Poison Elves -- News

January 2001:

I have kicked the habit and finally stopped purchasing and reading Poison Elves. After spending years hoping that it would get better, hearing Drew promise that it would get better, yet continually feeling like any spark of creativity that it had once had was completely stale, I couldn't bring myself to buy it anymore. As a result, I will not be providing any additional updates to these pages. If you want to read an indie comic that really fascinates and remains fresh, please check out Finder by Carla Speed McNeil. It's excellent. And if anyone would like to pick up a collection of Poison Elves back-issues (including the original Mulehide series -- I have two copies thanks to the contest Drew ran towards the end of that run), make me an offer I can't refuse.

April 12, 1999:

Added two more opinions that have come in to (what is becoming) the Sanctuary rant page.
At least one person has asked me what I've thought of the recent issues... Well... The skeleton issue was fun, but certainly didn't have much in the way of content. Once again I found myself wondering at a few points if I had skipped a page or the printer had gotten them in the wrong order. The dialogue didn't really flow seamlessly for me. Mostly, though, it was just another fight scene. The werewolf arc I was enjoying for the first issue, but then I completely hated the second issue -- Luse's "huge ordeal" was nothing at all. Even if Drew had photocopied the Gilles root withdrawal scene without attempting to make it fit the current storyline, I think I would've enjoyed it more. Instead we get what amounts to a 20-minute "touching" heart-to-heart conversation, and suddenly it's morning? Somehow, this just didn't work at all for me. Luse is supposed to go through this huge ordeal, and instead it's the most open and concerned he's been with anybody since Cassie's death. OK, sure. Jace was also portrayed as being a bit more naive than I think of him as being, and the issue as a whole ended a bit abruptly. The ending of the third issue was choice, but most of the rest of it felt like filler. I'm so tired of the verbal sparring that seems to go on in Poison Elves (Luse-Jace, Jace-Winston, whoever). Lots of back and forth dialogue does not an interesting comic make (to me). I feel like Drew has forgotten the show-don't tell rule of comics. Too many talking heads and interspersed word balloons for this reader. And if Luse had such a good guess as to who it was, and knew that they wouldn't get any money for the werewolf, why didn't he hatch a better plan to unveil the werewolf for the townspeople? Has he lost his greed? His sense of fun? His sense of invulnerability? I dunno... You can do better Drew!!

November 30, 1998:

Added another opinion to the Sanctuary opinions page.
I should note that issue 40 came out a few weeks ago. In some ways it's a step in the right direction (smaller, self-contained, away from Mandratha), but I also have to say I'm bored with fight scenes. At least with fight scenes that don't have much intrigue to them, which this one seemed to be... Grump, grump, grump

November 13, 1998:

Added another opinion to the Sanctuary opinions page.

November 11, 1998:

Added a new page for opinions on the Sanctuary storyline to contain a few responses that I've received.

October 23, 1998:

Added an upcoming appearance to the appearances page.
Moved the rant to HTML format. Will eventually expand this to include any reasonable rebuttals that I receive by e-mail.

October 20, 1998:

Added my rant about what I didn't like (and yes, also what I liked) about the Sanctuary storyline. Comments and rebuttals welcome.

October 19, 1998:

In celebration of the end of the godawful Sanctuary storyline (#39), I grit my teeth and re-read the whole damn thing to make sure that it wasn't better than I remembered (it wasn't) and to update the concordance, timeline, and issue information. When time allows, I'll post my thoughtful commentary on why I used to think Poison Elves was so great and why with about 6 exceptions, the Sirius issues have generally sucked.

December 11, 1997:

I updated the links page this month, to reflect some of the new Poison Elves pages that have sprung up on the web, and to take out the old stale links.
It looks like I've fallen behind a bit again on my issue information. I think we're up to #28 now? But I feel like the storyline has not taken the exciting turn for the better that we were promised some time ago. I got the following email from long-time fan Jolanta Biniek which did a good job of summing up my thoughts about this issue:
My main beef with the last issue seems to be A) Killing innocent people (people like Ghost don't count, innocent bar-bystanders do... what the hell was that in the new issue?) B) neither hair nor hide of Hyena or Lirilith. Besides that:[ and this is more a surprised observation than a beef ] The latest issue shows a half-naked woman from below the eye-line, very similar to the Sex& violence issue (poster offer on the back)... kinda getting to be a habit kids.
Sigh... the story is interesting again, but the character IS changing. ... evolving?... devolving... sigh...

