A guilty pleasure passed on

[pegkerr]

I was in one of my fretful I-don't-know-what-to-read states of mind and impulsively pulled out my collection of Elfquest comic compendiums (hey, blame kijjohnson, she's the one who introduced me to Elfquest). To compound my sin, I mentioned them to Fiona. Now she's hooked and is galloping through book 4--in fact some lively skirmishes have broken out over the two of us over who gets to read one of the books first.

Should I have mentioned them to her? I feel sorta guilty about this. But she's enjoying herself hugely.

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

OMG. You read Elfquest?? (And you have Book Four. Quest's End. It's the only one of the original 8 that I'm missing. *envies*) I got started on that when I was about 14-15. Fiona's, what, 12? I don't see anything wrong with her reading it. It's pretty darn clean, even in the rare spots that imply *cough* more.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Hey.

Elfquest is good stuff. It's got good comic art, it's a really interesting fantasy world, and especially the first few years of it were a well-realized creation. (When it sprang off into 4 different books, they lost me, but before that, it was quality stuff.)

And the sexuality (which is not *particularly* explicit) is also quite lesbigay-friendly.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

*blink*

Why shouldn't you have mentioned them to her?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I dunno. A gut feeling I don't understand, really. She's glommed onto them alarmingly strong, and I am not sure Fiona needs another obsession in her life.

Dealing with Fiona is confusing and rather distressing this week in general. She seems to have come back from camp suddenly having entered a disequalibrium stage. She has cried herself to sleep the last three nights in a row, and can't in the least explain why she is sad.

She seems to have suddenly entered puberty with a vengeance, and it is doing strange things to her brain.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Oh.

That's an entirely different issue.

Sorry to have assumed.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

When I was going through puberty, my obsessions (including comic books) were the only things that kept me sane. You're her mom and I've never met her so take this with a grain of salt, but I find it really unlikely that a new fandom will become a negative factor in her life.

[mab-browne.livejournal.com]

Hi, I've lurked for a bit, but the mention of EQ seemed a good opportunity to say 'hello'.
Why a guilty pleasure? The adult themes? The fact that it's a comic? *g* I adore EQ, had the luck to read it in its original run, and introduced my kids to it at a quite young age.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I don't quite know, really. As I mentioned to rolanni, I'm a bit confused at my own reaction.

But yeah, I do like Elfquest.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Mind you, at least in my case, I simultaneously have the "comics are a valid art form!" and the "comics are for the hoi polloi!" dichotomy going.

Sigh.

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

I got hooked on ElfQuest when I was about 9. Read the first four books (all there was at the time).

It left me with a lifetime love of fantasy, and of graphic storytelling.

She's the perfect age.

Heck, I spent an entire summer making a construction paper face for my "Wolf", er bicycle. And trying to make a sword like Cutters out of cardboard and spray paint...

[pameladean]

There are stages in growing up when glomming is just what one does. Elfquest won't hurt her. If it wasn't that it'd just be something else. At least it's something you like too.

P.

[dreadmouse.livejournal.com]

Now there's a wonderful memory from the past! Thanks Peg, I had totally forgotten about ElfQuest. I gave up my copies two moves ago, but they're still a fond happy place in my head.

[serenya-loreden.livejournal.com]

Eh, odds are it won’t hurt her even in puberty-influenced disequilibrium. You would not believe the crap I read from 11 or so onwards, some of it given to me by teachers even! And I don’t think any of it scarred me permanently. Even the 2 or 3 absolutely horrid books I read despite (or perhaps because of) rightful warning-off by my mother. And I was book obsessive as well, to the point that some English teachers forbade me doing book reports on more then one book by any given author.

[diony.livejournal.com]

Elfquest was a wonderful source of joy to me during junior high. I think it's great to share them with your kids.