Richard Pini

Richard Pini is one-half of a husband and wife team with Wendy Pini that created, most notably, the Elfquest series. He was raised in Orange, Connecticut with his three siblings. Richard began writing science fiction stories early in his childhood. In 1972, Richard and Wendy were married after a courtship of four years. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 with a degree in Astrophysics. He worked at the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science in Boston until 1975 and Taunton High School until 1979 when he began his career at IBM.In 1977, Richard and Wendy established a publishing company called Warp Graphics to publish their first Elfquest comic. Richard is credited as co-writer and editor on Elfquest, as well as handling all of the publishing and business aspects of Warp Graphics.Elfquest was self-published for 25 years and in 2003, licensed to DC Comics. The comic series has won several awards, including the Ed Aprill Award for Best Independent Comic, two Alley Awards, the Fantasy Festival Comic Book Awards for Best Alternative Comic, and the Golden Pen Award. Richard has also contributed writing for Worldpool, Futurequest, Rogue's Curse, and two Windkin stories.He has received the Small Press Writers and Artists Organization Award for Best Editor, the San Diego Comic Convention Inkpot Award, and the New York State Jaycees Distinguished Service Award.Richard and his wife currently reside in Poughkeepsie, New York.