September 11, 1997:

Poison Elves #25 came out last week. I ended up more than a bit disappointed with it, although maybe it's just because I was under the impression that this was the issue that was supposed to amaze us and rekindle our interest in what's been a pretty dull 25-issue storyline. Here are some things that bugged me:
- Simple spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. I can't believe that with the popularity of this comic, Sirius and/or Drew don't care about it and/or can't afford to get a proofreader for it. I realize that spelling is a pretty small thing in life and that the more important thing is to be able to convey meaning. BUT, it's amazing how much a spelling mistake can make a book look unprofessional, and take you out of the story and thinking instead about the mechanics of making a comic.
- Aside from the spelling mistakes, Drew's prose has really gone downhill since the Mulehide days. In his initial introduction to the characters, some of those sentences just went on and on, a string of phrases and clauses and cliched similes tacked together. Ug.
- All in all, the plot didn't strike me as being terribly revolutionary or inspiring. Worse, I was under the impression that #25 would sort of wrap up the whole Sanctuary storyline, and instead it's just another continuation.
- While reading this issue, I finally realized what has changed about Lusiphur since the Mulehide days that has made him much less interesting of a character. He seems to have lost any sense of his own mortality and vulnerability. Remember the look on his face when he realized that Ed was going to poison him with Gilles Root way back when? If put in the similar situation today, he'd just say something macho, demonstrating his self-perceived flawlessness, and carry on blundering through on a wave of violence. Interestingly, this switch from vulnerability to invulnerability seemed to occur when Drew's publishing efforts went from being fairly vulnerable to being taken under Sirius' wing. Which is also when Drew ceased to be humble comic creator who'd philosophize and pour his heart out to you and started taking on the role (in print anyway) of Drew Hayes: comic rock star who need apologize to no-one.
- Drew announces his plans to release the Sirius issues in TPBs of six issues at a time. This bugs me for a few reasons: 1) it'll cost more to the consumer than one large paperback, 2) the storyline wasn't strong enough to warrant 4 separate TPBs, and I'm not sure I'll be willing to spring for each one when it comes out, knowing the size of the investment that I'll have to make.
- Disgruntled? Yeah I am. A comic that used to be interesting and challenging to me and worth my while to maintain this web page for has been skating by on its laurels for far too long, and doesn't show any signs of improving. Anyone want to buy a complete set of the Mulehide issues? :)

August 21, 1997:

The Poison Elves mailing list has moved locations, and is now being run by Bob Soulliere. For more information, head to his page from the links page.
I just noticed I never mentioned the release of issue #24. It's been out for quite some time. #25 should be due any time now.

June 30, 1997:

Poison Elves #23 hit the stands last week. Looking over this, I see that I never announced #22's release, but it came out too.
I updated the appearances page to reflect some conventions that Drew will reportedly be attending.

April 22, 1997:

Poison Elves #21 hit the stands within the past few weeks. I updated the Amrahly'nn pages to reflect issues 20 and 21.

March 18, 1997:

Poison Elves #20 hit the stands on March 5th.
Tom Polseno has started an Ultima Online guild, based loosely on Poison Elves. See the links page for details.

March 3, 1997:

Laura Holt is hoping to start up a Poison Elves mailing list. To subscribe, mail her.

February 18, 1997:

Issue 19 shipped a few weeks ago (February 5th?). The best thing about it was that Drew came as close as I've ever heard him at admitting that the series wasn't working, and stated his intentions to make each issue really worthwhile, starting with issue 21 or so. I guess I won't give up on it quite yet...
I've been informed that Drew will make an appearance at AggieCon XXVIII, and have updated the appearances page.

