ElfQuest Online Comics

from ElfQuest:

ElfQuest‘s 30th Anniversary Gift: Everything

Thirty years after its first appearance in early 1978, ElfQuest is poised to make its biggest online splash ever. Beginning March 14, and every Friday throughout 2008, Warp Graphics presents every ElfQuest comic book story from the Original Quest all the way up to 2006’s The Discovery.

With over 6000 pages of material to prepare and upload, the project will easily take the remainder of this 30th anniversary year. The initial offering will start off with an explosion of firsts: There will be the entire first graphic novel, to introduce new readers to the characters and world of ElfQuest, plus the first issues of all the spinoff titles produced during the 1990s. Each week will see several more issues added to the collection. Eventually, every published page will make its way to the online archive. A timeline and a catalog of all ElfQuest appearances are part of the package, so all readers will be able to experience the complete saga from start to present-day.

The official ElfQuest site is elfquest.com.

February 28, 2008:

It had to happen. Even with thirty years of more-or-less continuous publication, there’s a goodly chunk of the complete ElfQuest saga that has gone out of print. Many of the collected volumes are still available but raising a new audience one book at a time is slow. So after a lot of thought we have decided, over the course of ElfQuest‘s 30th anniversary year, to make every single ElfQuest comic available to you, to read, right here.

It’s going to take page-code revamping and a heck of a lot of scanning, but by year’s end you’ll be able to follow every tale, every adventure of every character who’s ever seen print. Keep watching here, or better yet, join the ElfQuest forum and Yahoo’s ElfQuest news group for other news and announcements, and to find out when new installments go up. (Which, given there’s over 200 issues, means several new chapters every week. High Ones help us!)

Launch of the new ElfQuest Online Comics site is set for Friday, March 14, 2008 — with new material coming every Friday after that for the rest of this 30th anniversary year. The countdown has begun!

Eco Ewok Treehouses: Finca Bellavista Rainforest Village

by Abigail Doan, from Inhabitat:

If you’ve been dreaming of picking up roots, living on the edge, or literally going out on a limb in terms of eco-lifestyle possibilities, then Finca Bellavista: A Sustainable Rainforest Community might be just the thing for you. Located on the base of an almost 6,000 foot primary rainforest mountain on the South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica — not far from the Pan American Highway, Finca Bellavista was created with the sole purpose of preserving 300 acres of local rainforest by offering a unique opportunity for ecologically minded property owners to live sustainably in and steward a managed rainforest environment.

With a principle focus of creating a balance between maintaining a fragile habitat for wildlife and using natural resources wisely, Finca Bellavista aims to implement sustainable energy practices such as hydroelectric and solar power, while operating a full-fledged recycling center and a common garden area for the community. This might make it an eco-utopia for some, but for others it’s a possible solution for dovetailing conservation with development.

As per Finca Bellavista’s guidelines on their website, treehouses in the community must be low-impact, stilt-built or arboreal dwellings that utilize a rainwater catch system to provide water for each unit. Waste that is generated is to be treated with “a cutting-edge technology found in biodigestors”. A “hydroelectric turbine system” will power the entire community. The power grid will run via a system of transformers and underground power cables installed along the horseshoe-shaped main access road that runs throughout the community, producing peak power of 62 kilowatts at the generator leads. The power system at Finca Bellavista will produce clean, sustainable, and extremely reliable power for the community, all the while virtually eliminating any monthly electricity bills for residents.

Fancy a bit of socializing or Tarzan action? Residents can opt for either the community’s system of ground trails or its ‘Sky Trail’ network of zip lines and platforms that deliver them to and from their homes in the rainforest canopy. Missing the outside world? A main parking lot exists at the community’s base area, where high-speed Internet and WIFI are available.

The proprietors state that “these requirements will not only preserve the integrity of the rainforest canopy and its inhabitants, but will also provide an unusual and adventurous lifestyle for human dwellers as well. Imagine waking to the sounds of a tropical bird symphony or catching a zip-line to meet up with friends for a meal or an evening cocktail…” This might be a bit too much of an Ewok housing scenario for some, or a real estate development plan that should simply exist as a rainforest preserve, but for now it is on the table as a possibility for how “going native” might be the wave of the future or the cure for what ails us.

+ Two-acre plots from $50,000

The Guild Gag Reel (NSFW)

Outtakes from Episodes 1-3. This is a little nugget to tide you over to our next episode… a thank you for our loyal subscribers! The next episode is in the can and we’re working hard to get you. Please go to watchtheguild.com for updates and more fun stuff. Special thanks to Bone Ho for the card move Bladezz does. 🙂