye, is missing his tail by injury, and has better manners than Snarf. His curse can only be reversed by Suthaze, which is unlikely since Raffendorf helped Snarf destroy Suthaze's tower.
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