January 23, 1997:

I've just updated the Amrahly'nn pages for issues 17 and 18 after re-reading them again.
After getting everyone's opinions on what was happening in issue 17 (all of which seemed plausible), I thought: "I must have just missed something obvious". However, I went back and re-read it, and still can't quite make sense of it. Here were some of the better suggestions, however:
- My take on the issue is that the guards, being the dumb humans that they are, beat up Grandpa cause that's the first person they saw at the scene. The Captain (Lt.?) probably had a squemmish stomach and didn't like seeing a dead hooker with various parts of her anatomy removed. Just my take..
  -Scott Whittaker
- I can't help you with why the guard tackles Gramps, but I *think* that the captain tells his subordinate to 'warn me before you do that again', was basically a reaction to the grisly appearance of the corpse, and that the guy shoulda said something like, "Over here boss, but it's nasty!"
  Hell, I dunno, I'm just making this up.
  --Matt Brooks
- The guards beat up "Gramps" because, being turtle-brained, they assumed that he was the murderer. You know, "shoot first ask questions later". Exactly what Vido is trying to change.
  I think the captain said to warn him in the future because no one let him know there would be a slaughtered girl lying there when he walked into the room. Again, being turtle-brained, he failed realize that something like might be in an apartment that, minutes before, had a person screaming "Bloody murder!"
  Anyway, that's how I saw it.
  --Steve Padalino
I guess the thing I don't understand is that it looks as though Captain Williams is involved in beating up Ed (which having now read 18, I understand was supposed to be a sign of how stupid the Mandratha guard is, but frankly I don't find this to ring true or to be particularly funny), which looks like it takes place in the room, which is where the corpse is. So why didn't he see the corpse, and why did he blame the underling? Anyway, the sequence didn't get its point across to me.
For that matter, some of the panel transitions in #18 seemed a little rough to me. And then there was the one panel in which Captain Williams is frozen in space, apparently yelling at Vido, but is saying nothing. Which brings me to my question of this month: Is there anyone that thinks that the Sirius issues have even approached the quality of the Mulehide in storytelling? Just curious. I'm on the verge of starting a petition to Sirius and Drew to change the book to a strictly bi-monthly title in hopes that he improves in quality and stops spawning off subplots. But of course, we all know how Drew reacts to criticism... Sigh... A mole-collecting psychopath?

January 6, 1997:

While the children were nestled all snug in their beds, Poison Elves 18 came out. Another so-so issue in this reader's opinion...
Thanks for all the explanations I've received about my question on issue 17. I need to re-read it one more time, and will post a summary of all the mail I've received at that point.

December 5, 1996:

Can anyone tell me what's happening in issue 17 when the Mandratha Guard busts down the door? After having checked with all my most smartest friends, I still can't figure it out. Guard busts in, beats up Grampa (why?) and the chief admonishes an underling to warn him next time (about what?). Help!
Jeff Palmer reports that the new Previews has a picture of the long-awaited Ebola Zaire T-shirt, with a picture of Parintachin on the back sporting a Sirius logo stuck in the middle of his chest. Huh, I would've thought Parintachin would be the last character to sport corporate gear.

December 4, 1996:

The Traumatic Dogs TPB finally came out today. I'm going to avoid the jokes about that big bright round thing not being in the sky much these days. If you haven't read these issues, don't hesitate to pick it up -- they're some of Drew's very best in this humble editor's opinion. The TPB has an introduction by Richard Pini, a Starting Note by Drew, and gallery pages by Terry Moore, David Mack, Fauve, and Roel.

December 1, 1996:

Reader Alan Earhart reports that he saw the Traumatic Dogs Trade Paperback at the Sirius booth of the mid-Ohio Con, providing a glimmer of hope that it may be in stores soon.
Meanwhile, I mourn the loss of a Poison Elves that was infused with mythology, magic, vastness, and legend rather than serial killers, scenes worthy of late-night Cinemax, gruelling interpersonal relationships, crafty guild-related practical jokes, and Drew's (I mean Lusiphur's) soul-searching. Would someone remind me why I'm reading this comic again?

November 22, 1996:

Lots of Drew-related stuff came out this week:
- the Poison Elves Archive Editions for #1 and #2 (Drew's forray into the Sirius world of overpriced alternate covers and limited editions). For complete, complete, completists, they reprint the original printings of Mulehide issues #1 and #2, as well as the Starting Notes and Letter Columns from the self-published issues. They also sport a few nice cover pieces -- although the best ones tended to stick in the back and the interior back cover (in my opinion of course). The "previously unpublished" picture from the card set ended up on the front cover of #2.
- Poison Elves #17 shipped.
- Mythography, an anthology which features a short and extremely dark piece by Drew.

