SnarfQuest
| SnarfQuest | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Larry Elmore |
| Launch date | 1983 |
| End date | 1989 |
| Publisher(s) | Dragon Magazine |
| Genre(s) | Humor, Fantasy |
SnarfQuest, drawn and written by Larry Elmore, is a fantasy comic strip with sci-fi and modern elements. Its epic fantasy-adventure context, along with its black-and-white art style, quirky humor, twinge of satire, and anachronistic elements, have earned it comparisons to Jeff Smith's acclaimed Bone series. It is the only comic series by Elmore, who is more widely known for his fantasy art paintings. The strip was originally serialized from 1985–1989 in the role-playing magazine Dragon, and, due to its popularity, subsequently spawned several collected volumes, tabletop games, and full-color followups by Elmore in 2000 and 2011.
SnarfQuest originally ran in Dragon Magazine from 1983–1989, debuting in issue #75 and running until No. 145. The first story arc, detailing Snarf's quest to become king, was collected into a single 144-page book, entitled SnarfQuest: The Book, published by TSR in 1987; this edition also featured several never-before-published pages in full color including a story set five years after the previous story arc ends, in which Snarf and his friends confront a werewolf.
Due to popular demand, Elmore created a special one-shot episode, in color, which appeared in Dragon #200 (December 1993). In it, Snarf and Telerie help remove the curse a wizard has placed on a forest.
A 224-page collection, SnarfQuest: The Graphic Novel, was released in 2000, published by Dynasty Presentations; it reprinted the material from the 1987 edition as well as the remainder of the Dragon Magazine Snarf story arc (minus the 1993 one-shot). The material which was full-color in the 1987 version is greyscale in this newer compilation. A second edition was released 2002, this one by Larry Elmore Productions. The cover was changed, but this is the only difference between the two versions.
The SnarfQuest RPG Worldbook appeared in 2003. It featured stats, episode guides, character backgrounds and histories, and suggestions and mechanics for role-playing in the world of SnarfQuest. The book also included comments and analysis by Elmore as well as generalizable advice for adding humor to role-playing games.
An all-new, full color SnarfQuest story appeared as a bimonthly feature in the now-defunct magazine Games Unplugged beginning in 2000. The strip was gradually given fewer pages per issue until the magazine went out of business.
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