November 15, 1996:

The Poison Elves trading cards shipped about three weeks ago. There are seventy-five commons cards in all:
- 45 that are essentially panels from the comic, with foil enhancements
- 10 that are Sirius covers
- 8 that are Mulehide covers
- 12 miscellaneous pictures:
  - 4 from back covers,
  - 3 familiar looking pieces that were probably promotional artwork
  - 2 that don't look familiar at all to me
  - 1 of the Dryad print from the Mulehide days
  - 1 Janine Johnston Portrait (yay!)
  - 1 new piece
So I dunno... not all that impressive. I should say by way of disclaimer that my standards for what a card set should be are pretty high -- preferably a fair amount of new art, or pieces that were meant to stand alone -- the creme of the crop.
First of all, I don't tend to think of most panel art as being very interesting on cards, since they were originally drawn to be panels in a continuing story rather than stand-alone pictures. Maybe a splash page here and there can look great as a card, but your average panel doesn't work as well.
Secondly, foil doesn't do a thing for me (or for Drew's art, for that matter...)
Lastly, there wasn't that much in the way of new art. Drew must have scribblings around that would've been new and interesting. Even if he didn't personally have time to do create a bunch of new art, getting other creators to put in a picture would've been a nice touch.
OK, enough griping. Let me know what you thought. I have to say, though, I did like to see the covers without logos. But I would've preferred it if it had been a full set.
As it turns out, Drew also did a card for the Strangers in Paradise trading card set (#76 -- a drawing of Katchoo and Francine). Too bad Terry Moore didn't do one for Drew's set. :)

October 11, 1996:

Poison Elves #16 shipped last week. How did Drew get to such high numbers so quickly?
In an amazing stroke of timeliness, I've even updated the Amrahly'nn pages for this issue.
An ad in the back of this issue relists the information about the "Archive Editions" and also promises that the Traumatic Dogs trade paperback will be out in October.
Thanks to Chris Fisher for fixing me up with the third Poison Elves T-shirt. Are there still just the four shirts that people know of? Now all I need is a copy of the fourth (elf skull and crossbones) and the Creators Alternative Universe Commons set, and I'll be a happy fanboy. If anyone can help fix me up, I'd appreciate it.

Sept 19, 1996:

(As seen in Dawn #4 this week): It looks like Sirius is re-releasing the original issues of I, Lusiphur nos. 1 and 2 under the name Poison Elves Archive Editions. They seem to be pricing in at $20 each (or $35 for the pair), will feature new covers and maybe a bit of new art. The first issue will also feature "the best of Mulehide Deathreats" and the second will reprint the Mulehide "Starting Notes." Mail order copies are available from Cosmic Therapy, which seems to be strongly affiliated with Sirius (I believe Sirius' phone number points you to Cosmic Therapy's if you want to speak with a human being). The issues are supposedly waiting to be signed by Drew and should ship in 10 days or so. Oh yeah, that phone number for Cosmic Therapy is 201-347-6634.
This week's Overstreet Fan has that coupon that can be redeemed to get a full-color copy of Poison Elves.

Sept 14, 1996:

Allright you rats. It's been awhile, but at long last I've updated this page. In fact, I've given them a complete overhaul and facelift. Thanks to all of you who expressed concern about the pages being out of date. I hope you had as fun and relaxing a summer as I did.

OK, now everyone find a buddy and hold hands, there's a lot to catch up on:

Since our last update, all issues up through number 15 have been released (though they deviate from the plot summaries reported on Sirius' page).
The first trade paperback was also released, reprinting issues 1-6, although issues one and two were re-written in prose form, with occasional new illustrations. (Bad move, in this fan's opinion. The first issues may have been rough, but they were great enough to get me completely hooked on the series. And frankly for this writing, Drew's prose was not anywhere near his best...and his spellchecker was off). Sonny quips that it should be called the "Prose in Elves" trade paperback.
While I've got the mic and am on that spelling mistake note...does it bother anyone else like it bugs me? I have friends that talk about how bad they are at spelling, and explain that it's not important because I can still tell what they're saying. Which is true and fine for personal communication. But in a comic, I find it completely breaks the flow of the story while my brain sounds an alarm saying "whoops, there he goes with rouge again," causing me to think about the process of writing rather than being immersed in the story at hand... Just curious. It'd be great if Sirius allotted a small amount of money for a proofreader.
The second trade paperback is still way overdue, and that big bright shiny thing in the sky is getting less shiny every day...

Way back in May, my ear to the rail, Mr. Sonny Lemmons, passed on the following from Diamond's Previews book:


"POISON ELVES LIMITED EDITION PORTFOLIO" by Drew Hayes

In a Full Color Illustrated Envelope, Limited to 1250 Signed and
Numbered Portfolios

To celebrate the Poison Elves Gallery Show slated for San Diego Con,
Drew Hayes has personally selected his very best covers from the
impossible to find Mulehide Graphics isues of POISON ELVES, so that
Sirius could make them available one last time in this high-quality
portfolio collection.  Drew has also prepared a brand-new, fully
painted signature plate available no where else.  Strictly limited to
1250 portfolios, signed and numbered by the artist.

Allocations may occur.

Did anyone see this "gallery show"? Did it happen? Anyway, the word is that these shipped last week, though I have yet to see one with my own eyes... :(

Sonny reports that the May (or so) edition of Wizard had an interview with Drew Hayes, who reports that his first comic book was (shudder) X-men. Thanks, Sonny.
Through the miracle of the world-wide web and Alta Vista, Robert and Joanna Lynn Kohlbus were contacted about supplying a copy of Lady Death Chromium II card #64 for the Poison Elves page. They donated it free of charge, and I'm in their debt. See the picture for yourself at the comicography and say a small prayer of thanks that you didn't spend good money for it. You don't even want to know the shlock that's written on the back of it.
My good friend, and fellow rabid fan, Jolanta Biniek has manufactured some Poison Elves wallpaper border with Drew's permission. She's selling it for $1.75 a foot + $3-5 for postage, and if you're lucky, you may even get a "Nyar! Wrath of the Purple Marauder" pencil as a bonus. To see what it looks like, check the gallery (Sorry, I didn't scan the pencil...). You can contact her by mail or check her web site.
While we're on Jolanta, she's trying to put together a fanzine by and for Poison Elves fans called Rabid Fans, and is in need of submissions (art, stories, opinions, whatever). If you've got something burning a hole in your mind, here's your chance to let it out.
Last Jolanta note: the appearances page has a brief Chicago Comicon report from Jolanta, including her photo album of her appearance as Hyena (see the Starting Note for issue 14) and Drew.

Sonny quoth from Advance Comics catalog, September 1996:
Number 93: pg 136


_Bardic Press_  MYTHOGRAPHY #1  3.95  B&W

Bardic Press presents the first issue of a new quarterly fantasy
anthology title.  MYTHOGRAPHY brings together some of the best
independent creators in one book.  This issue leads off with a new
POISON ELVES story by creator Drew Hayes.  Lusiphur finds himself
smack dab in the middle of a vicious parody of Edgar Allen Poe's "The
Raven."

(Additional info pertaining to other stories by various creators
snipped).

And he continuith:
Number 93: pg. 274


POISON ELVES CARDS FOIL BOX

Elves.  Cute little guys that make cookies inside of hollow trees,
right?  Wrong!  POISON ELVES, created by Drew Hayes, live in a
medieval realm of sorcery and political intrigue.  The exploits of
Lusiphur, an embittered and violent rogue elf, and paid assassin, is
the focus of this 75-card set.  Printed on heavy 24-point stock, this
set features 30 full-color cards, and 45 "LustreChrome" story cards,
along with 6 randomly inserted "I, Lusiphur" cover cards, a Drew Hayes
autographed card, and a 3-card set with guest art by Linser and
Johnston.  Each box has 48 packs and a special bonus card; each pack,
eight cards.  Recommended.

(According to the ad from Comic Images -- the makers of the card set
-- Drew Hayes will autograph 500 of the cards to be randomly inserted.
They will also be offering a Card Binder with twelve 9-pocket pages
included).

So far as we know here, neither of these items have shipped yet.

Matthew C. Brooks reports:
...Overstreet's Fan #45 (?) is going to have a coupon for "the first full color Poison Elves" uh-HUH.
Some young upstart named Bob Soulliere went and made another Unofficial Poison Elves page (Just kidding, Bob). It's great, cause it fills in some of the gaps that I haven't had the energy for: A complete set of cover scans (hey, wait a sec... the second printing of Sirius #1 isn't on here!!), and a good start on issue summaries and Starting Note archives. Be sure to check it out. (After all, Drew seems to like his page a hell of a lot more than mine... < sniffle.....snf......sob!! >)
The other good thing about Bob's page is that it finally motivated me to get my butt in gear and get mine fixed up. Thus, we have:
- a new design for the entry page, including the retirement of Glenn's old logo (click on the current masthead to see it for old time's sake)
- an image gallery, due to my going wild with the scanner tonight.
- all the informational text on all pages has been updated to match the best of my knowledge.
- and general reformatting here and there to spruce things up a bit.
Enjoy!

June 6, 1996:

Poison Elves #12 ships... Nyar!
Our ace in the sleeve, Sonny Lemmons reports:
- Okay, again I delve into the world of _Previews_ from Diamond to see what to spend my hard-earned cash on. . According to page 256 of the June 1996 (Vol. VI, No. 6) issue, August will be "Poison Elves Skip Month" because, and I quote:
  Siruis believes that great work should be rewarded, so Drew Hayes is getting this month off to enjoy the summer a little bit. Watch this space next month for POISON ELVES #16 as well as the POISON ELVES Trading Card Series from Comic Images.
- I also got told by my friendly li'l retailer-man that the two TPs with the Mulehide issues will ship at the same time. He has no idea why, but it's what he's heard.

May 29, 1996:

I updated the appearances page a bit. Remember that this isn't a complete listing, but just the appearances that I happen to catch wind of (usually by way of people e-mailing me dates...)
Still have to update the concordance for issue 11, grmble, grmble..
No, the first trade paperback still hasn't shipped.

May 2, 1996:

Poison Elves #11 ships.
Another Drew Hayes signing added to the appearances page.

Sonny quotes from Diamond's Previews book (July releases):


"POISON ELVES LIMITED EDITION PORTFOLIO" by Drew Hayes

In a Full Color Illustrated Envelope, Limited to 1250 Signed and Numbered
        Portfolios

To celebrate the Poison Elves Gallery Show slated for San Diego Con, Drew
Hayes has personally selected his very best covers from the impossible to
find Mulehide Graphics isues of POISON ELVES, so that Sirius could make
them available one last time in this high-quality portfolio collection.
Drew has also prepared a brand-new, fully painted signature plate
available no where else.  Strictly limited to 1250 portfolios, signed and
numbered by the artist.

Allocations may occur.

Full Color, $30.00

leaving both of us wondering what the Poison Elves Gallery Show is?

April 24, 1996:

Have you ordered your Poison Elves wallpaper yet? Jolanta Biniek's web page for Rabid Fans allows you to reserve a roll today. Check out the link to her page on the related links page.

April 11, 1996:

A new Poison Elves T-shirt is sighted by Sonny "Bubba" Lemmons in the deep south. It's apparently white and sports the elf-skull and crossbones, as seen on the back of some early Sirius issue (and at the Sirius website...).

April 10, 1996:

I searched the web a bit and found a new page, and the resurrection of an old one to add to the links page.
I added a Drew Hayes Appearances, though I'll probably not be aware of most of the places he appears.
After a 6-month lapse, Sirius seems to have updated their web pages a bit. Items of interest:
- Plot summaries for the next several issues, in case you want to spoil the surprise (I didn't)
- A Poison Elves poster will apparently be shipping in May. It's based on Janine's cover to Requiem for an Elf. Apparently, the poster "became an instant fan favorite" even though (to my knowledge) neither the poster nor the trade paperback have been released yet.
- There's also some new Poison Elves art in the gallery (mostly covers of recent issues; one of them looks similar to the second printing of Sirius #1, but slightly different...am I misremembering?).
This talk of posters reminds me: Has anyone seen (what I count as being) the third Poison Elves shirt (the one with the faerie kneeling in front of Lusiphur, as described on August 1 below)? My shops say it never shipped. Anyone have one I can pick up?
And did that Lady Death card set that Drew contributed art to ever ship? Anyone have one of those? How about a scan for the page? :)

April 3, 1996:

Sonny Lemmons informs me that the 2nd trade paperback is listed to ship in June.

March 27, 1996:

Judith Friedl urges me to go buy Poison Elves #10, taking care to hide it from small children :)
Having done so, I rejoice that it's an issue which makes updating the concordance all too easy...

March 19, 1996:

The concordance and issue information is now completely up-to-date.

March 15, 1996:

Trying to get caught up on my backlog, I catch the concordance and issue information up to issue 8. Only one behind, now...

February 29, 1996:

Devoted reader Judith Friedl informs me that issue 9 is out.
After many false promises, the second print of #1 is also released, containing a new cover by Drew and a new opening commentary.
Sometime around here, Drew has an illustration of Luse and Cassandra on the cover of Overstreet Fan.
Ads start showing up for the first reprint volume: Requiem for An Elf. It has the misfortune of using the term "white" to describe Lusiphur rather than "pale."

February 9, 1996:

Poison Elves issue 8 comes out. Parintachin is back, yum.

January 8, 1996:

Steve Rolston reports that the first Poison Elves TPB was in this month's previews, indicating it should be available in March. Presumably, this is the TPB that will reprint Mulehide issues 1-6.
Just realized that I never announced that Poison Elves issue 7 came out. Oops. It did, sometime around December 20.

November 22, 1995:

Concordance/Issue list/Timeline updated through issue 6.

November 17, 1995:

Devoted Poison Elves (and Poison Elves web-page) reader, Sonny Lemmons turns 25. Happy Birthday!

November 16, 1995:

Poison Elves #6 ships.
In his opening note, Drew states that the Mulehide issues will be re-issued as a series of Trade Paperbacks. The first will be called Poison Elves -- Requiem for an Elf and should be out in early spring. Janine Johnston will be doing the cover for the first. The others are planned to be released every three months thereafter.
Drew goes on to day that James O'Barr (of the Crow) will be contributing the cover for issue number 8.
And we anti-bad-girl/pro-Poison Elves completists will be forced to scavenge for a copy of the card which Drew is contributing for an upcoming Lady Death trading card series. (This is the sort of thing that will come and go without me noticing. When it comes out, could someone send me mail (and details, if available -- like what card number it is :)? )
That's all.

October 12, 1995:

Poison Elves #5 arrives in stores. The Amrahly'nn pages have yet to be updated.

September 7, 1995:

At last the Amrahl'ynn pages include updated information from issues three and four.

August 30, 1995:

Poison Elves #4 is out and makes me laugh out loud a lot in my room, causing my roommates some distress. The Amrahl'ynn pages are now two issues out of date.

August 19, 1995:

A Sirius Entertainment, Inc. site is discovered and added to the links page.

August 1, 1995:

Steve Rolston reports seeing a new Poison Elves T-shirt design in his comic shop's ordering catalog. The design is similar to the picture on the back of issue #3.

~ July 24, 1995:

The third Sirius issue is released. Giggles are heard across the internet. These pages have yet to be updated to include information from #3.

July 7, 1995:

A new Poison Elves T-shirt is spotted, featuring Lusiphur surrounded by fairies.

June 29, 1995:

The second Sirius issue is released.

June 9, 1995:

Windigo the Feral reminds me:

On the Poison Elves animated series thingie. In the newest Indy (#10) Drew reports that MTV has FINALLY called back ;) and has the project on the back burner at present; according to Drew, "They're waiting to see how 'The Maxx' (on "Oddities") does. If it does well, they're going ahead with it..." In the same interview, Drew states there are about three or four projects ahead off him, and all are in the same boat.
The interview was done in March, if I remember right; since then, Oddities' version of "The Maxx" *has* done well, and one of my fellow animation fanboys (who just might keep in touch with some of Peter Chung's friends ;) stated to me "If MTV's stating that to him, it's as good as made." Myself, I'm still knocking on wood, but don't be suprised to see Poison Elves show up as a run on Oddities this fall or winter.
Drew has stated in the same interview that he would personally like to see Poison Elves done as a live-action feature film. (I would hate to see the special effects budget, but I bet it'd be a blast to work on... ;)
Poison Elves got something like *24,000* advance orders for the Sirius ish #1. (No idea how many from Louisville, where the guy at Book and Music Exchange reports he now orders as many issues of Poison Elves as each of the X-books. {WE BEAT CEREBUS! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA!})

June 8, 1995:

The first Sirius issue is out!!! 30 pages! Grim `n' Gritty!
Does anyone else not like the new computerized Drew-font lettering? Way too blocky. Should we start a petition?

June 6, 1995:

The first Sirius-published issue (Poison Elves #1), originally scheduled to ship in May, is rumored to be late due to printing problems.
The latest word on the trade paperback reprinting Mulehide Graphics' issues 1-20 is that it will be published under Sirius sometime in the near future. Drew will be reportedly redrawing issues 1 and 2, as he's never been happy with the way they turned out, and declared that they would not be reprinted.